JK Rowling, author of our beloved Harry Potter series, wrote a blog post against the European Union’s most recent referendum. In her post, titled “On Monsters, Villains and the EU Referendum,” Rowling is unapologetic in her address to Britain.
Monsters, villains and the EU referendum, by me.https://t.co/uJRPnhBWT7
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 20, 2016
“I’m not an expert on much,” her first line reads, “but I do know how to create a monster.”
But just because there are two sides to this issue does not mean Rowling will “pull punches.” According to Mashable, the author wrote to both sides of the campaign, saying that each side has “been telling us stories.”
“I’ve thought a lot about the rules for creating villains,” she wrote. “We are being asked whether we wish to remain part of the European Union and both sides of this campaign have been telling us stories.
“I don’t mean that in the sense of lying (although lies have certainly been told).”
“I mean that they are appealing to us through our universal need to make sense of the world by storytelling and that they have not been afraid to conjure monsters calculated to stir up our deepest fears.”
Rowling continues, saying that the stories told on either side of the EU divide are horrible and “uglier than any I can remember in my lifetime.” On one side of the argument, the EU is a villainous entity intent on spurring another war.
“For some on the Leave side, the EU is not merely imperfect, or in need of improvement: it is villainous,” she says. “The union that was born out of a collective desire never to see another war in Europe is depicted as an Orwellian monolith, Big Brotheresque in its desire for control.”
The Leave side of the debate is also busy villainizing Europe’s immigrant population. Instead of embracing change and the people who can help bring that about, Leave and his campaign paint them as “a tsunami of faceless foreigners, heading for our shores, among them rapists and terrorists.”
Sound familiar, America?
In her writing, Rowling claims she does not mean to paint any Leavers in a racist light, and by no means is calling the entire party a group of racists. However, she does say it is “equally nonsensical to pretend that racists and bigots aren’t flocking to the ‘Leave’ cause, or that they aren’t, in some instances, directing it.”
In their own reflection on Rowling’s piece, Mashable also draws the parallel between the EU debacle and “the rise of Donald Grump in the United States.”
“I’m the mongrel product of this European continent and I’m an internationalist,” Rowling says. “I was raised by a Francophile mother whose family was proud of their part-French heritage. My French ancestors lived in the troubled province of Alsace, which spent hundreds of years being alternately annexed by Germany and France. I’ve lived in France and Portugal and I’ve studied French and German. I love having these mulitple allegiances and cultural associations. They make me stronger, not weaker. I glory in association with the cultures of my fellow Europeans. My values are not contained or proscribed by borders. The absence of a visa when I cross the channel has symbolic value to me. I might not be in my house, but I’m still in my hometown.”
Rowling concludes with the imperfection of “all human unions.” Regardless of a relationship’s social status, whether it be political or familial, it is part of what makes a union and its people. There will always “be flaws and disagreements,” but that’s all right.
Our imperfections help us strive to be better.
“Because they protect and empower us, because they enable bigger and better achievements than we can manage alone. We should be proud of our enduring desire to join together, seeking better, safer, fairer lives, for ourselves and for millions of others.”
The European Union is not perfect, but neither is anyone else.
What do you think, PopStars?
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