Tuesday 13 December 2016

non-state actors

I am indebted to the Happy Mutants at Boing Boing for bringing to our attention a matter of Brexit negotiations first proposed two weeks hence (I suppose none of us can be too hard on ourselves for missing the sensical compromises that present themselves every so often in this shrill and demanding newscape), seeing that we had completely overlooked the notion of ‘associate-citizenship’ that might be extended to UK citizens residing in the EU, so that they might be allowed to stay and afforded the same freedom of movement as enjoyed before.
Coming just as the British government announced a firm date to invoke Article 50, to tender its divorce-papers, this offer shows a tremendous amount of goodwill has been held in trust and whilst corporate entities might not expect nor deserve such kindnesses, it was hopeful to see that individuals might still be able to choose their affiliation with sovereignty independent of their representative governments. It is possible that the current regime might reject the proposal for its potential to undermine the will of the people it’s championing at the moment and the only recourse is paradoxically petitioning one’s local council that was either committed to leave or bremain in the first place. It also has me hopefully, personally, as a long term US expatriate, wondering if I might too be granted such an option, especially considering what by force I might be repatriated to.