Re: <nettime> don't be afraid of 'project fear'

The question "Why should we care?" is pertinent if you live in a democracy and care to show solidarity with other citizens of democracies.

I am a European Citizen, and I am facing the prospect of having my rights and freedoms curtailed, my freedom of movement reduced, my savings and assets devalued, my neighbours and friends driven out, and my democratic rights rendered meaningless. I am also likely to face food and medicine shortages, the destruction of major industrial sectors in my country.

It's also worth remembering that Boris Johnson and the Brexiteers appear to be a tentacle of an international network of authoritarian plutocrats, whose immediate target is to damage or destroy the European Union, using the UK population as the economic equivalent of suicide bombers. That they happen to be active in Britain right now should be a warning to citizens of liberal democracies everywhere - they're also coming for you. It may be a mistake to cede territory to them now, and wait until you're fighting on home soil.

Their effort is also a culture war - an attempt to replace liberal, open, democratic societies with something far more primitive, ethno-nationalist, tribal, and manipulable. This is a global information war.

On the subject of "England" - I have to confess that I don't care about it at all.

To me it's a fake nation - a confection of Empire that doesn't REALLY exist. It's actually Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, East Anglia, Cornwall and more, all occupied by an entitled, postimperial elite that treat the regions of the composite, hybrid nation they rule over with the same contempt that the British empire treated its dominions. The whole thing is a throwback that ought to have been reformed decades, if not centuries ago.

I think I've said on this forum before that there's a great national advantage to be gained from losing a war. It comprehensively discredits established elites and gives the opportunity to replace or reform outdated practices. It also tends to lead to a period of national re-evaluation, and eventual renewal. Britain has not had this advantage, and perhaps Brexit is the defeat that it needs. The benefits, though, may be confounded by the fact that its victorious antagonist is itself.

Hi,

just a quick question: Why should we care about Brexit and England at all? It just takes so much energy and resources out of all of the rest. ‎I think we have much more important issues in EU. Who cares about arrogant, failed and backward country that gets the backlash it deserves? Scots and Welsh should separate and stay in EU, North Ireland given to the Republic of Ireland - problem solved. And we have the third class Singapore alike creation of what's left of GB.

Hi Harv,

just a quick response to your pertinent "why should we care question”.

Let me ask who is the ‘we’ you are refering to ? EU citizens ? Do you include the millions of EU citizens livng in the

UK sometimes for decades who now don’t know if they are on their "arse or their elbows"? Or maybe you are generous enough to

include the Brits who have made their lives in the EU countries and whose world have been thrown into turmoil. Maybe its the 'we' who

have families with partners and children.

Sorry if me wanging on about the plight of millions of individual citizens who are about to lose their rights seems to you of no

consequence (and compared with the plight of refugee migrants it can seem like a marginal issue sure). Also the technicalities

can be quite boring and procedural I know unless you have some interest in the variaties of constitutional law

when it falls into crisis. Quite nerdy I know but nettime is a space where nerdy discussion and passionate politics can meet.. right?

More broadly there may even be something to learn from the particular forms of populism that spring from politicians who hijack constitutions

and claim that “speaking for the people” using it to ride roughshod over constitutional legal norms that have evolved over generations.

This has echoes in a number of other countries. But perhaps you are lucky enough not to live in one of those countries and can simply

turn your back and say why should 'we’ care. Whoever this big “we” are

Best

David Garcia

On 1 Sep 2019, at 15:36, Harv Stanic Staalman <harv@subsignal.org> wrote:

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