AMID the commemorations of the Easter Rising at the weekend, there was precious little said on this side of the Irish Sea about the reason why the people of Ireland went from general indifference to wholeheartedly embracing the cause of Padraig Pearse, Joseph Plunkett, James Connolly et al.
In one of the British Empire’s worst misjudgements, and they were countless, the decision to execute
14 of the leading figures by firing squad just weeks after the Rising made 1916 the year in which Ireland’s people turned from being ambivalent about independence to actively seeking it, though not, of course, in the six counties that became Northern Ireland.
These brutal judicious killings were a grave error by the British Government which continued to mistreat Ireland. Each attempt to quash the republican movement merely convinced more Irish people of the cause of independence. Out of terrible beauty, a nation was born.
Its early years were trouble-filled and poverty was endemic across the Free State and later the Republic. Yet Ireland is now a generally peaceful and far more prosperous place than it was prior to 1916.
Nearly 100 years after the Rising, the people of Scotland took part in a long and exhaustive debate about independence. The majority voted No in September 2014 after a process in which no shots were fired, no martyrs were created and the only casualties were a few eggs.
There can be no Easter Rising or its equivalent in Scotland. It is not wanted nor needed. Independence and the freedom it has brought the people of the Republic of Ireland can be won here by civil means.
We should be thankful that we do not need martyrs to win independence for Scotland. We just need to convince 10 per cent of those who voted No to switch to voting Yes. It is that difficult, and that simple.
Emotion and tears at the Easter Rising centenary
George Kerevan: Our political freedom will learn from the violent lessons of the Easter Rising
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