Something I appreciate about living in a different country is the every day reminder that not everyone sees the world through an American lens. Picking up the story from last week when Cindy Sheehan was with us in the Scottish Parliament, while speaking about American and British world views she said, “We’re all capitalists, after all.” There was a polite restraint in the room, registered by a few smiles on the faces of those around the conference table.
Most of the people in the room, while living in a capitalist system, would not describe themselves as capitalists. The majority were members of the Scottish Socialist Party with a scattering of Greens. The label socialist in these parts does not carry the same baggage as it does in America where it is akin to communist. Which is to say it was interesting to see how one coming in fresh to a different cultural milieu, social justice activist though one may be, brings the American perspective into the mix.
Later on a reporter from The Herald newspaper said to Cindy, “So I take it your politics are pretty socialist, then?” Her response was a shocked expression. She thought he was calling her a communist. She’s been called a lot of names in her quest for justice, most of which in considering the source she simply shrugs off. Socialist and its connotations to an American view was not a label she was willing to wear.
One of the challenges of life on either side of the pond is that a one-size-fits-all social perspective really doesn’t fit everyone. Even though many of my friends in the SSP (Scottish Socialist Party) would claim to be atheists, they still reach out to people of a religious persuasion when partnerships enhance the work of justice. It was the SSP who gathered Christians and Muslims in the city center for a time of prayer in the wake of the London bombings last July. It has been the SSP who have consistently welcomed me and supported the work I’m doing as a parish minister in Glasgow; a parish in which the city councilor who belongs to the SSP is always elected by an overwhelming margin.
Last week saw the start of the Christmas assemblies in the schools. They don’t call them “winter fests” or “holiday observances.” They are Christmas celebrations complete with all the requisite angels, shepherds and visiting royalty that one might find in any American church nativity. I am struck by how some of the lines they speak or sing jump out.
At one school a group of children recited a poem about the “true” meaning of Christmas with a reminder to think about people who are hungry, homeless and “not as lucky as we are” at this time of year. Luck carries the connotation of blessing in these parts, which in the sense of not owning or controlling God’s blessing probably skirts close to the meaning of what it is God does for people.
One group gave voice to a donkey in the vicinity of Jesus’ birth, who if donkeys could sing, sang, “Hee haw, hee haw! Life isn’t fair! There’s a baby in my dinner and no one seems to care.” I think deep down they know that some people do indeed care. There are a lot of people working for justice on their behalf. Christians, Muslims, socialists, whoever, we’re all down there struggling in the common cause. It’s true, life isn’t fair. But it’s also true that if we keep working for justice and peace, maybe their luck will change.
Take Care – John Mann
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