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Sectarianism in Scotland: The Last Decade (Final Chapter)

© Simon Hill

On the 3rd of September 1999 a poll in the Herald discovered that 34% of those asked felt that 'there is a deep-rooted anti-Catholic attitude through Scottish society'. That statistic in itself should be enough evidence that action should be taken to combat sectarianism. Bigotry and sectarianism have been allowed to survive in modern Scotland. They have been largely ignored outside of public and media debate and of course many people have refused to admit they still exist at all. Again racism provides the perfect comparison. If there were reports of racist attacks and murders in the modern political climate, and people were denying that it was happening, and refusing to investigate or even compile statistics, there would be a public outcry, and the situation would not be suffered to continue requiring the government to step in and legislate. There are reports of sectarian attacks and murders, there has been a refusal to compile evidence and only this year has an MSP expressed any interest in legislating.

More research is needed to understand how and why sectarianism has survived. For the most part sectarianism has done a good job of intertwining itself within institutions such as Glasgow Rangers or idealogies such as unionism, but it is not inextricably linked with these. A positive way forward would be to legislate in order to criminalise sectarianism and for Rangers to seek a reformed identity which holds no place for bigotry. Orange marches should be banned, and have been in some places such as Aberdeen, as they choose to identify themselves through hatred of another community. The Conservative party and unionism, which both appear to be in terminal decline anyway, are in desperate need of a facelift, a new identity which would not include sectarianism may help them attract new supporters.

Throughout this essay we have seen a huge amount of evidence that sectarianism is still a problem for modern Scotland and that it requires action to be dealt with as it will not disappear by itself. There have been countless incidents over the last decade which could only be described as deplorable and each of those incidents has further damaged the reputation of Scotland. It is our duty through the new parliament in Edinburgh to create the most egalitarian, democratic and free society possible; legislation on sectarianism would be a great symbol of our politicians willingness to listen to the population's opinion and reject some of the symbols of the old Scotland which are no longer relevant or helpful. It is well past time that this hateful, ignorant and backward looking conflict was brought to an end.

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