Can I Have A Slice of Hypocrisy: The Untold Story of Brexit

Allow me to take a break from poetry for a second to share a bit of irony I noted while watching the latest news on Brexit unfold. Do not run away just yet, I think you (especially my fellow Africans) need to hear this.

If you do not know already, Brexit refers to the UK leaving (or attempting to leave as it currently stands) the EU. Seems easy enough, except the UK enjoyed (and tolerated) forty years of economic, political and trade relations as part of the EU, making this move a lot more complex than the average Briton anticipated. When the referendum was put out to the public years back to vote on whether or not to leave the EU, it seems the average Briton just wanted less immigrants in their boarders, not all this trouble. No one told them just how much of a bag of stew this escape plan would be. Like if one (wealthy) wife in a polygamist family wanted to divorce her husband. How do you raise the kids? What is owed to who? Realising just how much you shared during your marriage, such as friends. And the benefits of being part of that polygamist family that are forgotten until you try to escape.

See, most people focused on UK PM Theresa May’s resolve as she stood firm to address the public, sticking to her guns and managing to crack a few jokes while at it. All this despite having to negotiate this complex deal, people gunning for her job, over three hours of interrogation and having key members of her party quit over the draft deal she presented. They asked, should there be another deal, no deal, another vote..? However, I saw something a little more… interesting.

There he was, UK parliamentarian Pat MacFord whining to the BBC news anchors about how treacherous this Brexit deal is! How ridiculous it is for a dignified nation like the UK to bend at the will of the EU! The audacity of the EU to try make the Mighty UK agree to clauses that the empire did not like. Clauses that were unfavourable to the UK, but fine and dandy to the EU. And how I smiled (admittedly, a mildly sadistic smile)!

To me it seemed the UK was getting even the tiniest taste of what they had done to their colonies. Tiny because well, the UK has more negotiating power against the EU, than say Mauritius had against the UK in the 1900’s. And we cannot forget the levels of exploitation related to colonialism that are inconceivable within the confines of a reciprocal deal like the EU had amongst its members. Still, aren’t dear old Pat’s complaints reminiscent of the sentiments some liberationists would have had when attempting to escape the British Empire? I think back to Swazi king, King Sobhuza 2nd filing a law suit against the British in the 1920’s to say that the British’s presence in The Kingdom of Eswatini was unlawful, and we wanted our autonomy back. Oh how he failed that battle! And many other activists across the globe failed, too. The British were determined to keep its Mighty Empire alive at the expense of the peoples within their colonies. When we finally got to a place where liberation was possible, King Sobhuza 2nd was, like Patty, disgruntled by some of the clauses within the liberation deal.

Some may argue that Sobhuza 2nd had other less democratic motives for not liking the deal, however, that discounts the right to choice that colonies were often robbed of in the hunt for liberation. The choice of how to arrange themselves that sovereign nations, like Britain, would take for granted. Even consider a given. It discounts the power dynamics involved in those negotiations that affect our countries in hidden ways even today. Many do not always realise that independence for British (and other European) colonies did not come because the colonial masters drank some sympathy tea and realised that their dealings in their colonies are morally wrong, exploitative and many times inhumane. Yes inhumane. Imagine the utter cruelty of the British when they tied Indians who opposed colonial rule to canons and shot them in public. But I digress…

Granting independence to their colonies was more of a strategic move for European states following the huge financial dents the world wars put in European economies. It became cheaper to control their colonies externally than internally. If a problem with the actual institution of colonialism was the reason for Europe to loosen its hold over its former colonies, then independence would have come for all. But that is not the case. Instead, most of the territories still under colonial rule today are tiny “obscure” islands which are easier to continue to colonise without raising too much of an eyebrow in the greater global political discourse.

When considering the power dynamics involved in colonialism, you can bet everything you have that there were many unwanted clauses when negotiating for independence. Clauses that require former French colonies to continue paying colonial taxes to this day, or dictate how they can (or can’t) use parts of their resources. Clauses that would have really sent dear Pat Mac into a convulsive state. Poor man would have turned into a ghost. He would have known audacity and ridiculous on an intimate level.

I watched. And I smiled. And knew that he, along with all the others against Theresa May’s deal, would never stop to consider this. Consider that this was what they had done to others on a grander scale, both when enslaving them into colonialism, and when “releasing” them from their clutches (a little). And while I continue to write poems and promote African dignity, wishing more of my people would come to know the full history of our lands, I allow myself this bit of humour. Grinning at Postman Pat’s hypocrisies. And looking forward to a better Africa. A better India. A better “developing south” where live the former and currently colonised. A better world.

Amandla!