The Delusion of Scottish Nationalism.
Scottish Nationalism is right wing plus nationalistic, which basically equals far right. The rest is a wilful delusion that Scottish nationalists have wilfully deluded themselves with. Scottish Nationalism is naturally a form of identity politics and like identity politics it has become woke. Woke is a right wing, capitalist and elitist movement masquerading as a left wing, anti-capitalist movement (for further discussion see ‘Soft Totalitarianism’ and the need for a new political lexicon). So is Scottish nationalism. Wokeness is imperialist, so has Scottish nationalism been until recently, and there is part of the lie: that Scotland can absolve itself of what wokeists consider its crimes of empire by fighting for independence from its colonial overlords, the British. For wokeists, the old empires must be disdained in favour of the new one they are building and Scottish nationalists are bent on becoming an outpost of the new empire.
Scotland cannot, logically, fight for independence from Britain according to the general use of the term ‘fight for independence’ because it refers to colonised nations, not to wilful participants in that very colonisation, of which Scotland is the best example you’ll find in the world. Every penny of Scotland’s considerable wealth is in some way derived from its imperialist past, every building, every university, every child’s education, every paved street, every public park, every ounce of cement in every building, every stately home and every council estate is built on backs of slaves and the blood of empire. This is Scotland’s shared history with the rest of the United Kingdom and Scotland can never gain independence from the past it rapaciously chose. Scotland can divorce or separate from the United Kingdom through its chosen process of degraded, hypocritical, self-pitying whining. It can never fight with determination for independence like its actual colonies did.
If Scottish independence is gained through the lie that it was valiantly fought for it will become a failed state because new nations are founded upon an idea. The USA was founded on the idea of freedom. This was at least partly true at the time, though not for slaves. It is no longer true at all and the USA has become corrupted by the lie that it is. This is the root of America’s current turmoil. Great Britain was founded upon the idea of empire and has struggled for decades to create a new idea upon which to reinvent itself, flailing around and grabbing hold of slogans like ‘British values’, ‘Cool Britannia’ and ‘Great Britain plc’. Post-war China was founded more on the idea of defending itself from imperialistic attacks than on the idea of communism. This confuses analysts but it is the secret of its success: the people, rightly, buy into the idea of not being slaves again, murdered, degraded and raped by the Japanese, exploited by Europeans and impoverished by Americans. Israel was founded upon the idea of a place of security in the world for Jews. This is true and the state flourishes because of this truth, because every Israeli, left or right, Zionist or anti-Zionists, knows the history of Jewish persecution. Embedded within the Scottish wokeish far right nationalism that deludes itself that it is left wing, is a hatred of Israel that is stronger than in Corbyn’s Labour. It has kept silent, having learned from Corbyn’s idiocy, but it’s there beneath the surface. Racists these days always lie about their racism. But scratch the surface with a Scottish nationalist and you’ll see it, dormant but breathing. Also embedded within Scottish nationalism are all the fantasies of woke: sham feminism; sham anti-racism; sham anti-imperialism; sham anti-homosexuality; sham environmentalism; sham socialism and the biggest fantasy of all, sham independence from a party desperate to be part of the EU.
The truth of Scottish independence is that it’s a psychological crux for a people ashamed of the ill-gotten gains of its past yet determined to keep them, looking for a place in the world, seeking a new identity and to reinvent itself, grabbing hold of the nearest and easiest branch as its global status diminishes towards ordinariness after a period of exceptionalism, just like the rest of Great Britain. History has bequeathed Scotland the infrastructure to survive alone: the industry, the universities, the institutions of government are there. The economy is missing but the financial know how exists to build it. But nations are not built on economies nor on infrastructure. They are built on ideas. And built upon this foundational lie, the future of a Scottish state will not be sound. The roots of Scottish nationalism are corrupted. It will not grow straight.
Ivan Starrymist
February 2021