Kailyard Thoughts From The “Braveheart”

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

As I sit in my Kailyard I wonder often about the future.

What a difference a week makes…

Because they do say that pride comes before a fall. And those two emotions have been very clearly exposed for us in Scotland.

Pride came on Eid in Glasgow.

Glasgow is the second city of the British Empire, the first being London. Built on the back of success in tobacco and slave trading we have an inglorious past which has been being addressed but we also have a proud tradition; we rebel.

With a federal style system of government in the United Kingdom, the British state is responsible for immigration and the Scottish government has devolved powers including responsibility over law and order – ergo the police.

And so, with undisguised cultural ignorance, the British Home Office, decided to come on a Muslim holy day to lift two Muslim men and start the deportation process as they deemed them to be illegal immigrants.

As the van arrived in Kenmure Street, Pollokshields, Glasgow, the message of this action spread round the community and the community collectively, without any organization, answered.
Firstly, a man, threw himself, literally, with his bicycle underneath the van. It meant the van was unable to move. Then the neighborhood came out in force. Before long the street was thronging in peaceful demonstrations as the community refused the state permission to take away their neighbors.

There was a stand off and the police arrived to ensure good order. The First Minister of Scotland intervened and called it disgraceful: because it was.

The end of Ramadan is a holy time. There is nobody going to tell me, or anyone else, that this would have happened at Christmas.

After eight hours, the men were released, and the rebellious community won.

Glasgow has a community organization called, The No Evictions Network. It was they who had rallied to the response whilst the police began by bringing in people to manage the event, then brought in the horses and then officers with riot gear. At each escalation, the community remained resolute, and we all applauded from afar despite the action not being socially distant. Almost all were in masks and afterwards, we felt joy at their actions.

It was a proud moment. The two men are both strong members of their communities and had been here, at least one of them for over a decade in employment and economically contributing.

The glow was palpable.

And then we fell spectacularly down.

As well as built upon the disgrace of the past, Glasgow has imported a divide that came with migration to the city from Ireland. There are two sets of soccer supporters who go beyond good-natured banter and swapping of ribaldry.

In the north east of the city, sited at Parkhead, there is Glasgow Celtic, founded by a Catholic monk who have a strong bond to their Ireland and the mythology that comes from being a Celt. For nine years they have been the soccer champions and were going for an unprecedented tenth title.

In the south west of the city, in Ibrox there is Rangers. During that nine years, Celtic were the top team, Rangers had gone bankrupt and were sent to the bottom of all of the professional leagues and had to start again as if they were a new team. Given that their club went bankrupt, the suggestion they were new is compelling. But they played at the same ground, wore the same shirts, and savored the same tradition that their protestant forefathers represented.

This year, Rangers won the title. They did so by going a full season in the league by never being beaten. It was a momentous achievement and one worthy of celebration.
And so, they celebrated.
The problem was that they attracted people to that celebration who did so in a manner that has simply brought us shame.

Supporters of the team, against the wishes of Rangers themselves, arrived at Ibrox in their thousands. They then marched to the center of the city, to George Square. On the way photographs of them urinating in doorways, were accompanied by one man naked in the center of the city and then brawls that broke out – amongst themselves and then with police – were all over social media. Nobody held onto that feeling of pride.

People have been arrested and there looks like we shall have a number of trials to compound the misery of the videos, photographs and anecdotes from emergency services personnel of the abuse they suffered at the hands of thugs and idiots.

We cannot, unfortunately blot out the memories of the fall and just focus on the pride we felt. From one form of standing up to prejudice, hatred and racism, we are reminded that prejudice, hatred and racism is all too prevalent.

And I take it as a blessing.

As I was so proud of the city, it would have been easy to ignore the distance we still have to travel. Slapping fines and prison sentences on people who transgress is one weapon of choice. The next must be engagement and an attempt to turn people from the bigotry towards knowing that exuberance can permit hate to flourish as it emboldens those unable to distinguish between the banter and the offence.

Scotland has far to go. But it is a journey with hope. The images of Kenmure Street tell us we have the tools. We just have to start using them, on ourselves as much as on behalf of our neighbors.

A view from the new Kailyard or, how you look over there, from over here…

(kailyard n. a genre of sentimental Scottish literature turned into effective invective comment from one Donald worth reading…)

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