What Fanon said (below) about ‘cognitive dissonance’ seems to be having an effect throughout the world media (even independent media) these days. There is a peculiar fact about life on Earth: Empires rise, Empires fall. And everyday I believe I am seeing the fall of the British Empire, but I really don’t hear many people talking about it. I suppose the primary reason for this is the belief that the British Empire has faded and been superseded by a) American hegemony or b) the UN’s version of “Decolonization.” (as if that had anything to do with….Decolonization….FYI it didn’t!). And while, yes, the Empire has evolved some new tentacles, no, it is still alive even if not completely well.
So it was to my delight that I read an article in The Spectator highlighting the consequences of Scottish Independence:
Calculating the rippling effects of this is something that is forcing my brain to stretch a bit. I honestly don’t know enough to present a thorough analysis, but it’s clear to me that Scottish Independence could really be a shot heard round the world.
The consequences for the north-east of Ireland have been foremost on my mind, but how would this play out in Canada where the British Crown claims most of the land and Lizzy Windsor is head-of-state? Vancouver, BC just formally declared themselves to be on unceded territory, and the Tsilhqot’in Nation just won a lands claim case in BC. So not only is Canada’s claim to the land in BC losing more and more legal legs to stand on, we now have to ask ourselves, what is Canada without the British Crown?
How will this play out in the rest of the Empi….I mean Commonwealth? Australia, where Indigenous Republican movements are active? Aotearoa (so-called New Zealand) with its ‘constitutional monarchy’ and active Maori decolonization movement?
To me, the big questions are how the EU plays into this (obviously), along with the usual suspects at the IMF, World Bank, etc. Many of us know that a change of flag does not a revolution make, but the dissolution of Britain is truly no small potatoes.