As Theresa May and her Tory government continue to channel their Inner Mein Kampf, in their headlong charge to a Hard Brexit a large section of Scottish Scottish society has looked on in a mixture of abhorrent disbelief and a sense of anger at the betrayal of common human decency.
Many Scots pride themselves in their innate sense of justice, fairness and the brotherhood/sisterhood of the common man/woman.
To see such xenophobia so openly displayed by those who would presume to rule over us, is not what the majority of Scots of all backgrounds and history would hope for, nor what many of the new Scots who have made their home and life among us would desire either.
Theresa May in her highlighted speech has made it perfectly clear that the promise made by Better Together of Scotland being valued as equals in Union is nothing short of hogwash. When she on one hand has said that we will be consulted, she has removed with her actions of not consulting us. She made this abundantly clear when she said “we will leave the European Union as one United Kingdom. There is no opt-out from Brexit. And I will never allow divisive nationalists to undermine the precious Union ”
By such dismissiveness she places her Gollum like precious union under maximum threat, and a second Independence referendum campaign must surely follow.
As follow it must, we can be equally assured that maximum effort will be made by the British media to denounce it and everyone and everything connected with the aspiration for Independence, and Indeed separation from the calamity of a Union we find ourselves to be subjects of.
Yet, sad as I am to say so, the threat to Scottish Independence doesn’t so much come from the British establishment, but from Scots themselves.
Theresa May may fear the divisiveness of Nationalists, but it is we who must fear the divisiveness of ourselves, and it is this divisiveness that the British Establishment are counting on in their bid for retention of the Scottish Gold in their hands.
It is by no accident that many Scots made good use of the Union and the British Empire of the past. It is by no accident that Scots have risen to power in the far flung regions of the world on the back of that empire. Creating the Japanese Navy, the American Navy, governorship in Canada, the States, Australia and many other far flung parts.
It is by no accident that Scots have been at the forefront of Industry like Carnegie, nor of invention like Bell or Fleming, and with more Noble prize winners per head of population than most.
Achievements aplenty throughout the world.
But nor is it by accident that Scots have also been involved in the worst of atrocities either, even if we don’t like talking about them so much.
The African Slave trade, The Slave plantations of the Southern States, the involvement in many historical atrocities, some committed against ourselves. The massacre of Glencoe, the Highland Clearances, Scots sold into slavery by other Scots.
As much as that which we can be proud of, there is much that we should be ashamed of too in our part of the British Empire.
Making no bones about it, although the vast majority of Scots were sold down the river by the parcel of rogues who gave away our Independence through bribes and their corruption, there are many who benefited from it, and still do.
In modern day British politics, we see that right wing Liam Fox enjoying his resurrection to Tory power. We see Ruth Davidson calling Scots thieves and delighting in her limelight in British Conservative circles.
But there are many more in business at home who have benefited themselves through the British State.There are many like the Tunnocks and Baxters who spoke out against Scottish Independence in the 2014 referendum.
The same applies in journalism and the media, where control lies in London, and those Scots journalists who have gained personally from it….Stand up Mr A Neill, Cochrane, and their ilk. They are the Defoes of today.
But long before any of the divisions over Scots Independence of today, long before Thatcher and her proclamation that there was no such thing as society, and her doctrine of Self, Scots were acting for their own self interest in the pursuit of power and wealth.
It is such self Interest and drive for personal gain to the cost of the many that has been Scotlands undoing, and continues to be our undoing.
Those that rose to power and Royalty were among the forefront of Scots personal Interest. The fratricide of Kings, the murder of competitors for the throne.
The selfish actions of the Stuart dynasty and their use of religion as a tool of power saw
James 6th from the joining of crowns in 1603, who spent most of his life in England barely venturing North(King James Bible).and who having failed in forcing plantations on the Outer Hebrides turned to plantations in Northern Ireland building upon earlier plantations with large farms populated by Border Scots ,leading on to Scottish protestant covenantors under Cromwell and the final influx of Scots in the war between James 7th/2nd and King William who was married Queen Mary Stuart. Then ultimately the Irish troubles of last century, Re imported and refought with the Sectarianism of the West of Scotland which still blights us today.
To finally the conclusion of the Stuart dynasty with Queen Anne who was desiring of the Union of Parliaments which finally occurred in 1707.
The battles of the Jacobite rebellions lay with the Stuart wars. The deposed King James 7th/2nd after fleeing sought his crown back from William and Mary, and the Derry Walls and crys of no surrender which some idiots still sing about today…Where Scot fought Scot in Ireland along with a mix of English and Dutch soldiers….hence the Orange sashes of William of Orange. Where Scots were foot soldiers and fodder for the fighting Royalists using religion as their goad…
The 1745 rebellion with not so Bonnie Prince Charlie was not the romantic episode of Jacobite fame sung so lustily about a war between Scotland and England, nor did the English massacre the Scots on the field of Culloden. Scots once more were at the forefront of the fight on both sides in this internecine religious royalist war. Scot murdered Scot at the behest of their competing Kings and religions, Catholic,Protestant,Episcopalian. Clan fought against Clan, and ultimately the Highland Catholic Clans lost. With that loss came the imposition of English and Britishness and the loss of much of the Gaelic language being spoken.
The Clan system disintegrated, The Chiefs sent their sons to Eton to be educated and sought the benefits of polite English/British society. These same Chiefs were at the forefront of the Highland clearances for economic benefit through sheep. .
Protestant Scotland was already established, with the Church of Scotland established in 1563 after the Scottish Reformation of 1560 , its own bigotry evident later during the influx of Irish Immigrants, prevailed as the religion of State, until it eventually disestablished itself in 1921.
As the separate Irish influxes through famine created ghettos of sorts, the Protestant and Catholic separate influxes into the West of Scotland, where the rich and powerful made use of religious divisions once more…. What School did you go to was code for whether you got a job or not.
The Scottish Labour Party although created by both Scottish Nationalist Cunningham Graham who became the first Socialist MP in the UK parliament and later founder and president of the Scottish National party, and Keir Hardie who became the first Labour MP of the Labour party we know today, were the natural party of the working class and stood up for Catholic Interests. Hence the Labour Parties religious hold that it held for many years…. But even with noble intent, we have seen the abuses of power lead to ordinary people used as voting fodder in order to serve Self Interest for those who have lived a comfortable life. Those self interested parties also benefited from allowing poor conditions to continue. They would continually promise betterment for the people and the communities while doing nothing to alleviate the depredation and Ill health when they were reelected. Yet they were quite happy to roll up to VIP seats at football grounds in chauffeur driven cars, and gain directorships from business interests.
And before the SNP get too comfortable, I have seen first hand some behaving in Constituency meetings in a manner not beholden to good of the majority. Whatever party holds power, or whichever folk seek to have their own little status or dominion, they are only there at our behest, and best not to forget it.
Political, Religious, Business and Royal self Interest continues to serve many Scots well.
Whether that be Labour Lords in the House of Lords, or the use of religion and sectarianism to cause division, or in business where many live a very comfortable life through their UK interests, or even for those on the Socialist Left politically who use it for their own personal aggrandizement or notoriety.
The threat to Scottish Independence is not the English, or the Tory party, or even the British state which uses division to serve its own ends…But rather by Scots themselves.
A Scotland that can be united for the good of us all can never be defeated, and Independence is ours.
We can either choose to be Independent or we can choose our own petty divisions, the choice is firmly and entirely ours, just as it always has been.
