An anti-Brexit group wearing “thank EU for the Music” T-shirts will be handing out EU flags to concert goers of the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms to lament what they see as the coming “Brexit Dark Ages” of culture.
The EU Flags Proms Team said they will be handing out the 10,000 flags to the 6,000 concert goers outside the Royal Albert Hall Saturday, reports The Telegraph.
Drawing an analogy that the EU is like the ‘Age of Enlightenment’ and Brexit, a United Kingdom extricating herself from the autocratic EU, is the ‘Dark Ages’, a spokesman told the paper:
“During the Age of Enlightenment Mozart, Handel, and Bach all lived and worked for part of their lives in London.
“Presumably under the Brexit Dark Ages, they would not be welcome. What an appalling backward step for our country.
“We hope that the EU flags will remind the audience, the musicians and those watching from all over the world that music is a universal language that unites people, breaking down barriers, and promoting communication, understanding, and peace.”
Blasting the stunt, Brexit architect and former UKIP leader Nigel Farage told The Telegraph: “I am sure if Beethoven were alive today he would be horrified to learn that ‘Ode to Joy’ was being hijacked by a band of crooks in Brussels.”
Breitbart London reported in July that the BBC had come under criticism for allowing its Proms to become politicised, despite a BBC spokesman saying: “The BBC Proms is a music platform, not a political one.”
Conductor Daniel Barenboim used a performance to complain about what he described as under-educated pro-Brexit voters, and then got his German orchestra to play Elgar’s iconically English ‘Land of Hope of Glory’ in protest.
Asked whether he would be contacting Leave.eu founder Arron Banks, who last year handed out 10,000 Union flags to audience members, Mr. Farage said: “I will definitely be giving Arron a call about this.”
“As for this airy fairy ‘music crosses all borders’ nonsense, music is also an important part of national symbolism in every part of the world,” he added.
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