Throughout the semester, my group has covered the unfolding situation in the European Union as a result of Brexit. Brexit, the referendum vote in which the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU, has taken the world by storm but its consequences are still widely unknown. In our first post, we explained the structure of the EU and the UK’s special relationship with it. Then, we explained the long term and short term causes of Brexit, which include Britain's independent tendencies, pro-Brexit propaganda, and a lack of trust in the EU. Subsequently, we set up our next two posts, dividing them into economic and sociopolitical consequences of Brexit. The second post, detailing the economic impact, began with an explanation of how the UK benefited from being apart of the European Union. Immediately after Brexit, the pound plummeted and foreign investors lost confidence in the UK’s economy. If the UK makes a full departure from the EU, it is likely that trade restrictions will be put in place, unemployment will rise, and the EU will lose productivity. Finally, the third post, in which we explained the sociopolitical effects of Brexit, focused mainly on immigration and the future of the United Kingdom. Since Brexit appeared to be a vote centered around immigration, laws on the immigration of Eastern Europeans and refugees will certainly tighten. For the time being, immigration is only increasing. In terms of the future of the United Kingdom, the Brexit vote has reignited tensions between the nations that make up the UK. It is entirely possible that Scotland will become independent and that Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will reunite in the coming years. More than anything, the Brexit vote reflects a xenophobic, neoliberal backlash to liberal organizations like the European Union. We hoped to illustrate that although none of these things may happen, Brexit is symbolic, which can already be seen with the recent US presidential election.
In order to research for our posts, we first determined what each post would be about and delegated the majority of the writing for those posts to two group members. Since Brexit is still a topic that is up in the air, it made sense to talk about broad impacts, splitting the research into economic and sociopolitical consequences. This is where it became handy that we were in a group, not just individual writers, because two of the members of the group are concentrating on International Economics as part of their International Studies major, while the rest of us are concentrating on Culture, Peace and Conflict, or Politics. Thus, assigning the writing became a matter of logic. Then, we researched our topics on every platform possible, including library databases, economic magazines, news broadcasts, and personal accounts. Not surprisingly, the content of the sources we found differed greatly depending on their publication date: before or after June 24, 2016, the date of the Brexit vote. While sources before this date were useful to explain background information and the context of Brexit, we had to limit ourselves to more recent articles, studies, and interviews in order to get a clear picture of what is next for the EU. Also unsurprisingly, most of the sources came from British publishers, like the BBC, the INDEPENDENT, and various UK government websites. This was useful for general information, for images, and for British perspectives on the events unfolding; however, we had to delve a lot deeper for sources that offered a perspective on how Brexit would affect the EU. One task that I was often given in my group was to find hyperlinks and to post the final draft. Although posting was often quite tedious, I found hyperlinking to be the most enjoyable part of the research. Hyperlinks gave us the opportunity to use less conventional sources, like a Brexit campaign movie found on YouTube, and they caused the blog to seem overall more like a genuine news blog.
In terms of doing research, I learned the importance of looking at the context of the source itself. Especially with current events, writers can spin the information to fit a certain image or agenda. Thus, it is necessary to consider the type of source, its country of origin, its date of publication, and its medium (articles that can be accessed by social media are often quite different from printed articles.) As for group work, I learned the importance of delegating tasks, as well as working together in person. We delegated tasks as soon as we started working on the project, which was very helpful. However, we then left each other to our own devices and did not really ensure that each of us was doing our part. Although ultimately we got everything done and on time, I think that working together, in the same room, at the same time would have created an atmosphere of motivation and collaboration. Despite this, I was glad to be working in a group, especially since we all have our own interests in International Studies, because it gave the blog posts several perspectives that I would not have been able to add on my own. Finally, in terms of Brexit, I learned a lot. Coincidentally, I was in London when the Brexit vote occurred and it really defined my time there. Thus, I already knew a lot about the vote, the causes, and the immediate impacts going into this project. However, this project gave me the chance to analyze what the vote means in detail, since I was still in disbelief that something like this could happen. My research, coupled with concepts I have learned in class about free trade and neoliberalism, has led me to certain conclusions. The Brexit vote, which may not actually mean anything without a Parliament vote, was the precursor to what may be a neoliberal movement. Brexit closely parallels the election of Donald Trump because it revealed a silent white majority who is xenophobic, racist, and distrustful of any state involvement in the economy. Whether or not free trade is a beneficial system is another topic altogether. What is clear is that we are teetering on the edge of two possible worlds: one cosmopolitan, diverse world, or one white-supremacist, isolated world. Working on this blog has shown me that many people are wholeheartedly against this neoliberal backlash, including people who live in London, refugees, and certainly the European Union. These voices are drowned out by the dominating forces of the US and the UK, which have been the dominating world powers for centuries. In other words, it is time for a change.
References
Beauchamp, Zack. (2016, Nov 9). Donald Trump’s victory is part of a global white backlash. Vox. Retrieved from http://www.vox.com/world/2016/11/9/13572174/president-elect-donald-trump-2016-victory-racism-xenophobia
Durkin, M. (2016, May). Brexit the Movie. United Kingdom: Wag TV. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTMxfAkxfQ0/
Greenberg, Steve. (2016, Jun 28). Brexit and Trump. The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Retrieved from http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/152074/
Oliveira, Ivo. (2016, Jun 30). Cartoons: The Brexit divorce. Politico. Retrieved from http://www.politico.eu/interactive/brexit-european-union-referendum-commission-david-cameron-leave-cartoons-draw-brexit-divorce/
I absolutely understand what you mean about working together face to face. I am the kind of person who will do their work at really weird times and forget to add it to the document, so I think more time together might have helped me stay on track. But I have loved working with you, because your motivation and drive is contagious and so powerful to be around, and I know I have learned a lot more about Brexit despite having been in England immediately after the vote.
ReplyDeleteI like how you illustrated Brexit and Trump's presidential win as two of the same issue, because honestly, it is true! There is still a large portion of people who think with xenophobic, racist minds, and that clearly showed through in these two major political events. Like you said, we are teetering between a cosmopolitan, diverse world, and a white-supremacist, isolated world. It is up to those who believe in the former to keep diversity and inclusion alive!
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