The
Government has spread around a pretty booklet as to why it believes
that voting to remain in the European Union (EU) on Thursday 23rd June
2016, is the best decision for the UK.
Nudge
nudge wink wink. Some of the Government believe this, others – a very
substantial proportion – believe otherwise.
But
those others haven't had the option of sending a booklet to every house in the
country, funded by the taxpaying recipients.
Nearly
all the arguments are economic, there’s just one page on a different topic.
Well,
there aren’t many pages and some of them are just pictures; but the different
topics are ‘Controlling immigration and securing our borders’.
The
economic arguments are completely spurious, Britain would be worse off if we
exited, apparently.
Nobody
knows this, but even if it was certainly true it would be irrelevant as Britain
is one of the richest countries in the world.
We
could easily feed the hungry, house the homeless and provide enough hospitals
and doctors so that there were no health care waiting lists.
In
or out of the EU, we’ve got more than enough wealth to meet all our needs.
Instead
we’ve spent 40 years taking from the poor and giving to the rich – who don’t
need it and It’s been the British Government of various political persuasion own choice, regardless of EU membership.
As
long as we are in the EU we have to abide by various regulations, some are to
protect the environment, some to protect employees.
The
regulations may not be nowhere near enough, but some of the leading Brexit campaigners
want out because they want to abandon these safeguards.
Had
it not been for the EU regulations and safeguards, Europe would have gone to
war again by now; but we do know that xenophobia is once again growing.
Other
European governments are, like Britain, increasingly determined to keep people
out.
We’re
told that ‘the Government has negotiated a deal regarding immigration that will
make our benefits system less of a draw for EU citizens.’- at a time when there
are millions of refugees seeking a home anywhere they can get one! - future
generations will look on us with horror at our callousness.
It
looks as though we are all increasingly uncaring about other people if Britain
leaves, the EU will be severely weakened and it will not be the same again, other
countries may follow suit.
So
do we identify with foreigners and seek to cooperate with them, or do we see
them as alien and turn our backs on them?
Are
we bound to be at daggers drawn, or is there a unity to humanity?
Historically,
the idea of humanity as a unity came from Christianity.
Christianity
inherited from Judaism the idea of a single god of the whole universe, and
abolished the idea of a chosen race, the good news is for everyone.
Whoever
you are, wherever you come from, you are a child of God.
God loves you, and has
provided enough resources for your needs to be met, along with everybody
else’s.
If
they are not met, the fault lies with human authorities, not with the meanness
of nature.
So
in this ‘in or out?’ referendum there are actually three positions:
- One is to leave.
- One is to carry on as we are, with a self-congratulatory pat on the back, despite the worsening trends.
- The third is to stay in the EU and change it. - Greece, to its credit, tried but was crushed by the neoliberal system.
Other
countries are also losing out the way Greece is, it can be changed and Britain
could help.
If
we are to be more of a help than a hindrance, we’ll have to reaffirm the
solidarity with humanity that our parents and grandparents believed in when
they set up international agencies like United Nations and the EU.
Everybody
needs somewhere to live, everybody needs something to eat and it can be done.
