Independence, Nationalism & Internationalism

A few weeks ago I had a conversation with my boss about how the concept of nationalism reconciles itself with the idea of solidarity. His argument was one of greater collective responsibility taking precedence over issues of autonomy, self-governance or in this case, independence. Playing devil’s advocate, he made a good fist of it, and I did concede the point that I might have more in common with a 22-year-old from a metropolitan English town than with people from the Western Isles or other remote areas of Scotland. I suppose it’s a fair view, and one that has always brought issues of class as well as struggles of race and gender, historical and geographic elements, and wider social structures into line with how we hold the nation as the best way to analyse and describe society.

But I also think that I missed my point somehow. Something I’m similarly afraid of doing here!

I’ve never had any bother with people substituting independence with separation, or calling us separatists rather than nationalists. A rose is a rose, and this is one that’s not worth bickering over.

But equating Scottish independence with some sort of unwavering self-interest or abandonment is annoying. It’s the same reasoning that angers me when some Scots use self-interest as a way of sticking with the Union. When the‘English subsidy’ argument is played (its truth here is irrelevant), and Scots use it as a reason againstindependence, I can’t help but feel the opposite. Isn’t it an embarrassment if your neighbour hands out subsidies? Surely we have more pride than that. Surely your neighbour doesn’t deserve being made to ‘play the fool’. Isn’t that a reason for change?

Nationalism and independence for me have never been about revelling in ostracism and neglect; about choosing – about aligning - about picking-your-side; about ‘turning-a-cold-shoulder’to the troubles faced by others; about pure self-interest in the face of the good and greater causes. Nor is it about excluding Scotland to global (or even British) issues in exchange for our own greener pastures.

Independence for Scotland is about our future. And it’s a process as well as a destination. I’d argue that it’s also a stance. There are causes all around the world worth supporting. None are hard to find. They range from climate change to economic improvement - from social and legal justice to nationalism, separatism and independence - from a peoples’ freedom to their cultural and historical recognition, the world over.

Catalonia and Scotland are often used as the two prime examples or case studies in the ‘Nationalism’ and ‘Regionalism’chapters of politics textbooks. Similarities are easy to find. Both share a different sense of nationhood to that of the states to which they belong. Both have had a rich cultural heritage with language playing an important role. And the differences too are also fairly easy to find. It has been a long time since Scots and Scottish culture was suppressed. Catalan identity and culture was suppressed until the 1970s. Catalonia also had a parliament of its own some 20 years before ours was reconvened, and continues to operate with greater responsibility over matters of autonomy.

Last century Catalonia had war on its doorstep and found itself as one of the main strongholds for the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War. It was the location of the Loyalist’s last stand and a rallying-point for the anti-fascist fighters. This presumably has reasserted, and perhaps redefined or redrawn what it means to be Catalan.

I was first drawn to Barcelona (if you exclude the footballing side of things) by the story of Ethel MacDonald. Ethel was a Scottish anarchist who travelled to Spain in the 1930s to report, both on and for, the Republican side in the fight against Franco. (A brilliant documentary telling her story is available here on YouTube). To me it showed the best side of Scotland, a side which again is often found wanting today. It showed the idealism and optimism of a person who viewed the world on a genuinely international scale, and who acted through the courage of her convictions.

Whilst I doubt that Ethel was ever a Scottish nationalist, that is not the important point. This is not ‘tallying-up’ who the good and bad guys are, or who’s on whose side. But she can be held up as a beacon and an example to follow; a true internationalist and a woman who should be a strong cultural and historical inspiration for Scotland. But sadly, like so much of our rich history, this story isn’t taught in our schools. I had to learn much of our history - after those formative years - by reading the brilliant work of Arthur Herman (himself an American). However one-sided the central strand to that book may be, it gave a view of Scotland that was scarcely to be found in our education system.

And apart from her reporting, to me Ethel also embodied the struggle of a country seeking recognition – seeking to define itself. That country was both Spain and Catalonia, but in a way I also thought she spoke of Scotland. The Spanish cause was universal; fascism meeting anti-fascism, with the outcome having great consequences for Catalans, Spaniards and Europeans alike. The cause was international. I can’t remember where I read or heard this, but per head of population, more Scots headed to join the XV International Brigade and fight Franco than any other nationality. If that’s true then it’s a history that we should be proud of, and one that we should be encouraging in our schools.

My brother used to live in Barcelona, and I was lucky enough to travel there a few times each year to visit. It is a place with an explicitly international feel; a city so vibrant and awash with culture that it may as well reflect the world at large. But it is also a city with a distinct and rooted Catalan identity. The locals are often quick and eager to assert their language, their identity (perhaps rightly so) and yet the pull factor of Barcelona for many people around the world remains undeniable. It is perhaps unique. The history of the War and Franco’s suppression is all around, and yet it’s a place reborn and redefined as a distinctly ‘World City’. It’s why you don’t feel so guilty (or angry?) when walking down Carrer de Sants to see ‘Go Home Tourist’ (in English I’ll add) graffitied onto the face of a building.

Where does the sense of your own culture and national identity stop, and that of the Universalist and Internationalist inside of you begin? It isn’t always an easy thing to ask yourself.

Only recently have I started speaking to an exchange student at university – a Kurd who moved to America at a young age - and who proudly identifies with both nationalities. The energy, pride and enthusiasm he has for his own Kurdish culture doesn’t detract from the sense of principle that seems to come hand-in-hand with being an American – including the attachment to liberty and fundamental human rights so beautifully laid down in their constitution. He wears his‘dual-identity’ a lot better than I have been able to with my ‘Scottish-as-well-as-British’one. This was also a reminder to me that we Scottish nationalists do not have a monopoly on Scottish national identity, and that it isn’t ‘wrong’ to feel both British and Scottish.

Although that still isn’t going to dissuade me from fighting against the notion!

This man is now a friend, and has helped enlighten me to the struggle faced by the Kurdish people throughout the middle-east. The Kurds are a truly‘stateless nation’, and have suffered serious, repeated and often brutal suppression and repression and the hands of neighbouring governments - from those of Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran. It’s not an aspect of Middle-Eastern politics that is given much coverage in the UK, and perhaps the wider Western World, but the struggle of a people to achieve recognition, freedom and respect is a familiar one. The material is there to learn more about the Kurdish plight, and it is something that I think deserves more attention from the wider world. In relation to Europe, the violation of human rights by the Turkish state towards the Kurdish people there appears to be affecting their case for accession to the EU. And in Iraq, the brutal genocide embarked upon by Saddam Hussein resulted in the death of many thousands of Kurds – thousands of whom died through the state’s use of chemical weapons.

Kurdistan too has been subjected to bloodshed from within, with Civil War compounding state repression and adding to the misery brought by both Gulf Wars in the area over the last two decades. I suppose it puts the grievances we feel into perspective. But then again independence is about a better future, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting a better future.

Learning from my friend Kahin was interesting and enlightening. Not that this 22-year-old Airdrieonian had anything to contribute though - my ignorance was embarrassing. But if you want to know more about the uplifting reconstruction that is on-going in Iraqi Kurdistan, the late free-thinker Christopher Hitchens has written well on a cause that you sense was very close to his heart.

Scottish people with a nationalist inclination should be supporting all of these causes, not least and not just, our own. Soft or civic nationalism today seems to me to be about localising governance as well as improving our political architecture - a far, far cry from the patriotism and jingoism tearing this continent apart in the early 20^thCentury. An independent Scotland need not, and certainly should not, be an inward looking country, ever impoverished by the genetic ‘chip on our shoulder’.

Think about Scotland as a truly international country and Edinburgh a ‘Barcelona of the North’.

Would Scotland benefit, and in return benefit the world, by having her own say on the international stage, her input into global issues? Scottish nationalism and independence isn’t – at the very least doesn’t have to be – an introverted, introspective, parochial, self-absorbed and bickering ideal. It can be as dynamic, as egalitarian, as outward-looking and as encompassing as we choose to make it.

It’s also why I have a hard time trying to understand the argument, often levied at us, that there are too many pressing matters at hand (usually economic) and that Scottish independence MUST take a backseat. Independence holds the potential to become a means to their ends - a tool to help. There’s no absolute guarantee that independence for Scotland will drastically improve our living standards or our happiness. But I’m steadfastly convinced that it will prove a sound and solid ‘building block’ to a better future. It’s hard to neglect a lot of the good that has resulted from the independence of many former British colonies and territories. Yet many at home still seem stridently unwilling to even listen to the merits of the Scottish cause.

Clichés can often irritate. But take a moment to think of any truth that you can see in this statement – “You’re often keen to support independence for any other country, but never for your own!”

It has often been levelled at our opposition, and it’s not an argument that I’ve given much thought to until writing this. But the logic is there, proudly pointing out the contradiction behind some progressives’ thinking. It’s also a cliché to see a Palestinian flag, next to the Senyera of Catalonia and the Tricolour of Ireland, in a sort of bannered collage - a homage - to typical ‘soft-left, liberal’ causes. But isn’t there a reason that clichés become so? Perhaps these causes bring out something in us – compassion, romanticism, idealism?

And where is the Saltire? Supporting and being part of these causes for us is one in the same.

Scottish nationalism is a progressive cause - the next logical step in dispersing democracy. Being a nationalist doesn’t negate being an internationalist. They’re not ‘mutually exclusive’.

Don’t let the opposition Unionists argue otherwise. Just because you’re a Scottish nationalist doesn’t mean that you don’t care about English and Welsh healthcare reforms, the Eurozone crisis, Spanish unemployment, maquiladoras, gender equality, peace in the Middle-East, North Korea, climate change, social justice or even bloody space exploration for that matter! Everyone in this planet is in it together.

Visca Catalunya! Alba gu bràth! And freedom, respect and recognition for the Kurdish people

Contributed by Ross Croall