What Young British People Need To Remember About Brexit.
I think I will always remember when it was announced on my BBC live feed that Britain had voted to leave the EU. I was sitting in my bed, eating a tub of Haagen Dazs with a large pint of Stella Artois next to me, feeling terrified. This was no ordinary break up.
I watched as my constituency voted to leave by a mere few hundred votes. Scotland and London became the only shining lights for the youth of Britain, whose 18-24 population voted to remain by a large margin. Imagine what it's like to be 20 years old, stressing about internships and jobs and feel as if the country you have called home has failed you and your future. Our voice is diminished by our age and lack of political engagement, something that is supposed to be alleviated by our elected government. Yet a generation that has given us a recession, wars and a housing shortage was now telling us we don't have Europe on our side as a beacon of unequivocal hope and unity in the world.
Brexit doesn't just show Britain's ignorance or superiority complex. It shows an unwillingness from our government to listen and fight for us, the underrepresented. Ironically this is also what the Leave side believes and is what drove them to win. Because of this, both sides have lost. Remain has lost Europe and support for minorities. Leave has been manipulated with myths by the very entity they are pushing against. The institutions that Leave are so vehemently against will continue to rule. The politicians they hate will now become the architects of the inevitable decline for the working class, who will struggle outside the EU. The only people this vote doesn't fail are Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and Michael Gove. The people who are deeply embedded in the racist, ignorant history of this country.
Young people have been reminded that Britain is not a superpower. It is arrogant, self-obsessed and uncaring. So to all of the young people and minorities: remember the current state for decades to come. We have been treated like naive, unimportant members of society. Our value has been dictated by those who have compromised our chances for success before we've even hit adulthood.
In 20, 30 years time, when our generation runs the country, let's remember that the young are valuable. They drive this country forward. Young people around the world have brought a rise in conversations about equal rights, homophobia and racism. So how can this country not consider our voices to be important, when we have brought so much progress to the table?
We are the reason, that despite the tears and heartbreak my friends, family and I have experienced over the last 24 hours, I feel a sliver of hope. We have peered into the bigoted, ignorant soul of our country and have been denied the chance to change it. So when it is our turn to deal with Europe and the world, let's remember those who came before us and failed to protect us. Let's be responsible and hold ourselves accountable for every action taken, every decision made. Let's be the guardians and supporters our generation didn't have. In other words, let's fuck this shit up.
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