I've been nervous about the EU referendum
from day one. You see, it's all deja vu for me. I was about 10, when countries
in the Soviet Block - of which my country was a member, split up and gained
independence.
Although it made social and economic sense as
that interpretation of socialism was oppressive, the consequences are felt to
date. Almost 25 years later. The
consequences I am talking about are feelings of bitterness, divisive
nationalism, and hatred.
These feelings resulted in a brief war in
Transnistria, and I can vividly remember my grandmother's auntie talking about
her son being blown up in the fighting, and I can remember not being able to go
to school because the horrible sounds of bullets and bombs were too close for
comfort.
My daughter is nearly the age I was then.
And here we are in the UK and I can't shake the feeling that it's all happening
again. I know it's not the same, but the atmosphere, the conversations, the
questions are all too familiar. Most of it boils down to bitterness and divisive
nationalism.