In Support of Nationalism

Congratulations to Iain Thom from Edinburgh for his superb protest in support of Tibetan nationalists:

"I'll probably get detained by the police and then ejected out of the country but I believe it's not anywhere near the risk or the fear that Tibetans are living under the occupation of the Chinese government."

In a recent Telegraph article Charles Moore was rather scathing about nationalism:

Nationalism is also obsessed with possession. "It's Scotland's oil," says the SNP, as if the benefits of a global industry could all be hoarded north of Hadrian's wall. "The Malvinas are ours!" say the Argentinians about the Falkland Islands, even though hardly any of them have ever lived there. Robert Mugabe says that land ownership must fit his definition of what is Zimbabwean.

Or "Tibet is ours". Nationalism is about sovereignty, which implies ownership. British oil, "The Falklands are ours", and ownership of the political process and Westminster are all about British sovereignty. A contract of trust between citizens and politicians on a defined national community – we can elect you, we can remove you – is fundamental to a democracy. When that trust breaks down, as in the case of Scotland - or never existed, as in the case of Tibet - nationalism is a perfectly legitimate and understandable cause.

Harry Reid replied beautifully to Charles Moore in the Herald:

The essence of modern mature Scottish nationalism is simple. Scotland already is a nation, with a distinguished and proud history. We have our own legal system, our own church, our own educational traditions and so on.

What we do not have is our state. We are a nation waiting to become a state. No Scottish nationalist is trying to create a nation out of another nation: our nation already exists. All we are trying to do is to create - or, technically, recreate - a state to go with a currently stateless nation. This is not the work of rogues. What Scottish nationalists wish to end is nothing to do with England or Englishness. What they wish to end is the British state.

You can't argue with that. Well, you could but it would make you a British nationalist.