I won’t be held hostage to Brexit
I don’t usually write about politics. But it’s impossible to ignore the upheaval over Brexit. All weekend long, hubby and I have been glued to the news trying to understand what led to this shocking outcome on Friday.
I’m recently back home on the Continent after an extended period of business travel, including two weeks in Latin America. There’s nothing like spending a weekend alone in Mexico City, a megapolis of 21 million inhabitants, to give you a bit of perspective. Particularly if the visit includes an afternoon at the National Museum of Anthropology.
This cultural institution, recommended by my local friends and colleagues as a must-see, chronicles the evolution of the human species — and the rise and fall of many important civilizations over thousands of years. With that visit fresh on my mind, and the Brexit vote dominating English-language and European news headlines since my return, I can’t help but wonder about the implications of this current social upheaval within the broader context of human evolution.
This is not to say that the internal political matters of one small region should be elevated to a discourse on the future of humanity (much as the current news machine and a few colonialist-minded relics of the past might beg to differ.) The Brexit vote is merely a symptom of a much deeper collective angst bubbling to the surface around the world.
The widespread outpouring of emotion since Friday, representing all ends of the continuum, is reflective of a disabling uncertainty caused by the transformative changes we are all living right now — in everything from business and politics to the archaic institutions by which nations are governed, not to mention the real risks of our environmental impact on this earth we all call home.
As a species we have big issues to resolve. We need look no further than the seismic global events over the last 15 years for tangible examples of the fragility of our interconnected financial systems and social communities. Within this context, the implications of ethnocentricity, seen with the likes of a Brexit — or, more worryingly, the upcoming US election — are massive.
I can’t help but feel betrayed by Brexit. For one thing, I never actually believed that Leave would prevail; which makes me wonder if it’s not time we all start paying more attention to Trump’s momentum in the US.
Even more so, I feel a sense of injustice. In a true democracy, how could such a decision be made — one that has clear regional, and possibly global, ramifications — without the involvement of a broader set of people? Why should the vote of a fisherman or bakery owner in Cornwall hold the rest of Europe economically hostage until the UK has sorted out its internal political squabbling? Surely such an important decision should take into account the needs the greater good?
More worryingly, I wonder how a little over half the population of a country can be duped by the likes of an Eton-educated fraud posing as the ’99 percent’, all for the sake of his own political gain. In all of this, I can’t help but question the mechanics of the 24/7 news cycle: a ready-made amplification tool for the time-poor and attention-deprived, fueled by titillating sound bites and polarized solutions.
The media is failing in its civic duty to provide a platform for thoughtful consideration of the issues at hand. Together with the latest breed of politicians, it has perpetuated the conditions for extreme views to prevail. Voters are consistently misled by political PR hacks and con artists posing as their elected leaders. This amounts to a crime against society. The core referendum question at hand deserved reflection and multi-pronged approaches designed to serve the greater good rather than the political aspirations of a chosen few. But then, that doesn’t make for good television.
Over the last decade we’ve heard leaders wax poetic about the benefits of globalization. Then as soon as convenient, the very same individuals prey upon the fears and insecurities of their constituents to advance personal interests and gain, or retain, the perks of power. It’s clear that the institutions set up to serve society are no longer adequate. Conditions are ripe for an uprising. All we’re missing is a charismatic leader who is able to corral the masses into revolt.
Citizens of Europe (and the soon-to-be-separate UK) need to take a deep breath and accept that there are no quick and easy fixes. The middle ground isn’t an exciting, or newsworthy, prospect but we must insist on moderation and building bridges, not barriers. This is the way of the future. This is the only way we will avoid going the way of those great civilizations of the past, so many of which were brought down by internal strife and discord. Today they are little more than archeology sites and a distant memory captured in history books and a few beautiful reminders on the wall of museums.
I’m not prepared to sit by and watch the beginning of the end of a united Europe — or world. Much as it’s tempting, I won’t gloat at the seeming ignorance of referendum voters suggested by the Google Trends charts making the rounds on Twitter and Facebook this weekend (which were undoubtedly distributed by a smart Google PR person on Friday). I won’t jump to hasty conclusions about the repercussions of this separation — and the very real personal implications for my own family — none of which are immediately apparent.
Inside my heart, I know the only way forward is to take things one step at a time. We need to slow the pendulum swing of left to right, love to hate, remain to leave. Let’s all just settle down a moment and start to pick up the pieces so that we can make constructive change, not choices based on fear-induced hysteria, which is exactly what is dominating decision-making these days.
Today citizens have more power than ever to chart the course of history for themselves, their families and their communities. We mustn’t accept being lied to and manipulated by the forces of a system designed for another time and place. We mustn’t allow ourselves to be used as pawns in a high stakes game of risk that only benefits hedge fund managers, self-interested politicians, and media owners. We must not allow Europe (and the UK and the world at large) to enter another protracted recession as a result of all this uncertainty. Or worse, allow recent events to serve as a catalyst for a more worrisome destructive movement.
The power of momentum is something to behold. Collectively we have power to create momentum for a virtuous, not vicious, circle. We need to move forward, not back. The earth doesn’t distinguish between the false boundaries created by humankind. This is not the time to duck our heads in the sand. Yes, the world can be scary. The world can be uncertain. We all want comfort and security. Right now we can only achieve this by choosing the path to a better, connected future.
It’s time to rise up, together, and build unity and prosperity; not walls, war and strife.
It’s time for thoughtful discussion and creative solutions to the complex issues of our day.
It’s time for courage and faith that we are stronger together, even when we don’t know for certain what will come next.
Above all, we must never forget that we’re all imperfect humans. Yet in spite of our shortcomings, the world sees countless examples of harmony, caring and love expressed every day, even if they don’t make the headlines. This is our future. This is the possibility I dream about for today and tomorrow.
(Feature photo: StockSnap / Justin Luebke)
