This was our third march for the EU. My passionate resistance to Brexit has not abated. If anything, it grows stronger with every new headline of stupidity. I just can't get to grips with a country wilfully weakening itself over some crazy idea of sovereignty. I mean, seriously, are our current politicians really people we want to have free reign over our lives? Do we really trust the likes of Theresa May, David Davis, Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg to lead in our best interests? I can't imagine there are more than four people in the country who genuinely believe that particular cohort have the British people's best interests in mind when they're making decisions.
I still don't understand why everyone has just rolled over, muttering 'will of the people'. No, it was the will of 37% (yes, 52% of voters voted for Brexit but that was not 52% of the people, nor was it even 52% of eligible voters) of the people, many of whom a) made a protest vote they now regret; b) fell for the lies; c) voted on immigration not EU membership and; d) had no clue what they were fucking voting for or against. And then we consider the 12.9 million people on the electoral register who didn't vote because they didn't think they needed to, or couldn't get to a polling station, or have been living abroad for more than 15 years so weren't entitled to vote. And then we add on the fact that 16 and 17 year olds weren't allowed to vote either and that the older cohort of our population, is obviously dying and we get a clear picture of a UK that will, by 2021, be a country of remainers. It may be controversial but I don't really understand why older people were given a vote when young people, those who are actually going to live with the repercussions of this nonsense, weren't. Yet, our politicians keep going with this madness. 'Strong and stable....will of the people.....strong and stable....'
It's not new. We know we were fed a load of lies. We know the referendum question was pathetic, we know the referendum was advisory only and we know that Farage would have continued fighting had the results been 52/48 against him. So why aren't many of the remain politicians fighting?
Why, after the election did Ms. May, a remainer go straight for the jugular? Why didn't she take a more measured approach and say, 'we hear you. We hear that you are unhappy. We will take the vote very seriously. We will now examine all the evidence to consider whether or not our country will leave the EU and while we do this we will also look seriously at our perceived immigration problems too.' They could have done this and also worked to educate the population about the EU and about immigration. We aren't stupid. We can cope with facts. We don't need shock headlines, I bet our country would do pretty well if we had more newspapers printing actual facts rather than click bait nonsense about cellulite or small boys starting school.
For all these reasons I will keep protesting. I won't give up. I won't roll over and let Farage tickle my tummy (yuck, what an image).
So, yes, on Saturday, we joined approximately 50,000 other people in central London to march on parliament, all of us wanting our voices heard, wanting to take an active part in British democracy. All those people yelling that we lost and that we should shut up and that we're anti-democratic are wrong. They're very wrong. It is precisely because we live in a democracy that we were able to take our small children on a safe and peaceful march to fight for what we believe is right. I really don't understand why so many Brexiteers can't see this.
I was briefly castigated on twitter for mentioning that we took our kids on the march. I was told that I should be protecting my children from political protests, not taking them with me. I certainly don't think that all Brexiteers are unthinking fools but I suspect I might not have a lot in common with people who think kids and protests don't mix well! We are protesting partly for their future so why wouldn't we take them along? The marches are legal and full of happy, friendly people. We have chosen not to take them to spontaneous Brexit protests but those organised, with permission, well in advance are a perfect place for our kids to cut their political teeth. The only thing I'm worried about is whether we will make our kids apolitical as they rebel against us when they're older!
This article has previously appeared on the author's personal blog: http://yacasillegamosblog.wordpress.com