If It Ain´t Broke, Fix It!

If It Ain´t Broke, Fix It!

By: Erreh Svaia

“Where there is unity there is always victory.”

Publilius Syrus

Inertia seems to be what will domain the UK referendum (Bremain), this 23 of June, it might upset some of its most ardent critics like Michael Gove, ex London major Boris Johnson or the populist Nigel Farage from right wing UKIP, but at the same time, remaining on the European Union will surely give more elements to the UK in order to negotiate better conditions inside the Union and make it more comfortable and with a more equal weight when compared to Germany or to France, just as climate change seems to be bringing us more and more extreme conditions, in the last years we have seen what seems to be almost exaggerated or alarmist reactions to certain events on the geopolitical and economic landscape all over the world, globalization has made world news local news now and it seems that least under these two aspects (geopolitics and economics) a small flutter of a butterfly wing in one extreme of the continent could turn into a huge hurricane in the other, many, many miles away, in this specific case, Brexit or Bremain will undoubtedly put the world under stress for the next couple of days. 

A union of 28 nations that for a long period of times managed to put an end to years of continuous battle and nationalism, Europe is formed of small countries, space was always an important matter, ethnicity also, sometimes nationality and ethnicity even clashed, so it was necessary for a proper interaction to open the borders and let population move freely, beyond obvious economic reasons, political and social reasons were an important thing, the chance of moving from country to country helped ease pressure, increased integration and finally erased just a bit xenophobia, it helped the population to achieve maturity and leave behind puerile nationalism.    

Today, global markets are still under heavy pressure, it seems that Brexit is the new economic and political storm, after China's economic slowdown, the drastic fall of the oil prices, the anxiety caused by the FED meetings, the refugee crisis and the Grexit, this is the new peril coming to shake violently the  foundations of our global village, the growing possibility of the UK leaving the European Union could mean so many things, and could imply the beginning of totally new landscape in our shrinking planet, as times passes by, global phenomenon affects us all, distances means less these days, what happens in Greece, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, Indonesia, China or Argentina can't be ignored anymore, more than ever we are one , and what affects you, affects me, so let's all be prepared for the next storm to come.

Some people complained to me about why I was so worried about the recent events at an Orlando disco shooting, and not so worried about a similar shooting in a gay disco in Veracruz , Mexico, and I must clear out that I'm truly horrified by both crimes, but in the case of the Mexican event, I demand it to be solved and the responsible for that atrocity be punished as law establishes, but the thing about the Orlando shooting, is that beyond being a hate crime, it is being "taken hostage" by fear mongers who now promise to take care of the LGBT community and of the whole USA, but they don't condemn firearms use, their solution to violence is getting more firearms in the street and then increasing the hate within society, the shooting in Orlando is an event of global repercussion, it is now used for their own benefit by people like Trump, these kind of events cause anger and fear, it could help Trump to win in the USA, it could help Marine Le Pen to win in France, it could help Geert Wilder to win in the Netherlands, and  it could help people like Nigel Farage from the UKIP get a more prominent voice towards the Brexit referendum, anger and fear divide us, anger that already is corroding countries like Poland, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and Greece, a sense of unrest that was close to overflow peace and coexistence.

It’s just a matter of looking at Farage's UKIP shameless poster showing a long row of refugees walking thru the Balkans trying to arrive to places like Germany probably, Farage and company are going to the jugular here, it is about Europe only for Europeans, but what Farage doesn't seem to understand is that in a few decades, Europe's population will be very old and diminished and their welfare state would be unable to stand without a large young working population to hold it, I have no doubt that the UK will regain its strength in a few years if leaving, but they won't be able to keep it in the future, Scotland will undoubtedly lose their fears and leave the Kingdom, Russia will become more invasive and the Balkans would became the next step on Putin invasive plans, if the European Union falls apart, I have no doubts that Russia's area of influence will begin to grow just like in the soviet years, this time it won't be about communism, this time it will be Putinism and the far right that would become a danger to Europe.

Much has been said about Germany and France prominent role, or about the oligarchs in Brussels, but this is not the time of leaving but of leading, for the UK no to leave but to negotiate its way into a more prominent role within the Union, otherwise is Putin, nationalism, xenophobia, intolerance and the far right the ones who are wining here, not independence or freedom, yes, the UK could after a moment of complex adjustment regain its pace, there will always be the chance of making stronger ties with the USA or Russia, with the rising India, or rescue old ties to China via Hong Kong, even strengthen their commercial relations with the Anglosphere (Canada, New Zealand, Australia) or even moving fast and connecting with new rising markets like South Asia, but the most important thing is that the EU need the UK as a counterweight, they must negotiate better conditions, they must achieve a better and more prominent role, the UK thru his London major Sadiq Khan has taught the world a lesson in integration, and that can´t be ignore, the UK must remain, the big loser could be prime minister David Cameron, ironically since Cameron is part of the Conservative party, the winner could be, not the left, but a more extreme form of right wing, with people like Boris Johnson and populists like Nigel Farage, adding even more xenophobia to Europe in general.