Extra/Anti-parliamentary nationalism: Scottish fundamentalism

The SNP is not the only post-war political manifestation of Scottish nationalism. On the contrary, many extra and anti-parliamentary groups have gained exposure over the last few decades. Republican terrorism in Britain has not been the sole property of militant Irish Nationalists, and a Scottish Republican Army was originally formed as early as 1916 by Scottish ex-IRA members. Andrew Murray-Scott and Iain Macleay 82 have claimed that such ‘tartan terrorism' is a reasonably well-established phenomenon,

There have been approximately 79 bombing incidents, 40 armed ‘political' bank raids and numerous hoaxes and bomb-scares since 1968. Judges at 18 trials, involving 1,095 witnesses, have handed out sentences to 52 Scottish terrorists, a total of 286 years in jail... Until democracy in Scotland can be clearly seen to fulfil the needs of the Scots, the threat of new outbreaks of tartan terrorism will continue to exist and some Scots will regard themselves at war with British rule. 83

Whilst acknowledging that these instances of terrorism are not as serious or sustained as those of Irish Republican terrorists, the authors paint a somewhat paranoid scenario of a conspiracy involving agents of ‘the anglo-American state' to discredit Scottish nationalism. However interesting such groups are, they present an incredibly small and insignificant contribution towards mainstream national identity.

There have also existed several legitimate extra-parliamentary nationalist movements, such as the 1320 Club, and the multi-national ‘Celtic League'. The 1320 Club, under the patronage of the nationalist poet Hugh MacDiarmid, were concerned not only with political nationalism, but also with the promotion of Scottish culture, which it claimed was neglected by the SNP 84. MacDiarmid has subsequently been accused of trying to ‘reinvent Scottish culture single-handed' 85, and for all his Gaelic Highland posturing, MacDiarmid was actually a Lowland Scot who couldn't speak Gaelic. MacDiarmid also supported the Celtic League, an umbrella group for Welsh, Scottish and Breton nationalists. The president of the Celtic League, former Welsh nationalist MP Gwynfor Evans wrote to the then-President of the United Nations,

because Scotland and Wales and Brittany are already members of the United Nations we have been unable to make a direct approach to the General Assembly ... Brittany, Scotland and Wales are three of the oldest nations in the world. There is no greater political incongruity than the fact that not one of these three Celtic nations has the slightest measure of national self-government. Their life has been terribly mutilated and impoverished, but they still live and their national conscience is reviving. 86

Surprisingly, this is not the only example of nationalist appeals to the international community. The Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was reportedly visited by a Scottish nationalist in 1974, a meeting at which he pledged to approach the UN at the earliest opportunity in support of Scottish independence 87. It is notable that it is the extra-parliamentary groups that have attempted to engender international recognition although, perhaps unsurprisingly, their unorthodox approaches have resulted in little success.