Sturgeon: I would prefer my party was not called the SNP
First Minister says the word national could be ‘problematic’
Nicola Sturgeon has admitted she wishes the Scottish National Party had a different name because of the negative connotations which the word nationalism has in other parts of the world.
The comments came during the SNP leader’s appearance yesterday at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
She was taking part in a debate alongside Turkey’s best selling female author Elif Shafak, who spoke of the destructive and violent impact of nationalism on her country and on societies across the Balkans and the Middle East. The writer also asked whether nationalism could ever be “benign” or “ennobling”.
Ms Sturgeon acknowledged that the word was “hugely problematic” and said she would rather her party’s founders had called it something else.
The First Minister said: “If I could turn the clock back, what, 90 years, to the establishment of my party and choose its name all over
again? I would not chose the name – I would call it something other than the Scottish National Party.
“People then say well why don’t you change its name now? Well, that would be far too complicated. What those of us who do support Scottish independence are all about could not be more further removed from what you would recognise as nationalism in other parts of the world.
“There are two things that I believe that run strongly through the Scottish independence movement.
“Firstly, it does not matter where you come from. If Scotland is your home and you feel you have a stake in the country you are Scottish and you have as much say in the future of the country as I do.
“That is a civic, open and inclusive view of the world which is so far removed from what you would rightly fear.
“Secondly, one of the great motivators for those of us who support Scottish independence is wanting to have a bigger voice in the world. It is about being outward looking and internationalist and not inward looking and insular.”
She added: “Words do matter. We can’t change the connotations the word has in other parts of the world, but we can do is demonstrate through words of our own, through deeds, through actions and how we carry ourselves.”
Ms Shafak told Ms Sturgeon that living in a divided Turkey had informed her opinion of nationalism.
“Coming from Turkey and seeing the experiences there and across the Middle East, the Balkans – for us the word nationalism, for me personally, is very negative,” the prizewinning author said.
“I have seen how ugly it can get. How violent it can become and it can divide people into imaginary categories and make them lose that cultural co-existence.
“When I come here I hear the word nationalism being used more in a different way and I doubt that. Can nationalism ever be benign? Can it be an ennobling thing?”
Ms Sturgeon responded by admitting the association with nationalism in the SNP’S name was “difficult”.
Later, Ms Shafak said: “Every nationalistic ideology teaches us tribalism, it tells us we all belong in tribes.”
Reacting to Ms Sturgeon’s remarks, Labour’s Jackie Baillie argued that nationalism was “by its very nature divisive”.
Ms Baillie said: “That’s why Labour rejects narrow nationalism and believes that we achieve more together than we achieve alone.
“That is something Nicola Sturgeon – for all of her posturing and spin – will never truly believe.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: “The SNP’S problem with nationalism isn’t the name, it’s the whole attitude of the party.”