“A COUNTRY of fearful men proud in the talking, paltry in the living, and every promise another lie” wrote Andrew O’Hagan in his outstanding novel Our Fathers. He was referring to aspects of a Scotland in which he had grown up. However, it equally applied to some criticism of his comments, made at the Edinburgh Book Festival, about being a convert to Scottish independence.
Much of that critique was cringeworthy, depicting a Scotland that no one in their right mind would seek to visit, let alone live in. As an admirer of Andrew O’Hagan’s work, I’d been saddened by his No vote in the referendum but respected it, and am heartened by his conversion.
But it also opened up further debate on nationalism and identity that’s being pilloried at the moment. Of course, the actions of white nationalists in America are truly awful and the identity politics being pushed in some EU capitals is equally reprehensible.
However, nationalism and identity are simply human emotions which of their own can be good, as well as bad, and where context and extent are pivotal. If taken to extremes and abused, especially on the basis of racial or national hate or superiority, it can be both frightening and terrible.
I’ve friends who deny national identity and perceive it as an accident of birth. It’s a perfectly legitimate view that I respect but not one held by many. Equally, I know others whom I respect and like who hold to a British identity. That too is perfectly legitimate and far from sinister.
As Sir Walter Scott, often portrayed as a doyen of Unionism, wrote:
“Breathes there the man, with soul so dead/Who never to himself hath said/ This is my own my native land.”
What’s objectionable though is the besmirching by those who seek to conflate support for Scottish identity and civic Scottish nationalism with the alt-right or other evil incarnations. There are racists, as well as bigots in Scotland. But they are rejected by right-minded people of all mainstream political views and renounced by the parties that support independence.
Of course, debate rages, with some saying they are patriots, not nationalists. Frankly, a lot of that is plain guff or just tautological nonsense. One man’s patriotism is another’s man’s nationalism. Those often espousing it put me in mind of Lord Kitchener proudly appealing to British patriotism to fight against the evil nationalism of the Hun or the Hottentot.
Moreover, insinuating by implication that movements which sought independence from the British Empire or other colonial powers are almost crypto-fascist or racist is absurd. Gandhi was a pacifist, and Parnell a constitutional nationalist.
It’s not her espousal of her English nationalism that I condemn Margaret Thatcher for, but her social and economic policies. Likewise, Jeremy Corbyn will sally north to condemn the SNP but has defended those who have pursued nationalism in Ireland in a manner that Scotland rightly rejects. Does he consider that they renounced identity or simply that seeking to be Irish is acceptable, but it is not acceptable for people like O’Hagan to want Scotland to take its place amongst the nations of the world.
The World Pipe Band Championships held in Glasgow recently saw many proudly refer to their Scottish identity often generations back and from a land which their forebears had long since left. That’s benign and in many ways a reflection of the world in which we live, where many seek to have some roots and individuality as globalisation spreads.
When I first read Our Fathers I could identify with much of what O’Hagan wrote. However, that occurred under the Union, as indeed do the other issues that now rightly concern him, not least Brexit. Independence is an opportunity to change Scotland for the better. It’s not guaranteed, as nations make mistakes, just as humans err. But, it’s a chance to steer our own course, not be buffeted in storms charted for us by others.
For those supporting civic nationalism, it isn’t about Scottish racial superiority. Equally, though, I don’t cringe at my identity. I actually like “my ain folk” but it doesn’t blind me to the faults that abound, whether in alcohol abuse or a culture of violence.
But, I believe that can be changed. The best people, indeed the only ones, capable of doing that are those who live and work here, irrespective of from where or when they came. The tragedy with Scotland isn’t how bad things are but how much better they should have been, and indeed still can be.
Andrew O’Hagan’s quote now seems more apposite for a post-Brexit Britain and those who espouse it, than an independent Scotland.
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