It came to me in a
moment of idle speculation: October 31st is the end of the world, at
least as we know it. I’d be hard pressed to foretell the outcome. Political
commentators predict chaos if they are remainers, or a little pain for a better
world (exiters). The millennium – and dire consequences for unbelievers – has been
prophesied for the past 2000 years and longer. Norman Cohn in his classic ‘The
Pursuit of the Millennium’ unfolds the European predilection for a politics of
disaster leading to a new golden age, often with the elimination of those with uncomfortably
distinct views.
On the one hand, the
truth is that November 1st will probably be a dull and rainy day.
November as usual, then. What none of us can tell is the consequence of
reversing an incompletely thought through political project: the European
Union. Born out of the horror of European and global conflict, it always had a
millennial tone: the new age dawns. It also had a crusading tone: together we
can correct the imbalance of power, lest America and the USSR dominate the
global economy.
On the other hand,
it is the child of 21st century populist politics, bearing the stamp
of nationalist identity, fear of the global project, terror at the invasion of
the barbarians, all cloaked by the illusion of this thing we call ‘sovereignty’.
Fortunately, few people I know think that our leaders are Messiahs. We probably
consider them the least worst option. What I hope for is that the doors of
political debate remain open without rancour. It’s the bitterness and polarized
anger that I fear the most.
So what am I waiting
for? Perhaps most of all for the waiting time to be over, and for us to get on
with decisions that have been taken. I’m hoping for no one to say ‘I told you
so’, remainer or exiter. I’m longing for people to learn to go on talking to
each other more graciously than even normally courteous Christians are doing at
the moment. I hope, and pray.
