THE controversy of fracking – its environmental impact and who profits – has caused community consternation across Scotland in recent years. But worries over fossil fuel drilling is no new fad. I have a hazy childhood memory of Glasgow Green and how folk campaigned against mining on the people’s land. So I did some research.
The People’s Palace and Glasgow Green by Elspeth King documents the saga in its full political glory. Coal deposits, identified in the 1820s, were later set to be mined in 1858 when the council wanted revenue from public park land. Locals were not impressed at the threat to the historic common grazing land.
The plan, presented by John McDowall of Milton Iron Works, included the assumption that the land would sink drastically – and have to be filled up with transported rubble and earth to counteract the subsidence.
Locals dictated a mocking anthem about McDowall called “Airn John”, which accused the coal profiteers of seeking to rip up the Green against the community’s interests and to divert funds to the city's posher bits.
“Ye’d rather sink the puir, John/Who has nae secord sark/ Ye’d pu’ the buttons aff oor coats/To pay the west-end park/If maun sink a pit, John/Sink it in George Square/Or sink it in the Crescents John/Amang the rich folk there,” it went.
While the proposal to mine the Green re-emerged in 1869 and 1888, coal mining never took hold of the green.A victory for people power!
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We need a leader not a figurehead
THE silly season of the Christmas break can mean underwhelming stories receiving disproportionate attention. I can hear the sighs of frustration across the nation as royal correspondents broadcast daily updates on Elizabeth Windsor’s “heavy cold”. You are free to ask, "Who really cares?" Well, Windsor is now aged 90 and naturally coming to the end of her life, beset by the same health problems that reach us all in time. Of course her passing will be unlike any other.
Journalist Rob Price predicts it will be “the most disruptive event in Britain in the last 70 years”, and has described this all-encompassing process that will bring the UK to a halt for official mourning, business closures and the following coronation.
It will be a time of British nationalism on steroids. Understandably, some who have seen the Queen as a stable influence throughout their lives will feel loss. But that single story – the belief that all right-thinking people will be devastated with grief – is an insult to independence of mind.
It is right that controversial people and institutions are contested and looked at from different perspectives rather than whitewashed through mind numbing, servile, media saturation. That’s unlikely to be the case in this instance.
Even republicans can be caught buying into the consensus when praising Elizabeth’s long reign, on the basis of so-called "public service". But is that really merited? The system of monarchy is such an odd, primitive form of organisation. The fact anyone has played by the rules of that system isn’t something worthy of praise.
It means biting your tongue in the name of a phoney role of neutrality. It means glorifying the nation, always, even when your government’s actions are wrong. It means being used as a ceremonial figurehead in dealings with rogue regimes, tyrants and dictators – when your political establishment wishes to sell them arms. It means acting as a figure of stability and calm – when your subjects’ lives contain neither. It means being used against Scottish independence by other establishment interests.
The fact that Elizabeth has been proficient at sticking within these rules is an achievement of sorts – but not one that demonstrates any brave leadership qualities. The truth is that on the major political challenges for the world – climate change, inequality, war – the Queen is muzzled.
The Irish have a democratic alternative. Michael D Higgins – an academic, peace campaigner and linguist – has been speaking up for homelessness protestors in recent weeks. Mary Robinson, a predecessor, remains a strong voice for human rights across the world.That’s the leadership the world needs. The Queen’s eventual death cannot hide that truth.
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