Scottish Independence Guide: Scottish Culture

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Like any country, the question of the culture of Scotland is a complex and wide ranging issue. Scottish culture is represented in the many books, films, music, poetry, games etc produced by Scottish writers and artists. It is also represented by the Scots influence on the modern world (sometimes negative through our participation in the British Empire, sometimes positive like the invention of TV, the telephone and antibiotics).

It covers everything from the violent yet tremendously exciting Grand Theft Auto games of cutting edge game designers Rockstar North, (formerly DMA Design) the music of an enormously varied set of Scottish musicians from Capercaillie to Simple Minds, from Edwyn Collins to Garbage through signature anthems like Dougie MacLean's Caledonia or the brilliant Cap 'N' Hand by the Proclaimers

It is also often contrary and surprising and hidden under other nations. Some of England's most famous heroes James Bond and Sherlock Holmes were both created by Scots and the Bank of England was created by a Scotsman (incidentally, the same man who came up with the plan for the Darien disaster and would later personally financially profit from the Treaty of Union).

So where does the truth of Scotland lie? Is there a truth? Is it in the tartanised kitsch of shortbread tins commemorating Bonnie Prince Charlie, Kewpie dolls in tartan skirts with teeny bagpipes, in haggis, porridge oats or the middle class shocker of deep fried Mars bars or 'the other national drink' Irn Bru? (Barr's Irn Bru is actually a great Scottish success story which outsells both Coke and Pepsi in Scotland). Or is it the long and (sometimes) proud history of our nation?

Charlie's place in history, at the head of the last great rebellion (there have been many since but none quite so threatening to the existing British state) is of course assured, though he left his Highland allies up the proverbial sh*t creek without a paddle and ended up a drunken sot in that other part of the 'auld alliance' France.

Scotland would certainly be a different place if Charles had succeeded but he didn't and he was one of Scotland's great losers even though he remains a romantic figure for some. Our fitba' team has never had any success either, though we had high hopes in 1979 and it's existence at all along with our Rugby team is at least a constant reminder of our true identity, just as our preserved separate education and law systems have survived somehow, though that last is under threat (like much else) from Tony Blair and his desire for a UK supreme court. 

The many different types of Scottish heraldic Tartan and the claims of the poem Wha's Like Us, do of course all represent genuine forms of Scottish identity, albeit in a mass marketed and politically de-sensitised fashion.

Tartan and the bag pipes were of course banned at one time by the British state, just as the poem 'Scots Wha Hae' by possibly our greatest and certainly our most famous poet Robert Burns was also.

Many believe that 'Scots Wha Hae' should be Scotland's national anthem ('Scotland the Brave' is just plain awful) and certainly it seems to be appropriate. Our country was almost renamed North Britain at the time of Burns, our national identity was almost entirely subsumed and may well have been  entirely destroyed without the cultural efforts of Burns and later Hugh MacDiarmid and/or the bravery of radical reformers like Thomas Muir, John MacLean  and many, many others who have kept the flame of Scottish identity alive.

Everyone knows now the basic story of William Wallace (thanks to Mel Gibson's powerful if historically confused epic Braveheart) yet despite the enormous monuments to him and the efforts of our most successful and greatest King Robert the Bruce in the very recent past Scottish history was simply never taught and during the war years the Scots identity almost disappeared under a flush of 'stiff upper lip' British propaganda.

Our greatest modern  impact since WWII has probably been in the cultural arena through stars like Ewan MacGregor and Sean Connery and others, through our world class musicians, and our many great poets and writers. The international comics industry also contains a number of very influential Scots.

Unfortunately since Britain has mis-represented Scotland's interests since the union our political views have largely been ignored even if we have provide a great many UK Prime Ministers and more than a few US presidents. Our interests have been subordinated within an unequal union to England's interests because England with ten times our population (after the removal of our original national parliament) understandably caters mainly to her own interests.

We have devolution, and while it is welcome after about two hundred years of campaigning for home rule,  it is too little, too late. Even though the Scottish Parliament's powers surpass the Welsh Assembly (Plaid Cymru's fortunes have tended to fluctuate on a parallel course with the SNP) it remains firmly under the financial thumb of Westminster and the main controlling parties are still wedded to an inferiority complex which demands English answers to Scottish problems. 

While some Scots remember the British empire with nostalgia (and many of our richer citizens were up to their neck in it's crimes) it wasn't very pleasant for the countries it plundered and enslaved. For most ordinary Scots they started poor and miserable at the beginning of Empire and they were just as miserable and poor at the end of it!

Massive changes in politics in Britain were made since the first and second world wars but our radical reformers were calling for these changes and campaigning for workers rights and paid MP's a full one hundred years earlier! The campaign for enhanced political rights has been brewing a long time and is not over yet. Blair is actively trying to turn the clock back with an increase in retirement age to 68 (which will leave many dead before they even receive a pension despite paying for it through national insurance). Catholics are still discriminated against by law from marrying into the Royal family. Overt republicans and Scottish nationalists are banned from political office unless they take a modern version of the 'Ragmans Roll' before entering the new devolved parliament.

The powers of the crown have been supposedly  eliminated in Britain but under its unwritten constitution they are merely hidden.

While there is little doubt Charles (the Prince of Wales, Ho ho ho!) and his mother are mostly modern Toom Tabards (though their financial might is colossal and continues to grow) their remaining powers are now wielded by unscrupulous politicians who exploit Britain's electoral system to continue to legislate effectively for the rich minority over the wishes of the vast majority. 

England couldn't have ruled Scotland without the active participation in that rule by many Scots. Sadly there remain a substantial amount of Scots who are happier to support England's interests than their own. Also some rich Scots have historically been willing to perpetrate injustice on the ordinary people of England (who have suffered for most of the last few hundred years under political oppression just as we have) as well as Scotland, so long as the price was right.

"English gold has been our bane, Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!" 

- Robert Burns

 

 

England has of course, also had a positive impact on Scotland not only through the many English people who live here now or have married or merged their families with Scots but also thorough shared culture and entertainment, through co-operation on films books and mutually enjoyed television programmes. Ireland and Wales, Poland, Italy, India and many other nations have also provide numerous waves of cultural and political impact through the addition of their peoples and their politics.

In a future independent Scotland we would hope to retain friendly links with all the other former nations of the UK, obviously with our fellow Celtic peoples of Ireland, Wales and Cornwall but also with our friends and brothers in England on an equal basis not in an artificially arranged marriage (with one partner dominant and the other compliant and without a true voice). We also wish to have a voice in Europe and the wider world however, in the EU, the United Nations and the Olympics, even the Eurovision song contest!

Our effective silence in world events is no longer acceptable and only full national independence will release our true cultural voice. 

You can find more background about the Scots here, the Scots who prefer to pretend to be English here and an A to Z (by the Scotsman) of Great Scots here.

See also this article by Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith.