Random #Brexit thread by middle-aged, white, Northern, working-class guy...
1. Before #EURef I knew little about EU. Decades of negative UK media had made me a bit sceptical. But I was not really “political”.
2. Got a Polish partner. Been together 18 years. Long before #EURef she’d started getting snarky comments from folks about being “over here” & “going home” etc. This got steadily worse & was kinda shocking.
3. During #EURef campaign I went on Twitter (different account name back then) to suss the mood. It was ugly. Loads of pro-Putin accounts abusing Remainers & calling them “traitors” ...
4. ... I had expected to find reasonable debates online, but instead found abuse & intimidation. A leading #Brexit blogger called me “fucking Europhile scum”. And many pro-Brexit politicians simply blocked me.
5. Old-school media was little better. Tabloid headlines were hysterical, jingoistic jibberish & editorials contained outright lies. More shocking was the #BBC#Brexit coverage, which let gallons of bullshit go unchallenged...
6. ...Watching #EURef telly coverage, girlfriend said: “It will be a total pogrom.”
7. ... After the #Brexit result, girlfriend said: “Just think, last week we were happy but didn’t know it.”
8. Aftermath of #EURef saw my freelance work stop (for a full 6 months). I was also walking girlfriend to work for protection, after a bloke drove his car at her after hearing her accent ...
9. ... At this time, my elderly Auntie was dying in an #NHS hospital after a severe stroke. I visited & saw her well cared for by EU nurses, while, outside, English folks were assaulting foreigners & telling them to “go home”.
10. And so I signed the #StopBrexit petitions, wrote to my MP & politicians, gave cash to crowdfunders, complained to the #BBC ... all to no avail. Meanwhile, my own Govt called my partner “bargaining chip” and me “liberal elite” or “traitor”.
11. As months pass since #EURef, I have seen #Brexit cheats & liars promoted to high office, Electoral Law broken without consequence, “Cake & eat it” change to “Stockpile food”, Parliament vote to stop itself having a say on #Brexit...
12. ... Meanwhile, politicians abandon the National Interest to tweet support for the likes of Vote Leave cheat Darren Grimes & far-right activist “Tommy Robinson”...
13. And every second on social media, another wedge is driven in, dividing people who should be united.
/End
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Tax-paying EU citizens in UK:
1 Denied vote over their own future in #EURef
2 Told "nothing would change" in case of #Brexit
3 Dubbed "bargaining chips" by UK Govt
4 Been left "in limbo" for 2 years
5 Forced to pay a fee just to be allowed to get on with their lives #shameful
And on top of that, EU citizens have been publicly abused in a sustained tabloid hate campaign; some have been victims of hate crimes; and, overall, their plight has been largley ignored by UK TV news, incl. @BBCNews & @Channel4News ...
... These "EU citizens" are our friends, neighbours, colleagues, partners, spouses, girlfriends, boyfriends & family members. And for the last 40+ years, British people have been EU citizens too ...