Letters / Vital we get it right
As the SNP and Yes Shetland pick up momentum in their campaign to break Scotland away from the UK it’s worth reflecting on the magnitude of the historic events to which the 2014 “Bannockburn Anniversary Referendum” may lead.
The significance is potentially on a par with the Union of the Parliaments in 1707 and for Shetland itself, the “Maid of Norway” episode of 1469 in which Shetland was “pawned” to Scotland.
Historic legal anomalies regarding the “pawning” have been detailed in a fascinating summary by Robin Barclay which suggest there may be legal grounds for Norway to mount a claim for sovereignty.
While Norway will not wish to offend a good neighbour like the UK, given the seaways, fisheries and resources around Shetland, as well as the history of good relations to the present day, it is hardly disinterested and if Shetlanders were to demonstrate a serious desire for closer links they would be unlikely to push us away.
Given the historic significance of the referendum, the abovementioned legal anomalies and the potential benefits to Shetland of, for example, a “two-state solution,” it is vital that we get it right this time and no stone should be left unturned in considering the possibilities.
An example of where a disputed strategic territory has been handled well is the Aland Islands in the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic which is legally Finnish however it is autonomous, demilitarised and the people speak only Swedish.
With a population of around 28,000 the “Islands of Peace” are comparable in size to Shetland and appear to be doing “nicely thank you“.
As to the question of whether Shetland will be allowed to decide its own future it is worth recalling that in 1982, the UK dispatched a vast military task force 8,000 miles to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentine invaders on the basis that, as with Gibraltar, the democratic wishes of the 3,000 residents (2006 census) are “paramount.”
I am not advocating that Shetland should leave the UK or an independent Scotland I am saying that at this momentous time, we should look at and consider all options carefully.
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