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Britain will never vote for the euro. ‘So what?’ I hear many say. BUT, due to the breakneck speed of globalisation, the pound won’t survive in isolation among a handful of international super-currencies. As a result, sterling would quickly fall into the orbit of the US dollar and Britain would become even more economically, politically+culturally tied to a violently imperialist US bent on world-domination … so someone please tell me I’m wrong!
‘Europe’ is often referred to in Britain as though it were some inferior, suspicious place, nothing much to do with us, despite the fact that – like it or lump it - we have always been deeply involved in it. After centuries of ruling over huge red bits on the world map, the largest empire ever, Britain has been suffering an ‘imperial hangover’. This affects many British people on a cultural level who, after centuries of conditioning that we are somehow better than everyone else, now have to come to terms with just being regular Europeans, no better or worse than anyone else on the continent.
Easier said than done? That’s right - the ‘superiority complex’ still persists among many people here, an irrational belief that no matter how bad things get here we are still somehow ‘better’ or ‘unique’ as a country despite massive evidence to the contrary. Well … we certainly are unique! Our ‘Great British Achievements’ include the poorest quality of life indicators in Europe. Thanks to decades of conservative policies on health, transport, education, housing and employment we are now, believe it or not, among the poorest in Europe!
The country is, of course, awash with national+international money but – u guessed it – its all up top! We are also now the most violent country in Europe with the worst record of abuse (violent+sexual) against our children. Whether we like it or not, we have a lust for violence+retribution unmatched by any other European country, imprisoning more people than any other European country. We still have the ‘proud’ record of illegally defending our ‘right’ to assault our children.
Despite all the evidence that the European quality of life is - in reality – a lot better, there is little hope for the euro campaign. The British left+right wing are totally united in their opposition to the euro. The right is opposed from its predictable ‘little Englander’ racist perspective backed up by mighty media organisations; the left is largely opposed from an anti-imperialist, anti-fortress Europe point of view. Blair wants the euro but is literally scared to talk it up because his buddy, Murdoch, is a foaming-at-the-mouth anti-European. After several decades of completely bias media misinformation we in Britain know just about every negative aspect of the European project and, not surprisingly, the euro is now deeply unpopular with most people in this country!
The REAL reason behind such anti-euro hostility is multinational profit. Multinational media organisations operating in the UK want less EU involvement because it is a threat to their mega-profits. The EU has a basic social policy (minimum employment standards, conditions, pay etc.), an environmental protection policy, monopoly competition rules and other ‘red tape’ that is anathema to the new vicious brand of neo-liberal . This means, of course, that within the EU organisations like News International cannot get away with murder in the same way they do in the US and (often) here, due to numerous UK exemptions. If joined, the euro would fully integrate us economically, socially+politically into the EU. It would be the point of no return into what Thatcher ranted “socialism by the back door”. It would mean, in the area of journalism, that media multinationals would not be able to target individuals, organisations or governments they don’t agree with without some basic redress.
As a result, EU issues frequently receive hostile coverage in the British media, or no coverage at all. For example, EU-funded projects+subsidies are rarely mentioned in the media or, if so, they are rubbished; the euro’s performance is practically censored at the moment while it is successful yet front page news when it isn’t; the proposed ‘euro-constitution’ is attacked as some type of sinister plot, while our new freedoms to travel, work+live anywhere in the EU with only an ID or passport is completely ignored.
Reactionary fears about being “ordered about” and “bossed about” by “Europe” are given banner headlines while stories exposing why Britons work more hours than any other Europeans are mysteriously absent. Multinational hostility to the EU is a short-sighted policy, looking at short-term profits based on getting as much as possible out of sterling +Britain’s ‘sweatshop economy’ in the shortest time possible.
In short, Britain will never vote for the euro because the UK population has been thoroughly misinformed about most things European for decades by a very powerful, untouchable media which constantly reinforces racist views about Europeans+the unhealthy British superiority complex. It will literally take years to undo this negative propaganda even if there was someone to do it, which there isn’t. In the meantime, we are more likely to vote for union with the US than to join the euro! |
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