Blog

07/05/2016

B7 Autonomy versus synergy:

The brexit

 

What does the brexit mean for the identity of Europe?

Nothing at all! - so the initial adoption of this reflection, because the geographic position of the British Isles always invited to look from some distance on what is going on on the continent. This always offered to regulate things independently and differently: Church reform, traffic system, and now the brexit, so quite a short summary. Inner distance and skepticism, however, are not specifically British phenomena.

Let us have a look at Switzerland. It is geographically located in the center, but politically independent, similarly to the Vatican. But where can identity be actually called European - in Warsaw, Budapest, Brussels or even Bern? In historical consideration, we have a list of wars. The hundred years war, the thirty years war, the Napoleonic wars - also the Reformation and the Enlightenment have to be registered as great events. This we europeans have in common. Let's call it - even if it may sound cynical in front of the given background: life experience.

Add to that: forgetfulness. Recently, Pope Francis spoke about spiritual Alzheimer in the Curia. Already with the Crusades, Europe has ignored the doctrine of Western harmony, especially the required skills beyond the own opinion: charity, bravery, compassion, love of enemies and wisdom. Even today, it is simply mentioned in music lessons and the Christian context regarded as non-existent. The Musicology relies on the autonomy of the arts and the Pontificio Consiglio della Cultura rejects it as a scientific theory. This form of academic ignorance runs - regardless of all educational reforms - diametrically to all technical progresses. It is the year 2016.

Instead of being grateful to live in a comparatively long period of peace, extremists of various types are seeking for the reintroduction of cruelty. On other locations, Europe exerts in the art of foreclosure. The Berlin Wall as model – called on the Eastern side as "border of protection", Victor Orbán prefered a barbed wire in a length of hundreds of kilometers for the preservation of Christian values, while thousands of refugees find their death in the Mediterranean. Europe is divided, cannot find a common denominator and with this state the brexit is entirely compatible. Furtherore, the brexit shows the same disagreement in the United Kingdom, not only in relation to Scotland and Northern Ireland, but also in relation to the small majority. From this point of view, everything has remained the same, only that the various positions were now placed on record. Therefore now they are called facts.

Identity is always going to be changing - traditional with each new generation from the youthful side. Concerning the brexit this is different. Recognizable is the fear of losing autonomy and to drowning in a larger structure. But the youth rather saw in cooperation a flourishing and a chance, to take unafraid an important step toward globalization. Many feel slowed down by the elders. That makes speechless. What happens now with the regulatory authorities on the continent, who have lost a part of their crown? They loose action potential and the hope of being able to create a whole. They suffer a loss of prestige of enormous magnitude. But that's not important.

The Brexit shows with clarity that the contact with many people went lost because they see their own identity elsewhere. If this continues, the political bodies will simply be denied the ability to be those representatives of Europe, for which they consider themselves, because of true identity, no exit is possible in lifetime. Anyone who wants to connect, has to search the local people and to take seriously the contents. As "shot across the bow" the brexit requires a moment of pause and reflection:

Especially in Brussels, the European flag is omnipresent. But who recognizes in its 12 stars the relics of late medieval symbolism? Who would bring it in connection with the wreath of stars of Mary, in connection with the 12 apostles, with the face of the clock, the 12 hours of the day and the night, or with the 12 tonalities in major and minor as well as with the 12 gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem? The azure background represents the sky of the day, the stars of the sky at night. For perceiving the sky, our eyes have to be directed upwards. Once, this was European identity. It had a high price, because another look on the world was not allowed. Today, it is allowed. So the brexit shows the voters in a mirror. Europe is going to change.

But only idealists perceive an initial stage of pupation and a fundamental transformation that runs in direction of a cosmopolitanism which doesn't need nations any more because at least in theoretical observation the term globalization abolishes all reciprocity. It shows strategic thinking as outdated and urges unconditional replacement by synergetic action. For this, the Brexit is not an appropriate example, but an example for how hard it is to meet such requirements.

The arenas in Brussels and Strasbourg give an opportunity to exercise global requirements in miniature and to provide robust structures. Given this task, something may go wrong. Now, one will have the task to prove that European identity does not already form a pair of opposites in themselves.

"So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream." Dr. Martin Luther King could still say today in an age of 87, if one would have let him alive. Unforgotten is his speech of August 28, 1963 against intolerance and racism and for a better understanding among the people, following the knowledge: "We cannot walk alone" Should this proposition be true, it is not reasonable to try it nonetheless. Democracy is not only a necessary consensus. It's Europe's greatest achievement which is worth to identify with. However, for this reason, it is not infallible.