Response to question on #YoursForScotland from Professor Alf Baird, author of Doun-Hauden
Question: “Why do so many colonies sweep to victory with huge votes for Independence and yet we struggle to get to 50%.”
In my research into this question for the book ‘Doun-Hauden’ there appear to be two key factors which help explain the ‘abnormal’ 50%+ ‘No’ vote, both of which are directly related to colonial rule:
1. In-migration of significant numbers of people into Scotland over a prolonged period who do not hold to a Scottish identity coupled with historic out-migration (‘banishment of natives’) of very large numbers of indigenous Scots deprived of opportunities in their ain laund, which has altered the identity (and culture and ‘values’) of much of the population;
2. Cultural (and linguistic) Imperialism policies and colonial policies and procedures imposed on Scots which is aimed at changing the identity of the native population, and which gives them a ‘colonial mindset’ – what we know of, as Peter mentions, the ‘Scottish Cultural Cringe’.
Put the two together what this implies is that the ‘abnormal’ 50%+ anti-independence ‘No’ vote is largely a consequence of colonialism and ‘colonial procedures’, imposed via external political control over a territory’s population, economy, culture, institutions etc.
As Peter well demonstrates from the Icelandic experience, the only ‘remedy’ for ‘a people’ suffering from the oppressive ‘scourge’ of colonialism is what we refer to as ‘independence’; by implication this requires ‘decolonization’, which includes ‘decolonization of the mind’, thereby providing for the liberation of ‘a people’ and ‘self-recovery’ of their culture and their (altered) identity – in addition to the reclaiming of their sovereignty and territory.
Link to original post: https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2023/09/24/the-islandska-house/#comment-48676
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