As dawn broke this morning, the sun had already set on Britain’s chances of remaining a part of the European Union. It had happened. Leave had won.
Facebook and Twitter thrummed with activity. Status after status, tweet after tweet. An outpouring of disbelief and disappointment. Eulogies to the European Project. Melodious laments on Little England. Renunciations of citizenship. Threats to emigrate.
Not enough.
A furious Facebook status, an angry tweet, are drops in the ocean of cyberspace. Tomorrow, next week, next month, they will be forgotten.
If we care about Europe, about Britain, about our lives and futures as much as our words suggest, why aren’t we doing anything about it?
Why weren’t we outraged by Cameron even calling a Referendum in the first place, gambling our futures merely to heal a party rift?
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Why weren’t we outraged that sixteen year-olds were then denied the right to participate in a decision that will have such enormous consequences on their lives?
Why weren’t we outraged at what passed as political debate over the course of the campaign?
In the wake of Cameron’s resignation, why aren’t we demanding a general election? Will we really stand by and watch Boris waltz into No 10 without even the faintest hint of a mandate to govern?
Why do we, an educated, informed, connected generation, stand idle as our future is dismantled, piece by piece, brick by brick?
Why do we do nothing?
What will it take to shatter this stifling, suffocating, keep-calm-and-carry-on mentality? What will it take to get people in Britain to take to the streets? Tomar la plaza? Passer la nuit debout?
This is not the time to mourn.
Surely, this is the time for outrage.
