The greatest enemy of our cultural struggle is contained within the body of our Nation. Conquer it and with the strength that that will give us, we can reconquer Scotland with ease. That enemy is our lack of National confidence. It causes us to remain silent when our conscience tells us that we should speak out. It forces us to acquiesce when we should disagree. It compels us not to lift a finger when we should resist. It is a malignant lie that we must learn to recognise and exorcise.

This false sense of shame is responsible for the divide between English and Gaidhlig speakers and for those who have not tried to learn Gaidhlig trying to do so. This sneak thief within us is that which prevents us using the correct, traditional form of our names. It is that which stops so many people, whose instinct is true, from joining in with existing Nationalists and doing their part to free their native land from foreing (and native, perhaps) tyranny.

The 'Daily Record' printed a letter which provoked a minor furore. Its writer said that, as many tourists, English and others, had difficulty in pronouncing the word "Loch" in Scottish place names, this should be dropped and the English "Lake" be used instead in official signposts and brochures. Correspondents replied to this, unmindful of the date it had been published on (April 1st), unaware, apparently, of an irony in their stance. Here were anglicised Scots being bated for indulging in a protest at a force in Scottish life, i.e. Anglicisation, that they were a complaint product of. Their names showed this most pointedly - "Mary MacDonald", "Isobel Mackay", "John McDonald" and "Duncan MacIntyre". For all their defence of the Gaidhlig "Loch", they had not a Gaidhlig form of name amongst them. How ironic! Perhaps this defence of Gaidhlig was an isolated thing and these had amongst their number one who was otherwise a good North Brit, with a fine "progressive" anti-Gaidhlig language-attitude . Perhaps so, perhaps not. At the very best their anglicised names did not separate them from those whom one writer described as saying
"Our language is our shame -
an ancient disgrace,
As we strive to imitate
the master race!"

Anglicisation has been going on , however, with the active assistance of the "Scottish" bourgeoisie for centuries who saw their future as the sidekicks of England's Empire, and saw that the Gaidhlig speaking people of Scotland as possessing a cultural distinctiveness that would obstruct their Imperial absorption, as were so many other 'native' peoples in the British Empire to come. Every attempt was made to force the Gaidheal to accept Anglicisation from the sporadically violent to the use of persistent denigration. Government officials and other servants of the British State used English exclusively and refused to recognise the existence of Gaidhlig. English was the sole official language. In its pettiest form this meant a refusal to spell Gaidhlig names in their correct forms, imposed various anglicised equivalents or insisted on them using English names instead. Gaidhlig speakers who insisted upon their language were faced with the contempt of pro-British Imperialist English speakers intolerant of those who would not "progress". Government officials not only imposed equivalents but helped enact repressive legislation e.g. the total proscription of the name "MacGregor" (or in Gaidhlig, "MacGriogair".)

Gaidhlig, not tartans, kilts or pipe bands must be the cement that binds our cultural struggle together. It must be the rock on which our very struggle is built. For had there been no Gaidhlig there would exist no country calling itself Scotland today. There might have been a land of another name, most likely an extended England. For centuries the "Scota" and the "Gaidheal" were synonymous. If Gaidhlig is not placed in the vanguard of our aspirations, then Scotland's historical identity will be lost completely. We must ensure that Nationalists defend Gaidhlig, demanding for it its rightful place in Education, as well as in the Media. This is the paramount duty of all Scottish Nationalists, regardless of whether they themselves are Gaidhlig speaking or not. Despite the suspicion and ignorance that still sets English speakers and Gaidhlig speakers apart, we must work together, for only in victorious struggle for National Liberation can all things Scottish rise free.

© Siol nan Gaidheal, 1991