What troubles me about the EU referendum is the quality of the discussion – it’s being kept short-termist, narrowly self-interested and money-oriented. Not a good thing for a momentous, historic decision. One thing to say for the EU is that such a referendum is even possible: this wasn’t the case in the British empire – if anyone wanted independence we’d send in the gunboats.
There’s a lot of projection onto Europeans as ‘others’. The referendum date has been chosen to take place before a lot of Brits go to Europe for their holidays. In September they might feel differently, more aware that Europeans are real people, just like us. People who project responsibility for their fate on others are lost, powerless.
Though there is some substance to them, a lot of these projections are quite weakly thought through or unfounded. In moaning about EU regulation and bureaucracy, many people conveniently forget certain things: 1. ours is the most centralised country in Europe – weak local and regional democracy and dominance by the London oligarchy; 2. in UK we apply European regulations more tightly and rigidly than any other member nation (so London implements EU policies but Brussels gets blamed for them); 3. many of our most cramping regulations are actually British – the planning authorities being a classic example (biased toward property-owners and corporate interests).
There’s also the basic assumption that the sovereignty of the UK Parliament would make things better. If the UK were not a member of the EU, I would hazard to bet that people would be complaining the other way, wishing to get closer to Europe to save us from our politicians and the British nomenklatura (For those of you who don’t remember the term ‘nomenklatura’, it was the Russian word for the Soviet oligarchy of managers and bureaucrats who ran everything. Our own nomenklatura is made up of banksters, executives, lawyers, politicians, experts, scientists, politicians and sundry other people in suits. We need perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (transparency) in our own country too). Much of the fuel in this debate comes from ill-feeling toward perceived rulers – at present, the focus is on Brussels, which is only half of the problem. The British people would be mistaken to believe that London will inherently be better. It will just be different, by marginal degrees. There is no evidence to show that we would be less restricted and controlled. There is no evidence that democratic rights will improve – they could actually get worse (witness the current gerrymandering of constituencies). Are we really happy being governed by Oxbridge graduates?
Finally, there is the rather empty assumption that the UK will be better off as a fully sovereign state. First, if we leave Europe, the UK is likely to disintegrate, with the west and north separating from the south and east. Second, remember (to quote Churchill), “government makes a 10% difference” – the power lies with the oligarchy, not with government. And many issues (especially foreign and ‘defence’ policy) are not under democratic control, and many of the issues that genuinely concern Brits are not discussed in elections. Democracy? Sovereignty, when much of our economy is controlled by markets and foreign mega-corporations (including Facebook)? Is the computer or smartphone you’re using right now British?
The referendum decision is already being made in the financial markets – not subject to democratic control. The British Pound and international confidence in Britain are sinking. Decision made – referendum sorted. Reminder: when the UK economy is weak and the Eurozone is strong – almost inevitable – it will probably not be possible to rejoin the EU. We’ll have to suck up to USA instead – or lick China’s ass – as a mere client state.
So, I believe, whatever the outcome of the referendum, the British people need to practice a wee bit of deep, independent thought. Even better, intuition. And look 30-50 years ahead.
Palden Jenkins