On Racism And Xenophobia, From The Granddaughter Of A Refugee

To start this one I'm going to have to give you a little family history. When people look at me, they see a white girl with a working class background. That might be all they see, because 'white' has certain implications. Privilege. English. Inability to understand racism. But here's the thing, when I saw signs being posted telling 'Polish vermin' to go home, and saying refugees aren't welcome, I cried.

Why?

Both my grandfather and my husband's were Polish refugees after the second world war. Both had been taken by the Nazi's to work as forced labour in Germany. Neither ever saw their families again. I'm the granddaughter of a refugee who came to Britain to escape war and persecution.

I don't know all of the ins and outs of why our grandfathers came to Britain, although I think my granda received a letter from home telling him not to go back. He later lost communication with his family entirely, after they were relocated from their home. Some documentaries show that the Russians were executing returning Poles as traitors because they'd been forcibly taken to Germany, so maybe that was part of it. However, my granda was also 'Polish Ukrainian', born in Poland but having Ukrainian language and culture. He was a minority. When he lost contact with his family, the Polish government were in the process of forcibly relocating Ukrainians. Forcing them from their homes. We suspect this is what happened to my great-grandparents, because they were a minority.

Having been taken from home by invaders as a child, my granda couldn't return to a home still caught between the Russians and other discriminatory forces. As a result he came to Britain as a displaced person. Unable to speak the language. Unable to go home. Having survived a war. He came here, met my grandmother, learned English. He married, worked in British mines, worked at the local miners welfare hall right until his death in his eighties, helping to provide a service for the community. He also took British nationality and changed his surname to something more English.

That will shock some of you. It might even horrify you.

Why change a surname? To fit in. To ensure his children fit in. Many reasons. The first of his children were born with their Polish suname which was later anglicised, the younger were born with the English surname. The oldest of granda's children, my aunt, then changed her name back again, because despite how it sounds, we've always been proud of our heritage. In the past it might have been easier to fit in, but we're the sort who are proud of our roots. Look at who we support in the world cup, look at the food we like to eat, look at how openly proud we are of what granda survived, and at what his family survived...

A son taken by the Nazi's to Germany. A daughter in Siberia because her husband opposed the Russians. A family relocated for being a minority. Children taken from home and forced to work. Wife's punished. Relocation. Does this sound familiar?

My granda was lucky, the family he lived with in Germany were good to him. But that was luck. Many others sent to the farms and mines were treated appallingly, and the scrap of luck granda had doesn't make up for what he lost. Nothing could. So when I look at refugees, I see my granda. When I see immigrants learning the language and trying to forge a life here, I see my granda. When I see the signs saying 'Polish Vermin', I'm actually relieved my granda isn't here to see that, to face it. He always had an accent, would he have been attacked in the wake of Brexit? My aunt has a Polish name, what about her? If I walk down a city street and say I have Polish-Ukrainian heritage, and that I'm proud of it, what about me? What about my children who have two Polish great-grandfathers in their heritage?

In addition to the Polish Heritage, both my husband and I have Irish and almost certainly Scottish heritage. We have an Irish surname. How many jokes are the Irish the butt of? I'm not going to make a mountain out of a mole hill about that, but it adds to the picture. I'm a working class woman with mixed heritage, whose ancestors were persecuted. Does that tally with how some look at me if the see me sitting on the bus with a safety pin on my shirt?

In many cases, apparently not.

There's been a campaign in the wake of Brexit to get people wearing safety pins as a symbol of solidarity with immigrants in the UK. For the most part it's been met with approval, after all, while it won't change the world it is a symbol of hope in a world where messages of hate are being spray-painted onto walls and hurled at people in the street. It's no more divisive than a charity pin. Yet some claim it is.

On twitter, I've seen people claim it makes the situation about 'us' and 'them', white and BAME. But it isn't, because it's not about skin colour. It's about accepting everyone, British, foreign, black, asian, ethnic minority, eastern European, European, African, Indian, American, everybody. In claiming that it's divisive, people are creating a divide which wasn't there at the campaign's conception. And it's happening based on skin colour, because thusfar the uptake of the campaign is mainly by white people. In my opinion, we should all consider the message of the safety pin and why people of ALL races could wear it.

Let white communities, show solidarity with refugees.
Let black communities, show solidarity with threatened and abused Eastern Europeans.
Let Eastern Europeans show solidarity with Syrians.
Let Christians with Muslims.
Let Muslims with Jews.
Let everyone, show some solidarity here.

We are all more than our colour or religion. I'm a mixed heritage, pagan, in-the-closet-due-to-fear LGBT, woman. The only part of me that theoretically doesn't fall into a group enduring persecution is my skin colour. Yet I am judged for that when my desire to were a safety pin in solidarity is turned into a symbol of white privilege.

I'm not a white British imperialist or a white fascist thug, so how about we all stand together against those two categories of people in solidarity, rather than attacking each other and making assumptions about each other? Won't that get us further? Isn't that what this is about?

Just this morning I saw a black person on twitter claim that the safety pin is just a way for white people to feel absolved. Absolved for what, exactly? For the crimes of people who weren't necessarily our ancestors? I don't think the populace of Germany need to be absolved because of the Third Reich. The general populace of modern-day Germany didn't take my granda from home in his early teens. It's pretty clear than my heritage has a lot of working class miners and peasant farmers in it. Not land owners and invaders. Don't place other peoples' crimes on me because I'm white, when I don't judge anyone based on colour or religion. Don't claim I have sometning to be guilty about are need absolved for. The EDL and Britain first don't speak for me. Slave traders didn't create me. Crusaders didn't create me. Imperial invaders didn't create me. But a minority group is in my heritage and it has influenced who I am and how I think. And I think prejudice and hatred are wrong.

We are all human. We are all in this together. We all have stories. So let's stick together to stamp out hate, rather than creating divisions based on the colour of someone's skin, or their religion, or what you presume their ancestors may have done to yours. Love and friendship, not hatred and division. It's the only way forward.

Peace and love, people.

Carmine Raven
Xxx

An Open Letter To The Labour Party

To whom it may concern,

Re: Labour Coup Encouraging Bullying Behaviour

This situation needs to be brought under control. I have voted labour all my adult life. My mam and dad (and me) were casualties of the miners' strikes and they were among those who voted for Blair in '97. I was labour before I could vote and as 'grassroots' as you can get. But I publicly, on twitter, support Jeremy Corbyn. Because of that, your activists and supposed supporters (including your councillors) have indicated I'm on drugs, told me I'm a loony lefty, indicated I'm part of a cult because I joined Momentum, said outright that I can't be grassroots labour and a Momentum member (as far as I'm aware they're not mutually exclusive even though some in the party don't like Momentum), one activist even told me my vote wouldn't be missed! He claimed to be one of your activists and active doorstep campaigners. That's from a man trying to get votes for you!

I've voted Labour in every General Election since I turned 18. I sadly missed the last locals due to the change in voter registration and I berated myself for it, but I did vote remain in the referendum and followed Jeremy Corbyn's facebook information on the referendum. To be told my vote won't be missed and that I am not grassroots labour because I decided to join Momentum two days ago is heart-breaking. This is the division cause by the coup and it's turning voters and members against each other.

As of yet I've only come across one pro-Corbyn tweet that was rude and I pulled the tweeter up on it, however, there are some among the anti-Corbyn crew who are genuinelly rude, who see life long Labour voters as disposable and who think references to drugs or mental illness is appropriate (it's not, both are serious issues). It is time for those who incited this madness to do the decent thing and publicly renounce such language and harrassment. By that I mean those who are part of the coup against a democratically elected leader.

No matter what their reasons for their actions, the result of the coup has been an outpouring of viciousness to counteract a certain segment of the populations support of Jeremy Corbyn. That needs to be renounced before the party loses life long voters because of the name-calling, bullying, and undermining which is taking place. It's not on. This is not in the best interests to see a selection of MPs behave undemocratically and then do nothing to address the inappropriate attacks made by their followers. Yes, both sides need to renounce such behaviour, though I have only encountered it among the anti-Corbyn voices. That said, I do think those who incited it should speak first rather than letting the idea that lifelong Labour supporters and votes are disposable.

This behaviour is why people are joining organisations like Momentum, because they don't feel heard, because the Labour of 2004 onwards, maybe earlier, hasn't seemed to listen. The students, those of us who were made redundant during the crash, and many of the younger generations who suffered under austerity want a voice. However, rather than listening it appears Labour want to dismiss those crying voices as troublesome, or unimportant, or worse still some kind of communist traitors.

The situation might be causing people to become full members (I did, and I hope to be active) but it is also driving away voters. A few days after applying to join (I've been debating it for years), and already I'm questioning my vote because the abuse going on in-house is off-putting.

My problem is I won't vote for anyone but Labour. There is no alternative available. I've never purposefully abstained or spoiled a vote as I feel votes are too important for that, especially when it cost so much for women to get the vote, but who do I vote for if I'm dismayed at the party I've always voted for? No one? Against all my principles? Please curb this before you drive people away.

We need to unite here (unite, not drive anyone away). Labour needs to get back to being the opposition rather than tearing itself apart. Please. For all our sakes.

Thank you.

Carmine Raven

Who Are The True Victims Of Brexit And The Ensuing Anger?

I would like to take the opportunity to clarify something. This statement is something I have NEVER and will NEVER say.

- Leave voters are unemployed, too old to vote, racist, and ignorant.

Actually, what I said was according to demographic analysis the retired, unemployed, and those with no formal qualifications chose by a majority to vote leave. Those with degrees voted by a majority to stay. That is NOT the same thing as calling leave voters unemployed, too old to vote, racist, and ignorant. To claim I am saying such things is libelous and is the twisting of my discussion points to suit one's own agenda and demonisation of me.

I have stated repeatedly that the older generations have a right to vote, but that 16 and 17 year olds should have had their say too. The only time I indicated anything close to the opposite was not an actual suggestion, it was a point to show that the claim 'having a second referendum is undemocratic' is flawed, because for anyone over the age of 59 this is already their second referendum on the subject of Europe.

As for the racist thing, I've tried not to get involved there because leave voters are not racist, but many racists are leave voters, and like it or not the leave vote is being seen by far right groups as endorsement of hate crime. Racial hate crime has increased dramatically since the result was announced. That doesn't mean leave voters are all seen as racists.

It is no more correct to say all leave voters are unemployed, too old, racist, ignorant than it is to say all Muslims are terrorists. However, it is correct to say analysis of current polls indicate demographics voted different ways, with the unemployed, those with no formal qualifications, the over 50s voting, by a majority to leave, while the majority of people with degrees voted remain, just as it's fair to say ISIS claim to be Muslim. One perspective should never be interpretted as the other as it turns truth into a lie.

In truth, the only people I've personally heard calling leave voters ignorant racist or claiming they shouldn't have voted are leave voters themselves while twisting the words of remain voters into something they didn't say. This needs to stop. Leave voters (the minority who are doing this) need to stop making themselves out to be the victims in their 'victory'.

Why?

Because they aren't the victims, no matter what their age, democratic rights, education, or otherwise.

Who are the victims? They're the ethnic minorities and immigrants who are now being shouted at in the streets, threatened, and attacked. They are the migrant children bullied by British children spouting racist rhetoric which they've picked up from adults. They are the immediate victims, not those who voted to leave the E.U.

Other victims are the people whose jobs will go. People who are going to suffer from a downgraded economy and a devalued pound. They are the people being stripped of citizenship against their will, and people who no longer feel welcome in their own country. They are the people who were lied to. They are the people who will suffer as our government implodes. They are the victims.

Please, don't sit there twisting remain voters words while boasting of a victory and complaining over a perceived insult from the very people who are going through a grieving process because of what you've taken from them. No one gets to devastate another and then dictate how they express their grief. Show a little understanding, please.

Rather than playing the victims go and take responsibility for the unintended consequences of the result. Support those who are now facing racial prejudice and hate crimes, lobby your political leaders for an actual plan in case Brexit goes ahead. Listen to those who are hurting about why they are hurting, without judgement and malice. Half of the electorate won, but there is no justification for the insistance that the other camp need to 'shut up and move on' just a few days after the referendum.

I have not personally attacked any individual. I've discussed demographics and that is it. All the same in the last two days I have been called disgusting, ignorant, a prime example of everything that's bad about the remain campaign, a sad loser, the type of person I am has been questioned and judged, I have been told I don't know what I'm saying by someone who wouldn't listen to what I was saying. I've been ranted at, raved at, accused of things I haven't done. The list goes on. To top it all off I have to see in the news about far right members of our population calling Polish migrants and workers 'Polish Scum'.

For the record, my granda was Polish-Ukrainian and my husband's granda was Polish, while we are both British European, the "Polish Scum" thing is still offensive. Really offensive, more so rather than any analysis I've given. Both our grandfathers were displaced persons following the war, in other words, they were refugees. Right now we have thugs on the streets intimidating refugees, those fleeing war torn countries, but what I'm seeing is a group of leave voters taking the roles of both victor and victim.

This country is divided. That won't heal any time soon, but if a minority of vocal leave voters continue to both gloat and complain, that's going to take longer to heal. Show a little empathy to the people who've lost something due to this glorified opinion poll. Get your heads out of the sand and stop denying that nothings going wrong yet and it's not that bad. Go out and help, rather than sitting behind your screens being both smug and offended all at once. That is the only way we're going to get past this. Get out there and make it clear to the far right that your vote was not an endorsement of their actions. Hold your government accountable for forming a plan. Stop dismissing the worries of those on the other side and try to remember that when you walk down the street, half of the people you pass had different priorities to you. Half of them.

Right, that's me done for the day. Goodnight.

Carmine Raven

E.U. Referendum: Why is going ahead on a 4% victory a bad idea?

Before I get started on why the referendum should not ensure Britain’s exit from the European Union, let’s have a look at some approximate facts and figures.

OVERALL

-17,410,742 votes cast for leave (51.9%)

-16,141,241 votes cast for remain (48.1%)

-3.8% difference or 1,269,501 votes

-72.2% turn out/27.8% non-vote

BY COUNTRY (The Telegraph)

-Scotland: 62% voted to remain (24% difference)

-Northern Ireland: 55.7% voted to remain (11.4% difference)

-Wales: 52.5% voted to leave (5% difference)

-England: 53.2% voted to leave 46.8 (6.4% difference)

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

-18-24 year olds voted 75% for remain (YouGov Poll)

-25-49 year olds 56% for remain (YouGov Poll)

-50-64 year olds 44% for remain (YouGov Poll)

-65+ year olds 39% for remain (YouGov Poll)

-16-17 year olds in the UK (denied vote): 1.5 million

-If 16-17 year olds had been allowed to vote and followed the trend seen in 18-24 year olds, that could’ve been 1,125,000+ remain votes (the overall difference if this had happened, 144,500 approx. votes to leave). The younger electorate were among the least likely to turn up to vote, however, and more effort needs to be made to engage with the youth. This must happen in all future votes.

-Those with higher education were more likely to vote remain. Those with no formal qualifications were more likely to vote leave. (The Guardian – EU referendum: full results and analysis)

-UK Population 65,110,000 in 2015 (Office of National Statistics)

-Immigrants: 13.2% of the population (The Telegraph, 2016, Mapped: Which country has the most immigrants? That works out at about 8.6 million out of 65.1 million)

-28% of the population voted to leave the EU.

THE CASE FOR DELAYING BREXIT

Please remember this is my opinion, any comments which attack rather than discuss will be deleted (or, if they're particularly threatening, shared on twitter depending on my mood).

The main case for delaying Brexit is the 52-48% split. The country is clearly divided. Despite the language used by the BBC this referendum was far from decisive. Even in England, the leave stronghold, leave won by just 6.4%. In Wales it was a mere 5%. In the countries which voted to remain (Scotland and Ireland) the split was much higher, with a 24% difference in Scotland. Scotland is the only nation which can truly be considered ‘decisive’, with Ireland being ‘confident’ and England and Wales being ‘undecided’ overall. So the question becomes, is it truly democratic to remove the United Kingdom from the European Union based on the vote of the two predominantly undecided countries?

I am technically English (though I will never consider myself English, refer to my previous blog entry) but I agree with the Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP. It is not democratic to force every country of the United Kingdom out of the European Union based on such a narrow leave ‘victory’. There is no possible justification for taking the riskier course of action based on a half and half division. Especially based on the vote of the retired generation, rather than the workforce and the future workforce. A decade from now, many of the people who voted to leave won’t be here, but our youth, our children, will be living with the decision of a generation who are no longer personally concerned with job availability, a generation who’s personal considerations aren’t necessarily long term.

The ‘retired’ vote could have been counteracted almost entirely by the inclusion of 16-17 year olds in the referendum and more engagement with the younger member of the electorate. The inclusion of just a tiny fraction of the population, of those who will be affected by this decision for the greatest period of time, could have swayed the referendum to a 50-50 split. A so called ‘majority’ has been won because we refused to shift the voting age by a mere two years to include the very people who will be part of our workforce by the time we leave.

Is that democratic? Yes. Is it just and fair? Having the retured making decisions for those who as 16 and 17 is about as just as men making decisions for women because they know better. The generation least affected by the referendum have made a decision for everyone else. That is an example of democracy failing. The leave lead is not great enough to make breaking the status quo, and going ahead with something as momentous and potentially catastrophic as leaving the EU, justifiable. Not when the leave voters only make up 28% of the United Kingdom’s population.

Should the older generation have been allowed to vote? Yes, of course they should, that’s democracy. But perhaps those people who are allowed to drive and marry, who are right now being forced to make decisions about their future when choosing subjects to study, should have also been given a right to speak on this aspect of their future.

How should we move forward, based on the marginal victory and the difference of opinion between the retired, the workforce, and the youth? At the very least, the mere 4% ‘victory’ should be a case to delay Brexit and have a second referendum.

The justification for this? While leave supporters have claimed that a second referendum would be undemocratic and that the population has spoken, it seems quite clear that a certain portion of the population has spoken. Those who are our future, the workforce and the youth, are about to be ignored. The very people who will pay, through taxes, to fund the state pensions of the retired, are about to be dragged out of Europe against their will, based on a vote which the inclusion of our youth could have reversed. Two decided countries are about to be dragged out of the European Union by two undecided nations, a decision which could bring about the destruction of the United Kingdom.Not only that, but those most likely to vote out of the European Union are the same people who voted for us to remain in the European Communities in 1975. They chose to set us on the course which gave the following generations European Citizenship, which they've now decided to rip away on their second referendum on our membership. Is it just that 28% of the population can decide to rip away someones citizenship?

Some will undoubtedly claim that a call for a second referendum is a cry to keep going until remainers get the result they want. That’s simply not true. A call for a second referendum is a call not to do anything until we have a clear decision. There needs to be a decisive majority before we commit to anything, leaving or staying. Taking such a risk based on 28% of the population, a segment comprised of those who will be least affected, is reckless. It is both economically and socially reckless. Just look at other ballots where the results are close. Even union ballots to strike need greater majorities to go ahead, and this is a far bigger decision than whether or not someone strikes. I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) unions need 40% of those eligible to vote to agree to go ahead. In the referendum, leave received votes from just 38% of the eligible electorate.

As for the risks we have taken... Already, as of a day after the referendum result was announced, “the credit ratings agency Moody’s have already downgraded the UK Government’s bond rating from stable to negative” (The Independent -  Brexit: Moody’s downgrades UK’s credit outlook). Obama has stated that he stands by his previous claim that the UK will go to the back of the queue with regard to trade negotiations. France wants to make an example of us. The EU has stated that we’ve lost all rights to special treatment and it is being reported that they ‘will not make it easy on us’. There are calls in both Scotland and Ireland for independence. Already, the fears of the remain voters are beginning to play out.

As for the claims of the leave campaigners? Already several have back tracked on their promises and claims. The nation is waking up to the realisation that this won’t stop immigration and that the NHS has not been saved. However, the leave voters don’t much mind because they promote a fanciful notion of sovereignty while waving their union flags (until they become St George’s crosses). Plus, they won’t be applying for jobs anyway, and they only need the NHS to last a little longer in the grand scheme of things.

On top of that, the Brexit vote has led to an increase in the reports of racial abuse and hate crime. Even discounting the economy, there are other serious implications for our population. The far right and the racists and fascists of the nation have taken Brexit as an endorsement of their views. We need to be showing support for unity and alliance, not division.

So what would I like to say to the world...

To the leavers now claiming ‘it was a democratic vote, it’s done, stop complaining and work together for the future,’ I say this:

We are a democracy. Where a significant portion of the population feel their futures are at risk they have every right to speak out and continue to speak out. No group should ever have silence forced upon them. We are divided. The leave ‘victory’ does not represent the majority of the population. It doesn't even represents half of thecelectorate. Not even half. In addition, it only represents 28% of the United Kingdom’s population. Stop gloating. Stop demanding that your workforce and your youth accept a decision they were vocally against. This is a democracy, and if half the population feel they are about to be ignored and have their futures undermined they have every right to speak, to ask the government to reconsider. A democratic referendum does not always lead to a just decision. Ballots prior to women been given the vote were democratic, that doesn’t mean they were fair on the entire populace.

If roles were reversed, leave would continue to campaign. Farage said prior to the referendum that he’d call for a second if remain won by a narrow margin. A narrow margin means a division, and that division will not be resolved by one side having their concerns and frustrations ignored. That will only breed further discontent and resentment. In this case it will breed resentment in the very people who keep the country moving, the workers, the youth, the future.

To the leaders of the European Union, I say:

Please do not judge us too harshly, no matter when or if article 50 is invoked, half of the British electorate didn’t want to leave. The people you trade with now, and who you will trade with in the future, wanted to be part of the European Union. Our workforce and our youth, the people you will work with in the future and who will lead us in the future, wanted to remain in the European Union. A vote made by just 28% of our populace has furthered the division in our own nation, so please look on us, those you will be negotiating with, with empathy.

We didn’t want this. We are the children who didn’t want their parents to divorce. We are the children who will bear the scars of their parents arguments. How you react now, when half of us didn’t want to leave, will define our relationship for generations. Don’t ostracise those who didn’t vote to ostracise themselves. Britain is not the 28% who voted to leave. We are much more than that, and we are as angry, as worried, and as disbelieving as you.

And finally, to those who wanted to remain in the EU, I have this to say:

Don’t allow your voices to be silenced. You are our workforce, our future, our upcoming leaders. Say how you feel. Write to your local MPs, to the government, to EU representatives. Petition. Campaign. Don’t sit down and accept that this cannot be rectified or that your voices are somehow less valid because of a 4% margin. Now, more than ever, we need you to be engaged. We need you to be seen, so be seen. Make yourself heard and do so peacefully, presenting arguments based on facts and with an aim to better our futures. Do so in a manner that promotes open discussion, in a manner which directly opposes the scaremongering and hatred which led our nation to this vote. Keep speaking. Keep talking. Make sure that the United Kingdom and Europe knows what the population of the future wants, rather than succumbing to the will of the generation of the past, to the disillusioned, and to the fanciful. Don’t accept a decision that was supported by the likes of Boris, Farage, Trump, and Putin. Speak up. Speak clearly. And don’t stop speaking.

Over and out.

Carmine Raven

An Open Letter to Britain and the European Union Following the Brexit Referendum

Dear representatives, citizens, and residents of the United Kingdom and European Union

Re: National and international identity following the E.U. referendum.

I want to tell you who I am. On paper I’m a white, British, female. I’m married, I have two children, I vote in every general election and every European election. I’ve missed one local election since coming of legal voting age following the change in registration procedure (I missed the cut off by three days). I have a first class honours degree. In other words I’m pretty average, engaged but not an expert in my field or a political activist. But today that feels like a convenient mask and nothing more.

What lies underneath an English looking face, and a body that’s always lived in Northumberland? The answer; a great many things. My maternal grand-father was a Polish-Ukrainian displaced person following World War Two. A refugee, to most people. In addition, my paternal great-grandparents came to my village from Scotland after the Scottish mines began to close. Prior to that there was Irish heritage. I’m proud of my heritage, at what my grandfather and the resilience of my British ancestors. I’m as proud of that aspect of who I am than of my ‘English’ blood.

By chance, my husband has a similar story. His maternal grandfather was also a Polish displaced person. His ancestry on his fathers side is Irish and Scottish four or so generations back. Our surname is Irish. Both of us can identify as British, but neither of us can identify as English. We always believed we could move back to our ancestral lands if we wanted to because of the United Kingdom’s and then the European Union’s freedom of movement, just as our great and great-great grandparents had moved through Britain. But as it stands, our European Union membership is going, and the United Kingdom could break up if a second Scottish referendum comes to pass. We could end up trapped in a country we don’t identify with, purely because our ancestors followed work, coming to the north east to work in the pits and on the ship yards, rather than through a desire to be in England for political reasons, much as I now want to be a citizen of the European Union for economic reasons, although I have the addition of heritage.

 At the moment of our births, my husband and I were identified as British and since our childhood as citizens of the European Union. We’re descended from people who survived right wing oppression or who came to England because it was part of the same United Kingdom as their homelands of Scotland and Ireland. To me, the very fact that is my nationality, it’s what the front of my passport says, seems to preclude a change to being solely British in the event of an EU exit, or English in the event of a break up of the United Kingdom. Our nationality surely can’t be dictated by 28% of the country, flying in the face of what our birth certificates and passports say? In what other instance would someone have their citizenship or nationality stripped from them on the whim of strangers?

In other cases, such as when people move country or take citizenship in a new country, they can sometimes apply for dual nationality. With that in mind, I put forward a case for some sort of European dual nationality as I, like many others, was born into a member state of the E.U. I put forward a case for some sort of British dual nationality in the case of the break up of United Kingdom, because I was born British, not English, and of Irish and Scottish descent.

If this can’t happen, where do I belong?

Nowhere, it seems.

I will have no national identity. My citizenship will have been stripped from me. The nation of my birth may no longer exist. Because 28% of the population of Britain decided it should be so. 

Many of those 28%, who polls suggest are more likely to be retired, hold no formal qualifications, or be unemployed, did so based on whimsical notions of sovereignty and what makes Britain ‘our country’. Basically, those with least formal education, and/or least interest in the economy and job market, and/or the highest levels of disillusionment have swayed the vote by a small percentage, a percentage which may well have been counteracted if we’d asked for the opinions of the 16-18 year olds or if our leaders had managed to engage the younger voters; those people who are working apprentices, who can marry, who are in education, who are making all kinds of life choices every day, and who will be most affected by this decision.

The majority voters born before our European Communities membership voted to leave the European Union in this referendum. The majority of voters born after it voted to remain, at least according to recent polls. We want our identity protected, not for it to be taken off us by the very people who voted to keep us in the European Communities in the first place.

Currently, there is a petition running requesting a second referendum because such a vast number of people are unhappy. Many are saying there can’t be a second referendum because our departure has been voted on democratically. Only that argument is flawed, because this isn’t the first referendum anyway. Anyone over the age 59 (those who were on the electoral register in 1975) has already been through a membership referendum, and remaining won with 67% of the vote. They have already had their say. They set in motion a process that made future generations European Union citizenship, and they did so by a much higher margin than leave won by in the latest referendum. 

Is it just to deny our youth, the 16 and 17 year olds coming up, a right to express their wishes, especially while allowing those who already democratically decided the fate of future generations in 1975. Is it just to take away the citizenship of so many following such a divisive campaign built around lies, half truths, and fear? Our citizenship, granted at birth or in our childhoods, seems to be at risk partially from people voting for a past seen through rose tinted glasses, because of nostalgia for a period in time which cannot be forced back into existence as the world is not as it was forty years ago. 

They’ve voted, in some cases, to take back our country because they regret their own democratic referendum of the past. What is sad about that, is they haven’t taken back our country. They never lost it. They were always British. We make laws. We influenced European law. We have a sovereign. What they’ve done is take away my nation and my European citizenship, along with that of many, especially among the younger generations. While every member of the electorate has the right to vote, is it truly democratic to allow our citizenship to be stripped away on such a small margin, especially when such a proportion of leave voters were born British, outside of the European Union. Surely we need a larger margin before anyone can tear away something as fundamental as citizenship.

We, those born since 1975, were born into a world of inclusion, not exclusion. We were born into a land aiming for unity rather than isolation. That’s gone now. Already, a mere days after this referendum, our black, Asian, and minority ethnicity groups are being harassed in the street, cornered and shouted at, threatened. This is happening to those who are British born as well as those hard working members of our immigrant population, both E.U. and none E.U. I wonder if the only reason it isn’t happening to me is because I’m white. No one can outwardly tell that I have ‘foreign’ blood in my veins or that my heritage lies in the countries now seeking opportunities to leave the United Kingdom.

Until now, I never fully appreciated the distinction between English and British, or the distinction between being a citizen of the European Union or not being one. I voted to remain because economically and socially it seemed the best choice for myself and my children. But now, after living through this weekend, I also realise there are many other reasons I did the right thing by voting to remain. I was voting, unknowingly, for my national and international identity. For my European identity. For my heritage. I was voting to belong. And because of 1.4 million people out of a population of 65.1 million, I now feel like a displaced person in my own country.

I’m a British born European (of mixed Celtic and Polish heritage).

I’m not simply British.

I never have been and never will consider myself English, despite my language and the location of my birth.

What does that mean for me?

Where I live does not seem to be my country and that leaves me afraid that outside of the European Union, Scotland and Northern Ireland will separate and depart along with the last of my nationality. I will live the rest of my life feeling that I am in a country which is not mine, that it would be hard to leave because my Celtic roots are a generation or two too far back. I’m far from the only person who feels this, because a great many ‘British’ people identify as having mixed heritage. 

Many others identify as British European, not simply British. They too feel they have lost their nation. We’ve regained very little, but something which nearly half the voting electorate wanted to keep has been lost. Now it’s not only our immigrant and black, Asian, and minority ethnicity groups that feel threatened and unwelcome, but a vast number of white British people too. There is potentially more of our population feeling unwelcome or displaced now then there are those who are happy with the referendum result, because an elite of British Nationals, consisting of the nostalgic and privileged, and the disillusioned and ill-informed, decided it should be so. 17 million voted to leave, out of a population of 65 million, where the young, the unsure, and those who are not on the electoral roll have had no representation. Is that fair?

It’s a devastating result.

My politics are similar to many Scots, but then I’m from Northumberland. The border county. I’m almost as far from Westminster as a number of Scots. If I were in the position of the Scottish people, if my choices were stay in an ‘independent’ England or join a Scotland with E.U. membership, I’d choose Scotland. I’m disappointed that my heritage is distant enough, a couple of generations, that I wouldn’t be able to claim Scottish or Irish nationality, yet I know I don’t want English nationality, and I know I do want to be part of a European Union member state.

What a position to be in. I’m heart broken over this. Truly and deeply. My emotions are complex, far stronger than I’d imagined they would be. So, to the  British government, I say this. Think carefully about what you’re about to do. Does that 4% victory, that 1.4 million votes, really represent the 65.1 million strong population of Great Britain? Is it enough to take this huge risk and make so many of your own people feel unwelcome while also breeding resentment among our neighbouring nations and potentially causing the destruction of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?

To the European Union, please remember that almost half the electorate did not vote for this. We don’t want this. We have lost our European identity and may lose our national identity, and that is devastating to us. Don’t look at us with resentment. Those who are our future wanted to remain. Those you will work with in the future wanted us to remain. We are being stripped of our international identity in order for the aging generation and the disillusioned to pursue a national identity which cannot be reinvented. Look on us with empathy, not anger, because we are as shocked, horrified, angry, and aggrieved as you. We have cried. We have shouted. We are grieving for more than many currently realise.

To Scotland and Ireland, please do not see us as your adversaries. A great many of us wanted this no more than you. Many of us are already discussing whether it would be possible to return to the homelands of our great grandparents in advance of any separation. We are with you. We agree with you. We are as aggrieved at being forced out of the European Union by the English and Welsh vote as you are.

To those over the age of 59, please ask yourself why, when you sought to do what was best for your children and grandchildren, many of you have discounted what they wanted for themselves? Why, when you will be the least affected by this, when you have already had your say and decided that future generations would be part of the European Communities, are you seemingly ignoring the wishes of the very people you decided to give European Communities membership too in the first place?

To those who voted to remain, to the young, to those with experience of the economy, of trade, of politics, please keep fighting. We have spent our lives as European Citizens, it should be our decision whether or not we want to remain as such. There has been a poll, that is all. A poll that is not legally binding. For now, we are part of a democracy with a right to peaceful protest. Make your voices heard. Defend your European identity and citizenship. If you believe in the vote you cast, or would’ve cast if you were able, then stand up and say so. Do so without inciting the hatred, violence, and bitterness which has been created by the referendum and the result. Do so using facts, rather than the lies which were so prevalent in the campaigns leading up to the referendum.

To those who voted to leave and now regret it. Make your voices heard, we are still in a democracy so stand up and shout. Write to your MPs, to the government, to the European Union. Make sure that what you believe now is considered. Thursday of last week is in the past. Our nation has changed in the space of a weekend, so if you are seeing things with fresh eyes then tell the world that.

To those who voted leave and don’t regret it, please show empathy to those of us who have lost something we treasured. Your priorities were not ours, and while you may feel you have gained something, we are grieving. Listen to what we are saying, not what you think we are saying. Don’t get offended that we are upset, angry, or afraid.

Everyone, please, don’t be afraid to defend what we’re about to lose. Today I received a personal message from a stranger who’d been reading posts I’d made on a community Facebook page. She said that she supported me and my courage for expressing my opinion. This both moved me and saddened me because expressing your opinion should never be seen as an act of courage, or as if there was something to fear in stating your view of the world. We treasure equality. We fought for it. Your voices matter as much as any other so make them heard.

I realise I’ve spoken to many people here, and speculated on the voting preferences of certain demographics, and I am in no way saying everyone in any particular demographic thinks a certain way. That would be a sweeping generalisation. I’m merely commenting on the poll results I’ve managed to find and I hope that can be understood without a reversion to the personal attacks which have been directed at me following the expression of my opinion in the last two days.

What we need to do now is move forward. We need to do so by creating a strategy based on truth and on making opinions heard peacefully, through education, through discussions, through petitions, and if necessary through peaceful protest. We need to stand against the hatred caused by this referendum, and stand up to a racist minority who are using the result to further their cause. What we do now could shape the future of Britain’s kingdoms and of Europe. Generations will feel the after affects of what we do now, so make sure we move forward with what’s best for us all, and more importantly, for our children and grandchildren.

Watch with empathy. Speak from the heart. Defend your reasoning with analysis of data. Be brave. Be strong. And remember that we all need each other in some capacity. Let’s create a world where everyone has a voice but campaigns of hatred and abuse are quickly halted.

Regards,

Carmine Raven

If you wish to show your preference for keeping E.U. citizenship you can sign a petition at https://www.change.org/p/eu-offer-european-citizenship-to-uk-citizens