Regards, Ivan
Posted on 05/30/2005 10:23:03 PM PDT by MadIvan
It must have been such fun to be there. Readers of The Daily Telegraph will have been struck by the picture, carried on yesterday's front page, of the Non camp celebrations in Toulouse. The faces of those celebrating were not the grumpy Front National types you might expect (there wasn't a moustache in sight). They were, in fact, the radiant, immaculately made-up faces of happy twentysomethings.
Two years ago it would have been unthinkable that more people in France aged under 26 would vote against a European constitution than for it. But it happened on Sunday, and it is likely to happen tomorrow in Holland. So how can this be? Open borders, education overseas, a European superstate - isn't this all the kind of funky futuristic stuff that young people love? Surely they are more excited than anyone about the EU project?
As we saw on Sunday, the answer is Non. In fact, these young people were never very excited about the EU: until recently they generally neither knew nor cared about it. But, with the arrival of the draft constitution, their apathy rapidly turned to outrage.
Even in the past year, the change has been remarkable. In March 2004, aged 22, I attended the flagship event of Ireland's presidency of the EU: a conference in Dromoland Castle in the west of Ireland to address the lack of interest among my generation in political (and particularly European) institutions.
The gathering of hand-picked young politicos from across the continent bemoaned the lack of excitement from its peers, and thought up some ways in which the EU could spend money on making itself more popular among the young (fancy multimedia websites, rock concerts, lowering the voting age etc).
In a funny way, it seems to have worked. There has been a rising current of interest and debate in the past year. In the latest "Eurobarometer" poll, 15- to 24-year-olds in Britain scored among the highest in the EU for their knowledge and understanding of its institutions - and significantly better than in previous years.
It seems the delegates at the Irish conference are getting what they want, but it is not going the way they planned. The more young people find out about the EU, the more they seem to be turning against it. This year, only 36 per cent of British 15- to 24-year-olds have a "generally positive" view of the EU, as opposed to a negative view or no view; 57 per cent do not feel European at all.
I have always thought that the much-decried apathy of the young when it comes to elections and politics is really a happy sign that we think things are pottering along all right. We might lean to the Left or the Right, but generally we are confident that, although they might not always be honest with us, we are unlikely to be the victims of a coup or a massive fraud by politicians without our knowledge. Perhaps we are more alert after the Iraq war, but on closer inspection the EU project suddenly seems like just such a coup.
I have a friend who is studying to take her law exams before applying to the Bar. She recently told me of her horror at discovering that much of the law she has to learn is now European law, which takes precedence over domestic law to an alarming degree. "When did we vote for that?" she asked. The answer is that we never really did.
I have seen pictures of my parents smiling and wearing "Yes" T-shirts for the Common Market referendum in 1975.
I can understand how it all seemed exciting then: the Second World War was not such a distant memory and the Cold War was in full swing. Creating a European economic power bloc to rival those of America and the Soviet Union must have seemed like an inspiring, progressive ideal.
They could never have known then what a remote, insidious kind of institution would come into being. As people forgot about the European project, it became the property of dreary, managerial types in Brussels - and the more dreary they became, the less anyone could be bothered to argue with them.
Thirty years later - late but not too late - young people have heard the wake-up call. We are suddenly realising that our country is in danger of being subsumed into a grandiose scheme that is not relevant to us. I was seven years old when the Berlin Wall came down; I don't remember it. We no longer think in terms of "power blocs": if anything, let's have a world community. Oh, and let's keep our democratic governments, too.
Already, the pundits are predicting that the masterminds in Brussels will let the dust settle, let people remember how boring EU matters are, minutely fiddle the constitution and then do what they always do when they don't get the answer they want: ask the question again. Amazingly, they have got away with it in the past - it's what happened in Denmark and Ireland. The assumption is that ever-closer union is unavoidable and intrinsically positive, and anyone who votes against it should be politely corrected, then re-educated.
But young people are increasingly educated about the EU and they don't want to be corrected. The sight of old Jacques Chirac, pompous and dinosaur-like, thanking his "dear compatriots" for their opinion but kindly explaining that it was wrong is just the sort of attitude we won't tolerate.
Hence those lovely young girls celebrating in Toulouse. Let's hope that we have a referendum here: that is a party I wouldn't miss for the world.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
I want some pictures of lovely young girls celebrating, please.
very jake. maybe french anti-establishment punks and usa conservatives are closer than we imagined.
please add me to your pinglist - you have a knack for finding choice arch sarcasm
Can you put me on your ping list Ivan please ?
The new version of course is They will vote as often as is necessary until we get the right answer. I suppose a combination of the two is being planned in Brussels as we speak.
I remember reading your farewell post here. What happened?! Irregardless, welcome back.
In the latest "Eurobarometer" poll, 15- to 24-year-olds in Britain scored among the highest in the EU for their knowledge and understanding of its institutions - and significantly better than in previous years.
.... But young people are increasingly educated about the EU and they don't want to be corrected. The sight of old Jacques Chirac, pompous and dinosaur-like, thanking his "dear compatriots" for their opinion but kindly explaining that it was wrong is just the sort of attitude we won't tolerate.
Very insightful commentary. Reminds me of the Reagan quote:
"How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin."
bttt
***"How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin."***
Great Reagan quote.
Thanks, Ivan. Hadn't seen this. Melanie Phillips has a good take on the French vote in the Daily Mail. (May 30)
This EU constitution probably has a section telling you how many sheets of toilet paper you may use to wipe your a$$. Talk about micro-managing busybodies. Those dufos in Brussels must be shot down. The French vote is the first volley in what will (hope! hope!) knock out the elite snobs who think they know best...SSZ
Most of the Euro stock indexes are getting hammered at this time.
http://finance.yahoo.com/etf/browser/mkt?c=0&k=5&f=0&o=d&cs=21&ce=40
Wise investors will not abandon the UK, Austria and other Euro countries not in bed with the Franco and German whores.
It seems that the DAX 30 is down -0.24. Not exactly what I would call "hammered". Just a normal off day.
The Euro is down more than 1.25 cents though and this is the real reaction. Of course, a weaker Euro is great for Germany and the European economy. Bad for the US trade deficit however. Funny how these things work.
The following indexes, the real ones which are bought and sold are getting hammered:
France, EWA, - 1.2%
Spain, EWP, - 1.23%
Belgium, EWK, - 1.38%
Germany, EWG, - 1.45%
Many of the Euro mutual funds have been hammered for two months, including a few which I own.
It appears that some of this money is being diverted to our TLT (long term treasury and some of our State bond fund indexes).
Our Dow and S&P 500 will get hurt as the Euro goes down in value as you noted. However, our smaller indexes will probably do very well as they are not that dependent on the Euro market.
Japan may be the country to reap the benefits here.
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