The Stolen Revolution

A remark on Brexit on the eve of the Referendum, originally posted on social media.

'Every generation needs a new revolution', Thomas Jefferson said, but Brexit is not our revolution. The Leave campaign has tried to position itself as the rebellious underdog, the voice of the people as they kick upwards against European oppression, and it utterly blows my mind that such bullshit has been allowed to stand.

Brexiters, look at who your spokespeople are: the leader of a party of racists who thinks nothing of turning the refugee crisis into a photo opportunity. Our own knockoff Donald Trump whose only agenda is securing the premiership by dethroning the leader of his own party. Michael freakin' Gove. What on earth qualifies these people to speak for you?

Look at the lies they have told: 350 million pounds plastered everywhere, a massive overstatement that Vote Leave still wears like a medal of honour despite it's having been debunked a thousand times over. The false equivalency of immigration to a failing NHS and a housing crisis, two things that are the fault of the government for failing to invest, but which are so much easier to lay at the feet of your new Muslim neighbour who makes you feel uncomfortable. How does this nonsense qualify as reasoning?

But most of all, look at your foes, for there is no better way to understand your campaign than to get the measure of the people who oppose it. Who wants to remain? The left, the liberals, the young, a whole generation that has grown up with freedom of speech and human rights, that pulls together against atrocities like the Orlando shootings rather than blaming what they don't understand. The furthest left Labour leader of our lifetimes, who no one expected to be taken seriously until he was allowed to speak. Us, all of us, your sons and daughters, the generation Vote Leave has lost in the cloud of its own hubris.

We will wear the consequences of tomorrow's vote for longer than you, and we're screaming to Remain. Maybe you should hear us out. Not every revolution needs to be violent to be recognised as such, and this is ours: a revolution against standing alone in a world that is bigger than us.

Tomorrow, vote for everyone, not just yourself.

Vote Remain.