It’s a threat to democracy, but not as we know it

It’s not really a habit of mine to kick off an article with: “See? I told you so!” But that might just be because it’s not a habit of mine to ‘tell you so’, and actually get it right.

This time, however, the speed with which one of my earlier predictions came true took even humble little me by complete surprise. I mean, I knew I was right all along, of course… but not THAT right, for heaven’s sake. And not when I’d so much rather have been proven wrong…

Anyway, in case you’re wondering: no, it wasn’t the result of the Brexit referendum. That came almost as much a surprise to me, as it evidently stunned and stupefied most of the people who swim into my online newsfeed every day. In private conversations, I had even called it for ‘Remain’… by as comfortable a margin as it was eventually won by ‘Leave’. So no, all things considered, I got that one as wrong as everyone else.

More than the result, it was the consequences of Brexit that I saw coming from long beforehand… to be specific, the way a perfectly legal and valid democratic decision – taken in full accordance with all the respected democratic traditions, by the population of a sovereign state – would be vilified, spat upon, and ultimately turned into a weapon with which to undermine democracy. 

All in the name of protecting and preserving the same democracy, of course. Why else?

Yup, scary stuff. In fact, it was almost exclusively to avoid such a frightening scenario that I would have much preferred a ‘Remain’ win. To be honest, I see no other plausible reason to even take sides (still less to side with the ‘In crowd’). Ultimately, Britain took a purely national decision that hinged directly on all the most basic fundamental concepts of ‘sovereignty’ and ‘statehood’. It was a decision that, for better or for worse, struck at the very heart of the country’s internal decision-making process. And that is precisely the stuff that ‘national politics’ is made of.

Viewed from this angle, the personal preferences of individual nobodies from other countries suddenly don’t seem very relevant at all. We have about as much right to be ‘infuriated’ at the British electorate’s choice regarding EU membership, as the British have to object to any of our own choice of government in any election since Independence. 

Nor did it help much that all the Great and the Good, the Rich and the Powerful, the Famous and the Infamous, all descended upon the issue from all four corners of the world (neatly balanced out, too, with Obama and Trump on either side)…  as if their Word alone was enough to settle the dispute.

What was that, if not a classic case of: “Look at you silly little Brits: can’t even take a decision on the future of your own country, without screwing it all up. Here, let me show you how it’s done…”?

Ah, well. Already seems a long time ago, though it was only last week. For now that those naughty, silly little Brits have gone and upset the rest of the world’s precious apple-cart with such spectacular aplomb… oooh, dear. After all the trouble we all so generously took, to painstakingly spell out to those ignorant, uneducated British peasants what was actually expected of them by their benevolent lords and masters in this referendum… they went and voted how they wanted to regardless. I mean, the sheer cheek of it all is simply breathtaking…

Hmm. Well, that was one tactic that was used, at any rate. There were others… and while less immediately arrogant and presumptuous, some of them were actually much worse.

Consider for a moment at how the ‘pro-Remain’ faction of the European press responded to the threat of Brexit. Before the result was known, it was all ‘hugs and kisses’ all round. European newspapers seemed to be in a competition to see how many 1980s ‘New Romantic’ songs they could dig up and could turn into snazzy headlines: ‘Please Don’t Go’. ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’. ‘Don’t EU want me, baby’, and so on and so forth. (Note: if they’re stuck for a headline now, I’d recommend Don McLean’s ‘Crying’: you know, the one that goes: ‘Cry-y-y-ying… over EU’…)

And it took a Maltese citizen – we were told, with considerable pride, by the local press – to come up with what must be the most mawkish and cringe-worthy idea of the lot: a ‘human chain’ of kisses from all European cities to London…

Aww, how sweet. Why not a box of Belgian chocolates for every British national, too? And unicorns… and puppy-dogs… and romantic candle-lit dinners for 42 million…

Even without taking the subsequent slap in the face into consideration, it was easy to see that Europe’s anti-Brexiters were seriously misjudging the nature and implications of the referendum. The entire approach to the ‘In’ side of things, in Britain and elsewhere, was almost Carnivalesque. There was a sense of flippancy that actually bordered on open contempt. These people want to leave the EU? Fine, we’ll respond by simply poking fun at the whole idea. So while Britain debated weighty and sober matters – which, incidentally, needed to be ironed out, in a country so viscerally divided – the rest of Europe was trying to influence the decision by sending them love, kisses, and gift-wrapped teddy-bears that squeak ‘I Love You’ when squeezed.

And what, they expected that strategy to work? Seriously? 

Hate to point this out, but that sort of attitude can only be explained by a latent disdain for the democratic process itself. If ‘Europe’ took Brexit for a joke, it is only because it views the idea of deciding issues by popular vote to be a joke, too. And if you add Brexit to a long list of past bruising encounters between the EU and direct democracy – down to the recent Greek referendum on the bailout package, where the result was openly pooh-poohed and derided across Europe – you will find that while some people are clearly ‘sceptical’ about Europe… Europe is equally ‘sceptical’ about its own people.

But all this was visible to us before. It is when you factor in the referendum result that the real problems start surfacing.

The official result came in (I am told – for I was fast asleep at the time) at around five am Friday. Well, by around 11am my Facebook wall was already flooded with seething, hissing and brooding expressions of anger, outrage and resentment. All the ‘how dare they think differently’ reactions previously expressed only by European and world leaders, were suddenly reflected in the thoughts and opinions of all the nobodies (myself included) whose opinion in the matter is actually worthless.

I won’t bother quoting random comments from people who need not be identified… but one theme resounded across the entire spectrum of reactions. I have taken the liberty to paraphrase the sentiment of many an online rant, whinge and moan in the following argument: “If this is the sort of results that a democratic exercise such as a referendum can yield… shouldn’t we start thinking about scrapping the idea of deciding things by referendum?”

That, at any rate, was the way it was put by people who genuinely wanted to start a discussion on the topic. In most other cases, it was more like: “This is what you get when you entrust a serious decision to a bunch of uneducated yobs and ignorant hamalli.” (Note: for those unfamiliar with the term ‘hamallu’, it can safely be defined as ‘anyone whose opinion about anything under the sun happens to clash with your own’). One particular comment even suggested introducing compulsory IQ tests for voters.

Right: now we get to the part where I have to qualify the accuracy of my earlier prediction. I expected (and said so, last Wednesday) that there would be a backlash against democracy as a result of this referendum in the event of a ‘Leave’ win. BUT… I expected this backlash to come later, and primarily from Europe’s institutions themselves (and in particular, from Europe’s remaining 27 governments). I didn’t really predict that it would come from so many ordinary people out there… especially not from people who would be utterly HORRIFIED, if even the least of their own arguments were ever to be applied to their own democratic choices, as expressed in any referendum or election.

Let’s try and apply their logic to, for instance, Malta’s EU referendum in 2004. You don’t have to try very hard, because all the same old arguments had cropped up at the time. Remember? ‘The decision to join was too momentous to be left to the electorate’… ‘the media had distorted the playing field beyond recognition’… ‘people were being fed misinformation and lies’…. 

All you have to do to appreciate the glaring irony is change places with the people who were on the losing side in 2004, and try posting the same comments again. See what I mean? “Ah, just because 53% of Malta turned out to be ignorant peasants and unwashed hamalli by voting to join Europe… it doesn’t mean they were right. In fact, maybe we should just refuse to acknowledge the result, and maybe scrap democracy altogether while we’re at it…”

Then people wonder why history has a habit of repeating itself…

Meanwhile – in case it wasn’t bad enough that ordinary people tweeted and bleated endlessly about the need to ‘reform’ the democratic process, so that it would stop getting in the way of all Europe’s finely laid plans – we now even get our own Prime Minister ‘reassuring’ us that he has no intention of ever allowing democracy to rear its ugly head in Malta.

This is what Joseph Muscat said on Friday afternoon. “It [a referendum in Malta] would be tantamount to suicide. We’re witnessing the shockwaves across the UK. We’re here to protect Malta and we won’t allow anyone to play with our future to score populist points. Malta chose to form part of the EU: we know the good and the bad. We can be a success in the EU. We’re not going to waste time on such damaging debates. It’s the government that makes the difference in people’s lives.” 

Got that, folks? If not, here’s the translation: “It’s the government that makes the difference in your life… not you. So let’s hear no more of this ‘demanding to have a say’ nonsense now. Democracy is all well and good, insofar as nice little bed-time stories go… but it cannot be used as an excuse to stop us from doing what we think is right for you. In fact, who even needs democracy, anyway? After all, we now have Big Daddy Joseph to take care of us all, and to see to it that we don’t take any ‘wrong decisions’ we might end up regretting. And with Big Daddy Joseph taking all the important decisions in our name… what could possibly go wrong?”

Frightened yet? You should be.