Once upon a time nationalists were regarded as time wasters, special people who would have us all speaking our native language. We would all become characters in some bad Hollywood epic, sitting playing music by blazing fires in rustic buildings.
Many films were made by Hollywood depicting Ireland this way and Scotland too only maybe less so.
Of course this whole nationalist movement soon outlived its quaintness and other modern attributes stuck to its ideology like barnacles to a boat. Revolutionists around the world served it up to each other and old orders were quashed and new ones were born.
In Ireland people took up arms to rid themselves of the so called oppressor. The might of the British empire which ruled and raped most of the world. However, in retrospect the one mistake that many nationalists made was in failing to identify the real oppressor, and the local powers that enabled the oppression.
Thus when the last shots were fired in anger Irish nationalists were presented with a no win scenario, partition or a continuing war for which they were unprepared both militarily and ideologically.
Spotting this weakness those who had always assisted and approved of the empire the upper middle-classes seized their opportunity and then we had a British backed right wing coup, aided and abetted by the Irish establishment along with many others including the Catholic Church.
Of course this whole segment of our history was dressed up repackaged and rebranded for the next generations of poverty stricken citizens, many of them forced to emigrate to create some kind of a life elsewhere.
Only the murdered Connolly and Mellows and their ilk could have advised Irish citizens on the real outcome of our revolution and counter-revolution.
Scotland didn’t have a revolution not in modern times anyhow. The revolution in Scotland is recent and is televised live. From the ashes the nationalists have grown, and what started out as a few idealists has grown to a significant independence movement headed by Nicola Sturgeon.
She is a strong woman with a funeral type personality, and no better woman to shout across the border and threaten to block Brexit.
The Scots have voted along with the voters of Northern Ireland to remain in the European union. Now there is a thing, the two electoral areas within the UK with the most militant independence movements want to exit the UK, but remain in the EU?
One would think that especially in Scotland’s case that some tenure under its own parliament and indigenous rule might be a good idea, before packing off their bureaucrats to Brussels to see what deals can be bought for the middle-classes, as currently [under the EU-UK] Scottish poverty rates especially amongst children have been rising steadily since 2012. [Remain supporters don't hold the EU responsible for this]
But care not the rampant Scots let the English and Welsh underclass blaze a trail for chaos, but good old Scotland the brave will not abandon the stealthy presents presented from Europe over the years, to pour cold water on the nationalists claims of discrimination under Westminster.
Their friends in Northern Ireland are in a similar position. They can clearly see the benefits of EU directed FDI to the business classes in the Republic of Ireland. They have no fear or duty though to the contribution this economic policy is making to the widening of the gap between rich and poor, increases in levels of homelessness and housing shortages…. these are regarded as collateral damage in the safe world where one flies from Belfast to Rome, and uses the same currency.
The world where we discuss economy over everything else and the role of the state to protect its citizens, is negated to just meaningless bureaucracy and tax collection.
Nicola Sturgeon is some nationalist as she contemplates handing over Scottish sovereignty to the highest bidder…. she looks across the water at the pragmatists in Sinn Fein, who would sell their souls for the support of the Republics safe middle-classes, or even a decent portion of it.
Someone should tell the egotists who think by supporting the democratic party in the states, or Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland.... they are far from having a social conscience. They are not putting it up to the dangerous right, for example asking folk to pick Clinton over Trump is akin to offering us the ideological choice between Hitler and Mussolini.
When you point this out to them ......they try to rewrite history and claim Clinton isnt that bad, but the history is written and the truth cant be changed, yet they inexplicably persist.
Maybe they will get the new reality after Brexit?
The stark facts are that both Scotland and Irelands radical nationalists parties don’t want their countries to rule themselves, so how logical is that?
