Member Mumble #4 Maurice Wielens

United in Diversity

“With the rise of nationalist populism in the European Union lately, The Netherlands, Finland, Italy, France, and Hungary, alike the United Kingdom, threaten to leave the European Union” is how I started the essay I wrote for the course ‘Ethnic Experience in the United States’. The nationalist populists in Europe call for their countries to become independent from the EU, by which they would regain rights over their own borders. Yet, is it humane to reinstate mutual borders in the EU? A strict physical border between two countries creates a binary opposition between those two countries. People living in border areas are, thus, forced to adapt to a life at merely one side of the border, often through repression of a part of their identity. The Schengen area, and the right to travel the continent freely, takes away this need to choose the identity that is being outlived.

The mirror announced that if the Brexit poll would have been held today, remain would have won. People who voted out, were promised that the money the UK would save by not having to pay the EU membership fee would go directly to the NHS. With this fake news, and cathy one-liners, populist like Trump (USA), Wilders (Netherlands), Petry (Germany), Le Pen (France), get in power. I would like to call on you not to listen to those one-liners, but look at what you believe is good for your country. Thus, vote for a political party that has an ideal close to yours. A Dutch journalist, Tim Hofman, announced that he is going to launch a campaign to stimulate ‘first-time voters’, like me, to vote in the Dutch election on March 15^th. And I hope you will take the time to vote for what you believe in. After all, if the youth had voted in the Brexit poll, the UK would still be part of the EU.