By Peter Makem
The Brexit UK vote result was a surprise and there is considerable upheaval everywhere. It is the result of a civil war in England, a revolt against the indifference of government both in London and the EU along with a traditional Little Englander mentality that was never comfortable in Europe as a result of England’s historic “isolated island” mentality and ongoing fantasy of the Days of Empire.
These two forces combined to defeat the 40-year-old solidarity of the EU with the UK and which the British government thought was quite impregnable.
The Brexit faction did not actually think they would win and so were essentially mounting a campaign of protest to give the established order a bloody nose. But they actually delivered a knock-out punch and shocked themselves, the UK government, Europe and the world—and shocked Ireland, North and South, more than anybody because so much of the peace process was possible because both the Republic and the UK were in the same greater club of Europe.
Anyway, it will take a while to work out the full damage, if actual foundations are disrupted and the damage is structural, or if only the roof and the windows have been damaged. It’s a meteor out of the clear blue sky.