http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/iain_macwhirter/2008/02/the_next_kosovo.html.printer.friendly
The next Kosovo? Iain Macwhirter February 20, 2008 5:00 PM http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/iain_macwhirter/2008/02/the_next_kosovo.html Passport to Berwick? There has been an endearing Ealing comedy air to the row about the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed apparently voting to secede from England. Berwick's population want to become part of Scotland again. An opinion poll by the ITV "Tonight programme this week suggests that 60% of Berwick's population want re-join Scotland after 500 years' separation. Well it's a laugh isn't it? Good for the tourist trade in England's most northerly town. But is it any more than that? Well, to Scottish nationalists this is sacred turf. Berwick is the site of the Scotland's greatest national humiliation and one of the worst atrocities of the wars of independence. It was here in 1296 that Edward I, after massacring 8,000 of Berwick's inhabitants, forced the Scottish nobles to swear allegiance to England - the infamous "Ragman's Roll". The Northumberland town changed hands again half a dozen times before being recaptured, for the 13th and last time, by the Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III), in 1482. Five hundred years is a long time for a grievance to fester, but it does. Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond, says he has "no territorial ambitions for any part of England", but his MSPs do. One of them, Christine Grahame, has tabled a parliamentary motion calling for Berwick to "return to the fold". The SNP MP, Pete Wishart, tabled a motion in Westminster calling for "negotiations to begin between the Scottish and English governments" to decide Berwick's fate. Are they serious? Well, having spoken to nationalists about this, I am not entirely sure. Some of them regard it all as a bit of a joke - a silly season story. Perhaps a good way of getting publicity for the nationalist government, since the UK media generally shows more interest in quirky stories like Free Berwick than in serious stuff like the Scottish budget. Others seem genuinely to believe that Berwick - whose football team plays in the Scottish league - should have the right to secede and become part of Scotland if its people wish it. The Liberal Democrat MP for the area, Alan Beith, says it is all about Berwick people wanting free elderly care and free tuition fees, and nothing to do with nationality. And he's probably right. But as we know from other parts of the world, extinct communal grievances have a nasty habit of becoming active again. Take Kosovo, which declared independence this week. The Serbs regard Kosovo a little like some Scots nationalists regard Berwick - a place of semi-sacred historical significance. Slobodan Milosevic famously rallied a crowd of one million Serbs on the anniversary in 1989 of the battle of Kosovo when the Serbs were defeated by the Turks, and the Serbian nation faced extinction. Moreover, there is no doubt that Serbia has a legal claim to Kosovo under UN Resolution 1244 passed in 1999. Those who have eagerly supported the rights of Kosovan Albanians to go their own way might not be so keen if Berwick went the same way. Just think how Westminster Tories would react if the EU sent a special envoy to assist Berwick's secession from England. So, might we one day see UN peacekeepers taking up position as the town of Berwick declares independence? Might there be ethnic cleansing of the remaining minority English inhabitants? Border post being burnt? No, of course not. We are long past all that kind of thing here - just think of the damage to property prices! Nevertheless, the Scottish National Party government is hugely popular in Scotland right now, and it's not inconceivable that Scotland could become independent within a decade. If that were to happen, border disputes would be inevitable. The people of Berwick might well calculate that they would have more of a future in Scotland than as a neglected corner of England. Berwick used to be Scotland's greatest merchant seaport, and while that could never be recaptured, if the town became the recognised border town, it could become an important tourist centre. At present, the Scottish border is literally nowhere, a few miles up the A1. Free Berwick may not be such a joke after all. As the United Kingdom unravels over the coming years, this is the kind of issue that could arise. The politics of nationality is taking over from the politics of class, which means we may all have to get out our maps and history books.
