Thursday 11 May 2017

The who and why...

Even if you read books, is that darkness far below not now inevitable? Will this country (England & Wales) choose, as nature predicts, the line of least resistance offered by the one political party that never did believe in compassion or social justice? 
If you are a May and Brexit voter, then on your head be it, you and the criminally-lying or merely-inadequate media who have nudged you to this cliff-edge. Though unfortunately everyone, innocent or guilty, will be massively affected by a fragmenting economy, failing schools, and an NHS and social care in meltdown. Strong and stable indeed will the future be down there, only the survival of the fittest guaranteed – and you of course the first to complain when your world forever changes.

But who on earth ARE you? From where in which labyrinth do you come? Who sired you? Whose DNA resides in your saliva as you ignore tolerant common sense, knowledge and experience? How have you appeared in such numbers to accept without questioning this perversion of history, this distortion of cultural perspective?
In the words of The Observer:
 ....like sheep, the British people, regardless of whether they support Brexit, are being herded off a cliff, duped and misled by the most irresponsible, least trustworthy government in living memory. The moment when article 50 is triggered, signalling Britain’s irreversible decision to quit the EU, approaches inexorably (and) the UK will throw into jeopardy the achievements of 60 years of unparalleled European peace, security and prosperity from which it has greatly benefited.
The 137-word Article 50 has been described in the House of Lords as the shortest suicide note in history. What on earth are we doing and to what end?
‘We’re taking back sovereignty and control’ claims Brexit. Yet there’s precious little left to take back control of. The UK sold the family silver and the real estate long ago. Almost our entire infrastructure, energy, water, railways, industry, telecommunications, even much of the ‘privatized’ areas of health and education, are owned or controlled by foreign capital – to an extent no other country in Europe has allowed to happen. But Mr and Mrs Brexit still blame Europe for all their woes, large and small, relevant or irrelevant. Above all they hate the EU for ‘the threat of immigration’ – most of which has actually arrived in the UK from outside Europe; much of which we desperately needed and still need; and all of which has enriched our culture and civilization.
So get used to surviving without the 217,000 surgeons, doctors, nurses and carers who are beginning to return to the Continent. Get used to doing without the 265,000 fellow-Europeans who work in our hotels and restaurants (the only guaranteed growth market in post-Brexit England when the further decline of sterling will make us the ultimate tourist and shopping destination). Get used to coping without the 362,000 ‘Europeans’ in our factories, the 192,000 in construction and the 30,000 permanent EU employees who take on the heavy & dirty agricultural work locals are unwilling to even contemplate.
We were told a lot of lies by the Brexit campaign, lies and aggressive prejudice repeated in those 80% of newspapers that don’t deserve the title – prejudice and untruth largely unchallenged by the various manifestations of a terrified BBC. Untruth gleefully accepted by the gullible and ignorant who wave their flags in jingoistic fervour, and in so doing stick up a middle-finger at the millions of all nationalities who died or were wounded and damaged during two World Wars fighting for a free Europe. You might say Brexit’s finger or fingers are raised at each and every British and Commonwealth Military gravestone in Flanders and Picardy, in Italy and Germany, in North Africa, Malta and Greece. And if that remark offends Brexiters, think what it does to the rest of us who did NOT vote for a cowardly flight from reality. 
Aspects of this personal cri de coeur, nostro grido di dolore, might be shared by those in this country (and British living in Europe) who now feel themselves similarly stripped of their identity, stateless, unrepresented, unheard, shamed and above all angry. 
So damn the Brexiters for ignoring tolerant commonsense, knowledge and experience; for perverting culture and historical perspective; for destroying a half-century of peaceful coexistence. And damn Theresa May’s Hard Brexit for what will be the shattering of the United Kingdom, and a return to the small-minded fears and hatreds (and indeed eventual poverty) of the 1930s. 
On a personal level damn anyone who despises my birthright – which is as much Italian, Spanish, French and German as it has been English. 
To Hell with them and with Brexit for taking from us Life and Love, and returning us to a new dark age. And if you are a Brexiter, do me the favour of not reading my books. Though if you do, you might end up with a better understanding of recent history and of why the vote for Brexit will be such a multi-dimensional disaster.