What if Brexit happened in the Middle East?

Published June 26th, 2016 - 15:52 GMT

The new Britain: Leavia and Remainia (Twitter)

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As the world debates the daunting ramifications of Brexit, one political satirist has reimagined the debacle – writing about the West the same way western commentators write about the Middle East.

Karl Sharro, a Lebanese-Iraqi writer and commentator on Middle Eastern affairs, has closely documented the EU referendum and final Brexit decision. With a number of bold and hilarious tweets (alongside an article in the Atlantic), he highlights the often ridiculous and one dimensional portrayal of the Middle East in mainstream western media.

“The tweets and the article were a way to compare how we discuss political events in the Middle East versus in Europe,” Sharro told Al Bawaba.

“Particularly how issues get over-simplified when it comes to the Middle East and how the role of historic rivalries is seen as more important than the political dimension. [This was] my way of applying this thinking to the UK to highlight the absurdity of the logic.”

Addressing the narrow victory of the Brexit campaign, Sharro went on to say: “I think beyond satire it's also important now that people are talking about ways of avoiding the result of the vote, which would be covered differently if it were happening in the Middle East.”

Writing under his twitter handle @KarlreMarks, here are some of Sharro's best Brexit observations from the last couple of weeks:

British refugees begin heading to Europe pic.twitter.com/Ju31DhHAy9

— Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) June 25, 2016

I'm not used to being in a country split down the middle with an emotionally charged atmosphere between two camps. Might go back to Lebanon.
— Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) June 26, 2016

Would be great now if the Arab League called on all sides in Britain to respect the outcome of the democratic process and encourage dialogue
— Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) June 24, 2016

The borders between Remainia and Leavia, with some classic British colonial straight lines for a retro effect. pic.twitter.com/74n6oVXUyJ
— Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) June 23, 2016