Jan 25, 2022 Reflection

 Today we learned about Scotland and its historical dispute regarding its independence. Scotland is a part of the United Kindom, and has only 8% of the population, despite owning more than a third of the land and two-thirds of the area when including oceans. Notwithstanding, English politicians take advantage of Scotland`s small population to rob them of their natural resources. The islands on the northern and western side of Scotland allow them to have a larger water area to gather natural resources, but England and the other UK countries find ways to loot the resources from Scotland. Firstly, it is seen that territorial borders for the two countries are being moved bit by bit and are literally carving Scotlands area. In addition, English ships are unlawfully intruding Scottish territory and are taking the fish from Scottish water. These disputes lead to Scotland wanting independence from the UK and held a national referendum in 2014. But because the UK didn't want to lose a large part of their income source they used underhanded techniques to deceive citizens into voting to keep Scotland in the UK. 

Countries stopping part of their population from obtaining independence is not a rare event in a countries history. America from Spain, Mexico from Spain, even now, Hong Kong from China. Even though it is not rare to see these acts, no peaceful independence declarations have been seen and this was no different. But each one of these independences declares their separation with unique tactics, such as boycotts, riots, etc. but with the advancement of the internet, more and more tactics have been made.  

In my opinion, both sides have their say in this dispute. From the class, I can see how important Scotland is to the UK, but on the other hand, I can understand why they would like to have their independence. Both sides need what they desire in order to thrive as a country so it is no wonder that they start to use these underhanded techniques.