CONFRONTING HISTORY

Frances McKIE refutes Dr Young’s article in last week’s Sunday Herald.

Dear Sir,

Neil Mackay’s article last Sunday presented Dr John Young’s perspective on the (extended) Plantation of Ulster. While asserting that historians have an “obligation to tell the truth” Dr Young did not hesitate to use his personal, extremely selective version of this particular history as the basis from which to condemn any notion that Scotland- like Ireland- has been colonised and abused by the so-called “British” Empire. On this issue- past and present- Dr Young is simply wrong.

By limiting themselves to “facts” historians should indeed aim to provide the truth. However, there is, of course, also a “truth” that is not the “whole truth”. Dr Young, apparently and accidentally abetted by Mr Mackay, is not entitled to omit those facts which contradict his political argument. 

England’s incessant political and military attempts, sometimes successful, sometimes not, to colonise Scotland as a vassal state, had been going on for hundreds of years before Bannockburn- never mind the Plantations of Ireland by English and Scottish protestants in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. In the 1650s, Scotland was “annexed” by the London Cromwellian Government. The English Alien Act in 1705 was outright economic blackmail towards the 1707 union; this was not supported nationally: opposition was vehement – led by George Lockhart and Andrew Fletcher. There are many more facts missing from Dr Young’s assertion that Scotland has not been treated as colony- including, after Culloden, brutal cultural, economic and social oppression- the infamous Clearances -and so on.

However, without the space and word count of your “Big Read” , to demolish Dr Young’s insidious appeal to ignore reality, all we have to do is jump to the modern history of two thriving ex-colonies- Ireland and India – and their struggle against the ruthless, cynical, asset-stripping, “divide and rule” tactics of that insatiable empire, determined- without moral limitation, to retain global power and rapacious wealth.

For Dr Young’s information, the last colony- Scotland- has been living through those very same tactics ever since we terrified Westminster’s rotten dregs of empire by daring to come close to independence in 2014.

And the whole truth of that- asset-stripping, demoralisation, divide and rule, attacks on leaders, constitutional corruption and manipulation- continues-on a daily basis- starkly-within all of our lives. 

That modern reality of Scotland as the last colony also lies in front of Dr Young- but only if he cares to look for the whole truth.

Yours sincerely,

Frances McKie

MY COMMENTS

This is a first class letter challenging the “facts” as provided by the Unionists amongst us.That modern Scotland is treated as a colonial possession is evidenced every day as we witness our assets being plundered daily, all the time for the benefit of Westminster. Finally thanks to people like Frances, organisations like Salvo and Liberation are all getting organised to fightback, everyday educating Scots on the massive fraud we are facing.

I am, as always

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