I’ve been pondering a simple question recently: can Brexit be thought of as a type of occupation? I know that, on one level, that question will appear pretty childish. Of course there is no way one can liken what is currently happening in the UK to a proper military occupation by an external, oppressive force. Yet on another, perhaps more cultural level, I think we Remainers can see ourselves as having had the country we know taken from us, it’s course altered towards a more individualistic, nationalist, isolationist direction. I think we now see ourselves as a type of resistance fighting against this oppressive occupation force, perhaps not in a violent, physical sense like the French resistance during the Second World War; or even a nonviolent resistance like the one lead by Gandhi against British imperial rule in India. Rather, ours should be a cultural resistance: we should reverse the folly of two years ago through creating things, making art demonstrating why we need to be part of Europe, showing what a catastrophic mistake deciding to isolate ourselves was. This movement has to be as big and as powerful as possible in order to successfully change this country’s direction, but I for one believe in the power of art – painting, writing, music, film or whatever. We need to stop what is going on as urgently as a country would need to eject an occupying force before it’s taken too far towards a dark, bigoted, neoliberal unwelcoming state we who cherish diversity and tolerance would no longer recognise.