On the first anniversary of the Brexit vote, many in Britain
are celebrating their ‘Independence Day’. We in the Global South have been
through this before, after we achieved our independence from, er, mostly
Britain. But we bear no grudges, so let’s start by saying hearty congratulations
on your independence, we are very happy for you. In order to make your
experience smoother, we will share some lessons and advice we have learned in
the post-independence era. So here’s what comes next.
The English Channel
The English Channel is one of the world’s busiest maritime
trade routes and it’s extremely important for the trade movement of many
countries in the Global South. Understandably, you will wish to take control of
the English Channel as an exercise in sovereignty and to increase your national
revenues to support post-independence economic development.
While this may sound like a good idea, please be warned that
countries like India and China will look unfavourably upon such a development. Should
you attempt to hamper the trade routes or demand unreasonable fees for crossing
it, China and India, perhaps with the aid of regional surrogates, will invade
the Channel and take control of Dover and other important ports. If you refuse
to comply with their demands, they will escalate military action. Your
sovereignty is quite important to us, but we are sure that you appreciate that
global trade is far more important.