Nationalism has many potential outcomes, but they are all based on a concern for ‘our people’ not ‘the people’.
Nationalism has many potential outcomes, but they are all based on a concern for ‘our people’ not ‘the people’
Scottish nationalism, we are always told, is civic, tolerant and open, different to other nationalisms. So welcoming in fact that many signed up to independence will argue that it isn’t really nationalism at all.
From Billy Bragg’s distance it all looks very cuddly. Up close though, finding safety in numbers through a process of division, it looks a lot less pleasant.
Taking just a few examples: demonstrators gather outside the BBC and unfurl banners denouncing people as ‘anti–Scottish’, claiming that only the ‘corrupt media’ stops people supporting Independence.
A writer, Alan Bissett, prominent enough to be invited to perform to the conference of the governing nationalist party, describes current constitutional arrangements as ‘Subjugation; cultural, political and economic’. The acme of liberal independence supporting commentators, Gerry Hassan, expresses satisfaction that the Scots ‘are becoming a people’ and ‘developing voice in its deepest sense’.
It’s easy to recognise tropes here familiar from other, less favourably looked on nationalisms. Principally that only by asserting ourselves as a nation can we throw off alien influences and truly be ourselves. Perhaps then, Scotish nationalism isn’t all that exceptional after all.
Responding to JK Rowling’s endorsement of a No vote, a writer from the ‘National Collective’ declares Scotland is ‘a State of Mind’. Independence is all about ‘the story we choose to believe in’.
How very open, how very welcoming; anyone can be Scottish, provided they share our state of mind.
Except this, naturally, involves embracing independence. The status of those of us unwilling to do this isn’t quite spelled out. Neither is the corollary; if anyone can be Scottish by sharing ‘our’ state of mind. Also, what if, like myself, you don’t? If the ‘story you choose to believe in’ is a multi- or even non-national one, are you somehow less Scottish?
This is as much about exclusion as it is inclusion. And it is this process, more than independence that is developing momentum. Robin McAlpine, director of the Jimmy Reid Foundation and one of the gurus of the Radical Independence Campaign, used to describe non Indyfan lefties as ‘fellow travellers‘ for whom they should ‘keep a seat at the table’. He now issues dire warnings that ‘We are not afraid of you, we are going to win and history will remember you for how you behaved’.
Of course, all of the above matter much less than the SNP and the Scottish government. Recently, Nicola Sturgeon drew a distinction between ‘essentialist’ and ‘utilitarian’ nationalists. This isn’t anything to do with fundamental outlook, just a tactical difference about the timing of state formation. The deputy first minister went on to explain, in a phrase redolent of Michael Gove on steroids, that she wanted a new Scottish constitution to ’embody the values of the nation’.
What those values might be were (thankfully) left undefined. Add to this the vaguely sinister sounding intentions of education secretary Mike Russell that the views of scientists on research bodies ‘might be aligned’ with those of the Scottish government.
A more serious indicator of what might be in store was given when Ed Balls and George Osborne, invoking the national interest of the rest of the UK, said they didn’t support a currency union with an independent Scotland. They were immediately decried by the First Minister and his supporters as ‘bullies’ ganging up on Scotland.
In the howls of anguish that followed, it was taken as read that assertions by the UK couldn’t be valid in themselves, they were merely attacks on Scotland. The ‘Scottish’ interest wasn’t just deemed to be the most important or priority viewpoint, but the only legitimately held opinion.
The economics or even politics of the situation (eg If Balls or Osborne were interested in having a supranational banking arrangement deciding governmental borrowing limits, they would have joined the Euro) were abandoned in favour of the financially illiterate spasm of ‘It’s our pound too’.
Stripped to its essence, it was a case of the leader of a nationalist party building support for a policy by saying foreigners were attacking the country. If that looks like it has worked then don’t think it will stop on September 19. Nationalist ends won’t be willed in the referendum without embedding nationalist means to sustain them afterwards.
Clearly the SNP aren’t some sort of Jobbik style proto fascists. But suggesting that ‘Technocratic Administrative Boundary Adjustment’ or ‘Blood and Soil’ are the only two possible settings on the nationalist dial isn’t right either.
Nationalism has many potential outcomes, but they are all predicated on defining and separating, with concern for ‘our people’ not ‘the people’. Real progressive politics does the opposite. People at home or in the places that will shortly be abroad if there is a yes vote in September would do well to remember that.
Stephen Low is a Labour Party member and part of the Red Paper Collective
268 Responses to “Up close, Scottish nationalism looks a lot like other nationalisms”
Derick Tulloch
Take a holiday. Spend some time in Rekjavik, Olso, Copenhagen, Helsinki or Stockholm. You will see few shut shops. Visit Toronto and see the forest of tower cranes. Austerity is not universal, it is a choice taken by the 3 Westminster parties.
If we are ‘better off integrated (now there’s an interesting phrase) as part of the UK please explain why the UK is below all our neighbours on the UN Human Development Index. Norway = No 1, Netherlands = No 4, Denmark = No 10, Ireland = No 11, Sweden = No 12, Iceland = No 13, UK = No 14
Explain why we have the worst pensions in Europe. Explain why the UK is a lowly 33rd on the Reporters without Borders press freedom index. http://rsf.org/index2014/en-index2014.php
Derick Tulloch
You are an honest British Nationalist and see Britain as a country, fair enough. Others take a different view. The border already exists. There are different legal, educational and healthcare systems on either side of that border. ‘Britain’, or rather the UK, is a Union state, not a Unitary state. And that Union was created via an international treaty that can be rescinded by either party. That’s the legal reality.
Derick Tulloch
Our votes basically never affect the outcome of UK general elections. Google Why Labour doesn’t need Scotland. We may as well stay at home during UK elections. We can’t affect change in the UK – we’ve been doing that for 50 years and it doesn’t work.
But if we become Independent and people like me and I am sure you who are of good will, who believe in society, work at it, Scotland can at least be an example to our big neighbour. Outside the UK, we can be the little engine that starts the big engine in a way that we cannot, have repeatedly not, within the UK.
The big prize of Independence is not just for Scotland, it is to be a living example on England’s border that things can be different, that austerity is a lie, and social democracy can provide the greatest good for the greatest number. We can’t do that with a No vote. In fact I would go so far as to say that a No vote is a Tory vote – because they are the people who will be celebrating if the vote is No. Tell me I lie.
Derick Tulloch
Bob Thomson is a ‘ruse’?
Charlie Gray is a ‘ruse’?
Cognitive Dissonance is a terrible affliction.
A No vote is a Tory vote
Hettie
I suppose you are referring to Tommy Sheridan of Solidarity. As for the SSP Colin Fox and Sandra Webster are it’s two national spokespersons and both have never been convicted of perjury or of any other wrongdoing. Who the other “convicted perjurers” you allude to is beyond me. I suspect this a is gross exaggeration on your part which is not too dissimilar to the style of a certain type of tabloid press.
For your information there are other people (groups) involved in the referendum campaign. Such as: Labour for Indy; Radical independence; National Collective. Trade Unionist for Indy; The Jimmy Reid Foundation (The Common Weal) Bella Caledonia; Women for Iny; SWP; and a more.
There is in the making a new political culture . a culture which seeks to encompass different strand across society. The Arts Thinkers ; Academics Workers Trade Unionists Business people Young and old . There is a political awakening across the length and breadth of the land BEYOND the SNP.
On the other hand there is the old order represented by Better Together An alliance of Tories,Lib Dems and Scottish New Labour A sorry corrupt bunch as ever was.