The vote to exit the EU wasn’t really about the EU, it was a protest vote of people who were left behind, argues Imran Amed.
Notice: Array to string conversion in /home/delectant/public_html/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/tiled-gallery/tiled-gallery/templates/partials/carousel-image-args.php on line 15LONDON, United Kingdom — This morning, as I handed my British passport over at immigration control at the Gare du Nord in Paris, everything looked the same as always — and yet everything had changed.
Overnight, the unthinkable, the unfathomable, the impossible had happened: in a landmark referendum, my adopted country of Great Britain had voted to leave the European Union. Suddenly, the passport I had been so proud to earn as a UK resident for over a decade had a different meaning, raising countless questions about the future of the United Kingdom, its place in Europe and the state of the wider world.
Watching the coverage last night reminded me of another tightly contested referendum concerning a country that I love. In October 1995, the province of Quebec, another adopted home far away from Calgary where I was born, was on the verge of separating from Canada after a divisive referendum campaign. In the end, much to my relief, Quebecers voted to stay in Canada.
I first arrived in London from Montréal a few years later, in 1999, at the age of 24, on a work visa enabling me to take up a position as a management consultant. I had no idea how long I would live in London, but as a Canadian used to living next to a single powerful neighbour, the idea of a collection of different countries, each with their own languages and cultures, and yet woven together into a trans-national tapestry, was new and very appealing. Over the next eight months, I worked in the Netherlands and France, as well as Norway and Switzerland (which are not EU members), and developed a real appreciation for the idea of a European community.
Later, between years at Harvard Business School, I returned to London for a summer internship and came back again after graduation to take up a full-time job at McKinsey. London was a symbol of all that was right in the world, a truly global city that was open to people from everywhere, who lived side by side and yet retained their cultural differences. My work colleagues came from everywhere. It was exhilarating. Only here could I be both British and Canadian, and experience every culture imaginable.
When I left consultancy, I was able to stay and work in the UK as a skilled migrant. Soon after, I set up the company that would blossom into The Business of Fashion, which now employs people with more than 15 nationalities, including British, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish — not to mention Americans, Argentinians, Canadians, Chinese and Thai.
Our global make-up informs our global outlook, and there is no other city on earth where we could bring together this talented international group of young people. Of course, it is the young who will have to live with this decision for the decades to come.
Today, we are all feeling confused and upset by yesterday’s referendum results and the mood in the BoF offices is sombre, reflective and uncertain. Like many people across the country, we are asking: how could this happen?
Get the remainder of Mr. Amed’s the story on BUSINESS of FASHION
