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If we are to judge by
their attacks on us over the years our enemies seem to assume that
Scottish Nationalists must be interested only in Scotland and its own
daily domestic round, indifferent to what goe on in the rest of the
world. They profess to see us, therefore, as - ‘their favourite term
of abuse - parochial.
Some of these
ill-wishers no doubt believe what they say. They have heard it all,
man and boy, from their chosen political guides — Labour’s municipal.
barons and persons possessed of comparable wide-ranging vision and
keen critical judgment. It is always very sad, and very annoying, to
come up against obstinate stupidity, but it can’t be helped. However
at least as many of our attackers know perfectly well that they are
making false charges, and their apparent ignorance is wilful.
Quite a few years ago
now, those attending one of the Party’s pre-election training
conferences discussed this very matter, and tried to work out how the
British state’s determination to keep Scotland as some kind of
sub-nation might be countered. We naturally talked about the Press and
broadcasting and I drew their attention to that morning’s radio.
Listeners had been told "Here is the News", and then, after that had
been dealt with, they were told "Here is the Scottish News". The main
items of Scottish news were that a double-decker bus had been stuck
under a railway bridge at Springburn, and that an unlucky lady had
upset a pan of boiling fat over her feet.
Those present were
invited to consider the relative profundity of these events when
compared to the various problems reported from the rest of the world.
What seemed to me a reasonably telling example of what we are up
against did not, as it turned out, ring the anticipated bells with all
present, as one participant — an MSP of the future as it happened
—reprimanded me for showing inadequate concern for the frequency of
accidents in the home.
Clearly we have
problems with friends as well as enemies in seeking to establish the
principle that Scots should have the right and the power to consider
and judge all that mankind is doing and thinking and creating all over
the world; and are not to be condemned to taking all opinions as
filtered and edited by those better able to understand because they
operate from the British centre. They are not to be condemned to
observe only their immediate surroundings because if they did they
would deserve the "parochial" label.
If we are, as
individuals, like that, we should stop it. As a Party, as a movement,
from our very beginnings and all through the years of our work and
practice we have never been like that. When Scots behave politically
in parochial ways it is because they have been denied the right and
ability to deal directly with the outside world. Those very persons
responsible for this denial sneer gleefully at "parochialism" when the
"Scottish News" comes on dealing with the kind of localisms that we
are deemed fit to think about.
Their determination to
keep us in this controlled restricted state has been exposed in recent
months, as Labour politicians howled abuse at the BBC’s modest
offering of a Scottish-based "Newsnight", and followed this up by
their successful sabotage of the so-called "Scottish Six". This, for
once, Labour was honest enough to oppose because it would encourage
the concept of separatism. Well spotted, lads.
If you missed Murray
Ritchie’s article in New Year’s Day’s "Herald", look it up. If
copyright rules had permitted it could have been carried here in its
entirety. I have merely written in his support. |
