With the loss of an important member-state, the European Union, also fighting the debt crisis as it drowns under waves of refugees, is at its weakest ever. It’s only a matter of time before other nations follow suit
london bridge is falling down, falling down….” sang TS Eliot prophesying the end of the historic role of the Great Britain in the days of the Great Depression in the 1930s of the last century. The spiritualist poet’s idea of Great Britain even encompassed the fourth of the world where British rule in those days had prevailed across the seas in all continents.
In Eliot’s perception, the empire was to bring together Vedic chants and Christian values; he quoted from Hindu and Buddhist scriptures, even while he saw his England drifting away from Christian values. Colonialism was bad but capitalist Britain was home to many dissidents of the world including Karl Marx who called on the workers of the world, including those of Britain, to overthrow the capitalist order for they had nothing to lose but their chains.
Were the Brits recalling the good old days when they decided by majority to cut off from the European UnionIJ In the campaign for separation, the nostalgia of a Britain that kept itself aloof from continental Europe and made the continental powers like France and Germany fight each other was strongly evident. How do we understand why Britain voted recently to break out from Europe, labeling it as “independence day” and sent the rest of the financial world reeling, forcing all the world’s stock market indices down IJ
Eliot ended his core poem The Wasteland with the Upanishadic benediction: “Shantih, shantih, shantih”. May be it will mean the true Brits (excluding the immigrants who have built so much wealth in Britain to buttress the prosperity of the island nation, specifically the awesome Indian billionaires like the Mittals, Anil Agarwal, the Hinduja Brothers and some 40 others) think their country cannot have Indian billionaires topping or nearly topping the list of 102 billionaires.
Would the “ Brits only” campaigners who swung the referendum over exit from EU by invoking the glories of the past — an empire across one-fourth of the globe, historically unmatched by any others including those from the Continent (the Spanish, the French, the Dutch, the Germans) force Whitehall to go back to the days when Britian acted from its safety as an island (recall even Hitler hesitated to cross the Channel even though he was the master of France, Holland and Belgium by 1940) and built its global empire by making Continetal powers like France and Germany constantly fight among themselvesIJ
Being part of the EU constrained such global visions, as Britain had to concede place to Eurovisions where it was to German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the poor cousins like Greece and Ireland, even Italy, looked to for succor to keep up with the Jones in Eurostyle and vending millions of Euros that they did not own and consequently genuflect or defy the Big lender in Berlin as the occasion needed.
Maybe, the break from Europe campaigners had other ideas borrowed from the past to play the arbitrator among the European powers and peoples, while like the monkey in the fable mediating between the two cats succeed in taking a big bite off the cheese.
June 23 was when the Exit EU message was clearly spelt out by the majority of the six crore British citizens. Contrast how two years back the Scots in a similar controversy opted to remain with England to make Great Britain truly great. As they say, behind every important British, the origin was Scotland.
Recall how Johnson who created the first dictionary of the English language used to ridicule his Scottish biographer Boswell by exclaiming that the best choice for every Scot was the highway to England. As destiny had it, it was Boswell’s biography of the great Dr Johnson that is a literary piece among biographies in the English language.
Brexit enthusiasts who might now take over the Conservatives as British Conservative Prime Minister Cameron says he is quitting by October having vigorously opposed Brexit and failed. One definite agenda if the Brexit campaigners snatch 10, Downing Street after a new election this autumn, would be targeting immigration.
The Brexit campaign slogans included one against a liberal attitude to immigration with Britain forced to follow the EU practice of open doors. The loudmouths among them were blaming too many outsiders rushing the British islands’ doors. The EU’s immigration laws that Britain has to follow as a member of the Brussels headquartered body, was seen as too liberal for london’s safety with so many Islamists getting into Europe under the guise of refugees or residents of former French, Spainish or Portuguese colonies.
At the same time, how could Britain, after Brexit, ignore the huge contribution to the island’s prosperity that immigrants have made, especially immigrants from IndiaIJ Of the 102 billionaires in Britain, as many as 40 are from India. They have set up so many establishments across the whole economy that give thousands of jobs which the Government there can hardly afford to ignore.
One of the Hinduja brothers, a top billionaire in london, says after the divorce with EU vote, that “Brexit will increase the scope of trade between the UK and India”. He expects what he calls the “temporary tremors” following the vote to stabilise. Other analysts also say that the UK freed from guidelines from EU would be even more looking for closer ties with India because of the huge resource base and Indian market.
It could also happen that a new US-UK-India may materialise considering the forward movement that has come out of the Modi Government’s initiatives in the US for closer defense and strategic ties. The restrictions on immigrations could affect those who seek to work in the UK at other levels, professionals like doctors, accountants and some ordinary Sikhs, whose relations are already settled in the UK.
India has one of the largest investments in the UK and vice versa. It would too fanciful to think that an “independent” Britain would resent this, and weigh the balance against Indian business and professional talent tying up with their UK counterparts. Too many people walking over the london bridge might make it fall but when Indian talent walked over it all these years, it was the UK that benefited from their wealth creation.
Colonialism has always weighted against the colonised lands in the past. As is shown by the laxmi Mittals, Anil Aggarwals, Hindujas and others these have lifted up Britain’s economy. Besides the EU itself is facing many internal crises with Greece, Ireland, Turkey, Portugal and even France facing their own Exit parties growing.
It wouldn’t be too much of a mythology to suspect that in another few years the great European Union itself will be breaking up in a renewed pride with France for the French and even Germany for the Germans. leave EU to become history’s failed experiment.