DiEM25UK launch meeting in Conway Hall, London, 8 January 2017.It is no secret that the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25 UK) – its individual members and collectively – suffered an identity crisis in the months after the EU referendum. All of our campaign plans had to be rethought – we were thrown off balance. Overnight we became the only DiEM25 branch in Europe based in a state actively leaving the EU.
Although our membership is comprised of people with varied political, religious and cultural backgrounds we all are, at heart, democrats; this is our common denominator. We therefore accept that the UK electorate has spoken. With this acceptance – which in all honesty did not come quickly or easily for some – came a vigorous dedication to campaign and fight for the future of an international politics for our country.
Our eagerness to persist in advancing DiEM25’s goals and values has never waned despite the many obstacles we have encountered. Soon after the referendum we saw a new prime minister enter Number 10. This is a PM who had previously occupied a well-argued if lukewarm pro-EU position, but with her appointment had a surprising change of heart; what we call ‘hard Brexit’ is now one of the central doctrines of her leadership. What does this mean? Aside from an intention to categorically sever the UK from the EU this plan is desperately short on detail. It remains very unclear what relationship the UK will have with the EU and what status EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU will have post-Brexit. Maybe counter-intuitively, the government’s strategy of ‘clarity' on Brexit has only muddied the waters and made it all the more urgent to extract answers and solutions from our elected representatives.
