“Scotland must brave independence”

September 17, 2014 by anonymoosealba 1 Comment

Scotland must brave independence
Peter MacLeod
September 12, 2014

Imagine a world in which Australia wasn’t an independent country. Your daily news comes from England, but the London news desk graciously gives you 20 minutes at the end of the bulletin to update you on Australian news. All Australian place names are explained by the presenters in order to disguise British ignorance.

Tax revenue from Australian companies is sent to London and then your government is given some money back to spend on local initiatives. While Britain doesn’t have any natural resources, its media – which dominates Australia – tells you that you are “subsidy junkies” for receiving higher spending levels. Any attempt on your part to argue that your country should be independent leads to Crocodile Dundee references, suggestions that you hate British people and a reply that despite Australia’s resources, educated workforce and strong exports, your country could never survive on its own.

It is perhaps easier to look at other countries who have claimed their independence within the Commonwealth who are hundreds of miles from Westminster. The close proximity of Scotland to Westminster perhaps clouds some visions, but if it was Australia or India or Canada would independence from the Westminster government seem so far fetched?

Please read all of Peter MacLeod’s article in the Sydney Morning Herald linked above!

Yet, despite Scotland’s strengths, there is a fear campaign being waged by the British government, the media and, of course, other Scottish politicians who don’t want to cut the apron strings from the Mother Country. The onslaught of scare campaigns would make Dick Cheney blush. Unfortunately the lack of belief that Scotland could prosper does not just exist in the big newsrooms in London. Of the 37 newspapers in Scotland, only one supports independence. This is despite the fact that recent polls put both the “Yes” and “No” sides neck and neck. This is a direct result of a culture Scotland has only started to grow out of recently.

It is surprising that despite the media appearing to back the ‘No’ campaign the polls are so close! This referendum wasn’t meant to be 50/50 which is why only one paper has backed independence, it is why the party leaders in Westminster had a sudden panic last week and rushed to Scotland despite them knowing about the independence referendum for years!

Hesitant voters in Scotland only need to look to Australia to witness how at ease with itself a country becomes when it takes control of its own affairs. We don’t need to swallow the lie any longer that we are a poor country. And we don’t need an out of touch elite in London deciding how much of our own money we should have to spend. We just need a bit of Australian confidence.

Scotland needs to look around the world at all the different countries that were once part of the Empire and at how they have stayed within the Commonwealth yet have their own independence and control their own affairs. Scotland doesn’t have to follow Ireland’s lead in leaving the Commonwealth when countries like Australia have become an independent nation that still belong to the Commonwealth.