I’m pretty sure that British media have carried many interviews with EU citizens living and working in the UK about their thoughts about Brexit (and especially a “hard”, complete Brexit), and about whether they want to stay or leave now that Brexit seems inevitable.
I want to point to one case: the Dutch/Finnish modern musician Juha van’t Zelfde, who from 2014 was artistic director of the multimedia cultural center “Lighthouse” in Brighton. Because the outlooks of him and his girlfriend point to two terrains where the Brexit votes (referendum & parliament), the reactions in British society, and the perspectives for immigrants (from the EU or elsewhere) seem not only to harm British cultural life, but also to cause recruiting problems for services like the NHS & old-age homecare (crises in the one worsen problems in the other).
My google search on him resulted in an interview in The Guardian when he started work in Brighton, and another in the Dutch sister paper De Volkskrant, 2017, when he’d decided to leave the UK, instead of them both staying and working here. I didn’t find British articles about him leaving; so I’m telling you what he thinks now.
When he came to Brighton, both he and the Lighthouse were glad to pair up with such a prestigious partner; both use multimedia art to present an artistic, new perspective on modern society, in the tradition of Jonathan Swift, Charles Dickens (and Disraeli), et cetera. Lighthouse had just run the 2012-’14 “BFI Shorts”-program with the British Film Institute, launching new talent via 17 BAFTA award-winning films.
Because British society is riven with traditional, historical inequalities, and all kinds of other problems, it has been (Juha says 2017) such a rich source of dystopian novels like “1984”, criticizing developments. And social media have their dystopian aspects too (the Facebook editors’ censoring policies), running this arts centre meant exploring those aspects too. With the Brexit referendum approaching, and coming out of the 2007-’16 Banking, EMU and economic crisis, the critical observer- role of arts institutes like Lighthouse was more relevant than ever, Juha said in 2014. Both arts centres and media institutions (with archives full of knowledge) together have much to contribute to the debate about what’s happening.
The Brexit vote was a surprise to Juha; first he wanted to redouble his efforts to comment, but then his girlfriend (of Indian/Indonesian descent), studying to be a nurse, became worried about the increase in racist incidents right after the Brexit vote: coming to work in the over-burdened NHS in such a climate on the streets, earning too little for a living permit, didn’t appeal to her. And the arts budget getting cut meant he couldn’t do all he wanted. So he (and others) leave. Shame!
* Dr. Bernard Aris is a historian, a D66 parliamentary researcher and a LibDem supporting member.
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7 Comments
‘earning too little for a living permit’
What exactly was she applying for here?
And, as an aside. Orwell specifically called that book ‘Ninteen Eighty-four’ not ‘1984.’
The apocryphal news headline “Continent cut off by fog” is now matched by “Britain cut off by Brexit”.
It all depends on your outlook.
I’m not enmtirely sure about the purpose of your post, Bernard.
A minor arts director is to leave Brighton …..”Because British society is riven with traditional, historical inequalities, and all kinds of other problems” – That’s sad, but not unique to the UK.
But then so is the Netherlands, Bernard. Your Mr Geert Wilders is a classic example. We’ve just got a mouthy scouser with a taste in Farage Barbour cast offs and a dodgy memory about Hillsbrough – who might or might not live in Stoke (for a night) and might or might not privatise the health service
@ David Raw,
I used the number !984 to stay within the 500-words limit of LDV posts.
And my point was that most Brexit-“victim interviews” are about people in one sector, whiler here three aspects came together, giving a mini-tableau de la trouppe of post-Brexit problems:
1) the brake on cultural and intellectual traffic (many British universities opening dependencies in continental capitals because they don’t want to miss the traffic in ERASSMUS students; and British students want to study abroad, but no EU, less change of diploma harmonisation);
2) the drain on immigrant labor for the NHS, homecare, and other sectors (Pizzerias, pubs, French cuisine; cvomputer game development). Look at the allergic reaction of Google, Facebook, etcetera to Trumps blunt immigration ban; all Ivy League universities just joined that protest.
3) the increasing violence of British politics (Murder of Jo Cox; vitriolic populist rants against their enemies) and resurgent racism in inner cities.
The price of the (working or living, I’m not sure) permit the girlfriend wanted, was too high seeing the salary potential for her nursing skills in British care jobs. It is in line with the Home office demanding private health Insurance from a chronic fatigue (ME) patient of 60, unable to work fulltime (she’s a maths teacher) and thus unable to pay the private Insurance contributions. The Home office doesn’t look at your home situation or your personal circumstances; Dutch hate being treated that way.
I fully recognise the Dutch are stuck in some traditions too, and all problems that gives: fixed contract jobs unattainable for those (the young!) having to start in the “flex” sector…
Don’t start me on Mr. Wilders, The Economist and BBC have good articles about his disturbing effect on Dutch politics just now.
D66 certainly isn’t following Mr. Rutte’s attempt at imitation; we’re resisting Wilders while talking to his voters.
Look at the allergic reaction of Google, Facebook, etcetera to Trumps blunt immigration ban; all Ivy League universities just joined that protest.
Well one of the things Trump has done, that is getting widespread support, is to address the documented H-1B visa abuse by company’s such as Intel, Disney, Google, Facebook, etc. etc. So whilst the companies themselves are complaining, the (US citizen) employees are celebrating. Interestingly, this is a policy that the Obama administration were developing prior to leaving office…
Because of the hard evidence from the H-1B visa abuse – a reduction in salaries of 20~30%, there is every reason to believe the same abuses and reductions in (graduate) salaries is occurring in the UK and hence this (a real reduction in migrant professional workers) is something that May has little choice in and has to deliver as part of Brexit.
Obviously, the Ivy League universities are up in arms as this crackdown will directly impact their sales pitch to prospective international students…
Where a business is not tied to a particular location, it can migrate under a flag of convenience. This occurred with merchant shipping (Panama and Liberia have enormous fleets).
Can we imagine universities and internet firms moving from the USA and the UK to Canada or Australia?
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