A WARNING that a national movement in Scotland could turn into an
oppressive force was given yesterday by Professor Noam Chomsky.
The American philosopher and political activist made his remarks
following his speech on Self-determination: A Life Task, and a Political
Task, at the Self-Determination and Power event in Govan which is being
organised by two magazines, Scottish Child and the Edinburgh Review, and
also by the Free University of Glasgow.
An audience of more than 300, about a third of whom were unwaged,
packed the hall of the Pearce Institute, Govan, to hear the charismatic
speaker whose stance on the Vietnam War brought him into conflict with
the American authorities and who continues to denounce some of his
country's domestic and foreign policies.
Part of Professor Chomsky's theme was a response to the eighteenth
century Scottish philosopher David Hume's perplexed query as to why
people submit to government, when force is on their side, and not on the
side of the governors.
''Hume was wrong in one respect. It simply isn't true that force is on
the side of the government, it often isn't. But in societies like ours
it basically is.''
He felt that Hume's thoughts in this respect still had relevance to
America and Britain today.
Professor Chomsky cautioned that in the shift of the balance of power
in Europe following the turmoil in the Soviet Union, countries such as
Scotland and Poland could become part of the Third World for
Europe-based capital.
At a news conference the Glasgow writer, James Kelman, said that the
two- day event, which had attracted people from all over the world, was
not about nationalism, but about self-determination in a broad sense.
However, asked later about his attitude to Scottish nationalism,
Professor Chomsky said: ''The history of Europe is the history of a
violent imposition of a national state system which has very little
interest in the needs and opinions of the people who are being
organised.
''But I would support the right of people to do things which in my
view are crazy. Is a movement for Scottish nationalism crazy? It depends
what form it takes. If it takes the form of expressing cultural values
and integrating people in a more full life, that's fine. Nationalism has
a way of oppressing others.''
Professor Chomsky said that separation from England made sense, in
that any move towards the collapse of centralised power makes sense.
''On the other hand you want to make sure that a move towards devolution
doesn't lead to more pressure, which it could very well do.''
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