Meryl Streep took best actress award at the Golden Globes for The Iron Lady. There has been much media speculation about the motivation for Alex Salmond choosing Autumn 2014 for the independence referendum, largely centring around Bannockburn. Personally I can see the referendum coinciding brilliantly with Margaret Thatcher’s state funeral in London. That really would clinch it.
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John (Stack) at 1:49pm. You know, that’s what I don’t like about nationalism. On this level, it’s all about flags and anthems… and, uhm, (oh God no) football. And what, pray, is a “true Scot”? And how does one determine who is a “true Scot” and who is not? I know it’s an emotive subject, but watch out you don’t start sounding like a Caledonian version of Alfred Burdett (aka ‘Can Speccy’). And what’s Devon got to do with Germans? I thought it was ‘West Wales’, land of the Combrogi.
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Look, you know as well as I of the anti-syzygy that runs through Scottish history and culture. And you know as well as about the Scottish Enlightenment and the manner in which that was synergised/catalysed by the Union of 1707. Now, this is history. There were/are colonialising aspects, you’re correct about that. But it’s not so simple. Scotland is not Algeria or Kenya. Scots were in the van, gold and blood of the British Empire. So, it’s complex and conflicted. Like all imperial dynamics, it is complicated.
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Scottish culture already has distinctive anchors and identifiers – arguably more so than contemporary English culture – that is not lacking. We don’t need to ramp-up the bourgeois chauvinism or hoist the totem-poles. We do need:
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1) To leave NATO.
2) To dispense with the central mendacities of neoliberal economics.
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Now, that would be true independence. You can fly whatever colour flag you want, you can participate in whatever sport you wish, you can call yourself a Man of Ystrad Clud or a woman of Dal Riata, I don’t really care (though the music is good!). Just let’s do 1) and 2), eh John?
I forgot to say, too that Scotland is also not Ireland. That was/is an entirely different (an unresolved colonial) situation.
Suhayl
John Stack has a better grasp of Scotland than you do. You are so colonised you don’t even know it.
John Stack
Glad that you found the video good !! It puts to rest a few of the myths and lies the Scottish people have been fed over the past 40 years. There are a few of your observations which do not stack up. Scotland and England formed a union. England may have treated her partner like a colony, and therein lies the root of the problem. The union is dysfunctional and one of the partners has a different grasp on what a union is and should be. So rather than breaking it down and starting again I prefer the idea of all countries belonging to the union becoming sovereign and then forging a modern partnership based on mutual respect and fairness. Westminster is incurably corrupt and therefore needs to be gotten rid of.
In the 80’s there were very few English living north of the border, but that has changed. The people that have emigrated north have also integrated and their children speak like locals. The English accent like the Polish or Lithuanian is tolerated and quite right too.
The vote should be for people living in Scotland as it will affect them.
And as for England , I like it. Took me a while ,but I really like the country. I understand their pride in the flag and St George. But I still prefer being north of the border where I understand the language , the humour and I enjoy the food and the long summer nights.
What makes you think Scotland was colonised or were you thinking Soviet Union ?
“Suhayl
John Stack has a better grasp of Scotland than you do. You are so colonised you don’t even know it.” H. Scott.
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Possibly. But I am keen to avoid – and to point out – negative types of nationalism and in some of his posts, John Stack does sound as though he might be promoting that sort of nationalism. “True Scots”? What on earth does that mean? I would appreciate an explanation from him.
Suhayl, IMHO. Choice is the major part of patriotism. A small group of very idealistic, motivated, nationalists are essential. Scotland is both a Country and a Nation. Demographics will play a large part in a Scotland with a slowly declining Scottish ‘Race’ and a slowly increasing emigrant population who could feel more secure within a larger Britain. Inclusivity is essential for a democratic vote for independence. Trimble called Northern Ireland “a cold place for Catholics”. Up twords a million Catholics, mainly born in Scotland, must be made to feel fully secure and welcome by right and that Bigotry and racism is not even joked about or they could feel , like the emigrants, the need for security over their preferred choice of Scottish patriotism.
Thanks very much for clarifying, John.
Re Craig’s comment – “There has been much media speculation about the motivation for Alex Salmond choosing autumn 2014 for the independence referendum.” Perhaps Mr. Salmond expects, as sadly I do, that the UK economy will continue to deteriorate and will be performing much worse in 2-1/2 year’s time than it is today – thus making a successful independence vote more likely. Just take a look at this very depressing article in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph which says it all.
America overcomes the debt crisis as Britain sinks deeper into the swamp
http://tiny.cc/ddeum
Suyayl you are quite right in an earlier comment – unlike Wales or Ireland, Scotland chose to enter the union. I think that economically the Union suited Scotland up till 1914, but that increasingly the economic argument now points to independence. I do feel sorry for all Britons who once again have been badly let down by the London Establishment and burdened with debt for generations to come as the Telegraph’s article shows.
For info, Scotland did not ‘choose’ to enter union with England. This scheme was arranged by a number of Scottish nobles – Burns’s ‘parcel of rogues in a nation, bought and sold for English gold’ . Troops were assembled on the border and rioting amongst the masses took place in the towns and cities for months. Not much democracy in those days.
Also, this business of Alex Salmond wanting to run the referendum on the anniversary of Bannockburn. This was touted by the unionist media, never the SNP, and has been since repeated although ubtue, with the results as shown by a poster above as showing the SNP in a sleekit and jingoistic light. I am sure there will be more of this.
This could have been written for Scotland :-
Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.
With thanks to the late great Steve Jobs, founder, Apple.
Elaine…. the last devolution referendum was run on the 700th anniversary of The Battle of Stirling Bridge, so London Labour have set a precedent! Why is it a problem now?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stirling_Bridge
On another topic, it seems the Ermine bothering parasites are getting very vichy in their amendments.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2010-2012/0079/amend/am079-o.htm
I cannot help but feel utter revulsion for these parasites.