Speaking of Unity

So, I think we can all agree that the EU referendum has left us with a divided society, or rather it made us all acutely more aware of the divisions within our society. I think we can all further agree, that we do need to come together and work on a positive solution to take us forward. However, that need to unite is not going to come from attempts to shut down debate and demonize legitimate democratic exercises.

Today, we have seen yet more protests in London, these are of course protests against Brexit. Much as you would expect, these protests have attracted criticism, we see individuals, politicians and even newspapers attempting to cast these protests as ‘protests against democracy’. Many of those criticizing these protests are the same people who are now calling for the UK to unite in order to navigate more smoothly through the times ahead.

Now as I said, I agree with the need for unity, we face both a political and a constitutional crisis; with the potential, indeed I would argue likelihood, of an economic crisis if we don’t handle things right. But unity will never be achieved by telling people to sit down and shut up, mocking people will never make them accept your choices and democracy will never stop at the ballot box.

It’s that last line that I really want to talk about, because anyone talking about a protest against democracy is making a fundamental error. The fact is that the very idea of protesting against democracy is a contradiction, the act of protesting is itself an exercise in democracy, as I already stated democracy does not end at the ballot box.

The word democracy is derived from ancient Greek and it brings together two ancient Greek terms. The first of which is demos meaning ‘the people’ and the second is Kratia meaning ‘rule’. so essentially the meaning of democracy is the rule of the people, the key here is this, nowhere does the term entail that democracy means voting. that is of course, because voting is not the only way to create the rule of the people. Indeed, in our current system, of parliamentary democracy, where MP’s are bound to represent the interests and not the will of their constituents, the main form our direct exercise of democracy has taken has been exerting pressure, often via protest.

There is nothing undemocratic about protesting against the result of this referendum, indeed the fact that we continue to allow peaceful protests against this result is simply evidence that we continue to live in a democratic society. Further, there would be nothing undemocratic about holding a second referendum, indeed the idea that somehow holding further acts of democracy would be undemocratic is entirely illogical.

Now, I accept that 52% of voters decided to vote leave, but it remains a fact that this referendum was only advisory; this can be confirmed by simply looking at the European Union Referendum Act 2015, which made no provisions to give legal effect to the result of the referendum. It remains true that the United Kingdom has in place the principle of parliamentary sovereignty, under this principle we recognize that parliament are the supreme lawmaking body in this country. Therefore, you must accept that there is nothing undemocratic about those of us who wish to remain a member of the European Union continuing to put pressure on our parliamentary representatives to vote against Brexit if, as I argue it must be, a bill is brought before parliament in order to activate article 50 , or at the least to provide the result which leaves us as integrated with the EU as possible; this result is of course likely to be membership of the EEA.

The point is, if we want unity, then we need to all become more tolerant of one another. we accept that you won this referendum, but you must accept that we have a right to be upset, we have a right to question the tactics used by the leave campaign and we have a right to protest. The best way to achieve unity is not for you to demand that we step into line, ask yourself honestly, would you have if the roles were reversed? Instead, unity will be achieved by opening a dialogue, by talking honestly about the issues the referendum has made clear, the concerns it has exposed and by working together to achieve the best outcome for all concerned. The fact that 52% of you voted to leave the EU does not mean we have to stop loving the EU, but our continued love of the EU does not mean that we cannot now strive to ensure the best possible result for all concerned.

To that note, we need a general election. We need a general election, in order to provide a mandate to negotiate the new position of the UK, we need a general election in order to address the concerns exposed by the referendum and we need a general election to start the process of bringing this country back together. That last bit, bringing the country back together, can only be achieved by adapting to a less tribal politics, we must become less reactionary and more rational, we must begin working together instead of against each other and we must cease assuming ill motives in our political opponents. I’m guilty of this last one too, but we must drop it if we wish to progress, to become more united.