Brexit: Scotland stays?
On June 23rd, 51.9% of voters in the UK voted to leave the EU. In Scotland, 62% voted to remain. The result has sparked political, economic, social and constitutional turmoil in the UK. In Scotland, there has been a strong political and public reaction both against the result and the tone of the campaign. And now, the question of Scottish independence has again been raised.
Edinburgh. Brexit + 5 days. On June 29th, a demo was organised outside the Scottish Parliament in support of Scotland staying within the EU. Using images taken at the demo, this fieldnote explores how demonstrators used pro-EU and anti-Leave rhetoric to connect to wider issues of freedom of movement, xenophobia, racism, austerity and sovereignty.
To read this story, please click this link: http://Dispatches from Edinburgh: Scotland post-Brexit.
The multimedia story was first published via “Atavist”.
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11. July 2016
Very interesting article, thanks for sharing! There is one thing though that I don’t agree: the author keeps saying that the Brexit was/is about whiteness, but I believe this is a bit inaccurate. Going out from the EU, although fueled by outside EU “threat” of overwhelming immigration, this separation limits the other EU citizens (mostly “white”) to work, travel etc in the UK without restrictions. Moreover, UK only recently opened its work market to some EU members (see Romania and Bulgaria), which are “white” too. So the term whiteness should be replaced strictly with “Englishness” or a more accurate term. While racism and xenophobia were probably the very core of the leave campaign (in correlation to economic reasons, but also put on the blame of immigrants), the whiteness of it should be reconsidered when looking at who is targeted for leaving.
11. July 2016
Hi Cristina, I don’t disagree with your comments. In the post, I’ve tried to link whiteness to Englishness in the Brexit aftermath (although perhaps not explicitly). I’m also not arguing for a universal experience of whiteness; rather I’m suggesting that in the pre-Brexit campaigns and post-Brexit aftermath, whiteness hierarchicalises itself, placing Englishness (and to an extent, Britishness) at the top, with other (white) nationalities below it, so that they too experience its effects. Akwugo Emejulu argues this really well in the piece I’ve linked in the blog, and Yasmin Gunaratnam also has a good piece that discusses the varying effects and degrees of whiteness here: https://mediadiversified.org/2013/08/20/race-gps-no-right-turn-ahead/
Emma
11. July 2016
Hi Emma,
Many thanks for your reply! I will read your suggested references. However, apart from this aspect (which you clarified for me and now I agree completely with what you say 🙂 ) I enjoyed your article and I share your perspective. Thanks again for sharing with us your insights!
Best,
Cristina