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Brexit represents defeat for social pluralism, say experts

Xinhua, July 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Brexit is a defeat for social pluralism, and this is a serious problem, according to academics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

At a news conference Thursday, experts from the faculty of Political and Social Sciences said that Brexit reflects the existence of a generational gap -- the young ones embrace globalized processes, while the older ones see it an agonizing process.

In their view, what happened was a blow to integration not only for the European Union (EU) but also for the UK people.

Javier Oliva Posada, professor at Latin America's largest university, said participation during the "Brexit" referendum was a historic figure, with votes from 72 percent of the people on the electoral register.

"The British electorate voted, nevertheless, not enough young people did so and about 25 percent of those aged between 18 and 30 didn't even register to vote," added Oliva Posada.

The young electorate in London voted for pluralism and integration because many are children of immigrants or from inter-racial, inter-faith or inter-cultural relationships.

The academic detailed that 73 percent of the voters aged between 18 and 25 opted for staying in the EU while only 27 percent voted to leave it.

In the 35 to 44 age bracket, 52 percent voted to stay and the rest voted to leave while adults older than 45 voted to leave the EU with 62 percent.

In light of the referendum results, Oliva Posada considered that not all decisions, mainly those regarding a country's structural character, should be made collectively.

"There are provisions that should not be submitted to a vote. Democracy begins to attack itself," said Oliva Posada.

"Brexit" is based on a clear perception, if a little racist and exclusive, which came about due to the increase in the number of illegal immigrants arriving from countries such as Libya, Syria, Afghanistan and Mali, according to the UNAM academic.

David Cameron's UK government was one of the most reluctant in Europe to the assimilation of immigrants.

For Christian Ascencio Martinez, the academic secretary for the faculty's Center for Sociological Studies, "Brexit" is a response that prefers local to global but, this is nothing new which can be seen by the fact that in 1993 the United Kingdom joined the European common market but did not adopt the euro as its currency

"There are references that allow a certain resistance to be seen when it comes to being opened up completely to regional integration," added Ascencio Martinez.

"It seems like we are living in two worlds: one of adults and the other of young people, and the democratic model is not able to join these two perspectives. On the contrary, it generates a sort of clash that could have consequences in the future including in inter-personal and family relations," concluded the expert. Enditem