Where do we go from here?

I am very disappointed by the result of the referendum. My initial reaction was one of panic, real heart-racing panic, that in time turned to anger and frustration, then sadness. Yesterday was an emotional roller coaster. Some will have shared my experience, others the opposite reaction; and still others would have been less emotionally affected.

Initial reactions are what they are, the important question for us all is where now?

One reality that is patently clear in the aftermath of the referendum is that the UK is a divided nation. 51.9% to 48.1% is not a resounding mandate to LEAVE nor would the opposite have been a clear mandate to REMAIN.

The public proponents of LEAVE would have us believe that their reasons for leaving were THE reasons for leaving. In the coming months we will undoubtedly see these public figures attempt (and perhaps succeed) to negotiate a new relationship with the EU on the basis of a majority backing for their reasons for leaving.

The stark reality is that we do not know why those each other voted as we did, nor why 27.8% did not vote at all.

There are a large range of issues relating to the EU, democracy trusts that before voting each person made an informed and considered judgement on the basis of the pros weighed against the inevitable cons of such a course. To believe any different is to question the validity of democracy. We have to trust that those unwilling to consider seriously would have the maturity to abstain.

It is patently obvious that not everyone who voted LEAVE agrees, nor those who voted REMAIN. The judgement call was not as binary as the ballot paper.

So we now need a really honest national conversation, not just a chance to rant, much more important is a chance to really listen to those who disagree with us. This conversation can only happen if we are all willing to be challenged in our current view, and willing to change our minds on the basis of what we hear. 

Voting is simply one aspect of the democratic process; binary votes are always divisive unless they are accompanied by a process of discussion, both speaking and listening. This discussion should have happen before the vote; but it is now imperative that we decide together what kind of new relationship we want with the EU. What the election campaign made clear is that we cannot trust our political leaders nor our media to constructively facilitate such a process; nor can we leave it to social media (like this blog) where like often groups with like.

On both sides of this issue we need to make this reconciliation happen locally.

Perhaps Farage and Johnson are right in this respect; it is time for us to take back the power to make our own decisions. That means realising that there is a long process of consensus building ahead of us. It will involve sacrifice and humility, such is the responsibility of democracy.

Why I am voting to REMAIN

The EU referendum is tomorrow so I thought it was time to offer my contribution to the debate.

I want to begin by saying that I totally understand at least some of the reasons for Brexit. There is a democratic deficit in the EU, it is very hard to answer the question which Tony Benn asked of all in power: “How can I get rid of you”. Furthermore the EU has at times enacted policies which disadvantage the global south. And across western Europe immigration has been used as a tool to keep wages low, workers from the east of Europe (and in earlier era, Eire, Portugal and southern Italy ) have been willing to move to the west and work for wages which we in the west aren’t willing to work for. There is a legitimate argument to say that without immigration wages for fruit pickers, cleaners, and manual jobs, would have had to be higher, it’s simple market economics. For more than a generation the middle class has enjoyed low prices for services on the back of low paid workers, immigration has been used as a tool to bring this about and as a consequence we’ve created the phenomena at home of the disenfranchised poor who are angry at being stuck at the bottom of the social ladder. This is not the fault of those immigrants, but it is they who feel the consequences of the anger of those who feel they have no voice.

I understand all this, but let’s not pretend that for the last 43 years Britain has had this rise in inequality forced upon her! Britain has been at the heart of driving through these economic realities; more and more of our national freedom has been handed over to undemocratic bodies willingly and enthusiastically by the politicians we have elected. It isn’t just the EU, it is the WTO and the IMF as well. Why has this been done? to lock us into the neo-liberal economic system, to prevent us, "and our hard working families" from democratically changing this reality. 

If these were the arguments for Brexit being proclaimed publicly then I would have some sympathy. But as it stands I see no reason to believe that outside the EU that our government would act any differently, do we believe that the Conservatives or Labour are about to tell the middle and upper classes that retail prices will have to rise because there needs to be a higher wage incentive to encourage British workers to pick fruit and vegetables? Do we believe that our government is going to forego the easy option of immigration and instead invest billions more into vocational training so that our home workers will have the skills to do the jobs currently been done by eastern European plumbers, builders, nurses, etc?

I don’t believe much would change under Brexit. For too long British politicians have pushed EU policies which favour the wealthy, while using the EU as a scapegoat for the negative consequences of policies that they have passionately advocated and would have done so in or out of the EU.

What's more employment justice and fair wages are not something I want just for British workers, I want them for everyone, everywhere.

So I get some of the reasons for leaving. However I don’t think any of these are the reasons why most Brexiters are considering voting leave. I think it comes down to a far simpler national mindset, Fear.

I have met people from all across Europe, I have visited several EU countries, I have lived for a time in France. These experience were vastly easier because we are in the EU. All across Europe millions of people are enjoying the same privilege, to visit or to live and work in a different country, to learn a different language, to eat different food, to expand their vision of the world, to meet different people.

There are many Brits who take up this opportunity which being in the EU affords us; but on the whole it saddens me that as a country most of us don’t. We don’t take seriously learning other languages, our young people don’t take seriously the opportunity to live for a time in another EU country, we even turn our noses up at subtitled films; far too often we look across our channel with a measure of suspicion or ridicule.

Why? I think it’s because we are afraid. Fear is a natural reaction to the other, but the mature reaction to fear is to get through it, to be able to see a higher good beyond the fear. The immature reaction is to cower, to move backwards into a hole and then justify our cowardice with self righteous affirmation. For too long this is how we as Brits have acted towards our European neighbours. We are a nation of unadventurous cowards who spend way too much time blaming others for our problems. We mask our insecurities by consoling ourselves with a “we won the war” superiority complex which just assumes that we are better than anyone else.

We have a media and a political class that feed and manipulate our fears. Because we are afraid we fall for their lies, to build higher walls, to create more scapegoats. It is to our shame as a country that we feel so threatened by Syrians and North Africans living in abject poverty in Calais. These people are not our enemies,

This is not healthy. As a nation we need to address this fear.

Tomorrow I will be voting REMAIN.

Because I believe that all the very real economic injustices facilitated by the EU would be pursued with just as much vigour by the British government outside the EU. While at the same time any more progressive voice we might one day have would be locked out of the conversation.

Above all else I am voting REMAIN because I don’t want to live in a country which fears the outsider, I want to look out across Europe with a sense of hope and adventure, how incredible the opportunities we have! How amazing the peoples and cultures that we can encounter! How privileged we are to be able to work and live anywhere we want across our continent! How brilliant it is that we can build friendships with Romanians, Bulgarians, Poles, Czechs, Belgians and Swedes.  How impressive it is that Europe has lived through so little war in the last 70 years! How fortunate we are not to have felt the pain of famine at any point in our lifetimes!

So please, my fellow Brits, vote REMAIN, but don’t just vote remain we need to do more than this; make the most of this opportunity, encourage the young to learn languages, encourage them to live and work in other countries, make the most of what we have; and beyond everything else when you feel the fear of the other rising in your gut, stand up to that fear and force yourself to look outward.