Many patriotic Brexiteers believe that leaving the EU will benefit future generations. They believe in short term pain for long term gain. “We’re not doing this for us,” they say. “We’re doing this for future generations.”
There’s a wise proverb that says: ‘A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they shall never sit in’ but leaving the EU isn’t what young people want and, as a twenty something millennial, I can’t help but ask: ‘where the hell are our trees?’ We feel like the forgotten generation. The skipped generation. It’s as though our lives and finances don’t matter as long a Britain is ‘Great’ again - whatever that means.
I very rarely sleep through the whole night and yesterday I woke up at 3.30am. Within seconds of opening my eyes, I thought “Shit! Brexit!” and grabbed my phone to see how we were getting on. I’d gone to bed feeling fairly confident that our country would make the right decision and vote to remain in the EU but as I scrolled through Twitter and saw the despair of those who’d stayed up to watch the drama unfold, my heart stopped.
By 5am my fears had been confirmed and, after waking Jake up to tell him the grim results, we wandered into the living room to watch the news and drink lots of coffee.
Shortly before 6am I texted my Dad to see how he was feeling. When he texted me back I burst into tears.
Seeing my Dad feeling sick and worried made me feel even more sick and worried than before.
Our government thrives on turning us against each other
After sobbing in the shower I got dressed and took the tram to work. I almost found myself staring one by one at my fellow commuters and thinking “Who did this?! Which of you bastards did this?!”
When news websites revealed that the majority of Leave voters were the elderly, I found myself questioning them too. “Who did Grandad vote for?” I asked my Dad, before breathing a sigh of relief when he said ‘remain’. I laughed and nodded in agreement when I read a Vice article by Joel Golby that said:
“We are at war, [Grandma]. Oh, you’d like to sit down on the bus? Well, I’d like to not live through another recession, so I guess it’s tough shit for both of us. What – you wanted to go to the garden centre with us on Sunday? Well, I quite wanted to go to Croatia this summer, but that’s immediately costing me about 25 percent more thanks to your shonky voting. Oh, you’d like me to come visit you now and again? Dunno, grandma, a lot of my friends are now quite worried about their status in this country and whether they have to get visas now and I think I’d rather hang out with them. Nah, but at least you’ve got your national pride back, isn’t it? Sit here, grandma, with your doilies and your scones and your Keep Calm and Carry On tea towel, and your well dressing, and your framed photograph of the Queen, and your little Union Flag. You did it. You voted for this. Thanks a fucking bunch, grandma.”
We’re looking for people to blame and we’re getting angry with our own colleagues and neighbours and sweet old grandparents because of this. This is exactly what our government loves and it’s nothing new. For years they’ve thrived on turning us against each other. We bicker and argue while they’re secretly getting away with murder. David Cameron separates us into a nation of ‘strivers and skivers‘ and we accuse our neighbours of sponging off benefits and foreign people of stealing our jobs. People moan about the sea of brown faces in the GP waiting room unaware that the real reason we struggle to get an appointment when we need one is because the government keeps cutting NHS resources. Before we know it the NHS will be privatised and yet Gram Gram will be lying in hospital asking if any ‘nice white doctors’ are available to help her to the toilet.
I think what I’m trying to say in a very roundabout way is that, although our opinions and decisions differ greatly, we need to remember that, in the words of Jo Cox, “We have far more in common than that which divides us”.
The young and apathetic
As much as we try to blame the elderly for our nation’s decision to leave the EU, we also need to look at our own generation’s unashamed apathy.
A Facebook friend who couldn’t be arsed voting in the referendum posted this yesterday: “Is it bad that I really don’t care? I was gutted when I woke up. But after reading my news feed I’m more angry at how people are reacting. It’s really not the end of the world. I think everyone will feel stupid at how dramatically they’re reacting to this compared with how they are actually affected. The pound has become weaker and travelling around Europe is more of a pain in the arse now. Annoying but not worth any tears. Focus on your breathing, meditate, eat well and exercise regularly. I assure you that’ll make you more satisfied and happy than any political decision.”
After basically telling his politically engaged friends to chill the fuck out, smoke a spliff and do some yoga, he was unsurprisingly met with a ton of shit. He pissed people off. It’s easy to feel angry with people like this and to accuse them of being stupid or ignorant but, if we want to get out the mess we’re currently in and make Britain ‘Great’ again (whatever that means) we need to understand why so many young people don’t engage with politics. While we don’t know for certain, it’s believed turnout amongst younger voters was not as high as it could have been.
Of course, it needs to be said that thousands of 16 and 17-year-olds were desperate to vote in this referendum and many are angry and heartbroken that their future has been decided by the older generations. Many elderly voters claim to have made their decision for the younger generations but this is a decision that most young people did not want. Cameron’s failure to drop the minimum voting age for the EU referendum was perhaps one of his greatest mistakes. If he’d have let younger people vote, we would probably still be in the EU and he’d probably still be in power. But anyway, I digress. With very few children being taught about politics by their parents or teachers, is it really that surprising that so many other young people would rather tweet about Geordie Shore and getting pissed?
Stronger together
I’m scared our exit from the EU could be the start of a far less tolerant Britain that’s filled with hatred, jealousy and hostility. I honestly believe that we’re stronger when we work together. We’re stronger when we stand side by side with our European neighbours and we’re stronger when we don’t bicker and fight with our fellow Brits. We’re stronger when we take inspiration from other cultures and help one another to succeed. We’re stronger when we don’t point the finger and blame others for our failings or inability to succeed at something.
When news of Brexit broke, Boris Johnson said there’d be no rush to leave and it would take approximately 2 years before we actually left the EU. But EU leaders are already expressing a desire for us to leave sooner. They want us gone. We’ve said things we didn’t necessarily mean and they’ve called our bluff. We thought we could break up with them and continue to sleep on their sofa until we were ready to find our own flat and stand on our own two feet. They’ve thrown our clothes out the window and sent us packing. It’s not an amicable split. We won’t remain friends. The EU wants to make this hard for us. They want to see us struggle because if Brexit goes well for us, other countries will follow suit. They don’t want a Departugal, Latervia or Austria La Vista too.
So now what?
From Facebook posts telling mourners to ‘get a grip’ to LinkedIn blogs from business owners citing how resilient we all are, there’s a lot of people who think Remainers need to toughen up and accept the cards we’ve been dealt. We’ll get there. We’ll move on. But for now, just let us grieve, okay? We should be allowed to grieve. The pound has plummeted, we’ve lost millions from the economy, and experts are already warning of a potential recession. People will lose money because of this decision. Workers could lose their jobs because of this decision. Home owners could become trapped in negative equity. Fuck, people could find themselves marrying people they don’t really want to marry because it helps them live where they want to live. People could take their own lives over this. So excuse us for caring, okay? Excuse us for giving a shit.
Some bloke in his 50s called me selfish yesterday because I said I was scared about how this could have an impact on the finances of myself and my family. The patriotic monarchist, who probably voted Leave ‘for the sake of the children‘ said to me: “No need to worry about the generations after you. Just think of yourself!”
Does my generation not matter? Do we millennials, who have already been dealt a pretty shoddy hand financially, not deserve to live happy and secure lives? Do we have to just accept that our twenties (which are supposed to be some of the greatest years of our lives) are just monumentally fucked now? Should we just sit back and accept that the next 5-10 years are a write off?
One of my favourite proverbs is ‘A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they shall never sit in’ but, as a twenty something millennial, I’m starting to wonder: ‘where the hell are our trees?’ We’ve spent the last few years paying sky high rent or living with our parents in our twenties. Many of us are unable to afford to buy our own homes. Many of us graduated from university into minimum wage jobs. Some of us struggled to find employment at all. Some of us are in astronomical levels of debt due to extortionate tuition fees. So where the FUCK are our trees? Life for millennials is like Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi.. The trees are in a museum and we’re paying shit loads to see ’em. We’re now faced with a potential recession and we’re being told to chill out. I don’t think so, pal. A recession isn’t good for anyone. No one needs a recession in their lives. Why are so many Brexiteers acting like a recession is a small price to pay for their independence? As I said before, people could lose their lives over this.
We’re expected to think of the next generation but do you know what? If things carry on the way they are, many of us won’t be able to afford to produce another generation. I love the idea of having kids but I also love the idea of having a career and a house and being able to live somewhere that’s not shit. I guess that makes me a self-entitled brat, ey? When did that become too much to ask? When did decent maternity pay become too much to ask, Nigel Farage? We’re trying to make the next generation that you apparently care SO much about. But we’re damned if we do, we’re damned if we don’t.
The European Parliament, in their foolishness, have voted for increased maternity pay. I'm off for a drink. #UKIP
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) October 20, 2010
I have so much more I want to say but I realise that our attention spans can only take so much. I’ll save it for another post. I’m genuinely afraid for the future of our country. Sure, in 20 years time perhaps Britain will be ‘Great’ again but I’m also scared that if right wingers continue to get their way, this country will be a dark, hateful and unhappy place.
