Scottish Nationalism

[Chrizzo006]

Hello evryone,

My name is Chris. i am 17 years old and i live in Holland/the Netherlands.
I attend the final year of my high school and in order to graduate i need too write a big research paper on a subject of my choice. i chose 'Scottish Nationalism' as a subject. because it is very interesting to see how multiple different people merge to one nation and all fought for it in the past.
very recently offcourse Scotland finally got its own parlement and this is one big step to independance.

i have some questions i would like to ask you. this will help greatly with my paper. and also help me understand Scottish nationalism.

question 1: Do you consider yourself nationalistic ? and why are you or arn't you a nationalist ?

question 2: What do you think about the battles of independance in the history of Scotland ? do you think they were for the greater good ?

question 3: Are you against or in favour of an independant Scotland ? and why ?

question 4: What do you think about the English in the past ? and in the present ?

If you want to help me with this that would be great. thank you very much in advance !

[tig]

1. yes...isnt everyone nationalistic in some form...ie. proud of where your from or live

2.some of the Scottish people fought against invaders like any other country would do...if defending yourself is for the greater good then yes....greater good of who?

3. in favour....the London government has done very little for Scotland in years therefore it should be up to us to run our own country

4. the English royalty where the aggressors, i dont think the average Englishman had any say in what was happening, nothing against them.
i couldnt eat a whole one tho

[Saorsa1]

I'm an independentist. I find the Brit nats use the nationalist idea as a tool against the Scottish independence movement, so I prefer to avoid the view of Scotland through a nationalist lens. Ironically, the Brit nats (many, many of them live in Scotland) are very nationalistic, so much so that it's distasteful with respect to their xenophobia and negative with respect to their view of economics around the world.

The fight for Scotland's freedom was what it was. Greatness came out of it as did untold misery. The greatness was the heroism and courage of Wallace and Bruce (who displayed unusual and extraordinary human decency for the time). The misery was caused by the aggressor, Edward 1st of England (a psycho in anybody's language).

Obviously for independence, it's in my blood and I am a Scot. One can create a good financial argument for independence but that's not my basic motivation. It's my country, the Brit nats can get lost and we can get on with our own governance.

When I was a kid, I hated the 'English', didn't know why. As an adult, I realise this is silly and that the aspirations of Scotland should not be contaminated with hatred. Now, I have no feelings about the English one way or the other and as with other nations, I weigh people up as individuals. That said, I don't wish to be governed by them.

Merry Xmas.

[hiorta]

1. I am 'Nationalistic' in terms of demanding Scottish self-determination. The irony of England manipulating every source they can to remain self-determining and pulling every trick in the book to keep control of Scottish affairs, points to a desperate country without morals or honour. Who wants to be part of that?

2. Most were struggles to rid Scotland of invading terrorists, but in any case, seemed right to the people of that day.

3. in favour of Independence. A nation, like the individual, is healthier, more rounded and confident when they take responsibility for their own well-being, which should produce people with no axe to grind and who are prepared to stand on their own efforts.

4. The fact that they need to call their representatives 'honourable' says it all. This would be blindingly apparent were it to be true.
They still have 'Houses of Thieves, Terrorists and Murderers' past and present, upon whom they heap 'honours' if it brings in money. The Nelson's eye mentality suggests there will be little evolutionary change and they seem doomed to eternally repeat past mistakes.
In a nutshell - A country constructed by committee- as opposed to an evolved one.

However, if it suits the natives it is their own business.

[Chrizzo006]

Thank you evryone ! Keep it coming this is really interesting and usefull !


and merry xmass to evryone offcourse

[wullie m]

Chrizz, Nationalism often has unfortunate right wing conotations, Spain, Germany, Britain etc' it's not a word I'm happy with. In Scotland however, the Nationalists are to the left of the so-called Labour Party. I'm not very keen on flag-waving of any description but just think that every country should be responsible for its own affairs and that we would get on much better with the English if we were independant. Britain was the Empire and that's gone, now, as far as I'm concerned it's just a name on a passport & the BBC!
At the time of the 1707 Union, the majority of the people were against, and the aristocracy were bribed. England threatened a trade embargo on Scottish goods & ships if necotiations failed. A union with the Dutch Republic was considered as they were our second biggest market (Veere was the staple port at one time). Might have had interesting developments? Try this link, http://www.scran.ac.uk/scotland/pdf/SP1_CH4.pdf
This is an American site and hasn't a great number of Scottish contributors, you might try,
| autonomy – independence – self determination & Newsnet Scotland for a bigger sample of opinion.

All The best in 2011, wullie.

[Chrizzo006]

@wullie,

i understand that some people may not like the word nationalism as it sometimes has a very negative side like you said. but frankly there is not a better fitting word that i can think of , so ill just have to use this one.

also,

Thank you for your opinion and your advice. i was not very shure if using a forum would help me with my research paper. but this is awesome im getting so many usefull reactions. and it has just been 2 days!

cheers