LL-L "Scots" 2002.02.28 (08) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 28.FEB.2002 (08) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Colin Wilson <lcwilson at starmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Scots" 2002.02.28 (03) [E]

At 16:05 20/02/02, Ian James Parsley wrote:

>>And again, the movement is over politicized to be
>>realistically seen as truly inclusive.

My thanks to IJP for a very interesting and informative posting.
The only point on which I'd really disagree is the one above.
For anyone who doesn't realise, it's maybe better to explain that
"politicised" here really means politicised with respect to one
specific issue, namely that of remaining in the United Kingdom or
withdrawing from it.

In my experience it's true that over 95% of people you'll meet
through Scots-related activities, in Scotland, favour withdrawal.
On the other hand, what also has to be remembered is that this
subject isn't surrounded by emotions anything like as strong as
they are in Ireland, and that here one's view is very much a
matter of personal persuasion rather than of ethnic identity or
loyalty.

I'd even go beyond that and say, at an emotional level, the great
majority of people in Scotland are either comfortable with
the thought of withdrawing from the UK, or at least neutral about
it. It's true that most people here vote for parties that favour
remaining in the UK, but very few people have an *emotional*
commitment to the UK to the point that that they'd feel excluded
from the Scots-language movement.

The worst people for politicising this issue are the British-based
parties who, when in office, have all followed the same basic policy
of language eradication. And of course, in last year's vote on
having a Census question about Scots they (the Conservative, Labour and
Liberal Democrat parties) ALL voted against, except for one Liberal
Democrat member who abstained.

Insofar as this issue *is* politicised, the best thing to depoliticise
it would be if these parties were more supportive of our language.
However, as Ian James Parsley points out elsewhere in his posting,
they show little interest in the Scottish Parliament's Cross-Party
Group for Scots which is, as he says, supported mostly by the
(pro-withdrawal) Scottish National Party.

Goodwill to all,

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 Colin Wilson                  the graip wis tint, the besom wis duin
                               the barra wadna row its lane
 writin fae Aiberdein,         an sicna soss it nivver wis seen
 the ile capital o Europe      lik the muckin o Geordie's byre
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