History Repeats Itself: The Sinister Consequences of Brexit

My friends know me as having little interest in politics but the Brexit result—Britain’s decision to exit the European Union—has left me shocked. As a British expat I get the feeling that friends living in the UK don’t fully appreciate the sinister context of the decision. I therefore felt compelled to share my perspective as somebody who was born in the UK to two Polish immigrants and later effortlessly immigrated to Switzerland where I now live happily with my Swiss-born wife—the daughter of a Swiss father and Spanish mother—and my future son.

In Switzerland this year, 2016, the right-wing party unsuccessfully tried passing a controversial anti-immigration law that would have enabled the government to deport 2 generations of immigrants for crimes that included minor offences. This means that if you’re a son of immigrants (a second generation immigrant) and are responsible for, say, starting a fight, adolescent drunken behaviour, speeding, possession of marihuana, then those would be grounds for you to be sent back to “where you came from” — your parents’ country of origin where you would be upgraded to a 1st generation immigrant! — even though you were born and raised in Switzerland.

The biggest problem with such a law is that a “real” Swiss national (classified as a 3rd generation immigrant and upwards) who has found a reason to dislike immigrants—or just you—could maliciously accuse you of wrongdoing, falsely or otherwise, and your whole family would suddenly live in fear of deportation — of being torn from friends, relatives, careers, schools — to “go back” to a country that you may only have visited for holidays. Your accuser could commit exactly the same crimes but they would not experience the same consequences or distress.

Now consider this: if you’re a 1st or 2nd generation immigrant living in the UK and voted to leave the EU for immigration reasons then you’re sympathising with the right-wing politics that led to the proposal of Switzerland’s deportation law. If England were pre-Nazi Germany — which it reflects in many ways — and you’d voted-in a government against Jews (immigrants) then you would have inadvertently secured yourself a train ticket to a destination from which 6 million people (men, women, children, elderly) did not return.

Anti-Jewish laws affected 3 generations of Jews! So that, even if you were not Jewish, but your grandparents were, then you’d be considered a person of mixed blood (a “mischling”) and treated as an outcast (a foreigner) condemned to a gas-induced death. The nation’s atmosphere was so toxic and self-righteous that even non-Jews would fear for their lives if somebody decided that they had Jewish (foreign) characteristics (a foreign accent, dark skin and hair, etc.)—which is, of course, entirely subjective.

Jewish (immigrant) sympathisers were also persecuted because institutionalised racism for a “just cause” conveys the message that it’s ok to insult, hurt, or even kill people who are seen to be enabling “the problem.”

This happened only 70 years ago. My Polish grandparents, who are still alive today, witnessed these atrocities escalate first-hand. The EU was primarily established to prevent such things from happening again — ironically, supported by a reflective post-war British government. How quickly we forget. Britain has now decided to sever itself from the peaceful union, which provides it with significant financial and political benefits as well as freedom of movement, because it doesn’t want to comply with the conditions that grant access to those benefits. In other words: “Yes, we’ll have your money but don’t tell us Brits what to do!”

In reality the benefits far outweigh the necessary compromises—as counties like Cornwall are quickly realising. However, it becomes very difficult to have an objective appreciation of facts when immigrants and the EU (the “Brussels bullies”) are used as scapegoats for problems that were largely caused by a corrupt banking system, skewed tax laws that favour the rich and incompetent governments that shy away from dealing with the real issues—in the same way that the Nazi’s vilified Jews for Germany’s crippling territorial, military and financial sanctions, which were the result of the country’s humiliating World War I defeat some 15 years earlier. The Nazi’s declared that they were going to make Germany great again using similar rhetoric to that of the British Conservative Party and UKIP today.

“Remember, it didn’t start with gas chambers. It started with politicians dividing the people with ‘us vs them.’ It started with intolerance and hate speech and when people stopped caring, became desensitised and turned a blind-eye.”
 — Unknown

So if you voted for the UK to leave the EU for immigration reasons, and are yourself, or any of your closest friends, a first, second or third generation immigrant then I would seriously consider whether the government policies that you support may inadvertently be targeting you, your friends, and people like British Labour Party MP and mother of two, Jo Cox, who was assassinated in June 2016 because she campaigned to make immigrants feel welcome in her (your) country. You are, in fact, being misdirected by power-seeking populist politicians that are taking advantage of people’s genuine fears over an uncertain future.

This mentality affects us all. Not just the British. By definition, an immigrant is simply a person (such as a labourer, artist, doctor or teacher) who migrates to another country for permanent residence. More often than not, the reason for migration is in pursuit of love, new cultural experiences, better career opportunities, reconnection with family or for international business collaborations. We are one global community who should seek to foster these pursuits that open our horizons to new experiences, knowledge, cultures and trade beyond our immediate surroundings. Instead, Conservative Party leader, David Cameron, has quit while UKIP leader, Nigel Farage (a 5th generation immigrant married to a German-born wife), appears intent on spreading feelings of discontent throughout Europe, instead of delivering on his promises at home. Perhaps a fractured and equally xenophobic Europe would make it easier for Britain’s future trade deals than answering to a 27-strong European Union. A simpler explanation is that Farage is continuing with the only thing he’s good at: hate speech. Whatever his ultimate agenda, the lesson that all of us should remember is that it’s never about ‘us vs them’ unless it’s ‘the people vs false political ideals.’