Saturday, 21 January 2012
EUSNA Members with Angus Robertson
Why Tibetan Monks Watch Braveheart
“Independence isn’t just history.” That was the message of leafleters outside Scottish cinema screenings in the 1990s as Wallace rode onto our screens ready to free the nation.
Today the Braveheart effect on Scottish politics may have worn off, with modern nationalism now being centred on economics, democracy and future aspirations. But with the referendum set to be held in 2014, the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, just how closely the independence movement should run to historic sentiment is still a real issue of debate.
Recently, several sources including the Scottish Centre of Himalayan Research reported that Tibetan monks had been watching Braveheart, even between prayer times, presumably encouraged by the story of Scotland and its fight for independence from a much larger and much more powerful neighbour.
Perhaps it is the monks’ philosophy of all things being interconnected that has in some way influenced these developments – and that is something we should learn from. Independence movements around the world are bound together by a common goal; and in the new age of internet democracy that solidarity will have an even greater part to play.
These developments on the role of our history in Tibet are particularly interesting due to our own criticisms of the subject. Scotland’s story is a “Hollywood invention”, we are often told. It was “wildly romanticised”, or simply “didn’t happen”. Whilst we should ensure our knowledge of the subject is as factual as possible, it is fair to say that Scotland’s obsession with freedom is not a post-Braveheart phenomenon but a very real and long-lasting notion centred at the very heart of our culture. We wouldn’t dismiss India’s struggle for independence as fictional due to some inaccuracies in the 1982 film Ghandi. Films do not create these notions; they interpret them.
Recounting the history of Bruce and Wallace was in fact a common feature in the works of Robert Burns, almost 500 years after the Wars of Scottish Independence. His intention was not to simply reminisce on the past but to actively inspire the Scottish society of his own time to stand up for itself against a culturally and politically one-sided union. The Tibetans, it seems, are emulating such an idea.
For us, we can read the history books, we can watch the films, we can look at the current reality in Scotland and see fair treatment, freedom of speech, individual equality, and freedom of choice, and wonder how the country can possibly be considered “not free”. But there is a difference between individual freedom and collective freedom – the right a society has to democracy and self-governance. A nation’s people cannot be free unless they have both.
The answer to becoming a truly modern nation is not to forget our country’s history but to celebrate it and learn from it in a way that is inclusive and forgiving. There is a reason why the history of Scotland fascinates and resonates with people all around the world. It’s the story of the underdog; the simple idea that any society or any individual, regardless of precedence, can stand and be counted. The Tibetans understand why that message is universal, and so should we.
Originally produced for andrew-barr.com
Today the Braveheart effect on Scottish politics may have worn off, with modern nationalism now being centred on economics, democracy and future aspirations. But with the referendum set to be held in 2014, the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, just how closely the independence movement should run to historic sentiment is still a real issue of debate.
Recently, several sources including the Scottish Centre of Himalayan Research reported that Tibetan monks had been watching Braveheart, even between prayer times, presumably encouraged by the story of Scotland and its fight for independence from a much larger and much more powerful neighbour.
Perhaps it is the monks’ philosophy of all things being interconnected that has in some way influenced these developments – and that is something we should learn from. Independence movements around the world are bound together by a common goal; and in the new age of internet democracy that solidarity will have an even greater part to play.
These developments on the role of our history in Tibet are particularly interesting due to our own criticisms of the subject. Scotland’s story is a “Hollywood invention”, we are often told. It was “wildly romanticised”, or simply “didn’t happen”. Whilst we should ensure our knowledge of the subject is as factual as possible, it is fair to say that Scotland’s obsession with freedom is not a post-Braveheart phenomenon but a very real and long-lasting notion centred at the very heart of our culture. We wouldn’t dismiss India’s struggle for independence as fictional due to some inaccuracies in the 1982 film Ghandi. Films do not create these notions; they interpret them.
Recounting the history of Bruce and Wallace was in fact a common feature in the works of Robert Burns, almost 500 years after the Wars of Scottish Independence. His intention was not to simply reminisce on the past but to actively inspire the Scottish society of his own time to stand up for itself against a culturally and politically one-sided union. The Tibetans, it seems, are emulating such an idea.
For us, we can read the history books, we can watch the films, we can look at the current reality in Scotland and see fair treatment, freedom of speech, individual equality, and freedom of choice, and wonder how the country can possibly be considered “not free”. But there is a difference between individual freedom and collective freedom – the right a society has to democracy and self-governance. A nation’s people cannot be free unless they have both.
The answer to becoming a truly modern nation is not to forget our country’s history but to celebrate it and learn from it in a way that is inclusive and forgiving. There is a reason why the history of Scotland fascinates and resonates with people all around the world. It’s the story of the underdog; the simple idea that any society or any individual, regardless of precedence, can stand and be counted. The Tibetans understand why that message is universal, and so should we.
Originally produced for andrew-barr.com
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
A new semester, amid new beginnings for Scotland.
Rarely has the over-used cliche 'New Year, New Start' seemed more apt. January 2012 seems to have ended the phoney war between the Scottish and UK Governments over the independence referendum.
Just back to uni and want to get involved?
Well please do!
EUSNA still meet every Tuesday at 7pm in Teviot's lounge bar, and we're always happy to receive new members!
If not, please check us out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/EUSNA or tweet to us at @EUSNA or just old fashioned email us at eusna@hotmail.co.uk!
And remember everyone, it's coming yet for a' that!
Just back to uni and want to get involved?
Well please do!
EUSNA still meet every Tuesday at 7pm in Teviot's lounge bar, and we're always happy to receive new members!
If not, please check us out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/EUSNA or tweet to us at @EUSNA or just old fashioned email us at eusna@hotmail.co.uk!
And remember everyone, it's coming yet for a' that!
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Cross-party social
This is a reminder that the cross-party social night is this Friday at 8pm, meeting in the Middle Bar in Teviot. So all politicos at Edinburgh University - Nationalist, Labour, Tory, Liberal, Green, Socialist can get together for a blether and a chance to meet each other as fellow students and humans, and not (always) as implacable foes.
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Public lecture by Alasdair Allan
This post is just a wee reminder that the public lecture by Dr. Alasdair Allan MSP will be tomorrow (Thursday) in Appleton Tower, Lecture Theatre 2, 7pm.
Dr. Allan is the Minister for Learning and Skills with responsibility for the Scots and Gaelic languages, and will be speaking on the subject of "Language and Politics in Scotland".
The event is free to attend.
Dr. Allan is the Minister for Learning and Skills with responsibility for the Scots and Gaelic languages, and will be speaking on the subject of "Language and Politics in Scotland".
The event is free to attend.
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Calling all new Freshers!
Hello and welcome to whichever one of Edinburgh's universities you are studying at! The next few years will be some of the best of your life, and if you want to make them even better, then drop in and have a chat with Edinburgh Universities Scottish Nationalist Association! We campaign for the restoration of Scottish Independence on and off campus, and put on plenty of social events to relax at with a drink to take your mind off all the hard work you'll surely be doing over the next 4 years. We meet weekly in the middle bar at Teviot (Edinburgh University's student union, in Bristo Square) on Tuesdays at 7pm, so pop along if you want to chat! We've already been to Napier University's society fair and got a great response, and held a pub quiz at the Pleasance where teams walked away with great prizes including whisky, buckfast and irn bru! If you want to find out more contact us via email at eusna@hotmail.co.uk, visit our facebook page at or come along to one of our meetings every tuesday in teviot at 7pm. University is a great time to meet new people and try new things, so if you're interested in our ideas, want to get involved in student politics, or just want to find a few people to have a drink with every tuesday night, come and get involved, or contact us to find out more! You won't regret it!
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
A Sense of Balance?
A Sense of Balance?
There's been a fair lot of comment in the last few days following the announcement by Tory leadership hopeful Murdo Fraser that he'll disband the Scots Tories and form a new centre-right party should he win the contest to replace Annabel Goldie. A lot of this comment has taken the form of backslapping among the Scottish left, congratulating ourselves on how our nation has sent them hamewards tae think again, how genetically social-democratic we are, and the odd word about Thatcher.
All of which has a certain measure of truth, but I'd be the first to chastise any Nationalist (or any other non-Tory Scot) for complacency. 1997 saw the Tories wiped out in Wales just as in Scotland, now they have 8 Welsh MPs. They had 9 AMs in 1999, now they have 14. Revival can happen, jst as can decline. That's not to say that the Tories are on the cusp if a comeback in Scotland (indeed, all the indications are the other way), but the Tories are people who know a thing or two about power, and we should never let our guard down.
That said, a Tory comeback at the moment does not seem to be on the cards, something which seems to dismay even those Scots who'd rather gouge their eyes out with a rusty spoon than vote Tory. These are folk who are convinced that we need a Tory presence in Scottish politics to provide balance from otherwise lefty tendencies.
I beg to differ.
Seeing healthy numbers of blue, red, green and yellow dots on charts of the parliament's seat distribution may appeal aesthetically, but think about what a Tory presence in our public discourse really means before you lend a sympathetic nod to the idea of “balance”.
The Tories, to be blunt, have been on the wrong side of almost every major debate most people can remember. Privatising industry. Gay rights. Devolution. Iraq. Hunting. Minimum pricing. The Tesco Tax. Land Reform. The Poll Tax. Proportional Representation. The great council house sell-off.
And look what they're getting up to in England – tuition fees through the roof, privatising swathes of the NHS, cutting public services to the bone.
If this is balance, then frankly, it's a balance we don't need. The longer we allow the voice of privilege to shriek in our halls of power, the longer we hold back our nation from true progress.
There's another angle to these calls for “balance” as well. John McTernan, writing over at LabourHame (http://www.labourhame.com/archives/1843), argues that we need more Tories to balance our body politic. Now, far be it from me to suspect that Tony Blair's former advisor, and the man who wrote in the Scotsman during this year's Scottish election that Labour were doing badly because they weren't negative enough, might have some broadly rightist sympathies. I'm sure such could not possibly be the case. No, he argues that Scottish politics needs the Tories so that the workload of attacking the SNP can be shared more equally and realistically among all the opposition parties. One commentator on the article goes further, saying:
“A reformed conservative Party could become a potential coalition partner for Labour, and why not? We have to bury our political differences (which have become smaller and smaller since the nineties) and present a united front to stand up for our Union. Never before in the history of British politics has an alliance been so vital.”
Is this what the Labour party has come to? The Union is now more important than the founding principles of Labour. The issue to be addressed is not the disgraceful fact that there is so little difference between Labour and the Constervatives (openly acknowledged). I could hardly believe what I was reading – the prospect of a Tory free, independent Scotland is something that sends the shivers down this Labourites spine! Living in Britain, shared alternately between the Tories and the rightward-drifting Labour is the best we hope for, so all hands on deck! What we have here is clearly no more about balance, but about desperate alliances to halt the prospect of Scotland going it alone.
This will not do. Whether Scotland does become independent or not in the next few years, the fact is that we are plainly developing a very separate political culture from that subsisting south of the border. As Murdo Fraser has noticed, that culture has little place for the voice of privatisation, cuts and privilege. Whether that voice continues to be represented by the Tory party as currently constituted, or in some other form, Scotland must continue to resist it. We must continue to bring our nation along the path of equality, of land reform, of renewable energy, of autonomy.
Will Murdo Fraser deliver that under any party banner? Awa an gie's peace.
There's been a fair lot of comment in the last few days following the announcement by Tory leadership hopeful Murdo Fraser that he'll disband the Scots Tories and form a new centre-right party should he win the contest to replace Annabel Goldie. A lot of this comment has taken the form of backslapping among the Scottish left, congratulating ourselves on how our nation has sent them hamewards tae think again, how genetically social-democratic we are, and the odd word about Thatcher.
All of which has a certain measure of truth, but I'd be the first to chastise any Nationalist (or any other non-Tory Scot) for complacency. 1997 saw the Tories wiped out in Wales just as in Scotland, now they have 8 Welsh MPs. They had 9 AMs in 1999, now they have 14. Revival can happen, jst as can decline. That's not to say that the Tories are on the cusp if a comeback in Scotland (indeed, all the indications are the other way), but the Tories are people who know a thing or two about power, and we should never let our guard down.
That said, a Tory comeback at the moment does not seem to be on the cards, something which seems to dismay even those Scots who'd rather gouge their eyes out with a rusty spoon than vote Tory. These are folk who are convinced that we need a Tory presence in Scottish politics to provide balance from otherwise lefty tendencies.
I beg to differ.
Seeing healthy numbers of blue, red, green and yellow dots on charts of the parliament's seat distribution may appeal aesthetically, but think about what a Tory presence in our public discourse really means before you lend a sympathetic nod to the idea of “balance”.
The Tories, to be blunt, have been on the wrong side of almost every major debate most people can remember. Privatising industry. Gay rights. Devolution. Iraq. Hunting. Minimum pricing. The Tesco Tax. Land Reform. The Poll Tax. Proportional Representation. The great council house sell-off.
And look what they're getting up to in England – tuition fees through the roof, privatising swathes of the NHS, cutting public services to the bone.
If this is balance, then frankly, it's a balance we don't need. The longer we allow the voice of privilege to shriek in our halls of power, the longer we hold back our nation from true progress.
There's another angle to these calls for “balance” as well. John McTernan, writing over at LabourHame (http://www.labourhame.com/archives/1843), argues that we need more Tories to balance our body politic. Now, far be it from me to suspect that Tony Blair's former advisor, and the man who wrote in the Scotsman during this year's Scottish election that Labour were doing badly because they weren't negative enough, might have some broadly rightist sympathies. I'm sure such could not possibly be the case. No, he argues that Scottish politics needs the Tories so that the workload of attacking the SNP can be shared more equally and realistically among all the opposition parties. One commentator on the article goes further, saying:
“A reformed conservative Party could become a potential coalition partner for Labour, and why not? We have to bury our political differences (which have become smaller and smaller since the nineties) and present a united front to stand up for our Union. Never before in the history of British politics has an alliance been so vital.”
Is this what the Labour party has come to? The Union is now more important than the founding principles of Labour. The issue to be addressed is not the disgraceful fact that there is so little difference between Labour and the Constervatives (openly acknowledged). I could hardly believe what I was reading – the prospect of a Tory free, independent Scotland is something that sends the shivers down this Labourites spine! Living in Britain, shared alternately between the Tories and the rightward-drifting Labour is the best we hope for, so all hands on deck! What we have here is clearly no more about balance, but about desperate alliances to halt the prospect of Scotland going it alone.
This will not do. Whether Scotland does become independent or not in the next few years, the fact is that we are plainly developing a very separate political culture from that subsisting south of the border. As Murdo Fraser has noticed, that culture has little place for the voice of privatisation, cuts and privilege. Whether that voice continues to be represented by the Tory party as currently constituted, or in some other form, Scotland must continue to resist it. We must continue to bring our nation along the path of equality, of land reform, of renewable energy, of autonomy.
Will Murdo Fraser deliver that under any party banner? Awa an gie's peace.
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