Scottish Secession Bid Has Lit A Fire That Cannot Be Put Out

Walking my dog in this grey Glasgow morning I could see the saltires still limply dangling from the tenement windows. A few hours earlier the result of the much followed Scottish independence result was confirmed 44.7% voted yes and 55.3% voted no. The mood is very different this morning from the palpable excitement you could feel in the air in Glasgow the day before. Independence may now be off the table for the time being but it's hard not to feel like a fire has been lit.

Over the course of this long campaign I have been very critical in podcasts and articles about how independence was being packaged. I constantly argued that remaining within the European Union (EU), retaining the pound and being tied to the Bank of England and to a lesser extent keeping the monarchy made it for me not really independence, rather just some more power for Scotland while keeping the real power structure in place. After all, what good is being independent from the rest of the UK only to find Scotland just another state in an EU superstate with government based in Brussels?
 

Like every other campaign this one was riddled with lies ranging from “Vote no or there will be border guards on the border with England” to “The only way to stop the NHS from being privatised is to vote yes”. But that was to be expected, we are dealing with politicians after all. There was also many, many people making their decision based on emotion rather than critical thinking. Again, something we should expect.
 

But these criticisms aside I have to say that this debate really seemed to awaken something in the often apathetic Scottish people. I was involved with the Scottish National Party (SNP) just less than ten years ago and at that time the idea that the SNP would get into power in Scotland was a bit far-fetched and the idea of a Scottish independence referendum seemed like pure fantasy. Even when the campaigning started two years ago it seemed like the no campaign would just easily skate their way to victory. That is not what happened. Glasgow has been so transformed over the last few months, I have never seen such a level of debate and engagement in a political issue in my lifetime and that can only be a good thing.
 

The question of independence may be settled in the minds of certain politicians but it certainly is not in the minds of a huge section of the population. It's hard to see people who voted yes turning back to the three Westminster parties (Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats) in upcoming elections because they are traitors now in the minds of many people. It is equally hard to see no voters ever voting for the SNP again (many people in 2011 voted SNP but disagreed with independence and many didn't even think the referendum would happen) because I seriously doubt they ever want to go through another one of these stressful and nail biting referendums.
 

So what does this mean for the future? Well it really is anyone's guess at this point. One thing is very true, people who had no interest in politics and political theory whatsoever have been educating themselves and we all know that you cannot unlearn something. The other thing is that sixteen and seventeen-year-old's were allowed to vote for the first time and from my experience many of them were voting yes and have as such been part of an exciting political debate for the first time. We have definitely had a moderate shift in conciousness in this country and that is exciting. Don't get me wrong, most people are still socialist to varying degrees, but that's not what's important. People are talking about secession and localisation now in a way they were not before, this debate has stirred something that was lying dormant in many people and not just in Scotland, secession movements all over the world from Catalonia to Texas have been inspired by this referendum and you would make a huge mistake to assume that that feeling is just going to go away. There will be other secession movements and they will start to succeed and that terrifies the elite classes.

 

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