Perspectives on Brexit: the View from an Indian Newsroom

The Brexit result caused international uproar. While early polling data from the referendum made it seemed like the campaign to 'remain' had won out, it soon became clear that was not the case. Rather, 51.9% of U.K. voted to leave the European Union. While England as a whole backed the 'leave' campaign, London, Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay. The pound dropped to record lows and an emotional David Cameron, who campaigned for the UK to remain in the EU, announced his resignation as prime minister.

At the paper where I'm interning, the BBC played on a loop in the background and emotions ranged from shocked to bemused. One editor raged about why Cameron had caved to party pressure and called the referendum to begin with, saying it would be unimaginable, laughable even, if the Indian government said "let's have a referendum on whether Tamil Nadi deserves to be a part of India." Another suggested now might be the optimal time for Indians and other commonwealth citizens to visit England and take advantage of the cheaper pound, despite possibly stricter rules on immigration and in the Visa process. A third journalist remarked that they didn't see what all the fuss was about, because the Brexit was unlikely to affect India anyway. A foreign correspondent just back from the UK mentioned, in passing, that these decisions are fueled by the common man's fear of the high immigration rates and out of concern for the lack individual economic stability more immigrants might cause.

The Brexit marks another milestone within this growing trend of xenophobia coupled with nationalism. Yesterday, the US Supreme Court (still one man down) was evenly divided on President Obama's executive action regarding immigration reform. This decision effectively blocks the programs from going into effect for the time being and likely for the near future as well. Last summer, the big news was the record levels of support for the National Front (FN) in France, led by Marine le Pen and her conservative anti-immigration stance. This was followed by the unexpected rise of Donald Trump's presidential candidacy, built upon his promise to "make America great again."

One of the editors I work with compared Trump's campaign strategy thus far with that of current Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's, whose right-wing party is known for its support of Hindu nationalism. This editor used to be a TV anchor, and she mentioned that when Modi was campaigning, all stations would just cut to his rallies for hours, giving him free press. At the time, she didn't see what was wrong and was simply glad to take the break. But now, Modi is in power, Britain is exiting the EU and Donald Trump is the Republican Party's presidential candidate.

Brexit matters because it's not an isolated incident. The historic referendum sets a precedent, marks a trend and signals shaky times ahead for all of us.