Written by Paulina Ukrainets
The United States is a political superpower, there is no denying that. When you live in such a diverse, dynamic, and overwhelmingly fast-paced country, it’s often hard to pay enough attention to what’s going on outside it—for proof, look at most high school curriculums to find U.S. History as a requirement and World History as a surface-level prelude, focusing mostly on countries contributing to U.S. history.
Still, on June 23, 2016, the world was shocked by the decision of 51.9 percent of the UK’s voter population to leave the European Union, otherwise commonly (and, in the British tradition, with a hint of word-play) dubbed Brexit.
Brexit was, and still is, a hard thing for me to wrap my head around. Ever since moving to the States, I have idealized the UK in regards to all the areas where the U.S. has disappointed me. The NHS (free National Health Service), comparatively very low university tuition fees, the ban on firearm ownership and, consequently, much lower rates of murder, made me see the UK as a young liberalist heaven, to which I couldn’t wait to return. The decision to leave the EU, while winning by a considerably slim margin, nonetheless shattered those dreams.
I was lucky to grow up in a very highly educated area of the UK—Oxford, home to one of the best universities in the world—and, consequently, was mostly exposed to people with the same views of the world, planting in my mind a very flawed idea of what the UK in general was like.
While 70.27 percent of Oxford’s voter population voted to remain in the EU, the overall majority voting to leave struck me to the core. It was scary to me to see Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party—a party that wants to restrict immigration to almost the degree of Communist countries—take the stage as the leader of a winning campaign, only to have him tell the country that the claims he made in his campaign (like the £350 million freed from the EU’s greedy paws that was supposed to be funnelled into the NHS) were lies.
Honestly, I was, and still am, disappointed. I am disappointed in the 61 percent of the 65+ age group, who voted to leave the EU, but will most likely not be around to feel the full consequences of their decision. I am disappointed for the 75 percent of the 18-24 age group, who will now reap the ‘rewards’ of a decision they didn’t support. I am disappointed in the remarkable number of people who experienced ‘Bregret’ a few short days or even hours after their vote. If you search ‘Bregret’ on YouTube, myriads of videos appear of people stating they “never thought Brexit could actually happen” as their reason for voting to leave the EU, and wishing they could take their vote back as soon as the decision was announced. The online petition asking for a second referendum received over 4 million signatures, but the government, with the new prime minister Theresa May in its lead, refuses to humour it.
“Brexit means Brexit,” said May, and in a way, I agree with her. I want nothing more than to believe again that the UK’s majority is liberal, welcoming of diversity and immigration, and willing to be a part of the community that is the EU. Still, the 51.9 percent had a lot of time to deliberate on their decision, and even though many of them want to change their vote, their one chance to test democracy has passed. For better or for worse, the voice of the majority was heard.