We did not have any posts about the Brexit debacle, did we? A lot of the points in this video could also be applied to CZ (and we have idiots here aplenty who advocate for “Czexit” which would be even more suicidal for us than Brexit is for UK)
I agree with the gist of the video, which can be summed up thus: All the good things the EU makes for us here in Europe go under the radar of the media, and as a consequence under the radar of most people. Failures and mistakes are highlighted, successes and benefits are taken for granted.
I like the most the point that we, in Europe, experience the longest peace in history. We do not know what war is, for almost three generations by now in some countries. If the EU had achieved nothing else, that one thing is huge.
Could the US join the EU, please?
As the UK is set on leaving, I think there’s an opening. There’s just a list of things you have to sign and agree to beforehand, no big deal!
If we joined the EU we’d have to stop torturing people.
Marcus
Such a disappointment, no? What a sacrifice that would be!
But just think, you could join up, and then destroy things from the inside, just like the UK is doing right now! Like colonist, like colony!
His overarching point that our news media don’t make a big thing about the amount of money we get from the EU is true and so important, most people have no idea how much EU money has gone into our infrastructure, into regeneration of regions that Westminster would have quite happily left to rot, into all sort of research, not just the medical research he talks about. Galileo is a good example, an EU wide project that we helped build, but are now not going to be able to fully access. And he’s right about the benefit of peace which I dont think can be overstated, but we seem to have forgotten how important peace is to our well-being as well as to our economy, too many people just don’t believe that our peace could change, to them it just is, they don’t understand why it is, and so don’t see the danger of destroying the organisation that is primarily responsible for our peace.We are probably fucked, but I really hope that the rest of the EU learns from our lesson and no other country makes the same mistake, because I really want the EU to be there for us to rejoin when we come to our senses.
I’ll say that I’m not actually a big fan of the EU. It has benn a project of heavy deregulation and a race towards the bottom for many social standards. It praises itself on its humanist values, but creates the Fortress Europe that turns the Mediterranean into a mass grave. Not to mention the abysmal treatment of its own minorities like the Roma
Having said that, right now I’ll fight tooth and nail for it, because tearing it down from the right means fascism. And even if we were not in a phase where we actively have to fight for the survival of what democratic institutions and rights we have, leaving still could never be a progressive move. Unless there’s a massive upheave, WWII level, then the only way can be to jointly reform it from within. I love the idea of revolution as much as the next person, but right now we’re not at that point.
There is nothing like knowing what you are leaving to realise how much good the EU does even with it’s many imperfections. I don’t discount the imperfections, I’ve never been an outright fan, I’m too cynical for that, I just think the EU is better than any of the possible alternatives that we (Europr in this case) could end up with at the moment. And yes, reform will only come from within.