LIB DEM HYPOCRITES ATTACK SNP FOR XENOPHOBIA

Douglas Fraser in the Herald writes:

This pre-coalition courting ritual between LibDems and SNP - Nationalists doing some rough wooing, while the LibDems play hard-to-get - will see Nationalists deflated after this weekend.

I replied:

Why? The childish claims of xenophobia towards the SNP are rank hypocrisy. The imperialist nationalism favoured by the British state is indeed xenophobic however the desire for liberation of Scotland is a civic based nationalism ie including everyone who lives here.

You know that I know that and the public are not daft enough to believe anything different. This is something which is recycled regularly by the unionist parties but it is not new and it¹s certainly not true. I think the SNP will be satisfied that the Lib Dems have shown themselves to be political hypocrites.

Call them whatever else, but don't even hint at a link between the Scottish independence movement and the ethnic nationalists in other parts of Europe, often on the ugly, anti-immigrant far right. There's nothing Alex Salmond hates more, having worked hard to prove it wrong.

Of course they don't like the implication because it's not true. In any case most independence movements in Europe are on the left not the right. Look at Wales, Ireland, Catalonia, the Basque Country.

Mr Fraser replied:

Thanks for your response. While you make strongly partisan points - and you're obviously entitled to do so - I don't think your arguments are at odds with what I wrote in the article to which you refer. You're welcome to make these same points through the letters page or on our website.

To which I replied:

Thanks for your comments.

It’s beyond dispute that British nationalism has a xenophobic character based on its imperial roots unlike Scottish nationalism. There is clearly an anti immigration agenda which has been pushed by the Daily Mail and other right of centre tabloids and which has been aped in Government by the Home Office and by the statements of leading figures in the Conservative Party and that’s before you even get to the BNP.

Also most nationalist movements in Europe which are roughly equivalent to the SNP ARE on the political left. Don’t you agree? If so why are you suggesting the SNP will be damaged by the language of the Lib Dems? Is it not more logical that the Lib Dems will be damaged for their hypocrisy in saying one thing about having a nice campaign and then promptly doing the exact opposite?

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My good friend Ray Bell also sent me over this:

So the Scottish Lib Dems label the SNP "xenophobic", but meanwhile it's alright to vote members of a fascist party into council positions south of the border. Beggars belief!

"Despite repeated public statements that the Lib-Dems would never work with the BNP, or support BNP representatives gaining senior positions on decision-making bodies, two Lib-Dem members of the council voted for the BNP candidate to become a board member of Padiham Life. The Lib-Dem members who voted for Cllr Wilkinson being Cllrs Jones and Sumner."

http://politicalhackuk.blogspot.com/2007/01/burnley-lib-dems-back-bnp.html