If the Scots vote for independence on Thursday, every nationalist worth his salt and his saltire should be sending a bagpipe full of thanks to Mel Gibson and the producers of Braveheart. The Hollywood blockbuster did more to propagate the cause of a go-it-alone Scotland than the moviemakers’ final scene of a hung and drawn William Wallace letting out a final blood-curdling scream of “Freeeedommmmm!” as he was disembowelled at the bloody hands of the old enemy from down London way.
For all of the warrior Mel Gibson is — or was — in Braveheart, Alex Salmond is not. For starters, Braveheart wasn’t actually filmed in Scotland. Those battle scenes were filmed in Ireland, the extras were Irish Army part-time soldiers on summer manoeuvres, and the castle scenes were filmed in Trim, just outside Dublin. Incidentally, those same soldiers had to do a quick turnaround and fill in as American and German troops as the opening Normandy beach battle scenes of Saving Private Ryan were filmed down the coast in Wexford. That’s the thing, you see, history is there to be moulded and retold as victors or vanquished — or Hollywood — portray it.
Come Friday morning, ‘Wee Eck’ as Salmond is known by those in his East Aberdeen riding, will have done more than anyone to end the 307-year old union that had Scotland in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. And the last time the union faced such a historical hiccup was when the forefathers of those Irish Army extras set up the present day Republic of Ireland.
As it stands, Salmond’s political quest for the past 30 years is at its zenith, with opinion polls suggesting that his ‘yes’ side is at least neck-and-neck with, if not ahead of, the ‘no’ side — and his Scottish Nationalist Party has unionists in panic mode.
The 54-year-old economist and career politician has been working for this day for all of his life: It is a cause that was unpopular and a goal unthinkable. And certainly, given the panic and alarm bells ringing now too little and possibly too late in Westminster, the prospect of the Scots ever daring to muster enough support for independence was indeed unthinkable and unimaginable — until the opinion polls said otherwise last week.
I interviewed Wee Eck over the phone in 2007, shortly after he came to power as Scotland’s First Minister and was in a dubious position of leading a minority administration in the parliament in Edinburgh. Even then, he was flying the flag, raising the prospect of a Scotland in charge of its own destiny, raising its own revenues, spending its own taxes. Thursday’s referendum may very well convey the seal of sovereignty on a First Minister and party who have grown in popularity, increasing their share at every election since the mid 1980s. In other words, this sudden shift now being experienced in Westminster has actually been growing for three decades. And Salmond’s savvy political leadership is at the helm.
Come Monday, thousands of street advertising billboards in prime locations up and down Scotland will be festooned with the ‘yes’ message. Last January, when the referendum was months away and the ‘no’ outcome a foregone conclusion as far as most observers and commentators were concerned, Wee Eck had the ‘yes’ campaign buy up the billboards at a dirt-cheap bulk rate.
He’s a slick operator. Passionate? Yes. Educated? Yes. Smart? Yes. Media savvy? Yes. Condescending? Yes And always on message. Yes: Scotland will be an independent state and will do just fine without interference from London — who some in England would say lacks influence beyond the Watford Gap anyway.
Bag of sweets
When Salmond is confronted by reporters who badger and cajole him for answers that they want — and that he won’t give because it’s not one message with his ‘yes’ ideals or campaign anyway — he’s been known to offer them a bag of sweets to suck on. And as it stands, after weeks of campaigning where the London-centric national media in Britain has become more vexed, there are quite a few journalists with mouth cankers from sucking on his sweets. Corporate and financial interests in London have said his independent country can’t use the pound. Salmond disagrees — there’s nothing to stop an independent Scotland from choosing the currency, it just won’t be able to set interest rates. How many countries use the US dollar?
As far as he’s concerned, all of the arguments being thrown at the nationalist’s way come from those vested in maintaining the status quo. Come independence, those arguments will simply be moot.
In his spare time, Wee Eck is a fanatic horseracing enthusiast. Right now, he’s the odds-on favourite to romp home. He’s a tried and trusted horse for the freedom course — and the rest of the political nags in the race looked jaded with too much ground to cover. Giddy up!
