Plus, do those who say they want Scottish independence need to get with the programme?
Why would a mixed-race granny who moved to Scotland
as recently as 2014 have been dreaming of Scottish Independence now for 6
years?
As a black woman, very politically ‘woke’ and conscious
of my slave ancestry - sometimes smarting sometimes just weary of racism (the
stuff that affects me personally) and still able to be horrified with the
bigoted mess ‘out there’, why would I see any kind of positive in what is, on
paper at least, a nationalistic goal? I do not have a nationalist bone in my
body or any political or emotional affiliation with nationalism. Generally,
when I think of nationalism, I think of moronic flag waving.
What I do know is that throughout the madness of
this pandemic – the one Johnson keeps being excused for handling so badly on
the basis that it could not have been foreseen – but which was foreseen and
handled much better by other countries (some with fewer resources) – the idea
of independence for this small piece of land north of the border has taken on
epic proportions.
Being a writer and poet I strongly suspect it is
because of what it represents – the rejection of the privilege and intolerance
that now seem to go hand in hand in the English populist politics - as much as the tantalising idea of having a
grown up in charge.
As I mentioned last week – apart from having the
morals of a stray dog – Johnson is lazily grinding through the Trump playbook.
He got where he is because of enablers in the same way as Trump and in one of
the worst crises of modern times he has been found not just wanting but
uncaring and dangerously out of his depth and despite his only-money-can-buy education, just
basically stupid.
It is old news that during the Scottish referendum,
Scotland was assaulted from Tory, Labour and Liberals with scare stories about
financial obliteration if it left the UK union. Well, we have financial ruin
now, massively exacerbated by the way the pandemic was mishandled and the
vulnerable were let down. Fiscal annihilation is about to be completed by Brexit.
Up here it was clearly stated in 2014, that in order
to stay in the EU Scotland had to remain in the UK. Another con. At that point
we hadn’t had the big red bus of lies that indicated a whole new sewer level of
politicking and gross dishonesty.
Another awful theme of the last few months has been
the exposing of inequalities to such a raw level it would make an African
dictator weep. The higher death rates among Black and Asian front-line workers,
speaks to silent sacrifice in the face of the horrors of recent Brexit racism.
The simmering prejudice and intolerance encouraged by Farage with no effective
comeback from any of the major parties at the time, is a stain on Britain
forever. And that is what paved the way for Johnson – the only Tory who could
out-Farage Farage.
The Windrush scandal and – again – the blaming of
black / brown people and foreigners, reeks of pre-1930s Germany. Britain and
all civilised countries should, by now, be well rid of that shit. But, I argue
strongly – this is all about English nationalism and not Scottish or Irish
(don’t ask me to explain the Welsh) and it is why every person of colour north
of the border, should think about painting their faces blue and voting for
independence and fighting for the right to have that vote as hard as they can.
If Black Lives Matter then this may be the one chance any country in the union
has to show that as a real truth. Ditch Westminster and the old white-right by
showing them the door and a real end to the colonialist fantasies they so
fetishize.
I rarely march any more. I did my stints with the
Miners’ strike and I saw from the anti-war demo – one of the largest ever in
the UK against the invasion of Iraq - that they rarely work unless there is an
after plan. I did, however, attend an independence march last year here in
Edinburgh and saw – amid the thousands – ONE other brown face. I wonder if
those genuinely interested in Independence think they can win without all those
who have a stake in this, turning out to vote. Despite the tourist image of
Scotland there are enough people now, like me, to make our vote matter. If the
independence movement ignore us, they may as well keep painting their faces
blue, singing Flower of Scotland and nursing their own nationalist fantasies
and plan to do that same every year forever.
Ordinarily a commentator talking about a political
decision being a matter of life and death would be ridiculed and called out for
extreme hyperbole (if that’s not a tautology!) but at this moment in time and
for the new world of pandemics, climate disaster and financial insecurity, to
have an adult in charge and be properly connected to our best trading /
economic / security / health and science partners in the EU, really is a matter
of life and death.