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By Jason Michael
Once more I have been called an anti-English bigot for wanting Scottish independence, but this time it has come from someone close. Once again I will stand my ground and say: No, I am a lover of Scotland – not a hater of England.
Yesterday on Facebook I received a private message from an old friend; a man I consider to be family, asking me to remove this blog from his timeline. “I see,” he wrote, “too much hatred against English people for no reason other than the Crown. Not for me I’m afraid.” Of course I helped him to unfollow the Random Public Journal page, this wasn’t a problem. What caught me off guard was the accusation that what I write is bigoted and hateful, and that this is directed against people for no other reason than that they are English.
Scotland’s constitutional debate is polarising. It divides opinion, as we all know. Writing for the cause of Scottish independence attracts a good deal of attention both on and offline, and every day, reading over readers’ comments, I get to see just how passionate people are about their opinions. Much of the negative commentary, as you would expect in the age in which we live, is directed against me. I have been called every name under the sun, my parents’ home address has been published in an attempt to intimidate me, and my life has been threatened. No one needs to tell me how divisive the politics of Scotland are right now.
Now when people tell me Scottish independence is about hating the English I remember Grenfell tower and I think to… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
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Jason Michael (@Jeggit) January 12, 2018One accusation that is routinely thrown at independentistas is that we are Anglophobic; that Scottish independence is an ideology rooted in anti-English bigotry – a form of racism. This dirty bomb is a standard component in the unionist trolls’ repertoire. But when someone we care about – as I have just discovered – casts this at us it stings. This has hurt my feelings.
So in answering this for what must be the one hundredth time I would like to say to T that I love him, and his opinion of me and my character means a great deal to me. In responding I do not intend to return the hurt or any sense of insult or disrespect. But given that this suggestion that I am a bigot strikes at the core of my most treasured feelings about my nation and my national identity, I feel it is only fair to give a full account of my “hatred” and my attitude towards English people.
Scottishness is not about the blood in my veins. There is nothing genetic about being Scottish. No matter how soggy the turf, no matter how refreshing the water, or glorious the scenery, there is nothing in Scotland’s fields and brooks that makes us Scots. Scotland is a beautiful relationship; a long and intimate conversation with the people we love most and count as our own. It is a friendship that continues to be new and alive no matter how long the parting or wide the distance between us. My Scotland is home – where I started and where I am going. It is a standpoint from where I see the world. It is a state of mind. It is peace of mind.
This Scotland invites friendship, producing Scots with voices from all around the world. The Scottish accent is Ayrshire, Glaswegian, Highland, Yorkshire, London, Irish, Welsh, wherever. As a product of this Scotland I am not going to begin despising the people for whom it has always held its arms wide. I don’t have the time and the patience for that. I’m too Scottish for that.
So what of England and the English? What of them?!
I don’t spend much time thinking about England and the English. I don’t spend that much time thinking about Botswana and the Botswanans. My life in Ireland and Scotland doesn’t force me to spend time thinking about England or Botswana. I spend as much time thinking about Guatemala and the Guatemalans – not really that much.
Campaigning for Scottish independence is about Scotland. It is as anti-English as it is anti-Mongolian. This is some trick that’s being played on us. When English people celebrate their Englishness and their pride in being English it is never presented as a comment on their attitude to Scotland or Wales or Ireland. Why then must our celebration of our Scottishness, the expression of our culture, or the exercise of our politics be seen as a comment on England? Is Englishness really this fragile?
England is a smashing country and the English people I know are fantastic human beings. They have every right to celebrate their nation and their identity – in spite of the frequent bad press the English have so much to take pride in. I mean, where else would you get the Blackpool tower and illuminations? With or without independence, England will always be a grand wee country. I’ll always visit and I’ll always have English friends and comrades.
All the same, I do harbour a dark and brooding hatred. I despise and loath the state that humiliated my severely disabled mother. I run cold with fury to think of the state that dumps world destroying weapons not fifty miles from where I grew up. My knuckles turn white on my fists and I taste blood in my mouth when I remember the oil and gas that was stolen from us to fuel the wars, the murders, and the savagery of that diabolical state’s hellish ambitions. That state makes a victim of England and the English too. How can I hate them?
Imagining that striving for the independence of our country has anything whatsoever to do with England or English people says something more about what has happened to our imaginations. Our minds have been so conformed to the chains we have become almost incapable of thinking of ourselves as and for ourselves. What this is is self-hatred – and I am sick and tired of my self-loathing. I have decided to stop hating myself and my Scotland. Perhaps it is time the English started doing the same. We can cast off our British shackles together.
Nina and Craig from the north-east of England say Yes.
Random Public Journal 
Cracking article, if there’s any solace you are not alone. I think this could be applied to any and all independentistas. Nothing to do with the people of England only the state which keeps our hopes and aspirations at bay. We want no more than that which the state body apparently seeks for itself and possibly therein lies part of the problem. Is it us that fuel this fire of supposed hatred, or is it the state who are supposed to work for the common good that intentionally feed the fires of discontent and keep the nation’s divided. If we are fighting each other then it makes for an easier life for the state.
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As my dad was English (who voted SNP) I have a good come back when anyone accuses me of hating the English!
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Good work, Jason.
Yep, my dad from Wolverhampton, both me and my older brother born in ‘the London’, we have a warm affection for English folk and a healthy dislike of Westminster, establishment, the Tories and the most dangerous and destructive broadcasting and press on the planet. That nasty press is where all the hatred, arrogance and othering comes from; when will they bloody-well grow-up?
When Scotland is independent, we’ll lead by example and we’ll expose – simply by governing fairly and compassionately – the ills that are being visited upon the good people of England. So, you see, it’s not only the great good that’ll come to pass in Scotland, but also, by our template, the improvement in the lives of those in England, Wales and N. Ireland – that’s not a bad result.
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Ditto
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The English Problem is that so many of them have almost forgotten what it is to be “just English”. Not always their fault. Generations of indoctrination by an insidious culture of imperialism has blurred their sense of identity. Despite decades now of increasing and valuable integration with the EU, ‘Europe’ is still subconsciously perceived by many as “The Other” at best, if not plainly “The Enemy”. For generations, until within living memory, upholding liberty and our somewhat odd incarnation of democracy, meant resisting the ‘Continentals’ with all their totalitarian ideas and -isms. While all the while dominating and exploiting a world empire, and more recently fighting a series of rearguard actions against local independence movements here there and everywhere. The most bitter being those opposed by local “white settlers” still living in a racist past long after most of England had moved on. That pretty much boils down to Northern Ireland now. Maybe when that too has finally gone the way of all empire, maybe then the English can retire gracefully and cultivate their own garden?
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Why is there not a campaign for independence for England.i would support that.
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Some years ago I knew someone involved with something called IIRC the Campaign for Middle England, i.e. the English Midlands (it was before ‘Middle England’ came to mean a particular class or mindset), and I’m sure there were one or two other regional autonomy groups, although whether they amounted to much or even still exist I’ve no idea.
Cornwall has Mebyon Kernow, but then Cornwall is one of the six Celtic Nations, sort of part of Wales (in the broadest sense) that got cut off when the English got to Bristol, it has its own flag and language and all 🙂
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I know a lot of English, living in England, who supported the independence movement, saying things like, “It’ll be sad to see you go, but if we could do it we would, to get away from the Tories”.
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Reblogged this on scottishactivist0.
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The irony of Scots in favour of independence from Britain being called anti-English by those who wish to remain British is that I’ve personally witnessed more anti-English bigotry from some who are ardent unionists than I have from anyone I know to be pro-Indy. I attribute this not to unionism, per se, but to the fact that the unionist cause attracts some rather horribly bigoted individuals who do not like anyone who is not exactly like them (& they probably don’t like each other very much either).
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As a pro-Indy Scot I certainly don’t hate English people. Most of my heroes are English for pete’s sake. But what we do tend to resent (some of us anyway) is having all-things-English foisted upon us, the obvious example being Tory governments we didn’t vote for. Or indeed Brexit, likewise. But another example I’d like to use is in the shape of a thought experiment. Would any English person be happy to have a live Scotland friendly game shown for a whole evening on a terrestrial channel, followed by an hour or so of highlights and discussion of the same? If not, then why not? The answer should go some way to understanding Scottish resentment.
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Great post. 🙂
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