A week after the nation was in hysteria that has seen “Leave” voters already feeling duped and political parties going into meltdown with no clear mandate on Brexit. The “Leave” leader has been ungracefully stabbed in the back by Michael Gove, with Nigel Evans describing Tory happenings, “It makes House of Cards look like Teletubbies“. Arguably the most disappointing aspect of this all is Labour’s inability to capitalise on working class cries. In fact things appear to be much worse within the Labour Party, which currently makes The Game Of Thrones look like Dora The Explorer.
As most appear to vote based on their own vested interest, then mine would of course be based on the music industry. Pitch Fork best described why it was in the UK music industry’s interest to support Remain within the EU. That is not to say terms can’t be negated as a result of “Leave” that will minimize the impact described but with the EU being the UK music industry’s biggest consumer, one hopes its negated sooner rather than later. Key points are summarized below:
- Tour scheduling across Europe – Etc obtaining VISAs which could include proof of funds for artists as well as potential import and Export taxes. “We could also potentially see a reduction in so-called ‘music tourism’, which generated £3.1 billion for the UK economy in 2014, with a 39 percent rise in overseas tourists attending music events in the last four years” Paul Reed. For fans and artists Live Music could be impacted in an adverse manor.
- The EU is working to strengthen copy right laws and a Single Digital Market Europe, plus more importantly carry more weight in negotiating, regulating and sanctioning Global corporations such as Google and Apple. This task is significantly harder as a stand alone state.
- In recent years some artists have received an increase in demand for physical copies of their music. Yet Brexit is likely to result in an increase in the production and physical sale of such music. This may encourage independent music stores to focus their attention on selling more commercially popular physical music.
EU funding for the arts has proven easier to secure and the EU Social Fund helped us secure our first paid intern so it should be pretty straightforward to assume I would vote Remain but this is not the case. Cadet delivered a valid point for all non-voters but did either the “Remain” or “Leave” camp have us in their agenda?
#EURef #Brexit freestyle fire from @CallMeCadet – The debate just got heated!https://t.co/Rc1oRylvNc
— Dan L (@Think_Become) 28 June 2016
The music industry from the Brits to the Music Week top 30 under 30, mainstream society made it apparent that the sleepless hours of work that we put into our artform was not celebrated or acknowledged. Lets take it away from music and lets focus on Society at large, which is my other incentive to vote and as I am an ethnic minority I must take this into consideration as well. This time last year the Guardian asked why 40% of the under 18 prison population was made up of Black and Ethnic minorities? They also had an interesting piece on the 50% rise in long term youth unemployment amongst ethnic minorities since 2010. Neither of these 2 points were on Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn, Shadiq Khan’s or the EU’s agenda with regards to “Remain” or “Leave” so why would those affected feel any need to vote if their agenda is not on the table?
Even ethnic minority people like Mary Prince (c. 1788-after 1833) who thought for the liberties many of us take for granted are not celebrated or acknowledged as much as they should be mainstream society. So in many respects that means regardless of “Remain” or “Leave” we have to continue grafting and providing a better tomorrow for the next generation via our creativity, innovation and collaborative efforts. We do need to be more politically astute and tackle systematic racism whilst appreciating that we are part of the UK (for now).
We have openly vocalised our disappointment of how Mark Duggan, Christopher Alder and many others have been served a gross injustice by our nation and in many respects our failure to obtain justice has manifested into this wider social acceptance that plights highlighted above don’t need to be on the mainstream agenda.
Many of the social grievances from the riots have not been addressed which is why George Amponsah and Dionne Walker’s production HARD STOP is so important. Described as follows; The racially charged police killing of Mark Duggan in August 2011 ignited the worst civil unrest in recent British history. Duggan’s closest friends, Marcus and Kurtis, take us on a tour of their insulated world, which we pass everyday but never really see. Yet it is this insight we need if we are to address the everyday social issues in the UK.
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Peace,
Kwabz
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