The View from Here For reasons not important now, but with proxy vote arranged, I find myself in Camberwell, Australia. Camberwell, Melbournes leafy suburban conservative heartland. Do you want to know what most of the people in Camberwell think about the Scottish referendum? They shake their heads dismissively and say ah, they wont do it. They also say they shouldnt do it, but the over-riding sentiment I get from their tut-tutting is that they cant do it. They think we cant do it. The Royal Embryo-adoring south-east-england diaspora of the former colonies thinks we CANT do it, sharing that same deluded superior self-importance that taints the ugliest world nationalisms. So invested are these people in their heritage, that whatever happens to their distant mother country somehow harms their own identity. Their playground strategy is to attack firstly our conviction, then our right to decide and finally, and most significantly - our ABILITY to make it work. Dont teach your Grandmother to hold a referendum. Or run a country. Watching the parade of competing nations at the *cough* Commonwealth Games, I became vividly aware of just how many former colonies are still sufficiently in the thrall/command of Great Britain, to allow their national colours to be dominated by the Union Flag. Of course OUR flag is entwined with that, and all it represents, both good and bad. Now, far be it from me - a child of the Empire - to suggest that the tapestry of history can somehow be unravelled, it cant, but theres no maybe about it: its time the sun DID set on the Empire. Imagine being the first country within this (so-called) union which decides it is time to change, and to redress the balance of a world-view stuck in another century. Imagine being able to acknowledge past achievement and allegiance, shame and folly, but also being prepared to recognise that a real future lies in another outlook: in similar neighbours with matching social responsibility, potential economic models, and above all, with humility. Let them keep their hes behind you! parliament with its in-built inequality and dubious democratic merit, at least until the rest of the UK realises the power of real power, and even then, let them run it for the tourists, queuing for their Union Jack mugs and key-rings at the gift shop afterwards. With this one act, we change how we view our place in the world, and in turn, how the world views us. We have exactly that pioneering decision within our grasp this week. Dont we owe it to the wider world, and the other like-minded people in these isles, as well as to ourselves? The view from where I am is that the answer is yes. Im voting YES.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 12:28:51 +0000
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