Scotland's Sectarian Shame

Sectarianism

Sectarianism - Scotland's Shame. Not only exclusive to Scotland, but a shameful problem that continues to rear it's ugly head every now and again in our society. Sectarianism is defined as “Narrow-minded beliefs that lead to prejudice, discrimination, malice and ill-will towards members, or presumed members, of a religious denomination.” In Scotland it could almost easier be related to Protestants versus Catholics. The easiest example to use. Plenty of the Scottish people who practice these forms of faith, live in peace of course, but those that clash have hatred so ingrained into their psyche that rational thinking is completely overlooked. 

First and foremost I am Edinburgh born and bred and I am not religious in any way. The sectarian element that exists in Edinburgh is more of a mild headache than the migraine experienced on the west side of Scotland in comparison. Although personally, I have only ever witnessed a very few instances in Edinburgh, in contrast, my dad's side of the family are from a mining village in Ayrshire and he was raised in a society in the grip of a religious divide. I remember a story he once told me about his school days back in the 1950's when the Protestant and Catholic children would play football on different pitches. He said it wasn't so much that there was violence between the children, more an accepted order that they weren't going to mix with the Catholics and vice versa. A sad indictment of behaviours passed down through generations. Thankfully when my dad grew up he retained no religious hatred and I am forever grateful for that.

I wished I could say the same for what I witnessed on the 19th of September 2014 in Glasgow. What happened that day turned my stomach and in my eyes it wasn't a full representation of those voting no, more a breeding ground for religious hatred to be spewed out. "No" had always claimed to have been the less troublesome of the two opposing sides so the media was also extremely careful on how they approached and showed this issue. Instead of highlighting this as a hateful religious faction they wanted to limit the exposure this story got due to the fact they had backed the no vote. Sad times indeed. They missed the point entirely and I assure you from speaking with witnesses and from many friends living in Glasgow, the riots were far more severe with a much higher number of thugs than what was reported to us. This should have been exposed with the sectarian narrative explained to us. I knew that this bile wasn't a representation of the no vote but I knew it was representing those that wished to use religion as an excuse to fight. It wasn't simply Rangers v. Celtic to me or certainly not yes v. no, but it was brutal sectarianism punishing a city that had unified in voting yes. 



Creation

Now I want to share MY opinions on why we have Sectarianism in Scotland. Of course we know where it began. It was the colonisation of Ireland in the 17th and 18th Century by the British ruling class. This imperialist takeover in Ireland meant the problems it caused sailed back again to Scotland to affect her population. Another example of an imperialist war and invasion backfiring on the lower classes. In brief, the land was taken from the native Irish who were of course Catholic by religion and given to settlers from the Scottish lowlands and the English who were encouraged by the government. The predominant religion of these new settlers was protestant and due to the fact that Ireland was under British rule over the years then it meant it was members of these settlers that ended up becoming the ruling class. One of the few options left for the Irish Catholics was to leave Ireland. Industrial cities were a favoured destination for the Irish and so that is a huge factor as to why Glasgow in particular has become synonymous with Sectarianism. Over the years in Ireland, organisations to preserve the new protestant way of life were set up, and so groups such as the Orange Order came into being. It is important to note that a class system obviously existed within the protestant community in Ireland, but this was where the hatred for the Irish Catholic natives became key. Many conflicts later, some of the battle hardened soldiers coming home to Britain set up branches of the Orange Order in their communities. 

Throughout the 1800's as the immigrant populations in Scotland began to swell the continued divisions were emphasized and enforced by these types of bigoted groups without much of a hindrance from the law. Now instead of trying to tackle the root of the problem, the ruling class and our government pursued this hateful technique to divide and conquer. This meant that during the industrial revolution, working class protestants were blaming their own oppression and the squalor they lived in on the Irish catholic immigrants and therefore this caused a greater divide which inevitably would always lead to violence throughout the years. The Protestants were higher up the pecking order than the Catholics and this bred a belief that they were superior. The violence over the years in Ireland has led to forces such as the IRA and  UVF fighting back and forward. Like Hamas for example all terrorist factions had to have had a reason to expand and exist.

There isn't a wrong or a right religion or right or wrong form of it but I can only imagine how frustrating or difficult it must be at times to experience sectarianism and then try to exonerate the ignorance, but this is how our society must move on. I think genuinely it would help if agitators actually realised why there is Sectarianism. The greatest trick our British government and the elites have ever pulled is to keep our populations from looking up and instead to look to those even less fortunate than us to blame for any injustice or bad situation we are in. The ultimate example these days stressing this narrative is that immigrants are stealing all our jobs. Don't be naive enough to think this is a new concoction. The formula was experimented and almost perfected in our homeland and in Ireland some centuries ago.

Stick together

What exactly do you think has happened in Iraq? We have invaded that Country as part of our "war on terror", and our government allowed a sectarian divide between Sunni and Shia Muslims to continue to grow and engulf Iraq. Look into who our government left in charge of the Country if you think I speak nonsense here. Groups like Isis and Al-qaeda use this perceived and in some cases blatant sectarian bias as one of their recruitment tools. A large part of my motivation in life is to break down all barriers and borders because I think of everyone as human not types of human. I am not intending to take sides with this post. it is not about that. It's frankly that in Scotland over time, I feel elements of the Protestant faith have been convinced of a superiority over another smaller community. All due to one simple factor - there were and are more of them. Therefore it is essential for them to have been "kept sweet". (I also wish to add, when I say Protestant side I am of course merely discussing the sectarian parts of the population not ALL Protestant believers). I have stated before that plenty people both Protestant and Catholic have risen above and seen through this abomination). I am aware there are plenty anti Protestant, Catholic reprobates too. The truth is though, the Irish Catholics and their descendants have never been in a position in our culture to do the persecuting. 

It is almost laughable when you realise for all the encouragement of hatred these elites pass down they are possibly the least racist, sectarian or sexist in any way. They take the form of mega faceless corporations now and I'm pretty positive they would do business with anyone if it kept them rich, and because they control the media they can pursue any agenda they want. Sectarianism or any "ism" could be a priority for lovely Westminster to fix, but most Western governments answer to these corporate tyrants and so why stop a formula that has worked so well for them. Too much profit to be made at the expense of people and they cannot afford huge populations uniting to stand together against them. They realise that humans are naturally fearful and so what better method than to create or pursue existing minority groups to villainise and keep you afraid. Minorities that need our help to integrate are always the target. The only way they can integrate is with our help. Asking them to learn our language and our customs would be made easier a million times over if we actively encouraged it in a caring way. We can take things from their cultures too. That is part of being human we get to do that! How brutally hard it must be at times for these human beings hearing all this about how they are a problem though. They will see the same vitriol we swallow. Propaganda carefully designed to crucify them as the distant strangers that are here to take over.

The thing with Sectarianism in working class communities is it keeps communities divided that actually have so much in common. Those that have kept them separate and that have caused this cemented hatred are the same people that will always try to keep them from ever being united. Keeping the masses divided in any way they can. It will be realised one day as there are good people waking up to this horrific veracity. As soon as we look to the greedy corporations and those that profit from poor and helpless communities then a massive change will come. Of course Scotland has improved greatly when it comes to Sectarian behaviour and it is largely kept mainly to certain Rangers and Celtic fans, but it most certainly is still a problem underlined by the events on the 19th of September so there is work to be done to educate this element in society. A new threat in UKIP and right wing Britain pushes an anti immigrant agenda in much the same way as Scotland has experienced in the past that has created our problem they call Scotland's shame. Let us not be taken in by this and stand up to any of these horrible viewpoints so that they can't be allowed to fester. 

In the world there really should be no such thing as immigrants just neighbours. Borders are on man made maps but you see no lines to separate us when you look down on the Earth from space.

By EM