Independence - A Movement as well as a Party

Ian Ross lives in Bridge of Weir in Renfrewshire and has just turned 80. A lifelong campaigner for Scottish independence, he reflects on the strategic challenge facing the new SNP led Government at Holyrood and the need to broaden support for constitutional change.

The Scottish National Party deserves to be congratulated on emerging from the wilderness despite a hostile press and a hostile establishment and managing to form a government in the Scottish Parliament if only a minority one. After a long succession over the decades of Secretaries of State and First Ministers, all taking their cue from London it is truly remarkable and almost incredible to have a First Minister  who actually cares about Scotland, loves and respects Scotland and is prepared to speak up in its defence when necessary.

But excessive optimism would be rash if one looks hard at the composition of the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish National Party stands for government of the Scottish people by the Scottish people and for the Scottish people. The Scottish Labour Party stands for government of the Labour Party by the Labour Party and for the Labour Party. The Scottish Conservative Party stands for government by London. It is difficult to discern exactly what the LibDems stand for. Rumour has it that their ability to coalesce with a party most of whose views they do not share and their refusal to coalesce with a party most of whose views they do share is bound up with the furtherance of the United Kingdom political career of Sir Menzies Campbell.

The mixture of opinions among the Scottish people is equally unreassuring. It is well known that only about 25% favour independence, the raison d'être of the SNP.  Three hundred years of union with a country ten times bigger has produced a population of provincials diffident about declaring their Scottishness and apprehensive of shouldering responsibility for their country. Many people express pride in their Scottish ancestry only to follow this hastily with an assertion that other things are more important. Scottish attributes - accent, clothes, home address - tend to be treated as fashion  accessories to enhance social attraction, not simply to be enjoyed and loved. Home Rule appears to be essentially a financial matter, GERS, Barnett, figures not adding up etc. A neighbour discussing
independence coldly asked "Can we afford it?". as though discussing the purchase of a new fridge. The change of one of Scotland's oldest institutions from the Bank of Scotland into "HBOS" does not seem to shock anybody. Might it be imagined that one day Edinburgh Castle will be taken over by PC World for use as a warehouse and bits of old junkvlike the Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Scone will be sold off to an American museum? Is it conceivable that Bannockburn, Flodden and Culloden might be supposed by teenagers to have been venues for football matches? It is perhaps this absence of national self assurance that forces people to seek fulfilment in bleak sectarianism, , tribalism and obsession with football.

Let us be quite clear about the situation in which Scotland finds itself. Little point in repeating ad nauseam the economic arguments produced by either side. Scotland forms part of Britain which, let's face it, is a euphemism for Greater England. The attitude of Westminster to Scotland and all things Scottish is one of contempt or at best indifference - as recent events testify. In its treatment of Scottish resources it is rapacious. It smiles benevolently at quaint provincial attributes but is outraged at any suggestion of nationhood. Tony Blair dismisses scornfully what he calls the politics of grievance but then proceeds to demonstrate his complete lack of respect for Scotland's First Minister and its legal system. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the wellbeing of Scotland will be best served by severing the link with Westminster and replacing it  with a good neighbourly relationship. We do not need a penny of English money but we must insist on having every single penny of Scottish money. But there is another thing to be made clear. The Scottish people must be made plainly aware of the realities facing them. A means must be found of restoring awareness and pride in the national identity and infusing the will and the courage to do something about it. Without this being achieved, without positive, conscious, full blooded support from the Scottish people, the core policy of the Scottish National Party will be meaningless. It should not be forgotten that the SNP's electoral success resulted not from a desire for independence but from disillusionment with the Labour Party. The Scottish National Party has the task of putting over a message which is as yet not understood and which the average political party is probably ill equipped to perform.

The SNP might widen its appeal by making overtures to other interests, other facets of Scottish life - universities both teachers and students), school teachers, churches, the Islamic community, the Poles etc. in search of a wider diversity of talent and a sensitivity towards principles and loyalties which perhaps the Scottish people may have lost. We need a proper St. Andrew's Day. We need a proper national anthem, not a football ditty but something like Finlandia or the Deutschlandlied or the Norwegian national anthem to inspire a sense of national loyalty. Scottish history should be taught properly and attractively and the syllabus for doing so should be properly thought out and not left to chance. Scottishness and Scottish nationality need to be made fashionable, not something to be dodged or swept under the carpet. The Saltire should also be made fashionable. What about a table top Saltire to adorn a mantelpiece or have a place at SNP conference tables; something attractively (and, yes, expensively) designed. With a bit of financial help would this not be a job for the Saltire Society?

A possible alternative might be the development alongside the SNP of a Movement, something of a more or less cultural nature using propagandantry that Scotland is and could become.Our homeland is not just a matter of bens and glens. I am fascinated by our magnificent Firths, the amazing and exciting variety of scenery in such a small country, the gracious urban tenements to be found all over Scotland, the dignified classical style of many Church of Scotland churches (I am a Catholic myself) and the French Renaissance style characteristics of some of our great houses - redolent of a time when we were part of Europe and not just a fag end of greater England. I suspect that a movement of this sort cannot be readily engineered by a political party organisation unavoidably preoccupied with votes, fund raising and the bread and butter interests of constituents.

There remains the position of the Scottish establishment. Nations are destroyed not only by military defeat or destruction of their physical resources. Their cultural identity can also be destroyed by the elimination of their cultural treasures - objets d'art, buildings, cities and also the personalities who guide and direct the nation and give it expression.. The Nazi Germans were adept at this especially in Eastern Europe but, even in the UK, their invasion plans included a kind of Baedekers Guide of all the famous people - writers, artists,politicians, professors etc. - all of whom were to be rounded up and removed. Scotland has suffered signally in this respect though not in the methodical Nazi fashion. The rot may have started as early as 1513 at the battle of Flodden when Scottish spears were no match for English halberds and the King and virtually all of his nobility lay dead leaving an orphaned nation. In 1603 the Union of the Crowns led to the departure to London of the bulk of the Scottish nobility in search of fleshpots. No doubt the Union of 1707 led to a similar exodus. Thomas Carlyle described the Scottish nobility as a set of famishing ferocious hyenas from whom the country had at no time and in no way derived any benefit whatever. Hopefully this draconian description is now out of date but it does seem in our present time that there are not as many people of real clout in Scotland as there might be and who could play a positive role in the nation's affairs.

One wonders if it might be possible to consider - very cautiously and very carefully - the setting up of a kind of voluntary "Second Chamber" to complement the Scottish Parliament. It could be a kind of club that met at intervals and held debates rather after the manner of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Perhaps the Church of Scotland would make their Assembly Hall available. Perhaps the Royal High School could assume something of its originally envisaged role. The members of such a body would approximate to the Scottish "great and the good" and might contain representatives from the Churches, Islam, immigrant communities, universities, industry, business, etc. Such a body would of course have no statutory status but if it contained the right people and conducted its debates suitably, it might well constitute a valuable voice and a potent expression of Scottish opinion.

We live in what may turn out to be one of the most significant moments of Scottish history. The time may possibly have come when the Scots rediscover who and what they are, learn to walk tall, rejoice in the beauty of their homeland and take pride in their ability to exploit its rich resources. The French writer, Renan, described nationalism as the memory of having done great things together and the desire to go on doing great things together. To paraphrase the words of General de Gaulle, addressing the crowds of Quebec, Vive l'Ecosse! Vive l'Ecosse libre!

Comments

[Jimmy Parker]

Hello Ian,
You said "The Saltire should also be made fashionable." Here in Netherlands it is! Scapa Fashion has the Saltire as its logo.

http://www.scapafashion.com/2007/content.htm

Regards,

Jimmy

[Jimmy Parker]

I should have said Scapa Sports - click on the "Scapa Sports" link on their home page.

[Alan Davidson]

Excellent and thoughtful article. I become truly distressed when I hear our nationality being downgraded to a matter of mere economics. I have no doubt we can make it economically, but I also want a national philosophy of togetherness as witnessed in other nations. As for Flower of Scotland - well its OK on the football pitch but I seem to remeber that Rowan Tree was an old tune for an anthem??

[alan munro]

Thank you Ian, what a good article! Lang may yer lum reek!!

I have great admiration for those like yourself who have campaigned for greater Scottish autonomy for years. The road ahead, our New Road, will have many twists and turns. Firstly we need to recognise that although we are Scots we have been impregnated with the air of superiority which our southern neighbours display. You only need to look at our forms of news and information media to see this. We need to shake off these cobwebs and develop real solidarity with other races, nationalities and countries. This solidarity needs to be of a mutual nature, we need to get away from the idea that our role is to help the poor and uneducated in the world. The reality is that we dupe them and strip them of their resources...like our north sea oil... We need to understand that we are equal, not greater or worse than the Tanzanians, Nicaraguans, Ukrainians et al.
Secondly our country has a great variety and we need to teach the young generation about their own area. Let the Aberdonians have their history, the Dundonians theirs, the Western Islanders theirs.

As far as a National Anthem goes then look no further than the song
" Scotland´s Story " which was first sung in 2001 by Craig and Carlie Reid. It reflects what our country has been and its theme of inclusiveness ensures that anyone who is now living in the country will feel part of it.