The Scottish referendum debate, has been, even for the democratically disenfranchised 800,000 Scots living in the rest of the UK who do not have a vote, an invigorating, stimulating and impassioned debate. It has been an exorcise in representative democracy at a time, when in mainland Europe, a war has started premised on errant nationalism, with faux democracy eliciting change at the barrel of a gun. That has not happened here, and for that , as Scots, we should be proud. There has been rancour,bullying illl temper, a lot of shouting, but in reality, there has not been descent into true vile violence. I have concluded for myself, that the vision of the independence campaign has many merits. It speaks of egalitarianism. It speaks of a realignment for national politics, away from comfy, oligarchical political and banking elites. It speaks about the immorality of engaging in errant foreign wars based on lies, deceit and vested self hegemonic interest. It speaks to exclude Scotland from involvement in such illegalities in the future. It speaks of creating a just, classless education and welfare system that enhances the natural ability, irrespective of class. For all of that I applaud it and feel it reflects everything I have ever believed in. However, it does so through the vehicle of nationalism, that insidious structure that seeks to create, what for me is a false consciousness. It says, we, as a Scottish people should create this, as democracy within the UK, has not delivered this. Here I fundamentally part company, as within the UK, collectively, we have created a system that only who you travel the world, do you realise, is a beacon of tolerance and inclusivity. It was within the UK that social democracy won a long fought and hard battle,through the unions, collective action against poverty, feminism leading to a greater gender equality. It was within the UK that universal sufferage was born. It was within the UK that Human Rights became an intellectual and legal currency that has radically transformed our society. We now live in a world, where if China or America catches a cold, the world suffers from a near fatal flu. To safeguard against the vicissitudes of Capitalisms errant tendencies, collective strength is required. We live I a world, where for a small island of 63 million people, we punch enormously above our weight, a consequence of which is, we attract business and influence disproportionate to our demographic. We lose that at our peril, both economically politically and socially. The values which the independence movement articulate, as set out above, have been the values of the enlightened left since the late 19th century. The poor of Dundee as no different fro the poor of Doncaster or Dalston. To compartmentalise compassion into nationalist blocks is to defeat the entire logic of progressive communitarianism. To create false borders through nationalism is to diminish us all. So for those reasons, I believe the Union of the UK is a great force to be reckoned with. Just because politicians,greed and errant capitalism have hegemonised the political discourse since 1979, does not mean that laissez faire Capitalism is either right or the logical winner within our democracy. The Scottish referendum debate has raised the bar of debate. It has pulled the veil away and revealed that at the heart of the British people is a desire for a fairer society, a better distribution of our national assets, a less London- centric world, a constitution that is truely representative of all the peoples. For that alone it has been invaluable. My wish is that Scotland does not elect to leave the UK. I came to London aged 18, a scally, uneducated, a dreamer. I had unconscious xenophobic tendencies based on the ignorance of my upbringing. As an impressionable youth, I had lived through the independence debate of 1979. Over the 32 years I have lived in England, I generally have found them, at all levels of society, to be amongst the most friendly enlightened and tolerant people I have met. I feel very privileged to have learnt from my enlightened southern friends. In a world where we are becoming more multi-cultural and cross fertilised it is simply at odds with the tide of our times to be creating falsehoods based in nationalism, false borders and false division lines based on errant and inconsistent economic arguments. No matter the outcome, I sincerely hope that wisdom will prevail and rancour, division and poison will be defeated by enlightened goodwill and that on both sides of that invisible border, we continue to be friends, neighbours and champions of a progressive enlightenment that benefits us all.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 21:03:23 +0000