Humza Yousaf has spent his whole political career
arguing that Scottish people ought not to live in the same country as English,
Welsh and Northern Irish people. It is unendurable he thinks to force a
different people called Scots to live in the same nation state as those they
have lived with for centuries and with whom they share a common language and
for the most part a common religion and a common culture. Scottish independence
is the only solution.
I don’t know anything about Humza Yousaf’s ancestors,
but it is likely that they also believed that it was unendurable for Muslims to
share the same country as Hindus and therefore supported the partition of India.
Having set up Pakistan they likewise discovered that it was unendurable that any
Hindus remained there and so these Hindus left just as many Muslims were forced
to leave India.
Humza Yousaf’s wife Nadia El-Nakla thinks that Zionism
is wrong and would like the whole of Palestine to be ruled by Palestinians. But
what is Zionism but the migration of Jews to the Middle East? There is an
inconsistency in denying Jews the right to migrate while supporting the right
of everyone else in the world to migrate to Britain.
Moreover, if a majority of Scots have the right to
choose independence, why didn’t a majority of a Jews have the right to declare
independence in 1948? If Scots can fight wars of independence and still be
celebrated for doing so by Humza Yousaf and family, why can’t Israelis?
But this is our problem. Palestinians did not want to
peacefully coexist with Israelis and set out to destroy Israel from the
beginning. They have never ceased to have this goal. But you cannot very well
support the Palestinian right to not peacefully coexist with Israel and at the
same time expect everyone to peacefully coexist with you.
It is quite wrong if Humza Yousaf and his family fear
living in the UK. We have a duty to treat each individual as an individual and
to try as far as possible to see him simply as a fellow human being rather than
as a representative of a group be it a racial, religious or national group. No
Muslim should be discriminated against or threatened because of his religion.
That is unchristian, unfair and unjustified.
But how human nature is and how it ought to be are
quite different things. It ought to be possible for Scots to reflect that there
isn’t much difference between us and our neighbours and therefore there is no
need to separate from them. But large numbers of Scots including Humza Yousaf think
that Scots are so much a separate people that separatism is the only answer.
It ought to have been possible for India to have
remained intact upon independence with Muslims, Hindus and other religions
living peacefully side by side. But it was not possible, and conflict erupted,
and tension continues to exist between India and Pakistan and within India.
It ought to have been possible for Jews to flee
persecution in Europe both before and after the Holocaust and settle in their
ancient homeland. It ought to have been possible for Palestinians and Jews to
share the land without discrimination and peacefully. This is largely the case within
Israel where Muslims coexist with Jews peacefully, but at the moment it appears
impossible to extend this peaceful coexistence to those Palestinians who live
in Gaza and the West Bank.
The problem is that while we may believe that we ought
to treat everyone on the basis of our shared humanity, it is human nature not
to do so.
We are tribal and we prefer to live with those who are
similar to us. This is why we developed first as bands of nomads, then as
tribes and finally as countries. We care most about ourselves and our families and
then about our country. We are expected to pay taxes that help our fellow
citizens because they share our language and our history. In times of war, we
may be expected to serve our country and we do so because of our shared identity.
But what if this shared identity breaks down as it appears
to be doing? What then?
But the problem for Humza Yousaf becomes clear. He can’t
bear to live in the same country as English people. His ancestors doubtless
could not bear to live in the same country as Hindus. His wife’s family could
not bear to coexist with Jews and would be delighted if there were no Jews in
the Middle East. But everyone has to peacefully coexist with him and them.
This too is the problem. If Scots are so different
from English people that they must demand a separate state, where does that
leave migrants and the descendants of migrants who are often much more
different than either? Can they decide that they can’t bear living in the same
country as British people, and can other British people decide that they can’t
bear living with them?
The UK in 1939 had approximately 7000 people from
ethnic minorities. Since then, we have conducted an experiment as to whether it
is possible to maintain a common identity, shared values and unity while moving
from less than 0.01% of the population being from an ethnic minority to more
than 20%. There have been successes but there have been failures also. We find
that people still prefer to live in proximity to those who are similar to them.
There is far more division between some communities living in England than
there ever was between Scottish and English people. No doubt Humza Yousaf thinks
the answer is independence for those communities.
I am pessimistic I’m afraid. We ought to be able to
get on with our neighbours no matter their race, religion or where their
parents came from. But if even Scots and English people cannot bear to live in
the same country when we share the same language values and history, what hope
is there for forging unity and commonality when we have unlimited migration from
everywhere and these people choose to live with those who are like themselves?
The answer is not rioting. The answer is certainly not
violence. We are where we are. Even if we conclude the experiment with mass
migration has failed, we still have to make the best of the results. This is
our country shared equally by everyone who is here legally. If we trash it, we
trash what is ours and no one else’s.
If Humza Yousaf wants there to be less division in the
UK then he might reflect that it was unwise to argue for division. Most Scots
have a lot more in common with our English neighbours than we do with him
despite the fact that he was born and brought up in Scotland.
So too those people waving Palestinian flags and arguing
that Jews who were born in Israel don’t have the right to live there, might reflect
that it is a dubious argument if you are the descendent of migrants to suppose
that only the indigenous have rights and everyone else must leave.
The only solution for Britain is to find our common
humanity and to develop a shared identity that is available to all of us. Neither
rioting nor demonstrations in favour of terrorists in Gaza, nor Scottish nationalism
will help us to get there.
If you liked this article, then cross my PayPal with
silver and soon there will be a new one. See below.
