For the first time in my life I'm afraid to read the news.
I was the first generation to be moulded as a subject of the new European state, and as it crumbles I can't help but feel a sense of loss. While it has always been in many way a dubious project, I am a European. I have friends from all over Europe, friends I made throught the various EU sponsored youth exchange programs. I believed in the idea of a united Europe to put an end to the destructive wars which have ripped the continent apart for endless generations. It made me an internationalist, and melted much of my reactionary type of Irish Nationalism. Irish people benefitted a great deal from EU membership. Irish women in particular had their lives improved a lot.
The refferenda which we were forced to vote the right way on, the push for expansion and deeper integration against the wishes of most members, and th militarisation all made me look at the project more critically.
I sincerely believe that the the young people of Europe have become a community in a way that will have far reaching consequences. As the true purposes of our masters become clear to us, they may be surprised at what we are capable of. They may find that their creation can serve purposes other than that which it was created for.
