Let’s forget and Lest we forget

„Those who adhere to the past won't be able to cope with the future“ - Willy Brandt, 1971

Today is the 9th of November 2014, the day on which 25 years ago the Berlin Wall came down.

Today is the 9th of November 2014, the day Britain is building a wall between itself and Europe more than ever.

Good evening Britain,

This will be a tricky text for you and me, because it is about how I perceive what is currently happening in this country.

I recently got into a conversation on Twitter, where I was told that I can’t say that „rural UK is racist as fuck“, which I did, because it lumps all people in rural UK together. It does and my choice of words is meant to hurt. It is meant to hurt you, Britain, because you hurt me.

Of course not everyone is racist in the British countryside. But the UK is on a fast-speed train to becoming a terrible, terrible right-wing country. And Ukip will arrive earlier in rural UK than the promised high-speed train network that should connect it better with London.

There is hell of a lot of marginalisation going on here at the moment. The government is trying to make London even more powerful, which has - among other things - led to the recent independence vote in Scotland. It marginalises the countryside, with it North Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The Tory-led government (sorry, Lib-Dems) is dancing at two parties. On the one hand, it tries to push London, because it is so important for the economy (what is Britain successfully producing except parsnips, hmm?). On the other hand, it is desperately trying to convince conservative voters that it can take care of them. The majority of conservative voters don’t live in cities, they live in rural UK. Traditionally, a lot of them in Southern England (hey Sussex!).

Cameron has quite a simple strategy. Actually, he has stolen it from Ukip. He focuses on fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of the others with a little touch of patriotism and a big emphasis on Britain’s great history. Well, I tell you, not everything was great that Britain did, but let’s forget that and lest we forget what we want to remember.

This year is the start of super-über-remembrance events. 100 years of the Great War. Britain has a 4-year programme to remember World War One. Told you, it’s a „great“ history and a great war. I am not saying that it shouldn’t remember the War with all its deaths and cruelties. But it has become more of a celebration, a media event including live coverage and Twitter feeds.

Britain revolves around itself while the world moves on. No-one understands the European Union, because very few tell Britain why the EU is such a great achievement. Media outlets refer to the EU „project“ or even more ugly: „experiment“. Britain is deleting its European identity. And how does it fill this gap? The country searches its identity in its history - and this is very dangerous: It is backwards-looking.

Britain emphasises so much its historical achievements, i.e. constitutional monarchy, the Magna Carta and giving India a train network (for free!) that it is forgetting the present and neglecting the future. The country has started to marginalise EU citizens that have come to Britain to live here. They steal jobs or buy houses in Chelsea or live on benefits or speak in their first language on the streets. They can’t make it right for you. And it’s much, much worse for non-EU citizens. When politics and media constantly say that immigration is bad, then sooner or later people who worry about their economic status start to believe.

And this is hurting me. I don’t want to live in a country where change is not accepted and where I’m constantly reminded that I’m different.

Then I should go home, you say? But where is home?

The world has changed, Britain. Tradition can be great, but it has to be adjusted to the present.

Britain, we have a complicated relationship. I live here and shape the country as much as my white, male, Sussex-born neighbour. You have to understand that. I am not here to hurt you, so why are you hurting me?