Una Mullally: Why Brexit Britain should look to Ireland for lessons in democracy

In the votes on marriage equality and abortion in 2015 and 2018 in Ireland, we built movements before the referendums. In Britain, they’re trying to build a movement after a referendum. That is not an easy thing to do.

As the Brexit disaster rumbles on, it would be useful for the UK to look to Ireland for lessons in democracy and public discussion on divisive issues. If we managed to chart a course through two issues that are said to be polarising, and in the end actually acted as forces for unity, how can the UK do the same? Brexit is an absolute calamity, but the destruction it is causing and will continue to cause is not irreparable. As European Council president Donald Tusk said in a different context last week, hope dies last.

Brexit is a public education issue, and not just when it comes to media literacy

One positive for Britain is that those opposed to Brexit have found their voice. The million-person march on London at the weekend was a huge moment, but protest can also present a false dawn. Protest is energy-giving and energy-sapping. It can offer a remarkable sense of action, change, impact and solidarity, but the streets also clear as quickly as they fill. There are more long-term pieces of work to be done that are more complex than turning up to a demo.

Reckless decision

We know that the reason Brexit happened is rooted in the reckless decision by David Cameron to throw a referendum as red meat to a faction of the Tory party which ran rabid, parallel with Ukip, almost anarchic in their mindlessness. But that referendum was a lever pulled, not the entire machine. We also know the skulduggery throughout the referendum campaign calls into question the legitimacy of the result.

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But Brexit is a public education issue, and not just when it comes to media literacy. The lack of understanding among the British public at large about the European Union and how it functions, Northern Ireland, Irish history, and a lack of self-examination of the legacy of a colonialist mindset all stymied informed decision-making at the polls.

A referendum campaign is probably one of the most difficult contexts in which to have a reasoned, calm public discussion about an issue. Referendum campaigns tend to be emotionally heightened and polarised. Sides are pitted against each other and are in it to win it; and, as we’ve seen, certain factions will say anything to get votes. Facts can drift by the wayside, and misinformation and disinformation can run rife. But nefarious campaigning practices and rhetoric are less likely to stick if the voting public is informed.

It is not the “referendum debate” that is the sole act of democracy, but the structures built around it, grassroots activism and, crucially in Ireland, the Constitutional Convention and the Citizens’ Assembly. While it’s fair to criticise Irish politicians for utilising these mechanisms as means to deflect responsibility, and as buffers for decision-making, it is becoming clearer with hindsight how crucial they were.

Some of the debate and discussion within these forums was emotionally charged and fraught, but both the convention and the assembly took the heat out of the issues, and largely focused on facts, with the intention of making informed decisions, and remove – as much as possible – bias, predetermined opinions and party politics. The media coverage that charted the presentations and voting processes within these forums also acted as an educational tool for the public.

Despite the shortcomings of Irish mainstream media, Britain is dealing with a completely different media landscape, with newspapers especially pushing biased coverage rooted in particular ideologies. The prolonged anti-EU propaganda campaign sustained by the tabloid press in Britain did its job.

Mainstream media

According to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2018, the newspaper with the largest reach is the UK is the Sun, followed by the Daily Mail, then the Metro, then the Daily Mirror (including the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People), then the Times and Sunday Times, and then the Guardian/Observer (at 5 per cent). The impact of mainstream media is important in the UK because their use of social media as a news source is comparatively low in a European context. In the UK, social media as a source of news has risen from 20 per cent in 2013 to 39 per cent in 2018. In Ireland, social media as a news source has risen from 49 per cent in 2015 to 53 per cent in 2018. Seven per cent of people pay for online news in the UK, 11 per cent pay for online news in Ireland.

Remarkably, after a million people protested against Brexit in London at the weekend, the Sunday Times, the Sunday Telegraph, and the Mail On Sunday did not cover the historic march on their front pages. The filters through which people are viewing what is happening in the UK do not necessarily have reality at their core.

Even within the Brexit mess, every person in Britain who wants their society repaired must take it upon themselves to do so. Britain is divided, and the divisions Brexit both exposed and caused will not vanish quickly. Of course it’s not ideal to be building a movement after one was needed, but the repair work will have to be done, constantly, whatever happens next.