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6 Professional Social Work • July/August 2016 news Brexi

There was a misguided belief that leaving EU will tackle deprivation

have felt angry about election results before frightening of all, Matteus, an 11-year-old Polish but I have never found myself in tears and boy, has spoken of how his family received a card Istill, days later, fearful, angry and upset. Let saying they were ‘Polish vermin’ who should go me start by nailing my colours to the mast –I home. Whether deliberately or not, the anti- voted ‘remain’. I was influenced by my immigration rhetoric of the ‘leave’ campaigners commitment to socialism, my Christian faith, has fuelled xenophobia and race hatred which has my pacifism and my own European heritage. alarming echoes of 1930s Germany. If this seems decision we should highlight this. I’m married to a scientist and have seen the wild exaggeration, note the only European 4. Work towards equality. Only by countering tremendous value of EU research funding and, politicians cheering the decision were the leaders inequality and working alongside people using equally important, EU collaborations. I was at the of far right parties in Austria, France and Holland. services, promoting their rights and not allowing BASW conference and AGM in May when we As a profession and individuals, I believe there ourselves to be apologists for cutbacks in pledged support to remain in the EU and, while I are some things we can do: services, can we play any part in reducing the know social workers often swim against the 1. Keep in mind we have a global definition of glaring inequalities faced by far too many people populist tide, I dared to hope that this time we social work. This commits us to “promote social in our society. The life and writing of Bob Holman would not be part of a minority voice. change and development, social cohesion, and does not seem to feature much on the social work But we were. As the false promises grew ever the empowerment and liberation of people”. curriculum these days, but I’ve yet to encounter a more audacious and the emphasis on immigration 2. We know the causes of unemployment and the student who didn’t find it inspirational. tapped into a vile undercurrent of racism and 5. Counter discrimination and attempts to erode xenophobia, I grew ever more concerned. rights. We must not, for example, allow the hard- The right wing press fuelled the arguments for I am very tempted to buy won rights of disabled people, often gained thanks . People, many who have suffered decades to EU rulings, to be eroded or rescinded. of poverty and deprivation at the hands of a T-shirt saying ‘Don’t 6. At a personal level, and this is where I am really successive governments and more recently blame me, I voted remain’ struggling, work out how we deal with the conflicts austerity cuts, really believed they could gain from we may face with friends, family and colleagues leaving the EU. There seem to be others, among who voted leave. I am very tempted to buy the T- my baby-boomer cohort, who confused political reasons for people coming here to work are shirt which says ‘Don’t blame me, I voted remain’ decision-making with the Last Night of The Proms. complex. Many are prepared to travel to undertake and, in my moments of anger, I’m vitriolic about ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, ‘Rule Britannia’ and care work that is exploitative – over-long hours, everyone who put us in this situation. Then I try to nostalgia for a mythical time they had never known zero hours contracts and poor pay – because the remember Jo Cox’s words that “We are far more impelled them to forget the legacy they would employment situation in their home country is so united and have far more in common with each leave for their children and grandchildren. dire. Social workers should be highlighting such other than things that divide us”. I recall also the Where are we now? Chaos and confusion iniquities. time I spent working as a family and a neighbour cannot even begin to describe it. As I write, nearly 3. ‘Speak truth to power’ – if we hear xenophobic mediator and try to tell myself that the Brexiteers four million people have signed a petition asking or racist comments or inflammatory statements may well have had good – if in my view for a second referendum, the Labour Party is in about migrant workers or other groups of people misguided – intentions. I cannot allow myself to meltdown, the pound is falling. Perhaps most likely to be disadvantaged by the referendum begin to hate. But here I have no answers.

n Dr Karen Postle is a retired social work lecturer, Practice Educator and NQSW supervisor/assessor who voted remain 006-007_July-Aug16.qxp_Layout 1 05/07/2016 10:20 Page 7

7 Professional Social Work • July/August 2016 news

The EU referendum revealed deep divisions within the and the British people. Here two social workers offer two very it different perspectives on the result

The people used the referendum to be their own ‘change agents’

egardless of how you voted in the are in play once more. What began as a trading referendum, chances are you had the group of six nations called the European Economic R same immediate reaction to the Community morphed into a sprawling political result: shock. But it’s now clear this was just a conglomerate of 28 nations. In the process, fleeting moment of unity. boundaries have repeatedly been violated, and Ever since, a vast gulf has separated the those affected have protested, to no effect. Remainers and Brexiteers. ’s A decade ago, an attempt to introduce a unclear boundaries who always cause the most Jonathan Freedland wrote “for the 48 per cent European Constitution, centralising more power in difficulties in casework. It is not remotely surprising who voted to remain, and for most of the Brussels, triggered a series of referendums. When that this is now the case with the EU. watching world, Britain has changed in a way the people of France and the Netherlands voted it According to BASW’s Code of Ethics “Social that makes the heart sink”. I suspect many UK down, it was repackaged as the Lisbon Treaty, and work’s mission is to enable all people to develop social workers are experiencing similar emotions. put into law without referendums. As Charles their potential, enrich their lives and prevent Do we really live in a country that is dominated Whitfield writes in his book Boundaries and dysfunction... As such, social workers are change by a racist discourse of intolerance? I don’t think agents in society”. Polls showed most of the poor, so. And unlike Jonathan Freedland, I do not think the old, and the socially marginalised voted for that the country has changed at all. Indeed, I The little people, Brexit. The social work profession, boxed in by would go so far as to say that the millions of neoliberalism, has failed to do anything significant Brexit voters were following principles deep in the socially marginal, to “develop their potential, enrich their lives and the nation’s collective psyche that go back at had no voice. Until now prevent dysfunction”. So they seized on the least to the 13th century and which referendum as an opportunity to be their own cosmopolitan elites have simply forgotten. “change agents”. Last year historians marked the 800th Relationships – Knowing, Protecting and Enjoying In short, I believe the Brexit voters behaved just anniversary of Magna Carta, that most the Self: “Without boundaries, I may not feel that I as the Parliamentarians did in 1648: they have celebrated shot across the bows of those who have a self. And without boundaries, I can’t have a committed an act of regicide. A powerful executive, presume unbridled power. Far less well known is healthy self.” personified by Jean Claude Juncker, said they the work of the 13th century jurist Henry de At macro-level, the treaties underpinning the EU could not have change, and Bracton’s 13th century Bracton, who insisted the king must be under the have ignored this psychological reality. This is most principles that the king should be subject to the law and not the other way around. Bracton’s obvious in the 1999 Treaty of Amsterdam, which law did not apply to the EU. As such, the little principle can also be seen driving the upheaval allows freedom of movement across all EU people, the socially marginal, the powerless, the of the mid-17th century English Civil War. But so countries with no border controls. If the European uneducated, the people living in the provinces had can another concept with resonances in social countries were people, we would say that in 1999, no voice. Until now. It is shocking, and we are all work: boundary violation. Charles I’s contempt they passed from the psychologically healthy state feeling a bit wobbly. How dare they defy the for Parliament, driven by his belief in a divine of having clear boundaries into the psychologically knowledgeable, the educated, the liberal-minded right to rule, triggered a terrible civil war and a unhealthy state of having porous, soft boundaries. cosmopolitans and the capitalists? shocking act of regicide. Anyone with experience of front line social work As a social worker, I am beginning to feel Now, in the 21st century, the very same forces practice knows it is the people with unhealthy, somewhat awestruck.

n Fiona Bacon is an Approved Mental Health Professional working in an NHS forensic mental health team. She voted leave