🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <24217@castle.ed.ac.uk> cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm) writes:

>In one of Catalunya's towns (city?) there is a large square, bedside
>the bus station, which contains a lot of sculpture, the name of which
>(translated) is "the square of nations without states". My Catalan
>friend pointed to the name of the square, saying "As a Scot you will
>be able to understand how we feel about this.  Stateless nations are
>one of the great tragedies of Europe, but only those who have
>experienced it can know this. This square is dedicated to stateless
>nations everywhere."

	I know that nationalism isn't really in the domain of this
group, but I felt I had to respond. As an American and the son of a
Scot and a Jew, I really don't think being a nation without a state is
such a tragedy, as long as the majorities don't make the majorities
feel inferior or undesirable.
	It seems to me the real tragedy, which we has inspired
countless atrocities in our century and is even now making people
miserable or dead in what was Yugoslavia, is nations who feel they
have to have their own states at all costs, and that they should be as
ethnically "pure" as possible. 
	I have to admit that I do feel a stirring inside of me when
people talk about Scottish independence, but it isn't worth bloodshed,
in fact it doesn't even justify the alienation that any English or
Irish would feel at suddenly  being forced to live in a Scottish
state. I do feel a deep sense of shame about ethnic violence in my
other "home areas" of Northern Ireland, Texas and Israel.
	(I should probably point out here that I feel in general that
very little indeed does justify killing.)
	I do support some kind of autonomy for fairly homogeneous
minority regions such as Scotland or Catalunya, and if this EC thing
works out, I see no reason why they should remain part of the ancient
conquerors. In any case, even France would be a nation without a state
then.

				Sincerely,

					Angus Grieve-Smith
					ba07479@bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu