[google5a67ca814a7fbf41.html] The Ghost of Europe Past: June 2016

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Thanks, Britons: You gave us all hope



When I first saw the results of the British EU referendum, a weirdly exhilarated, victorious feeling got over me. It wasn't even my country, but I was so happy. It took a moment for me to realize what it was about: we won, for once! Us, the hate-speaking, racist, communist, nazi, fascist literally-hitlers won against all odds.

The EU elite, most of the government and the mainstream media were all against Brexit, trying to fear monger people into submission, but it didn't work. The little guy kept on and chose a future of democracy and independence over sheepish submission for momentary safety.

This was a much-needed moral lifter for the rest of us, too. Now we've seen it: they can be beaten. Demands for referendums of their own started in countries such as France, Netherlands, Italy, Sweden and Finland. And this is something we really must do together to minimize the damage: If we all remained in the EU, we'd give up democratic decision making for this megalomaniac, elitist block.

If only some of us leave, so that some remain in the EU, it's create a grudge between those staying and those going, and it'll make building new relations tougher. But if we can bring the EU down in the next few years so that none of us remain there, we're free to create whichever relations we like without bad blood or division.

 Even though the EU has gotten the Nobel peace prize, it has sown so much grudge and discord among us. A great many Europeans hate the Greeks: they feel as though Greeks are the messed-up cousin who just can't get his things together. The bailout packages, have deepened a grudge that wouldn't even be there without the EU and euro-zone. Had the Greeks been outside it all, they could've taken Iceland's route out of the economic problems, but now they're stuck in a limbo with little hope. The union is bidding us against each other: we all think in terms of "payers" and "receivers", and how has that worked out for a more harmonious Europe?

 EU has also created this authoritarian mentality of uniformity. Europe's beauty lies in its small cultural differences, but EU needs assimilation to work. It has turned a lovely continent with honest relations into a burdensome social experiment that hangs like a stormcloud over us. The remain-camp is rambling about "loving Europe", which has nothing to do with the union. Europe isn't synonymous with the EU.

I hate the EU, but I do love Europe and its people. That is exactly why I am for destroying EU for good: I want myself and my fellow Europeans to have that life our ancestors tried to build us, but which we've squandered: that of the true European values of democracy, sovereign states, justice and equality.

It's going to be a rough road in the beginning, as we already knew. The markets have plunged but they'll recover. Europeans have gotten through so much worse, and we can get through the aftermath of EU too. It's never fun and easy fixing our past mistakes, and creating EU was a big one. But we'll pull through, just as we always have.

The British referendum has made such waves throughout world because of the same reasons it raised the exhilarated feeling in me: it gave people hope. For that, I'm deeply grateful to the British. 

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Brexit-vote is a choice between momentary comfort and undying values



The British EU referendum is just a bit over a day away, and then we'll all just wait nervously for the result. We'll see which one wins: comfort or values. Because in the end, that's what this is about. 

EU has become the bad habit of its citizens. The remain camp keeps saying how it'll be so much work to renegotiate everything, how it'll be a jump into the unknown to choose to withdraw from the union. Yes it is, but it's necessary.

We'd hear similar arguments from a drug addict who doesn't want to quit his bad habit. Every day that addict has to make a choice: either he'll prioritise a moment of comfort over long-term benefit by taking his dose, or he can face the consequences of his actions, face that passing discomfort and get a chance to a new, free life.

That's exactly the position each of us are in. Staying in the EU would be giving up to our laziness and to our desire for momentary comfort. That'll be much like saying, "But it's so much work! Why can't we just lay back and let mom do it?". Leaving would take some courage and work just as independent life takes from each of us in our personal lives. But if having an independent and sovereign nation is an important value to you, going through some trouble to get there should be something you're ready to do.

If democracy is a core value to you, you should also be against the EU. In each nation the highest authority should always be the people of that nation, but EU makes that impossible. No matter what we want, we often simply have to obey what Brussels says.

The seat in the table -argument has no bearing in reality. One country doesn't have any influence in voting, and the idea is absurd from the start. You have the control over your own home and how you live in it. Would you exchange that for one of hundred seats in the table which decides for the entire town? Would you value more the complete independence you have in deciding how you eat, sleep and act, or having very little influence on both your own matters and your neighbors' matters?

The same goes with immigration policy: the EU wants to build a common asylum policy, which would mean them deciding who gets in. Would you rather decide for yourself who can stay at your home or have that one out of hundred seats to vote for the entire neighborhood? Exactly.

I've also heard many other ridiculous arguments, such as saying Britain has lots of regulation of its own, so why complain about the EU making petty regulation? OK, so how about I order you to eat, sleep and behave in a certain way in your own home. What's the difference in you deciding for yourself and me deciding, when you have to eat anyway? Of course our own regulation is a lesser evil, because we have the power to change that.

So it's time to choose: do you want temporary comfort which will lead to an antidemocratic, fascist and controlled future for your country or do you choose our European values of democracy, freedom, independence and justice? The second road will take you to a better place, but the start of it is rougher. I think independence and freedom are worth it.