The Saltire and Union flags on Arthur’s Seat photo Carol McCabe in The Telegraph
YES or NO to become independent from the United Kingdom, that is the big question to be answered in Scotland today! A historical day indeed !
The above photo of the Saltire and the Union flags being raised on Arthur’s Seat with a view of Edinburgh Castle and the hills in the background is absolutely WON-DER-FUL. The two flags symbolizing the YES and NO sides and carried with equal pride in front of a mythical landscape looks like a painting with its misty atmosphere suggesting uncertainties and the sun which is still veiled but shining 😉 BRAVO to Carol McCabe, the very inspired photographer who did catch this very special mood! Her photo was published only a few hours ago in The Telegraph. It’s one of my favourite pictures about the historical events which are taking place in Scotland presently. But I’ve found many many other ones, illustrating the enthusiasm and hopes of hundreds of people proudly wearing the Scottish Saltire.
Coming back to the article of The Telegraph, published yesterday, on 17 September 2014, where I’ve found this magnificent picture Keith Perry writes :
‘Scotland will reject independence – but only by a whisker, according to the biggest referendum poll carried out so far.’
Most polls forecast a slight lead of the NO camp but who knows… all hopes are still open. Anyway, and whatever the result will be (we probably won’t know it before tomorrow morning) Scotland already appears as the winner of this long and hard campaign very successfully led by Alex Salmond, the charismatic champion of the independence cause who has managed to arouse political interest, especially among the young generation.
Aberdeen a child carrying the Scottish Saltire in the street
We’ve always been impressed by the interest of the children for Scottish history during our visits of castles and museums in Scotland.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/british-pm-warns-scots-against-vote-for-independence/article/403307
Scottish children with Scottish Saltire on their face Source MailOnline © Getty images
Contrary to what it has been repeatedly said in the media many people in France are in favour of Scottish Independence as it is also the case in Quebec and we can easily guess why. Scotland and France have always been united by friendly relationships, close historical links. Let us just remember that Mary Queen of Scots was also Queen of France and that there used to be the possiblity of double nationality in both countries. The Auld Alliance is still well remembered, as best illustrated in Aubigny-sur-Nère, the French City of the Stuarts. I’m no expert in Scottish history as I’ve already underlined but I try to learn.
Dogs wearing a union flag and Scottish Saltire Photo Russell Cheyne Reuters
Even the dogs have their word to say 😉
Edinburgh taxi with Scottish Saltire © 2012 Scotiana
If many Scots want to be free from the United Kingdom today it is because they are not happy within the union formed with England more than 300 years ago. Indeed, not all Scots did agree with this union when it was signed in 1707, far from it, but that’s another question.
What has led me to choose between the YES and NO sides is not only what I’ve learned in books but also what we’ve learned in Scotland during our seven trips there, discussing and sharing life with Scottish people, visiting many places of interest and memory ( monuments, castles and museums, libraries), also following historical trails (the Clearances Trail in the North starting from Bettyhill – Glencoe – The Murder of Appin Trail – Flodden and Culloden battlefield, to mention only a few of them). In France several trips to Aubigny-sur-Nère, the French City of the Stuarts in Berry, revived our interest about the Auld Alliance and the Hundred Years War which opposed France to England, a common enemy then.
French SNP Christian Allard saying OUI to independence
“This is a historic day, not only for independence supporters but for everyone in Scotland.
(French SNP member 😉 in Holyrood – North-east SNP MSP)
A historic day, whatever the result will be, with Alex Salmond emerging as the winner of the day, even in the case of the NO victory. He has led a great campaign and it was not an easy task given the aggressiveness of the leaders of the other side.
I’ve learned quite a number of things about the UK and Scotland in a very interesting debate organized by France Culture for its radio programme “Du grain à moudre”. The three guests who came to expose their different views about the referendum and its consequences were Richard Davis, Mark McNaught and Keith Dixon.
The independence referendum was a very good opportunity to make Scotland more visible abroad and indeed many people seem to discover Scotland because of the political turmoil created around this referendum. The world’s attention is turned towards Scotland, in Europe and all over the world where millions of Scots or descendants of Scots are disseminated in what is called ‘The Scottish Diaspora’, following the religious, economical and political immigration which led them towards the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, to mention only a few countries where they settled ).
It is not new that the Scots feel very different from the English but maybe this is going more and more true today because of the decline of the Labour Party in the UK and the Westminster neo-liberal policy which is not in keeping with their own ideas. Maybe a number of English people would like England become more Scottish sometimes! There are big economic interests at stake too.
In my last post I’ve quoted Kenneth White, one of the greatest Scottish-French contemporary authors. Today I’d like to make you share the point of view of Mandy Haggith.
Why I am voting Yes for an Independent Scotland
Posted: 11 Sep 2014 11:55 AM PDT
I am voting yes because I’ve concluded it’s the ethical choice. I have long been ashamed of the role that the United Kingdom plays in the world. We consume far more than our share of natural resources, both individually and through corporations that base themselves and finance themselves in this country and carry out policies of resource appropriation and economic pillage in other countries poorer than ours. We condone and take part in unacceptable military interventions in other parts of the world, and we pose a nuclear threat.I hope that Scotland, as a new, small, peace-loving country will be able to behave better than the UK currently does. I hope we can live both here and abroad, in more socially equitable and environmentally gentle ways.I have considered hard the fact that the UK is a large, powerful, rich nation, with a seat in the Security Council at the UN, with a powerful position in the EU, etc. Scotland will be a small country, with much less power. Is it an abdication of responsibility to give up on the UK, rather than to try to stay within it, and change it to be a better country? I have worried about this, but all my life I seem to have been going on marches, demonstrating, petitioning, voting and writing to my elected representatives and over and over again I have seen the powers that be, in Westminster and in the City of London, ignoring us and acting with aggression and greed and without a proper mandate from the people. The political and economic system in the UK is riddled by class inequality and corruption. The electoral system is geared to reinforce rule by the powerful few over the powerless many. The City of London is over-protected and unaccountable, the military is cowed by America, an upper-class English elite has control over our government, the judiciary and the media.I know I am not the only individual in Scotland to conclude that we have no legal, non-violent way to influence the behaviour of the UK. It is not an abdication of responsibility to turn away from the UK, and seek a new country in which we can have some, meaningful influence.It will be difficult to change our society, but after listening to many debates and talking to many people I conclude that there is a real will in Scotland to make this a better country. I have worked in the Scottish Parliament and I know it is a more civilised and consensus-based parliament than Westminster, so I have faith that we can operate a different kind of politics. Our climate change targets and legislation is far stronger already than the UK’s as a whole. Our welfare system, to the extent that we can change it from Holyrood, is already fairer than the UK’s. I believe that an Independent Scotland will create foreign policy and financial regulation that will be more ethical than the UK’s.I believe that we have the brains, the resources, the creativity and the social consciences that we will need. I believe that we will be able to work with other small, peaceful nations, in the UN, in Europe, within the world’s financial system, even if necessary within NATO, to push for global reforms to rein in the excesses of countries like the UK. We will not have so much power, but we will have moral authority. We will be only modestly just, but that’s better than being powerfully wrong. It’s a choice between might and right.I’m choosing right.I’m voting Yes.http://cybercrofter.blogspot.fr/
Scottish PM Alex Salmond and Deputy PM Nicolas Sturgeon Source Wikipedia
Alea Jacta Est… would have said Julius Caesar, the old enemy of Caledonia. Yes the die is cast, or nearly…
GOOD LUCK SCOTLAND !
A bientôt.
Mairiuna
Glasgow blue taxi That’s the way aha aha JC © 2007 Scotiana
Books, Books, Books !
On my reading list presently :
T. M. Devine The Scottish Nation A Modern History Penguin 2012
I’ve downloaded T.M. Devine’s book on my kindle… not easy reading for a French reader but very interesting all the same 😉
The Real Patriots of Early Scottish Independence Alan Young and George Cumming Birlinn 2014
The Real Patriots of Early Scottish Independence has just been offered to me as a birthday present by my children ;-). I will tell you more about it as soon as I’ve read it !
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