The Scottish Referendum Will Not Eliminate the Queen's Position of Head of State

 

World Heads of State, 1889

 "Those who touch the sceptres of princes deserve no pity."

-Queen Elizabeth I

Even today, at this late hour; as the powerful scramble to preserve their wavering authority, it is easy to be fooled by "populist" movements.  At first, independence movements seem organic and natural-  the logical reaction to blatant tyranny and forced poverty.  Quite often, however, the populist movement is a creation of the ruling class, for it allows them to sort out the prime movers behind actual action and subsequently, divide and conquer them.  Co-opting a movement allows the ruling class to get in front of the revolt, control it, and finally bury it to insure their authority isn't subverted by populist "bumps in the road."

A few days earlier, The National Pulse reported on the upcoming Scottish Independence referendum as if the Scots actually planned to secede from the British Empire.  The National Pulse was tragically mistaken.  Even if the referendum passed, Queen Elizabeth would remain the Head of State of Scotland.  The Head of State is the highest ranking constitutional position in a sovereign state.  Scotland would be just like Canada and Australia, with the English Queen as their Head of State.  For these countries, their Head of State lives out of country, and habitually steals from the people who live there through taxation and other modes of exploitation.  Being the Head of State, the Queen could theoretically allow their little vote and then use her massive influence to nullify any serious damage to her kingdom. 

Loyalists, apologists, and other subjects would argue that the position is mostly ceremonial to the real executive power in the state.  One would logically ask then, "Well, what the hell do we need her to hold a ceremonial position for anyway?  To ceremonially remember all the taxes paid, all the lives lost in imperial wars, and all the exploitation by Great Britain to their colonies?"  Some traditions are better off done away with-  not forgotten, but eliminated.   

"Teach the niggers to forget their heroes and to adore only ours.  Never present a chair to a black that comes to visit you. Don't give him more than one cigarette. Never invite him for dinner even if he gives you a chicken every time you arrive at his house."

- King Leopold II of Belgium in a speech from 1883 to Belgian missionaries

men stand with severed hands in the Congo

In the Central African Congo, King Leopold raped the country for its mineral resources, especially rubber.  When production quotas weren't met, the Belgians cut the hands off of the native workers whether they were culpable for the poor production numbers or not.  Leopold killed an estimated 10 million Congolese.

Leopold's sick tyranny remains with the Congo today, unfortunately.  Even when Belgium was set to lose their colony in the mid-20th century due to a nationalistic movement led by Patrice Lumumba, other greedy exploiters like the U.S.'s CIA stepped in to make sure their puppet leader would allow the rape to continue.  Greed is a powerful motivator and staunch racist ideologies loosen inhibitions.      

Amazingly, a statue of King Leopold II of Belgium remains on Congolese soil to this day.  At the Beach at Ostende, the inscription reads, "The gratitude of the Congolese to Leopold II for having liberated them from slavery under the Arabs."  It is truly unbelievable that this type Orwellian message tribute exists for a man who never set foot in the country but decimated its people from afar.  In the major city, Kinshasa, authorities tried to re-erect a statue of Leopold II in 2005.  The likeness of the Belgian mass murderer lasted a day before outraged Congolese stole it. 

Why must some men exact homage and continue to rub their made-up authority in the faces of other people? 

 Rulers are compelled to exact homage from those they view as their subjects.  Despite their countless atrocities, authoritarian controllers have to sanitize the histories of their exploitation, and remain in the public eye.  

It is doubtful Scotland will regain total freedom with their referendum vote next week.  To kick the Queen out of their country and seize her residences would be too tall an order for a people subjected to tyranny for so long.  But it sure would be nice to see the Scots take a hard line against her bullshit rule.