Why I feel European more than "British".
Whilst I hold a British passport and was born in Britain, I have never really felt British. My father is Welsh-Cornish whilst my mother was Irish-Cornish. One of my grandfathers claimed he was part Spanish. So I always felt European was a more accurate label than the British, which excludes a significant part of the family I was born into. I have many cousins that never left Eire.
Today my extended family includes Irish, Welsh, Cornish, and by marriage Polish, Scottish and I believe French.
None of this had really mattered to me before Brexit. I'm not a nationalist. For one thing it would be very hard for me to identify with any one nationality, even if I was inclined to support such an authoritarian viewpoint. I value the freedom of movement that comes with the European Union, but never saw myself as having cause to leave the UK, as much as I wanted to travel.
Engagement
My first awareness of the potential threat Brexit posed came in 2009, when I got engaged to Dana. I knew by this point I wanted to live with her long term. We were committed after just a year together and noises about a referendum to leave the EU were going around and so the concern about the possibility began.
We began to try an talk to family about the rising xenophobia in the UK, but our concerns were dismissed in various ways. "Nonsense", we were told, "Brits love the Polish". "Nonsense", we were told, "We will never have a referendum on EU membership, UKIP are just a protest party, no-one takes them seriously".
Still, we couldn't shake the feeling of unease every time they gained MEPs and the Conservatives and even Labour adopted more and more of their talking points. So in 2014 we got legally married in an attempt to protect our future together. Sadly in June 2012, then Home Secretary Teresa May, in David Cameron's government, introduced new immigration rules that meant non-UK spouses of UK had no right to remain in the UK. For the moment EU citizens were exempt, because of freedom of movement treaty rules, but if the UK left the freedom of movement area, then our future together in Britain was essentially over.
Still being married would make it easier for us to stay together elsewhere, and so we still felt it was worthwhile.
Scottish Independence
When Scotland had its referendum on gaining independence, we were firmly in the YES camp. Unlike the rest of the UK, Scotland was enthusiastic about remaining in the EU, and promised to retain freedom of movement in the event that it was not able to join immediately. Since UKIP never really had any hold in Scotland, this would have secured our future together.
Alas it was not to be. YES came close, but not close enough.
Brexit
Then came the referendum on the UK leaving the EU. The time frame between the referendum being announced and it actually taking place left very little room for a proper debate. It is quite clear that no proper debate was actually wanted, by either side.
Cameron thought he could get away with a quick referendum and win, and shut the xenophobic nationalist wing of his party up for the rest of his term. Meanwhile Farrage and co didn't want a proper debate either. They were able to make a barrage of lies without anyone having time to analyse their claims and put forward a reasoned counter argument.
Furthermore, the three million EU citizens living in the UK and the two million UK citizens living elsewhere in the EU were denied a vote! That is five million people whose future was most effected by the vote, got no actual democratic say in the outcome! For comparison, Leave "won" by less than one and half million.
The anxiety we had been feeling over previous years had become a hellish reality, and not just for us. British friends who weren't white enough were facing a barrage of abuse from jubilant racists. For example, a Scottish-Indian friend of ours reported that his mother was nearly pushed under a train in Glasgow by a guy hurling racist abuse. This is not just anecdotal, official police stats confirmed a wave of racist and xenophobic violence spiking in the months following the Brexit result.
Stay or go?
Obviously our lives have been pretty disrupted by all the anxiety and uncertainty hanging over like a sword of Damocles. Whilst the Tory government issues empty and insincere reassurances with one hand, whilst introducing more and more totalitarian measures with the other, and the spineless Labour opposition seem unwilling or unable to stand up for people like us, our future here begins to look more and more untenable.
Our only hope for a secure future in our current home lies with a second and successful Scottish Independence referendum, but it isn't clear we can wait that long. Since my current employment contract is for a fixed term, it makes sense that I would look for a new job somewhere we can have a future. And increasingly that looks like elsewhere in the EU. Even if Brexit is cancelled, our hearts don't really lie in Britain any more.
Finland
After looking at various choices available, we have decided that Finland is a good fit for us. We will both write more blogs about why we feel that way. Maybe we were both brainwashed by Moomins in our childhood. Maybe years of using Linux, initially developed by Finn, Linus Torvalds, rewired my brain, I don't know.
We will miss Scotland, it has been good to us. But it increasingly feels like it is time to move on. Bye bye Nessie. Hello Moomins, Sauna Elves and Saimaa Seals...
Image credits
All pics by us or our close family, except for the Moomin picture, which is a Creative Commons image from Pixabay by Sarari1123.
Thanks for great post..i appreciate your politics..all the best..