Right, well, I decided to write this because basically I wanted to voice my support for the Scottish independence Yes Campaign and this is important because I wanted to illustrate that not all English people are against Independence, just as not all Scots are for it. I come from Manchester, but I’ve lived in Scotland for the past 2 years in Glasgow, and there’s a few fundamental reasons why I’m supporting the campaign, and why I believe you, as my English, Welsh, Northern Irish or especially Scots friends should support it too. I think at the very basis of this argument is the fact that half of my family is Scottish, and that a good deal of them are separated by the border from each other but this doesn’t negate the fact that we are family, and family regardless of geographic position are always connected, you know? So when people are saying stuff like ‘I don’t want to be presenting my passport at Gretna or at Carlisle’, which is kind of a legitimate concern, I think about Ireland mainly, the Common Travel Area means that anyone can travel between Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland easily and without a passport, and of course you can travel between NI and England or Scotland easily so I don’t entirely understand why, in an independent Scotland, Ed Miliband is suggesting the placing of guards at the border. It just feels like scaremongering, attempting to put the fear of god into those either side of the border in order to elicit a no vote. And we’ll come back to that, scaremongering. Plus, my brother, Jack, he lives in Berlin in Germany. And I’m going to be honest, I don’t feel disconnected from him in any way, and even the fact that I would have to present my passport at customs doesn’t put me off, because he’s my brother and that’s just part and parcel of it. It doesn’t matter. Essentially, I don’t believe there will be border guards, or passport checks, but even if there was, that doesn’t matter. It’s just one more thing to remember. Secondly, I feel it’s about democracy, which I know is a big sweeping statement, but I also know right now, more people than ever in Scotland are discussing these big topics, these huge statements about destiny and identity and what it means to be Scottish, all over the world. And that’s amazing! Because for so long, the people of Scotland, and indeed of England, have really felt a disenfranchisement with a political system they don’t believe represents them. And right now, the political system we are in doesn’t represent us. Not adequately anyway. As many times as it has been bandied about in this campaign that there is only one tory MP in Scotland, There is only ONE Tory MP in a Conservative dominated government, who represents Scotland’s interests. And it isn’t like this has never happened before, Thatcher’s era saw plans for a doomsday scenario where there was a Conservative government with no MP’s representing Scotland. This is a perennial issue, and it will happen again unless there is a Yes vote. The discussion that’s taking place in Scotland right now almost feels as if Scotland is independent, in thought anyway. Everyone has been discussing these issues so fervently and with such passion and belief that they can make a difference that it feels like Yes has won, simply because we are discussing these issues, rather than eating our cereal and just going to work. And the No campaign’s fixation on ignorance, and how ‘it’s too complicated for you to understand, but I’ll summarise: it’s bad’ is out of touch with a Scottish people who are discussing these issues, and educating themselves about these issues, and then discussing them further. It’s the difference between the can’s and the can not’s, a discussion of possibility versus a prediction of inevitable failure, which I just do not buy into. Scotland can do it. I really do believe that. And then there’s big business, who seem to be working in tandem with the No camp to foster a culture of fear so that the people of Scotland will back into a corner and shut up for a while. In the event of a yes vote, they are saying they will up sticks and move to London, which first of all, I don’t believe will happen, because they will lose the vast majority of their business, and on this admittedly I’m calling there bluff but there’s a reason for this – Europe. The vast majority of the Scottish people want to be inside the EU, not outside, with a similar deal to that which we have now. But in England, a great many people want to leave Europe in some isolationist move in order to halt a flow of immigration which is being overstated to the max and is little more than a trickle. A vote to leave the EU will have a hell of a lot more consequences economically and socially than Scotland voting Yes and then joining the EU. If big business moved down the road in 2016, they would be moving back up just as soon as England votes it’s way off the table in Europe. I don’t believe they will take that chance. Now I’m not a business editor or journalist, I’m no expert and I’m no politician, but common sense indicates that they would be out of their minds to run from Scotland to England lest they get caught out like the idiot batsman in cricket in the middle of the crease. It just doesn’t make sense that they would do this. I’ve just always felt like Scotland was bought too cheap. Prior to 1707, England had a quickly growing empire, and Scotland wanted one too. The colony at Darion was ill advised and badly executed, but also unlucky. When the colony did fall on hard times, Queen Anne (of England and of Scotland) ordered the English navy not to allow anyone in or out of Darion. Meaning that when Scotland attempted to assist their citizens overseas, they couldn’t and were dragged into a conflict which crippled the colony and the country economically. This was for a range of reasons, not least because of the gravitational pull of money and power towards London, which attracted all of the monarchs from James VI onwards, at the detriment to Scotland and its people. Scotland had in those past 100 years had become less of a country and more of a colony itself. When the Scottish parliament voted to dissolve itself in 1707, it was to save their country, to prevent it from being swallowed hook line and sinker and becoming North Britain, losing all Scottish identity. Now I’m not saying that Scotland did not benefit from the Union. At one point, it did. Glasgow became the second city of the British Empire, and Scotland got back on its feet and then some. The Scottish people have always punched well above their weight in terms of culture and innovation and so have they in the past 300 years. But then, we seem to have reached a glass ceiling imposed by England, somewhat unwittingly I might add, because of this pull of money and wealth and power southwards meaning that as hard as Scotland might try, it can never pass the ceiling, but can always see the successes of others in the international community who can and have. It’s interesting to note that Better Together have long said how in a modern world why are we drawing boundaries, but nobody is suggesting we amalgamate every country in Europe into one huge Super state to get rid of borders. There’s questions of culture and of identity and of history, all of which are present in this argument. I want to vote to remove this glass ceiling and allow Scotland to flourish. I don’t believe for one second that the conditions of Scotland’s successes is that they be limited by English supremacy. A supremacy which has been calcified over the years through the repeated doctrine of Carrot and Stick. Or rather Stick and Carrot. England treats Scotland diabolically. Thatcher’s era saw all of the worst and most destructive policies tried on Scotland first, as a litmus paper for the rest of the UK, if you don’t believe me? Check out the Poll Tax. And as a reward for the beating of a generation, Scotland was promised devolution by New Labour. But devolution has allowed Westminster to become complacent about Scottish policies and issues, they simply do not care, illustrated by the 3 main party leader’s pathetic attempts to woo Scotland now, after thousands of postal votes have been submitted. It shows a complacency and contempt of democracy that these last ditch attempts to prevent Scotland from gaining independence. They want to protect their jobs, not ours, their lives, not those of the Scottish people. And even now, this stick and carrot is asserting itself once more. If Scotland stays, Westminster says, Holyrood will get more powers. Which powers exactly I don’t know and are still yet to be revealed with less than a week to go. Yet a great deal of the English public, myself not included of course, believe that after an independence referendum, Scotland’s public spending should be brought into line with England’s emaciated, austerity ravaged expenditure. We get the carrot of a referendum, of a discussion of democracy, and in return we lose the money which supports our communities. Carrot and Stick, Stick and Carrot, ad nauseum. Being English, though, I do also think of the impact on England of an independence vote. And, you know what? I don’t like what I see. I see a growing right-wing threat from parties like UKIP, and Eurosceptics in the Conservatives, I see a Labour party competing to be seen as the insipid middle with the Lib Dems whose polling barely reaches 10%. The Left wing in England is currently in disarray. But a Yes vote would not just be a shake up for Scotland, but one for England too. The Labour party will be given a kick up the arse and hopefully focus on the working class, those for whom it was founded, or The Greens will gain more of a place in the political sphere and, hopefully, those who are meant to represent the left in England will focus on both those who are sympathetic and those who need representing. I don’t however, fear for Scotland. Fear does not define this independence campaign for me. Not fear; Hope. And lastly, cause I don’t want to go on forever, I just want to point out something which has worried me for quite a while about the Better Together campaign. I understand that selling the status quo is a hard job, especially considering the last four years of this coalition government, and I get that they are as worried about Scotland’s future as anyone, but there has been such a focus on scaremongering, and trying to make Scotland hide under the bed. It feels as if we’re being patronised, every step of the way, we’ve been told we can’t do this, or if we do that something catastrophic will happen, treating us all like 6 year olds who can’t tell our collective arse from our elbow. Westminster, up until very recently, have simply been going about their daily business pretending it’s a foregone conclusion and always has been that Scotland will stay in the UK because we are terrified little children who cannot make it out in the big wide world all on our own. We’re not, we never have been, and we never will be. This patronisation, coupled with an ignorance of the issues that really are affecting the Scottish people right now is proof that something needs to be changed. And I don’t simply mean the carrot and stick approach to governing us that has been at the heart of Westminster policy on Scotland since time immemorial, I mean a big shake up, by the Scottish people, for the Scottish people. There’s a reason David Cameron refused to allow Devo Max on the ballot paper, he never thought we might say Yes. He never imagined we might want change, big change, change that might be hard to deal with at first, but change that will forever better our country. Scotland. To say Yes is big, to say Yes is brave, it’s hard and it’s scary, but it’s nothing I believe Scotland cannot handle. The UK has many things wrong with it, but how can that be altered unless change happens? How can that be bettered in a system which oppresses Scottish culture and innovation and history and art, and never gives us a proper seat at the table. No democracy plus the removal of opportunities equals no change. Democracy, Identity, Opportunity; these are the very things that ensure an independent Scotland can lead by example, and we have it within our power, within our grasp to forge anew an ancient state, proud of its previous success, but ready to move inexorably forward and upward as an independent nation. Considering all of these things, I must support Yes. And, in light of all of these things, surely you must do too. PS: I wouldve recorded this, but my laptops rubbish and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to upload things onto Youtube...
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 16:28:37 +0000
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