Bye Bye Europe
I’m Belgian. A few years ago, an hoax (today called “Bye Bye belgium) broadcasted “life” by one of our main public television channels had us believe that the Flemish parliament had unilaterally voted the independence. I was not watching the tv at the time, a friend of mine called me to tell me what she was seeing. I remember needing to sit. It is the only time I ever felt that way. As a teenage girl, I had never considered seriously that my country could fall apart — that the frame in which I had grown up, in which I was growing up, in which I was to grow up, could collapse this easily. To me, the political troubles we were experiences were an important matter, that we had to solve before it was too late, but it would never be too late. A few minutes afterwards, I tried to read what the online media had to say about it, but in vain: all important newspaper websites were overloaded by the sudden peak of viewings.
After half an hour, however, the channel confirmed the program was a fiction. British people will not have this chance.
The United Kingdom can wait as much as they want, the outcome of the referendum is not a fiction.
This week, the internet is full of testimonies. Google Trends, a Google Service showing the most researched terms, showed that after the outcome was made public Britain suddenly wondered not only about the consequences of their vote, but also about what the European Union really is. The News broadcasted testimonies of people suddenly regretting how they have voted. Obviously, many more people felt certain about their answer, but to those who took it so lightly, this must be a lesson. You built tomorrow yesterday. Today is only about taking measure of what happened. Brexit was not an hoax.
I feel sorry for the communities who voted remain. Scotland, London, young people — all these areas know the distress I experienced for a few minutes back in 2006. The world in which they could see themselves in a few year suddenly fell apart. Let it be another lesson: we can take nothing for granted.
We must at all point of our life remember that our everyday involvement directly influences the decisions of our nations. Regarding Europe, we must admit that involvement of the populations died off a long time ago. It is time we figure out how inform and involve more people in the international politics.
Sources:
The Google Trends article: https://www.google.fr/trends/story/GB_cu_EoBj9FIBAAAj9M_en
Bye Bye Belgium (in French): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck7lu8p1MZE
