When I was at school in Glasgow, history was a kind of non subject.  Being a bit of a rebel and not always ‘well behaved?’ I was often punished by being sent to the history room or the school library where I was given a history book to read.  This happened several times when I refused to play football for the school team because it clashed with my other team.

What little history we did get was Roman or English and Vikings were crazed monsters akin to Attila the Hun or Genghis Khan.  A couple of memorable battles were thrown in to give us a sense of history.  I remembered two in particular.  A great, albeit temporary, success at Bannockburn where the Scots triumphed and the Battle of Hastings.  I could never understand why we studied the Battle of Hastings in Glasgow – it has nothing to do with Scotland – unless we were being encouraged to celebrate the English getting a ‘kickin’?

 

There are many reasons for studying history.  I am not doing a history lesson, but I would suggest that studying history, the ‘right’ history, gives us a sense of our own nation and a pride in that nation and a sense of where we are going.

Is it any wonder that Scottish history has NOT been taught in Scottish schools until 2011.  This has robbed Scots of this sense of nation, this pride in ones nation, this view of where we are going as a nation.  This has been the deliberate suppression of a nation.

But what is it about history that makes us proud?  Well, fellow Scots, for example that have done great things.  Scottish soldiers that have fought and given their lives for their country, perhaps Scots that have invented, discovered or even developed something important for the world.  As humans we need role models, we need heroes, we need something to aspire to.

Most of us will have heard of Logie-Baird, Stevenson, Henry Bell, Macadam or Stanley.  We can think of many others; in sport for example.  It could be Sir Alex Ferguson, it could be some of the heroes from our great football or rugby teams or our world class cyclists.

However, Scotland is probably most famous (if we were living in the 18th century) for the Scottish Enlightenment.  To some extent this was founded in philosophy [read about it], but it led to much, much more.

Some prominent people in Scotland, and perhaps including Johann Lamont {although whether this is true or not may be up for debate} have stated or implied that Scotland is ‘too wee, too stupid and too poor’.  This is blatantly implied by Alistair Darling, Gordon Brown, Alistair Carmichael, Danny Alexander and the Westminster bases of Labour, Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.  More disgracefully, the media and ‘neutral’ BBC have piled in with their endorsement of the ‘too wee, too stupid and too poor’ tag.

You don’t need too much grey matter to defeat the ‘too wee’ and ‘too poor’ claims and I am not dealing with that here.  The ‘too stupid’ claim is the really interesting one.  You cannot measure or count your way to the truth of this claim, you must employ a bit of what the comment says you lack!

The more you delve into the Scottish Enlightenment the more you realise that ‘too stupid’ is correct – except, it applies to the commentator rather than their prey.  In the 18th century Scotland was the intellectual powerhouse of Europe and possibly the world from their bases in the universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.  And from the homes and debating chambers of those intellectuals associated with this movement.

In its most fundamental form, Scotland, the UK, Europe and the rest of the world up to the 17th century were in a religious stranglehold that dictated every facet of life.  In Scotland the Presbyterian  church expounded a world that existed to the extent that it concurred with the aims of the church.  Basically, when the church began, so did the physical world.

Of course, this thinking is totally flawed by today’s standards.  However, in the 18th century it took the wisdom of the Scottish Enlightenment to challenge these views and scotch {excuse the pun} these myths.  It is a measure of the humanity and compassion of these scholars that rather then sweeping aside the foundations of the church’s’ teachings it offered a secular view of the world that co-existed with the churches and so it has remained to this day.

So who were these figures from the Scottish Enlightenment [read about it] and what was so special about them?  Some of the most notable would include:

Adam Smith, economist (1723 – 1790) author of The Wealth of Nations, the father of international commerce.  Think we’ll agree that is fairly important.

James Hutton, geologist (1726 – 1797) broke the stranglehold of the church over society and changed the world forever.  So now we are not stuck in the dark ages.

David Hume, philosopher and historian (1711 – 1776)  he used facts… logic… reason… proof… evidence to rid the world of rule by superstition.

Alison Rutherford, poet and society hostess (1712 – 1794) rose to the highest echelons of society as a commoner setting a blueprint for women to follow.  She counted amongst her greatest friends a certain Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott, also a relative. 

Robert Adam, architect and designer (1728 – 1792) so prolific as an architect that his style carries his name, just like Goudy or Hoover

Joseph Black, scientist (1728 – 1799) he explained the world in terms of chemistry, enabling inventions in engineering and industry.  he was also an eminent medic and first physician to King George III in Scotland, holding the posts of  Regius Professor of the Practice of Medicine; Professor of Anatomy and Botany; and Professor of Medicine, all at the University of Glasgow.

James Watt, scientist and engineer (1736 – 1819) his development and improvement of steam power drove the industrial revolution in land transport, industry and shipping

This is just a selection of the great minds and innovations associated with The Scottish Enlightenment.

But what was the driver, the motivation for the Enlightenment.  Did something trigger it or was this just a fortuitous coincidence.  Perhaps we will never know.

I like to reflect on that well known truism ‘Cometh the hour, cometh the man’ or woman for that matter.  Perhaps society had matured to such a level that it outgrew its oppression?

Stay with that thought.  A society that has outgrown its oppression?  Is that not what we have been seeing in Scotland for the past few decades.  Slowly but surely the SNP made the transition from reactionary to credibilty and now the party in power in Scotland with a working majority.  But it did not stop there, they secured a referendum on Independence for Scotland.  But it did not stop there.  The most important factor must surely be that this movement in Scotland was incubated within the SNP who took it to its birth and it is now spreading like wildfire across Scotland.  It is no longer the SNP.  SNP is part of it.  It has spread to the Greens, Labour, Independents, previous non political Scots, new arrivals in Scotland,. The movement has spread south of the border to England, across to Wales and into Ireland.  It has not stopped at the UK.  The movement has spread to all corners of the world.  This is not The Scottish Enlightenment, this is

THE NEW SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT – THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF THE PEOPLE

The New Scottish Enlightenment is pervasive, persuasive, compelling.   But mostly, it is NOT STOPPABLE.

The world is watching, the world is waiting, the world is ready.  The world is ready to welcome a new old nation.

SCOTLAND IS DEAD, LONG LIVE SCOTLAND

This New Scottish Enlightenment is not a bunch of intellectuals crowed into a University auditorium.  In fact it is not even the recognisable intelligentsia.  This is not the ugly mob from the French Revolution or the call to arms from a great leader.  The New Scottish Enlightenment is not the ‘alien’ in the belly of the SNP that burst out. This is more, much more than that.

This movement encapsulates the people of Scotland, all of the people of Scotland.  It is blind to gender, age, social class, prosperity or even birth.  Everyone is a follower – but everyone is a leader.

Was there every a country so politically aware, so hungry for knowledge so demanding of their voice to be heard?  Everywhere you go in Scotland, in every home, in the shops and every office, every pub and club, in the churches and every other place of worship; the referendum question is always there.

Local areas that had lost their sense of community and lost touch with their neighbours are now formed into well structured, staffed and determined political machines.  The YES Campaigners are out in the morning, the afternoon and in the evening knocking on doors, attending meetings, handing out leaflets, holding fundraisers – even taking on shops and other premises as local Independence centres.

I remember my parents explaining the camaraderie and sense of community during the Second World War.  That’s what it takes sometimes to crystallise a community.  I thought I would never see that – I was wrong, … it is everywhere in Scotland.

Before the referendum on Scotland’s Independence many Scots accepted their history or rather the history served up to them, without question.  The movement for independence has triggered a national awakening.  Scots are opening their eyes, reflecting on their upbringing and realising what has been happening to them.  We have been deliberately denied knowledge of our past, denied knowledge of our strengths and potential and denied knowledge of our proper place in the world.

Well, the genie is out of the bottle now and it won’t go back.  Scots did not suffer from Collective Amnesia, they were given it.  This has been a subtle process.  Not everyone fell for this.  Many knew, knew they couldn’t fight it and left to make their mark in the world, elsewhere.  Is it any wonder why Scots rise to the top once they LEAVE SCOTLAND.

Always the rebel, when I moved to London I accentuated my Scottishness, I became broader Glaswegian socially.  However, when it was important to my career, common sense forced me to soften or lose my persona.  I don’t regret that because it was a deliberate strategy.

Many other Scots have disguised their accents, suppressed their history like reformed alcoholics and prayed they would never be ‘outed’ as Scots.

But why should Scots feel it necessary to disguise their upbringing to get on in the world.  I see this no differently from, say an oil rich nation,  that suppresses its people to ensure the wealth of the country benefits only the top tier of society.  In my view, this has been happening to Scotland for centuries.  Our endeavours have been dismantled and our assets have been confiscated.  We only have to consider shipbuilding and oil to bear witness to this process.  Scotland went from world leader in shipbuilding to decimation almost overnight.  When oil was discovered, Westminster in the form of Harold Wilson who was so desperate for immediate cash that he ‘sold-off’ the asset to the oil magnates for a few pence a barrel.  By contrast, the Norwegians stopped to take stock of their oil gift, developed their potential for extraction, keep the asset in national ownership and created a ‘oil gift fund’ that would guarantee Norwegian wealth for all time.  What a difference a Government makes!

This time it is different.  This time Scotland has found a Collective Awareness.  This time the Yes Campaign are providing the banner and the rallying call for this Collective Awareness.

This has culminated in a people with incredible political awareness, incredible sense of nationhood, incredible determination to succeed and incredible ability to embrace their community and welcome on board their fellow Scots as they become aware, as they become enlightened – and this is THE NEW SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT.

Perhaps the most inspiring thing about the New Scottish Enlightenment is its calmness, its determination and dignity, its refusal to rise to the bait of the dissenting voices.  The frustrations brought about by those opposed to Independence and their lies and deceptions. The media with their biased reporting makes us even more calm, even more determined, even more resolute. Because The New Scottish Enlightenment should not be stopped, will not be stopped, cannot be stopped.

… and on the 19th September 2014 we will waken up and wonder what it was that had been driving us, because the New Scottish Enlightenment has only just begun!  The answer to that question is simple … it was the people of Scotland.

I have a message for David Cameron.  ‘You talk of the Big Society.  Come up to Scotland.  Look around you.  Be amazed’

WE ARE THE BIG SOCIETY