Brexit, let us build a new wall

As citizens, we have an enormous responsibility with respect to the future of our countries and our children. It is our duty to take fully informed decisions, as they will certainly affect the future generations long after we are gone. So what to learn from the Brexit?

Referendum is one of the most important tools direct democracy has, as it allows the governing entities to see the true will of their peoples. Now it comes the million dollar question: to what point is the will of the people a true will? In other words, to what point is the will of the people manipulated by populism, and how well informed are these decisions? After all, “the voice of the people is the voice of God”, isn’t it? We have to respect that.

What we saw today, as people from the United Kingdom voted for leaving the European Union, is a particularly worrisome issue, one that separates the United Kingdom from one of the most respected, stable and democratic institutions in the world. Whether we want to admit it or not, this decision has been made by those who mostly rejected immigrant and foreigners, while the remaining (and younger) 48% wanted freedom of movement and a hopeful cosmopolitanism.

Polling data from YouGov shows an interestingly behavior regarding voting patterns: it appears that older generations mostly voted to leave the European Union, while younger generations voted to remain as part of it, as seen in the graph below. As a result, the youngest generations (the ones with the higher life expectancy) will have to live with this choice made by their elders, and with whatever results from it, including the decrease of their vast job and travel prospects. That is, they would no longer be able to move as freely or to work as freely in 27 other countries as before.

So what now?

Talking about the immediate economic impacts, Morgan Stanley announced immediately the movement of 2,000 investment banking staff from London to Dublin or Frankfurt. David Cameron has resigned as Prime Minister right after the result. The United Kingdom is no longer the 5^th biggest economy in the world, and the pound to euro exchange rate crashed in minutes, a fall that was so dramatic and not seen since 1985. Additionally, considering that 44% of the United Kingdom’s exports goes to the European Union, and another important part of their imports comes from it, Brexit would as well present an important barrier if a new frontier is actually built. All that money, 350 million pounds a week, with what the United Kingdom contributes to the European Union, and which was promised to be invested in the national health system (NHS) as part of the leave campaign, are no longer guaranteed as Nigel Farage told to Good Morning Britain this morning, leaving many people wondering if they did the right thing. Last, but not least, Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland stated that is “democratically unacceptable” to be out of the European Union even after the majority of Scottish people having voted to remain, and as such, said that a second independence referendum might be an option. A first referendum was made in 2014, in which 55% of people voted to remain part of the United Kingdom.

All in all, we cannot but feel a bit of “familiarity” with the pro-leave arguments with those of Donald Trump in the United States: let us make out country free and great again (by pushing away our neighbors). As Trump himself declared this morning, “Brexit is a good thing” and “America is next”. This kind of statements should rise up red flags and we should be extremely cautious about them, as they are usually made out of racism, xenophobia, and ultra nationalist conservatives. We should consciously and carefully assess the impact that these discourses have on people, and in the future of our society. We should be careful especially now that this discourse has gained so much support not only in the United Kingdom, but also in the United Stated and many democracies.

Many questions remain: Is building walls the solution? Would the United Kingdom stay “united? And one of the most important questions: are we to watch a domino effect on the region? There is also an important reflection to be made.

As citizens, we have an enormous responsibility with respect to the future of our countries and our children. It is our duty to take fully informed decisions, as they will certainly affect the future generations long after we are gone.

Dott.ssa Ana Figueroa