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| The City of London. Although some financiers played a key role in the LEAVE campaign, others fear loss of access to lucrative European markets |
A poem by Chengde Chen
Why does BREXIT remind me of 9/11?
Because the exit is like a suicide attack.
Britain, like a plane hijacked by democracy,
With her island-shaped spirit and body,
Dives into her interdependent neighbour,
Regardless of the fatal consequences of
Isolation, recession, and dismemberment…
If an action of suicide bombing
Is to perish together with the enemy,
Brexit is to do so with friends!
But, world-shaking as it is, this isn’t 9/11 yet.
The “explosion” detonated by the referendum,
is time-consuming, procedural, and reversible.
If Britain regrets the decision, she can re-vote.
Some would cry “respecting democracy”, but
Should we democrats be so “respected”
That we’re not allowed to change our mind –
But must jump off the cliff-edge mistakenly-reached?
A U-turn would, of course, not be glorious, but
Should the UK trade her existence for pride?
Where would the pride stay, anyway?
If we must make the mistake into a full disaster,
Wouldn't democracy look crazier than al-Qaeda?
* Editorial note. 'BREXIT' is the term used to signify the process of withdrawal from the European Union by the United Kingdom, a long-standing aim of both the extreme left and right in English politics, if rather less so in other parts of the United Kingdom.
Chengde Chen is the author of Five Themes of Today: philosophical poems. Readers can find out more about Chengde and his poems here
Thank you Keith for your interesting comments. There are of course different kinds of madness, but, as far as “madness” is concerned, they are the same. Democracy does not mean being right. The majority could be ignorant or be deceived, not to mention that the Fuhrer of the Third Reich was “duly elected” too. I’m glad that we both recognize the differences between 11/9 and the metaphoric “explosion” of Brexit, though it is hard to say which one is more damaging if the country thereafter became dismembered, with a great recession that lasts for decades, and with millions of unemployment and a significant drop of living standard... Just as democracy can make mistakes, it can commit suicide.
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