Peter Marshall's Blog

The UK Referendum on Membership of the European Union and the Freedom of Speech

By Peter Marshall

I don’t usually vote at the national level because there is no real choice between the existing parties. They are all committed to a national parliament and have top-down solutions. Voting only encourages career politicians; if it genuinely changed things, they would abolish it.

However,  I have recently voted in the referendum to leave the European Union mainly for the following reasons:

I would rather be a citizen of the world than a member of a narrow,largely white,undemocratic, centralized, capitalist superstate of Europe.

I don’t see why 70 per cent of UK law should be made by unelected commissionaires in Brussels and UK judges should be overriden.

I don’t see why rich European states in the north should dictate terms to poorer countries in the south of Europe, such as Germany with Greece. Greece will never be able to repay its debts.

It comes as no surprise that the head of the IMF, the President of the US and the main transnational corporations would like Britain to remain part of the EU. It would mean business as usual. 

I think there is more chance of Britain forming a loose alliance of countries of the world and to create a democratic, participatory, ecological, equal and free society in the future outside the iron fetters of the EU than within it.

I am in reasonably good company on the left as well as the bad company of the ‘little Englanders’ on the right. What unites them is a belief in greater democratic control over Britain’s future although we differ widely over our beliefs, visions and goals.

Obviously, as my books and actions vividly illustrate, I am no racist. I also think we should help and receive political refugees from war-torn countries.

You may disagree with me but I believe in the freedom of thought, expression and action. It is only through adopting these principles that any moral or social improvement can be made.

I may disagree with you but I accept wholeheartedly your claim to express an opinion, whatever it might be.

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