Taexalia

wild.life

Snake(s) In The Grass

A Snake In The Grass

Oh how things change.

For years I have travelled to America visiting many interesting places, spending my tourist pounds and being curiously welcomed by strangers asking if I know any Ferguson's in Falkirk as that is where their great grandfather's second cousin twice removed came from.

The only thing I've ever done in Falkirk is visit the Falkirk Wheel. My closest link to a Ferguson is the tractor my Granda drove around Belt Croft. My knowledge of my family tree is like a small shrub. I am Scottish because I was born here, raised here and I live here in the tangled mess of assumptions, cultures, pretty stunning landscapes and ugly sectarian traditions that can all be lumped under the name Scotland.

We are not any more special than any other country with its own version of democracy, its own legal system, its own flag, its own heritage and its own landscape.

Except we aren't really recognised as a country - the Saltire they waved at Tripoli airport is usually missing from any book of official country flags and our parliament falls a bit short of my idea of democracy on many levels. (Actually that probably makes us quite similar to many countries with their flag in the books!).

So in the past my Scottishness has always been welcomed even if my idea of Scotland seems at odds with the Tartan Shortbread Tin version perpetuated by the American genealogy movement.

Having said that, sometimes I have had trouble spending my tourist pounds. Like the time the bank in Carmel By The Sea wouldn't change my emergency stash of Sterling into US Dollars - the woman had no qualms about telling me I needed to travel to either Los Angeles or San Francisco (you do the maths) as no-one else will change my money "because of 9/11".

She actually said that.

She would have been able to give me a cash advance on a credit card though.

The message: all non-Americans are to be prevented from exchanging cash for cash because any attempt to live life free from the stranglehold of credit card debts and related bank charges is a clear sign of terrorism.

There I said it. Terrorism. It's a loaded word, isn't it? Sometimes I think the word is used to control us more than the weapons of any terrorist. A terrorist is a bad person, rather than a participant in a war. War, you see, only has one good and valid side. It is the Goodies (read USA, read Britain) against the Terrorists (read any people or movement or nation who oppose the Goodies).

Terrorists butcher innocent people, murder innocent people and terrorise innocent people. The US military and the British military shoot the target, albeit it in a carpet bombing kinda fashion, and reduce innocent people to the term collateral damage.

Surely a terrorist is just someone who instills terror, regardless of national identity, political leanings or colour of skin? I am thinking of recent inhabitants of Westminster and the White House. Sometimes even Alex Salmond instills terror in me, albeit in a weapons free way.

But the big story this week is the release on grounds of compassion of the convicted terrorist Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi from a Scottish prison. The Lockerbie Bomber no longer resides in a reportedly well appointed cell with internet access and curious privileges. The special treatment is rumoured to have been going on since he was imprisoned and this release could be seen as just one more piece of an incomplete jigsaw that suggests a miscarriage of justice and even that they got the wrong man.

Talks of business deals - oil exploration in Libya, retail interests such as Marks and Spencer opening shops in Tripoli - lurk in the background of a decision that has been marketed as "A decision for the Scottish Government". Gordon Brown broke his silence to congratulate the English cricket team on their victory and he appears to be living in hope that Kenny MacAskill and the people of Scotland will take the brunt of this decision that is increasingly looking like politics as usual - and deeply linked to Westminster and Brown himself.

If we believe al-Megrahi was the bomber, are we looking at the release of a terrorist on grounds of compassion which conveniently oils the wheels of deals and talks had by Gordon Brown with the leadership of Libya?

If we believe al-Megrahi was wrongly imprisoned, are we looking at justice being done in a way that still oils those business wheels but allows the people involved in the cock-up (like vocal FBI Director Robert Mueller) to save face. Megrahi curiously dropped his appeal to clear his name despite still claiming his innocence - why?

Justice has not been done when so many questions are circulating about whether al-Megrahi was the real bomber and there is now little chance of legal recourse to prove the truth one way or another.

Who is really benefiting from the muddy waters???

The people of Scotland don't appear to be. In fact the people of Scotland are currently the focus of yet another American Boycott from the Fraternity of Freedom Fries as they are declared a terrorist friendly nation. The people of Scotland are being targeted financially in an attempt to bully politicians to - well to do what exactly? go to Libya and get him back???

The funniest comment on the Boycott Scotland website, though, is this one directed at Kenny MacAskill:

"You have shown to the international community that your government and the United Kingdom as a whole will stop at nothing to pursue the neverending and relentless acquisition of oil revenues."

My Soup Pot

My Kettle

The Colour Black

So anyway I'm Scottish and I'm dancing the swords between amusement, disillusionment, disappointment and frustration as I try to figure out what is really going on with this debacle.

Whilst I don't agree with the release of al-Megrahi leaving so many questions dangling in the folder currently marked Case Closed, I don't agree with the bully boy stance of the perpetrators of the Boycott Scotland campaign - who seem to be suggesting that Scotland must always act in agreement with their views to avoid being shown a lesson. That isn't democracy and it isn't showing respect to the families of the victims on the ground in Lockerbie, is it?

I'm looking forward to my trip to the USA next week - which I won't be cancelling because I don't hold my friends and loved ones responsible for the highly questionable acts of their politicians. I'll change my currency on this side of the pond though!

Boycott Scotland

You decide!