Erasmus removal shows the de-Europeanisation of young Scots has begun

Loss of educational opportunity, erosion of human and workers’ rights and loss of European identity. Every council area in Scotland voted against these prospects and against Brexit. Every council area in Scotland will, from now on, be subjected to a strategic process of forced de-Europeanisation.

But “Britain” got her way on Christmas Eve and, while effectively leaving Northern Ireland within single market jurisdiction, has forged ahead to deprive Scotland of what Scotland values most: European freedom of movement, phytol-sanitary and pharmaceutical safeguards; high quality food and water; pan-European right to free health provision; the deep cultural and familial bonds of European citizenship; and above all, Scotland’s equal and continued participation in one of history’s greatest and most noble projects: bringing nations together and create peace and prosperity out of the ruins of war.

READ MORE: How likely is it Westminster will allow Scotland back into the Erasmus scheme?

The “big brains of Brexit” (apologies for including brains and Brexit in the same sentence), know that the quickest way to root out people’s perception of themselves is to reset their values and principles; to create a myth of greatness where there is none and to repaint history for the younger generations in colours most suited to their propaganda.

There is always a disjuncture between the way England sees itself and how others perceive it. In the English curriculum, Great Britain is portrayed as a beacon of democracy and liberty. Rehistorising the Commonwealth as a family of nations when in fact it is the fruit of a brutal colonial endeavour where Britain maintained control of money, human and material resources, wealth, governance and administration under the pretence of being a “civilising” influence on uncivilised indigenous populations.

Epistemicide and linguicide aside – similarly to what happened with the Clearances and the targeted destruction of the Gàidhlig language – Britannia forges ahead, unstoppable in her hubris and adulation of her Etonian rulers.

And, make no mistake: the project of British youth’s de-Europeanisation has already begun. “The British Government has explicitly taken the UK out of the Erasmus scheme,” Barnier declared, signalling the official end of what had been an enlightened beginning to hundreds of thousands of British young people’s lives since its inception by Winnie Ewing in 1987.

READ MORE: Scottish Government not to rule out seeking to rejoin Erasmus scheme

My own doctoral supervisor at Glasgow University’s School of Education, professor Alison Phipps is a life force. A speaker of 19 languages, a professor of languages, Unesco chair for integration, a lauded academic, an innovator in social science methodology, a poet, a gardener, a mother and a ray of sunlight to so many lives and souls – mine included – Alison walked the Erasmus road in the 1980s.

A young English girl, armed with a brilliant mind and an appetite for change but disillusioned by Thatcher’s cruel individualistic ideals, Alison studied in France and Germany. On her return from Europe, Alison became an academic at Glasgow University and is, deservedly, now professor Phipps, only one of her innumerable titles and accolades. Late on Christmas Eve, she tweeted: “Erasmus: the life-mind-heart expanding glorious adventure into freedom, responsibility and myriad ways of knowing and speaking the world. Wanton theft of this peacemongering freedom isn’t so much a deal as a cultural mugging of young people. Cruelty is the point again.”

Cruelty is indeed the point. Young people from privileged backgrounds will always have opportunities to live and study anywhere they please. That is precisely the point of privilege. You can buy your way into most things. Cruelty begins where the ladder gets pulled from underneath the most vulnerable, those who need it the most. Social mobility brought to a halt and critical thinking replaced by “know-your-place” authoritarianism.

The cruelty of the British Government’s decision to withdraw from the Erasmus programme is the beginning of British youth’s official training in the rejection of the European “Other” in favour of strengthening the British “in-group”, which, alongside Britain’s withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights, will mark a dark era in the struggle for a progressive, outward-looking, equal and just society.

Johnson’s government is promising a new “global exchange student programme” to replace Erasmus, named after mathematician Alan Turing. As with all Johnson promises this, too, is a controlled, corporate-led proposal to promote mobility in sectors selected by the Government, a far cry from the universally acknowledged Erasmus with funded scholarships across sciences and the humanities.

Scotland will suffer greatly from this. Glasgow University which I am a part of, has voiced its concerns over the loss of the Erasmus programme. The result will be inevitable: thousands of students will not be able to benefit from the vital skills and cultural experiences of European exchange study.

Hardest hit will be the many economically disadvantaged and disabled students who receive additional grants to study abroad, very often spending their first time overseas. Almost half (42%) of higher education students who go on Erasmus undergo traineeships abroad in businesses and enterprises, learning skills which are highly sought by employers and businesses.

For Scotland, the numbers speak for themselves: The Erasmus+ Impact Study published by the European Commission in 2019, found that of students who had specifically undertaken Erasmus+ placements abroad, 80% find their first job after graduation within three months.

READ MORE: The UK leaving Erasmus is miserable – but Scotland has options

For Erasmus+ enterprise graduates, 10% started their own company, with 75% planning to do so in the future. BAME students who studied abroad are 17% more likely to be in graduate jobs six months after graduation – mature students who participated in these programmes earn 10% more than their peers. The impact of Erasmus+ in UK FE colleges survey undertaken in 2019, stated that through schools’ partnerships, 80% of pupils who participated in European school partnerships improved their sense of initiative entrepreneurship and 70% increased their digital skills.

Alongside Erasmus, gone too is the European Social Fund which funded employability in post-industrial communities, created thousands of jobs and helped people affected by the decline of manufacturing into the labour market.

As 2021 approaches, this is a sad time for us, here in Scotland. As England chooses her hard Brexit, driven by the perennial illusion of exceptionalist ideology, Scotland must find the courage to decide what she wants for herself and her children. Whether our future aligns with a destructive folly, seeped in self-delusion and the unresolved desire to find one’s place in an empire that was ever only for the very few, or, whether this is the time to choose self-respect, protection of Human Rights, support for the young, protection for the vulnerable and investment in the wellbeing of all citizens of this nation.

As Michael Russell said, the sadness for England’s choice is very present in many of us. With family ties and unbreakable bonds, we wish this were not happening. But it is. And in Michael’s words, the sadness is tinged with relief that Scotland can choose to leave this cynicism, the tabloid post-truths, the imperialist project and the whole nasty, cruel mess behind.

We can choose to be better. The time is now.

Effie Samara is a doctoral researcher at the College of Social Science and a Unesco affiliate artist under Professor Alison Phipps