Britain is in the middle of a political crisis and no one knows what the outcome of this complicated procedure will be. The media are filled with people that keep blaming the uneducated and xenophobic who voted to leave the EU. “How can they force us to leave the EU?”, they keep wondering. The answer is simple…”of course they can”.
The voting age differs from country to country. In some countries like Brazil, 16 years olds are being trusted to decide for their country's future and in other countries such as the United Arab Emirates, they have to wait five years, at least. Moreover, it has to be decided who has the right to vote and who doesn't. For example, the election campaigns in the U.S and Austria show that numerous parts of the society don't have the right to vote, making the final results tainted.
From the ancient times when women and slaves weren't able to vote, till today's representative democracy, it is clear that democracy, on its own, doesn’t exist. In ancient Athens, the ecclesia, was the principal assembly of democracy, which was open to all citizens that had the political right to vote. Today, we can't even begin to think how unrepresentative the government is. In any case, the result of Britain's referendum is viewed as a win, rather than a loss.
Democracy simply means that one person is equaled one vote. A vote is a vote, whether it comes from Manolis Glezos or Giorgos Roupakias. In a ballot, all votes are measured the same. So, if the Greek parliament is filled with fascists and the British society with xenophobes that reminisce about the British Empire, the problem lies with the leaders of Greece and the U.K who continuously trivialize the meaning of a democratic government.
The British austerity applied by Tories for decades is now targeting, as in Greece, the poorest and most needy. The widespread policy of European austerity cuts wages, rights, access to health, and human rights. British politicians' face after the final results is completely hypocritical. If a British civilian has no will to improve his/her life, why wouldn't he choose uncertainty rather than a system he knows has ruled him out? Several polls show that the first criterion of those who voted pro-Brexit was the immigration issue. A miserable person can only protest against the ruler, or can move the responsibility to another decrepit, also miserable. History has proven that with a little help from the mouthpieces of the tyrant, the miserable opts for the second choice always.
How did we get to this point? Who should take responsibility? It is the politicians who should take the blame. The ones who, instead of telling the truth, carried two ridiculous and insulting campaigns, one pro-EU and one pro-Brexit that lacked information, argument and debate. Without those, what is left is fear and hate.
Let's assume for a second that you, the reader, and me, the writer, come from a different social class. Not the ones of poor and uneducated people, but another one, which gives us the opportunity to not hope for a better tomorrow, but to wish for a better one. Would our class' best interest be to never vote for the referendum? Are people right to say that David Cameron is absolutely responsible for Britain's exit of the EU?
To answer the previous question, we need to set aside our social class, and ask what is best for our country, and democracy. Even if we agree that leaving the EU is beneficial for our social class and our country, it is not beneficial for democracy.
James Madison believed that democracy alone wasn't enough without the consolidation to freedom and multi-participation. We saw that in Germany of 1983, and we are seeing it now in Turkey of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Madison, however, was a fan of education and the inspiration of a reversed type of representative system that would prevent the formation of strong majorities, and create an umbrella to protect the minority's rights.
Based on all of the above, we can draw this conclusion: Democracy is among those things that we all understand abstractly, but in reality, is complex and difficult to implement. In other words, the concept of Democracy and a homonymous political system are two different things.
Immediately after SYRIZA won the elections in January of 2015, Kyriakos Mitsotakis -still just a member of New Democracy- called out at Alexis Tsipras saying, “now that you won the election campaign, Mr. President, it's time to prove you are a leader and to do that you have to be prepared to offend even your own constituency”. This is the quality of democracy that we savor. In Greece today, it is acceptable for politicians to admit on camera that during the pre-election period, they are willing to lie on purpose in order to win people's votes, who are obviously imbeciles and deserve to be listening to that type of nonsense. Those imbeciles are waiting to be governed by a “strong” leader, who is not bound by the pre-election promises. It is worth noting that this reference by New Democracy was made just 24 hours after the electoral process.
So, the problem in Greece, and Britain, is nothing but the decay of the political system and the demoralization of Europe. The lack of education (which focused on the creation of myths and heroes to boost national identity) led to the defilement of ideologies. Nowadays most people feel nationally proud of their glorious past rather than the present. Those kinds of people have no reason to reflect on human values, seek true freedom, or care about the consequences of their choices. Those people, who for years were spotted carrying the SUN or the Proto Thema, who also fed the fear that poor immigrants come to steal even the minimum amount they can. Those people work just to survive and when asked about the future they answer whatever they feel like.
Perhaps the people that blame Cameron for the Brexit may be right, but in my opinion I think it's his fault, not because he asked the opinion of the imbeciles, as I mentioned above, but because his policies produce inequality and xenophobia.
In recent years, Iceland has created a movement in response to the bankers' cleptocracy. The Icelandic society demanded change, which was accomplished by the overthrow of political balance, the adoption of a new, progressive constitution, and the punishment of the guilty. Of course, this was more likely to happen in Iceland because of its size and external conditions, however, this may not be a definitive counterchange.
Both Greece and Britain are experiencing political instability that will go down in history. The instability hasn't caused an explosion yet, but no one can predict if the strong and the oligarchs are able to control it.
In this historic moment, we have the responsibility to take a stand now than later because when the explosions start no one can predict the size of damages. History has proven that democracy is the first victim to fall in a war, so maybe this time we should find her a shelter in advance.