Brexit & Trump politics from a EU perspective

 Now mid April 2017, last year's catastrophic events, namely the Brexit and USA elected Trump have finally sunk in. November 11 last year left a generally depressed world population, whichever nationality I spoke to, whilst the Brexit, left most Europeans in temporary indifference .  'Britain is just not into EU' well, we feel the same. Upon scrutiny, both major events are similar in character, with features of a rise in right wing extremism and are not good for the political world stage.

Britain was never part of the European currency and have a similar polarised and unequal society as in the USA compared to many countries on the continent. The by nature louder Americans, are more verbal and present on social media with anti-Trump campaigns, while the don't rock the boat, more  stiff upper lipped British seem to have accepted their fate. Cameron disappeared almost overnight, and while I think the referendum was the right thing to do, it was the not having a qualified majority for the result that was a mistake.  The outcome, a close 52/48, seems to defy democracy because it leaves almost half of UK citizens in not getting served. In true keeping up appearances style, Ms. May has now commenced the use of Article 50, claims the whole UK is behind her and the negotiations in the European Commission are underway.

I think the last Federal UK budget announcement stated that the Brexit will cost citizens in the UK 5000 pounds each over a few years. Money aside, the tragedy is the ever increasing division in society. The rural population with no foreigner contact see those from abroad as an unfair competitor but forget that many of their own kind are abroad taking advantage of globalisation. Rural populations tend to blame foreigners instead of the political decisions on economy that allow free trade and movement.  Sadly, it is  often a lack of education and insight into the modern economy and society, which breeds right wing extremism, as they are given a scapegoat to blame, for their own choices in not having wanted to keep up with neo-liberal aggressive capitalism.  Can we blame these citizens for not keeping up? Yes and no. Can we blame UKIP for false pretenses and Farage who disappeared the moment the outcome was had? Definitely yes.

To call for a Brexit, but without a support plan and then walk away from victory is the most cowardly political act one can make as a politician. In that sense, the ones who fell for the tripe and empty promises of the 'leave' campaign without digging into the facts, have been rightly played.  "There will be a drop in immigrants, 100 million extra per week for the NHS, we won't have to pay for the free-trade zone, Britain will be greater, it will save on energy bills (whilst energy is imported)," the rhetoric read, but believe you me, Europe is not going to let Britain have its cake and eat it.  There will be new costs in trading with the European  zone and after the years it takes to disengage responsibly from the EU, after each citizen has coughed up their 5000 pounds for the Brexit, things will not be better, in fact they very much might be worse. The right wing have never been the first in history who were willing to distribute wealth, give sovereignty to their colonies, abolish slavery or give women and the working class the vote. 

There will be new future global challenges ahead in these racing times which are best taken on together, especially where the BRICS emerging economies are adding to global competition.  The Brexit will affect millions of English living abroad in Europe, but those whose vote was fuelled by intolerance of Islam or jealousy against foreigners taking advantage of a free trade in the Europe zone did not think of that. The problem with the English, in the UK and USA is that their only speaking one language has them very much in a comfort zone, where the world bends to their lingua-franca and they have to put it no extra effort to succeed.  Foreigners do and often speak two or three languages fluently, which certainly broadens perspective and opportunities.

The far right wing argument that supports an up-rise in nationalism is personally not my cup of tea. I am politically centre left, and while I agree own citizens should first be taken care of, I am in favour of an open border world with a universal income for everyone.  This Utopian ideal is well set out in R. Bregman's Utopia for Realists (Amazon).  Some say the left have to start supporting nationalism to regain the political stage, but I do not believe segregation of nationality against nationality is of this modern time.

There is strength in numbers and solidarity and as technology has made our world smaller, continents should be sticking together like families. Some call this a 'cosmos vague abstract idealism' but I see it as the future. Not only is it economically more viable to have Europe as a block as big as the USA, Russia, Latin America, Asia or the Middle East and Africa, as far as world peace goes, it makes practical sense too.  Any island mentality mentality or "America first, Britain will be great again", just resounds features of illusory grandeur, when the world stage, especially in terms of environmental sustainability, needs joint responsibility with shared principles. There is richness in diversity and no country should lose it heritage, identity, language or culture, just because it has a diverse population of ethnicity. But diversity within a common pool of secondary culture, such as the European Union, is taking strides in tomorrow's world which is necessary. No man is an island and neither is any one individual country. We cannot put gates in the sky against pollution if one country decides to ignore climate change. It is no longer 'each for his own' it is 'we are together in this' and no it is not a new world order.  

The fact that so few young pro-European voters did not vote in the Brexit election is also attributable to the negative result. However, in the recent London municipal elections, they had the highest youth turn out ever, so maybe youngsters have woken up to the necessity of political participation. Voting is not only a right, it is a duty, and when one realises in history how many have shed blood, sweat and tears to give every citizen the vote, it's a remarkable modern laziness to not participate in your country's major decisions. Most people do not understand democracy, and yes, it is complicated but if you at least vote a yeah or nay, you have contributed to providing to overall true sentiment and made use of your voice. Not voting just does not pay your dues and no matter what your opinion, it then remains a virtual feather floating in air meaninglessly.  Funnily enough, non-voters are often the biggest complainers and believers in conspiracy theories, which is another current societal problem. People believe that Virtual Reality is reality when it is absolutely not. With opportunities for monetised videos, anyone can now create imaginary stories, artistically done and quite persuasive, but with  little control on factual evidence, which is a downside of globalisation.

In the aftermath of cleaning up the executive and monetary mess, at least the Conservatives have taken the bull by the horns to give Britain some stability. Politicians claim the Brexit is a country-wide supported decision whereas, the truth is that many, disenchanted with politics, and the handling of the financial crises, voted for something they knew little about.  Catching a ride on the "Britain will be great again" train was the social media microphone, and it is a powerful instrument  of misinterpretation and misleading facts, just as main media sometimes. Sadly, these right wing dissenters are often ex-Labour left wing supporters, who believed that UKIP would offer something different because they criticised the system. However, this decimation of the political Left over the years has only given more power to the ones who do not really believe in equality or the stability it brings.  True, the rise of ISIS and Muslim fear has played its part in the rise of  right wing extremism but thinking that Nationalism will brake the acceleration of  neo-liberalism is a mistake. In fact it is actually serving it up in bigger portion opportunities, to the Conservatives. The latter, as the bigger drivers of inequality, are only too happy to then race ahead with their own agenda, lapping up the political non-participation and ex-left wing dissent as the Chesire cat who got the cream. Due to an ageing population too, many old timer Conservatives, entrenched in right wing ideals since birth still vote conservatively, despite neo-liberal capitalism flaws. I guess old habits die hard.

The expansion of Europe has meant that those behind the iron curtain a few decades ago, Poland being a good example, have turned their countries into wealthier, more functional economies, offering higher standards and more opportunities for travel and career challenges. The once gated communities have opened their borders and cultural hearts so to speak, to encompass the larger world, intermingling in the global economy. The problem is that it benefits the young, thriving, educated population but not the ones who are not talented or keen enough to keep up and thus resist change.  I suppose one shouldn't have to be forced to choose at what pace one lives, but in an accelerated developing technological world, the old adage of 'if you snooze you lose' is more real than ever.

Aggressive capitalism's wounds have been sorely felt in the crisis years, but we are all to blame because everyone took advantage of the good years and were more than happy to reap the benefits when the going was good. Many nay-sayers of globalisation are still happy to use  neo-liberalism and capitalism benefits, of social media platforms, smart phones, google for never ending information streams,  to state our case in why globalisation is so bad, yet willfully ignore the advantages, tending to concentrate only on disadvantages.  If we're honest, nothing in life is without flaws and while globalisation needs financial regulation, it is also a cultural progression tool to raise living standards for humans across the globe, who live in far worse circumstances than ourselves. Is it silly to want all humans to improve their lifestyle? Not really, it's safer in the long run for everyone and a turn from the current individual, cultural, narcissist mould we've stepped into.  So while aggressive capitalism, neo-liberalism and globalisation has its flaws, lets not forget that most of us on earth  want a job, want to travel and create a better life for our family. We can't do that without some form of global, liberal capitalism.  What we need to do is tame it and that means not having our cake and eating it, but  sharing the cake responsibly.

There is not much space or time over to discuss the Trump phenomena but as I said in the introduction, the Brexit and Trump's election have similarities. Disenchanted voters or non-voters, a rise in social media microphones with fake material and we could even include Wikileaks of Hilary's emails as contributors to the change on the world political stage. Add in Muslim intolerance, a world of citizens that haven't experienced a war first hand and one can see that the crises we face have various contributing factors. One thing I am convinced of is that we have not made progress, we have actually deteriorated. Hilary was the lesser evil and imperfect, but Trump's American troops bombing Isis in Syria and then calling out an immediate attack on the Syrian government itself, for the alleged Assad chemical attack is a recipe for disaster.

Fortunately, Russia have openly stated, their dislike of the authoritarian manner of Trump's aggressive stance, so Trump's possible underlying strategy to weaken Europe, to strengthen USA's global trading is not yet a risk. His attitude to climate is though, and there are no words for his  wanting to undo any good Obama managed, after he inherited the apocalypse of the financial system in 2008 from the Conservatives and  Bush. The only small positive thing that Trump has done is to overturn the TTIP, however, knowing Trump, his alternative is not going to be any better.

My hope is that Trump will be impeached because a business man cannot run a country soundly, and secondly, that voters have learnt their lessons in democratic participation. Those being, one, voting is essential. Two, nothing is perfect and sometimes you have to choose the lesser evil.  Thirdly and finally, louder and dirtier is not better. Democracy is about diplomatic dialogue, open mindedness to different opinions and in the end courageous compromise to put each country and global citizen a step forward in progress.  Solidarity works, division doesn't and the latest Pullitzer Prize to the ICIJ (Investigative consortium of independent journalists) is living proof of this. They won for their now year old  Panama Papers, which exposed corruption and tax fraud world-wide by the elite and companies dodging tax. Most importantly, with regard to Trump, men who by their fame and riches have time to boast and brag about their sexual accomplishments are really not the ethical, responsible leaders society needs. We are what we think, say, do and how we behave. It's really that simple. Voters who choose wild rhetoric over common sense need a lesson in politics I think.

In the meantime, The Netherlands had an 82% voter turn out for national elections, a choice of 28 parties with the extreme populist right only gaining five seats, thus lagging far behind in the general consensus of a population that believes in sobriety and common sense. The Green Party 'Groenlinks' made the most increase in seats. In Germany, the Greens are represented in 11 out of 16 states.  France's Le Pen, I hope will not make it to the final two candidates for the French election and fortunately, Austria took a centre left government. Greece, Italy and Spain might be seeing some relief in an upward economy, but still lag behind the northern European partners so while the European debt crisis has been contained the issues are not over yet.

The European Union remains a work in progress. When the ECB will stop quantitative easing, which national banks have reacted to by boosting their balance sheets is unknown. Interest rates remain low, real estate is booming but still it's the banks that control the global economy. However, let's not forget that the shareholders of these banks are citizens, like you and me. Only a little richer. Will these powerful elite pulling the puppet strings have learnt anything from the previous crises they caused, and do they really think they can benefit from any more individual power over the collective by creating another crisis? Power is like a drug, one is never satisfied until the next shot. But just what could they gain after the shot has been had? Are they like the Magister Ludi's in Herman Hesse's Glass Bead Game, who believe they are leaders of an order that does not participate in the real world?

It is not hard to imagine that politicians around Europe are having difficulty in building bridges between the left and right to decrease bureaucracy while they are juggling so many balls to counter mass events such as the Brexit and Trump election. Not to mention the recent terrorist attacks in London, Sweden, Egypt, Dusseldorf, St Petersburg and the ongoing disaster in Syria, which means a constant stream of refugees. The USA interference in Irak many years ago lead to military dissenters breaking away to form IS and their mission to infiltrate weaker countries in the Middle East is far from over.  Religion and politics is a bad mix but too many cooks also spoil the broth. There are many evils in the world and its not going to be easy to solve them all.  I long for the day when the Middle East or war on terror no longer dominates the news. It eclipsed the crisis news and I suppose the media are just waiting for the new trend. Sad that it is always negative controlling by fear from broadcasters when in reality, we live in a beautiful natural world which although  has culturally declined in consumerism greed, still achieves much good everyday.

What I know is that Trump's rhetoric is adding fuel to the fire globally and it doesn't help. Countries, continents and people need to stand together in ethical decency, as only then can there be any human progress. Progress and change are always slow and citizens need to turn a blind eye to technological online algorithms that mold their views. Fake news is rampant and by concentrating only on the negative, we will not defeat extremist right wing views, we will only allow a bigger stage for them to grow. We need to think deeper and beyond the material information age we live in, to understand human behaviour. Everyone wants peace, happiness and prosperity but it's when we start with ourselves that we begin to develop a collective mindset that recognises the good and works on the bad. Nothing is all bad or good and its time many of us awaken to this. There was no need to vote for Trump or a Brexit, it was chiefly fear, anger and apathy that drove these results. And these emotions are seldom good teachers when it comes to deciding.