I had planned to attend the anti-Trump rally in Edinburgh today, but the dug has eaten something that disagreed with him and is shiting everywhere. Rather like Donald Trump, although to be fair there are some significant differences. Whereas the dug is confining his crapfest to the local area, and it can cleaned up with a doggy bag or two, Trump’s ordure is polluting an entire planet and our government has shown not the slightest inclination to get out a Trump bag and bin the mess. And the mess that the dug is producing comes out of his arse. Donald’s come out of his gob. I’m sure that the dug will be fully recovered by tomorrow, which is a lot more than can be said for Donald Trump, whose condition is incurable. He has terminal logorrhea.
The protests in Scotland, and the rest of the UK, are nothing to do with how people feel about the USA or Americans in general, and everything to do with how we feel about Donald Trump. Today in Edinburgh tens of thousands of people are taking to the streets to show the world that Scotland, the land of a hundred thousand welcomes, has no welcome to spare for the racism of Trump. It was just one of many protests which are taking place across Scotland this weekend. Yesterday, Friday, there was a protest in George Square in Glasgow, which I did get to with the dug.
We might be divided by many things in Scottish politics, above all by our views on the constitution and the future of this country as either an independent country or as a part of the UK, but one thing that unites Scots across our political divide is rejection of the politics of racism, contempt for women, and hatred that is embodied by the Cheeto in Chief. Trump is not a divisive figure in Scotland. The vast majority hate him.
Rarely has there been such unanimity in Scottish politics. Even Coatbridge’s Labour MP Hugh Gaffney was in attendance at the anti-Trump rally in Glasgow’s George Square to protest against Trump’s racism. Hugh understands how bad racism is now that he’s done the awareness training. Even Ruth Davidson seems to have got over her aversion to traffic disruption, although to be honest she wasn’t too fussed about it during last week’s Orange marches either. That hasn’t stopped Sky News having Ruth’s wee tweet about the Edinburgh anti-Trump protest on its scrolling news bar as though amongst Scottish politicians she’s uniquely opposed to bigotry.
However there are those who support Trump. As the saying goes, by your friends shall ye be known. The US President with the tiny hands has been welcomed by Piers Morgan, Katie Hopkins, Nigel Farage, and Boris Johnson. The UK’s very own list of deplorables, the world’s most pathetic supervillains, the Gang of Attention Whores. In London, the rally which has been organised to welcome Trump was the work of the far right English Defence League.
In Scotland Trump supporters are not many in number but they do exist. Donald’s friends were in evidence at the Glasgow protest yesterday. All four of them, three of whom were identified as former candidates for the BNP, and the fourth was a far right campaigner and Holocaust denier who was considered too obnoxious even for Ukip. Donald Trump’s supporters in Scotland are yer actual fascists, bigots, certain members of the Conservative party, and the Orange Order. Naturally the Orangemen were always going to support Donald, seeing as how he’s distinctly orange himself, but he shares their politics of exclusion, hatred, and nostalgia for a supremacist past.
Many people say that they don’t understand the point of protesting against Trump. It’s not like he’s going to look at some guy with a sign in George Square saying We Shall Overcomb and say to himself – “You know. He’s right. Bigly right. The rightest. I’m going to stop blaming migrants, muslims, women, and disabled people and tackle the real cause of inequality in our society – those corporations and wealthy individuals who don’t pay their way.” Donald Trump doesn’t do self-reflection.
The stark truth is that the USA is currently led by a far right politician who preaches the politics of racism. The brutal reality is that the UK is at serious risk of going down the same path. Brexit was driven by English nationalism clothing itself in British drag and claiming not to be nationalism at all. It was motivated by fear of immigration, a sense of superiority, and a desire to return to a mythical past which never really existed. Brexit dreams of a lost empire, a global influence that has long since dissipated. Common sense is going out the window as the British government clings on to increasingly desperate fantasies in the pursuit of the impossible. These are the precursors of fascism.
The word fascist is much overused, but fascism doesn’t march up to us in Nazis uniforms announcing that it’s fascist. Fascism creeps up. Fascism tells you it’s on your side against those others who it tells you are stealing your jobs or changing your society. Fascism tells you it’s your friend. Fascism tells you it’s on your side against the elite. Fascism blames the disabled and the poor for the crimes of the rich. It blames the marginalised for the evils of the establishment. It blames minorities for the wrongs of the powerful. Protesting against Donald Trump in Scotland isn’t about changing Trump. It’s about changing Scotland.
And make no mistake, Scotland is changing for the better. The protests against Trump annd the recent outpouring of anger and outrage against the annual Orange parades is evidence of that. A tipping point has been reached in Scotland’s toleration of bigotry. The sorry suplication to Trump demonstrated by the British government is not what we want Scotland to be. We demand better. We will strive for better. There is a better Scotland, and it’s almost within our grasp.
Half the population supports independence, and that’s before there’s an official campaign to focus the minds of the majority who don’t live and breathe politics. We can make Scotland a better country. And while this weekend’s protests against Trump are not about independence, here’s a wee thought. Donald Trump’s mother was Scottish. In an independent Scotland Trump will be a citizen, which means that he won’t have diplomatic immunity in this country, and if women wish to come forward to make allegations against him, then we could arrest him here. An independent Scotland can be the imodium to Trump’s logorrhea.
WEE GINGER FUNDRAISER
It’s that time of year again. It’s been a year since I last did a fundraiser. This year is going to be a particularly expensive one for me personally. There’s a wedding to pay for, and I need to ensure that my earnings are sufficient to prove to the Home Office that I am able to import my American spouse into Scotland to live here permanently. As well as the need to demonstrate a minimum level of annual income, £18,600, there are also hefty legal and visa fees to pay.
I really don’t like doing fundraisers, and I really don’t like to blow my own trumpet, but I work my wee socks off for the independence movement. I publish this blog, and I do talks to local indy groups all over Scotland without asking for a fee. Don’t get me wrong, I greatly enjoy it. It’s a huge privilege to meet all the wonderful, talented, and committed people who make the Scottish independence movement something really special. However it takes up a lot of time and energy to keep blogging and doing public talks, time and energy that I could be using to generate an income to prove to the Home Office that I am able to support my American spouse.
The truth is that if every regular reader of this blog gave just one pound a year, I’d be pulling in well over £100,000 annually. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that. Publishing and selling books and maps helps, as does selling t-shirts, but it’s pretty hit and miss. I do get paid by The National for my twice weekly articles, but that doesn’t pay anything like as much as you might think it would. In order to be confident that I can meet the minimum income requirements demanded by the Home Office, cover the cost of a wedding on both sides of the Atlantic, and cover the fees required to pay the visas and associated legal costs, I need to do a fundraiser for £10,000.
Any help you can give would be immensely appreciated. Help me to keep campaiging, and help me to show that Scotland is a welcoming place for migrants – at least one special migrant in particular, the man I’m going to marry in October.
You can donate by clicking the following link and donating on my Gofundme page.
https://www.gofundme.com/wee-ginger-fundraiser
Alternatively you can donate by clicking on the Paypal “Donate” button on this page, or by logging in to www.paypal.com and making a payment to me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com If you would prefer to donate by some other method, cash, cheque, or bank transfer, please contact me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com for details.
Many thanks for all your support. You’ve no idea how much it means to me.
You can help to support this blog with a Paypal donation. Please log into Paypal.com and send a payment to the email address weegingerbook@yahoo.com. Or alternatively click the donate button. If you don’t have a Paypal account, just select “donate with card” after clicking the button.
If you have trouble using the button, or you prefer not to use Paypal, you can donate or purchase a t-shirt or map by making a payment directly into my bank account, or by sending a cheque or postal order. If you’d like to donate by one of these methods, please email me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com and I will send the necessary information. Please also use this email address if you would like the dug and me to come along to your local group for a talk.
