John R. Sylliboy is a graduate of international relations in Costa Rica, a policy analyst and researches on Indigenous health, education and community development. You can reach him at johnrsylliboy@gmail.com or @SylliboyJohnR.

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Really, your Majesty, I thought you were made of bigger tiaras than that!

Your people voted out of the European Union with a near-four percent difference—a tiny margin but significant in action. Are you doing so for the right reasons? The sterling silver is taking a beating, which may foreshadow economic slams and employment challenges for your nearly one million Brits spread out in Europe. This self-exile smells of nationalism masking marginal xenophobia to me.

Queen Liz, you’ve only conquered the four corners of the world and you falter now because the world wants a share of your wealth? They want a piece of your billions. It seems as though Brexit is a desperate strategy to balance powers in Britain among its domestic workers who claim to lose jobs to foreigners.

Will the chess move be the end of the EU and trigger another cycle of European nationalism? Globalization was once so glamourous, but now, England, you make it look so cheap. Brexit is sowing fear because of border (in)security and immigration (terrorism) with a keen isolationist approach in global politics.

The most important European power freely indulged in conquest and domination over foreign lands (Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India, Hong Kong, African nations, et cetera) and the establishment of British Imperial rule based on colonialism for centuries. Is it finally cracking under pressure due to reverse colonial conquest by immigrants, mainly people from its former “brown” colonial nations? You owe it to the world to digress.

Are modern-day Brits feeling their personal spaces over burdened with “other” people? Perhaps Britain is feeling slight guilty by sponging off other continental resources for its industries to produce lovely Land Rovers and Aston Martins? Or could it be national culture shock from millions of migrant workers? Or lack of nationhood overwhelmed by multi-ethnicity within its borders? Are Brits feeling what India felt during Gandhi’s times?

Ma’am, your subjects may now empathize with how our world Nations—Mi’kmaq, Wolastoq, Cree and Maori—felt when they were ravaged by your workers, colonizers, settlers, governors and lawmakers on our lands for centuries.

It seems, your Highness, that your people are not ready to accept others onto your lovely island. Do I have to remind you that it was British rule that subjugated our peoples under an imperialist economic rule, took our resources, wealth and most importantly tried to slash and burn our cultural and spiritual identities, for your own Anglo rule over the rest of Europe?

Reminder, your Majesty—we are still debating Cornwallis in Halifax to this day. We are only beginning our process of Reconciliation as First Nations with your daughter Canada, which by virtue is our Mother Kanata.

Is it irony or the inevitable at work in Britain? It is arrogance that the British will just turn away what it’s created as an economy based integration in Europe because it doesn’t work for them anymore and blame lack of domestic employment for nationals?

Your Majesty, pull up your bloomers and make it work for all your subjects, nationals and immigrants alike. Otherwise Brexit will make your diamond brooches look cheap. You are made of better tiaras than that!

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4 Comments

  1. Valid points about Britain experiencing the same effects of colonialism as India may have felt in Ghandi’s time for example. But I have to disagree that Britain owes anything to the rest of the world. Britain is far from the only nation that has ever built an empire — pretty much every culture has done this at some point — they just happened to have been the best at it during a very pivotal point in history. Today Britain is a democratic nation and the people who live there have the right to vote on how the country is run whether the rest of the world agrees with it or not. To suggest that the only people who voted to exit the EU were white nationals who are inherently racist is both inflammatory and naive. I also don’t think globalization is a good thing to begin with. Thankfully, though, all the ‘white nationalist’ leaders are bumbling idiots.

    What I don’t understand is how the author can advocate globalization in one paragraph and romanticize a ‘Kanata’ without European colonization in the next. Which one is it?

  2. I wonder if Mr. Sylliboy realizes the Queen had nothing to do withe the Brexit and has no control over what Britain does…

    People can keep throwing daggers but that strategy falls short of improving their lives.

  3. Arrogant, patronizing and smug. If it weren’t for colonization, you may not be living your privileged life, Mr. Sylliboy. Your complete disregard for how the British parliamentary system works is embarrassing at best, and your notion that what is happening in Britain, and much of the EU, can be compared to what happened hundreds of years ago is just preposterous. The problems that face the EU, no matter which “side” of this immigration conundrum you’re on, are soon going to be a global problem. As temperatures rise and fresh water becomes scarce, more and more climate/political refugees will be fleeing bombed out or uninhabitable lands and relocating all over the globe. If we can’t find a solution to this immigration problem that threatens to destabilize Europe, there is going to be a shock wave that effects even the smallest players on the world’s stage.

    You beaking off to a 90 year old woman, with no more parliamentary power than my neighbor, almost made me spit coffee all over my tablet.

  4. Oh dear dear dear,Mr Sylliboy,two words come to mind,chip and shoulder.Just another boring rant with the same old anti British diatribe being peddled out.You and your apologists should Stop wallowing in your own self pity and get into the modern world.Have you spent any length of time in any of the four home nations to understand why the majority of people that voted wanted out of Europe,probably not with the lack of knowledge you show in this article.
    Britain does not sponge of other countries to produce Land Rovers etc as they are owned by Tata which is and Indian company.I think you’ll also find Britain ranks in the 3 countries to hand out overseas aid as well.
    You can be rightfully proud of your ancestry as I am of mine so please don’t sully it with these inflammatory remarks,which had they of been written by another person could be constude as racist.Which is defeating the object.
    As you will see it’s not an issue confined to Britain,all European Countries will go through a vote sooner or later with Hungary I think having one in the autumn.The domino effect will happen and countries will be free of an unelected dictatorship.
    You ride the Cornwallis bandwagon,but what’s your view on the USA,do you use their products,drive one of their car brands or enjoy their beer.Just asking as they probably wiped out more indigenous peoples on in North America than anybody else.

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