Scotland can be free of London, but not capitalist markets
Systemic Disorder | 13.01.2014 17:54 | Analysis | Social Struggles
That a small country could defy the power of capitalist markets — the product of the aggregate interests of the world’s most powerful industrialists and financiers — is not realistic. Those markets are expressed through a variety of means, financial and political, through multilateral institutions and imperialist governments, through webs of debt and military pressure.
Independence for a country that is a dependent capitalist entity is illusory. Scotland, although a core capitalist nation whether or not it remains a part of the United Kingdom, will not prove to be an exception.
The governing Scottish National Party (SNP) promises the people of Scotland that they would hold their fates solely in their own hands should they vote for independence, yet Scotland just showed itself to be at the mercy of the world’s 12th largest petrochemical company. If so, how is Scotland to stride boldly into its future free of London financiers and global capitalist markets when a single multinational corporation successfully issues diktats?
Some of the contradictions inherent in Scotland’s independence bid are reflected in the SNP’s white paper, Scotland’s Future, in which it promises a host of progressive policies to reverse London-dictated austerity while flatly stating that an independent Scotland would continue to use the pound as its currency and recognize Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. Intended or not, retaining the pound ensures fiscal policy will be decided in London and not Edinburgh.
SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond doesn’t appear to see the significance of this, telling The Guardian that “The Bank of England and sterling are as much Scotland’s assets as London’s assets. They are certainly not [Chancellor] George Osborne’s assets. We put forward in this paper our willingness to accept liabilities. We are also entitled to the share of assets.”
Although an opponent of independence, Gordon Brown is closer to the mark, declaring a currency union “self-imposed colonialism.”
To continue reading, please go to
http://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/scotland-capitalist-markets/.
The governing Scottish National Party (SNP) promises the people of Scotland that they would hold their fates solely in their own hands should they vote for independence, yet Scotland just showed itself to be at the mercy of the world’s 12th largest petrochemical company. If so, how is Scotland to stride boldly into its future free of London financiers and global capitalist markets when a single multinational corporation successfully issues diktats?
Some of the contradictions inherent in Scotland’s independence bid are reflected in the SNP’s white paper, Scotland’s Future, in which it promises a host of progressive policies to reverse London-dictated austerity while flatly stating that an independent Scotland would continue to use the pound as its currency and recognize Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. Intended or not, retaining the pound ensures fiscal policy will be decided in London and not Edinburgh.
SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond doesn’t appear to see the significance of this, telling The Guardian that “The Bank of England and sterling are as much Scotland’s assets as London’s assets. They are certainly not [Chancellor] George Osborne’s assets. We put forward in this paper our willingness to accept liabilities. We are also entitled to the share of assets.”
Although an opponent of independence, Gordon Brown is closer to the mark, declaring a currency union “self-imposed colonialism.”
To continue reading, please go to
http://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/scotland-capitalist-markets/.
Systemic Disorder