Many Scots
artists, writers, scientists and explorers and more have been airbrushed out of
history (as have many women!).
I James Clerk Maxwell; I recommend BBC Scotland's TV program on one
of the world's greatest physicists - James Clerk Maxwell
One of Edinburgh’s
many great intellectual sons: James
Clerk Maxwell (1831-79), the titanic Victorian scientist whose work was
described by Albert Einstein as the “most profound and the most fruitful that
physics has experienced since the time of Newton.”
His genius touched pure mathematics, electromagnetics, optics (color theory),
kinetic theory and thermodynamics, astronomy (the rings of Saturn), and many
other disciplines. He was also a poet
He was the
shoulders on which Einstein stood and he kept a photo of him on his wall. When
the Berlin Wall came down engineers from East Germany came over to Ayrshire
to visit Maxwell's grave. Yes in Germany scientific inventors and
engineers are highly regarded!
Yet in his
home country of Scotland
Maxwell is virtually unknown...... Scotland
and the north of England
were once the great centres of scientific, engineering excellence and
manufacturing. In 2008 and statue to Maxwell was unveiled in George street, Edinburgh.
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| James Clerk Maxwell |
II The Scottish suffragettes. In the recent movie Suffragette, the role
played by the Scottish suffragettes
are totally ignored.
Flora Drummond, “The General”, who rode a white horse at the head of
marches and Marion Wallace Dunlop (a descendant
of William Wallace) who pioneered the hunger strike as a political protest.
Dunlop was eulogised by George Bernard Shaw, who called for a statue of her to
be placed in Trafalgar Sq. In Scotland
the cause spread far and wide. King, the curator of the People’s Palace in Glasgow from 1974 to 1991, who was a driving force behind
its acclaimed collection of women’s suffrage artefacts, says the movement was
more radical in Scotland.
Councils and churches put their shoulders to the wheel too. “What didn’t happen
in England, but did in Scotland, was
you would get a lot of the authorities
making statements in favour of women’s suffrage and support from a lot of the
ministers. The Church of Scotland was
pro-suffrage and ministers spoke for votes for women.”
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| Flora Drummond |
There was
also a Mary Barbour
- there has been a recent campaign in Glasgow for a
statue in her honour. (1875 - 1958) was a Scottish political activist, councilor and magistrate.
She was closely associated with the Red Clydeside movement in the early 20th
century and especially for her role as the main organiser of the women of Govan who took part in the
rent strikes of 1915.
Remembering the Scots at the heart of the
suffragette movement by political editor Alison Rowat - http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/film/13838704.Remembering_the_Scots_at_the_heart_of_the_suffragette_movement/?ref=rss
Also
Labour party founder Kier Hardie had a close relationship with Emmeline
Pankhurst. Scottish ministers even preached for the votes for
women. In fact it appears that Scottish voices led the way in this crucial
movement...
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| James Connolly |
III Scotland and The Easter
Rising:
Scot James Connolly, as were many other
Scots, was a major player in Ireland's
struggle for Ireland's
independence. Next April will mark the 100
year anniversary of Ireland's
Easter Rising. Connolly was a founder of both the Irish Socialist Part and
of the Scottish Labour party, long before Keir
Hardie. The present Labour Glasgow city council believe any mention of
Irish independence is too controversial a topic though to mark the anniversary
in any way! Old prejudices die hard it
seems. Connolly was
also the brother of well respected Scottish journalist Ian Bell's grandfather (who
sadly died recently).
IV
Broadcasting
Even our Scots language is not recognised as an
official language. Linguists accept the status of Scots as a language. Recently
Osborne announced the BBC will not support the Gaelic language channel BBC
Alba. Of the £335 m raised in tv licence
fees in Scotland
- only £35m is spent on Scottish tv production.
V Secularism versus
For me
questions of how we are governed are nothing to do with religion, which should
be a private rather than state matter. This war of ideology with Muslims is really
over whether religion should be part of government?? Religion needs to be taken
out of schools and other institutions.
and Independence
The term 'Independence' seems too strong a word for many in England - who apparently feel they are being
very nice by helping us folks in Scotland out! This is quite simply about de-centralising
and growing up here in Scotland
and running our own affairs - while still maintaining very close ties with the
rest of these islands. .. Well perhaps we need to be more radical and have our
own currency that is not tied into the world banking system...??
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| Statue of James Clerk Maxwell in Edinburgh, 2008 |
We urgently
need informed debates on these topics for Scotland - AND not by political
parties - but by business people, scientists, economists etc.
Does all this matter? Should or does
history represent as truthful a view of the past as possible? We might argue
history is always limited or represents one viewpoint.
Well yes it does, especially in
today's world of mass communication. There is no reason to hide the truths.
