SCOTLAND’S leading historian and one of this country’s most distinguished journalists have launched a ferocious attack on the leading Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan after he called them and 48 other signatories of their Declaration of Independence “pathetic” and accusing them of “bending over” to the establishment.
Sir Tom Devine and Ruth Wishart have hit back in response to the article by MacMillan, which was published in the right-wing outlet National Review.
He wrote: “Art should not bend the knee to governments or ruling castes. Since when did the artistic desire to shock the establishment become the desire to bend over for them?”
READ MORE: Now YOU can sign the Declaration for Independence too
He added: “Perhaps the ruling class and its cultural cheerleaders need to be reminded that ‘the country’ voted in 2014 against their plans for secession and separation from the United Kingdom.”
Most seriously, MacMillan alleged: “Days before the recent SNP conference, in a move coordinated with political handlers, 50 prominent figures in Scottish arts and academia published a ‘declaration of independence’ supporting the government in calls for Scots to ‘decide their own destiny,’ setting out ‘guiding principles’ for a new state, a new constitution, the expulsion of nuclear weapons, etc.”
National columnist Wishart, who signed the Declaration, told The National: “Sir James MacMillan is rightly regarded as one of the jewels in Scotland’s musical crown. Unfortunately his grasp of politics is rather shakier. I read with astonishment his assertion that the Declaration of Independence published in this paper was dreamt up and published by its authors and signatories in a move ‘co-ordinated with political handlers’.”
“Let me put his fevered mind at rest. No politicians, ‘handlers’ or others were disturbed in any way at any stage of this project.”
Historian Devine, another signatory, said: “In his most recent public outburst on the issue of Scottish independence, the composer James McMillan has launched a bitter attack on those cultural figures in Scotland who signed the Declaration of Independence.
“In it he accuses them of harbouring a ‘a pathetic desire to please those in control’, by which I presume he means the Scottish Government. The writers and artists are guilty of ‘meek and mild compliance’, a refusal ‘to speak truth to power’ and a ‘desire to bend over’ to please the political establishment of the day.
“I have rarely read such arrant nonsense from a so-called figure of public standing. McMillan’s overarching Unionist convictions seem to have blinded his reason and led him to produce shrill propaganda rather than evidence-based argument.
“Let me speak for myself; other signatories can express their own opinions: I have never been a member of the SNP, I have always spoken truth to power in my public statements without either fear or favour, including criticism of several of the policies of the current Scottish Government. I have never received grant funding from the Scottish Government, unlike McMillan who has done so to the tune of no less than £150,000 this year.
“McMillan’s remarks are a deeply offensive calumny against creative people of calibre in our country who prize very highly their personal robust independence of mind and spirit’.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “We disagree with Sir James MacMillan’s characterisation of funding – in fact he has himself benefited from Scottish Government funding, with £150,000 from the Expo Fund going towards five concerts at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival which showcased a new symphony as part of the celebrations for this 60th birthday.”
Other signatories to the Declaration Of Independence included actress Elaine C Smith, author Andrew O’Hagan and musician and playwright Liz Lochhead.
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