And Happy Republic Day to the 149 out of the 193 countries free of monarchies and a shout-out from Athens of the North’s unfinished republic.
Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh, has long been a contradictory city.
Auld Reekie, on account of the smell in the Old Town.
Or the Athens of the North, styled to reflect the part The Scottish Enlightenment played in European culture in the Middle Ages.
Which is to take us to where we are today, Calton Hill atop and looking over Edinburgh’s Old and New Town.
Scotland’s Parthenon
And where we are joined by a hundred-strong group of fellow Our Republic supporters.
In front of Scotland’s National Monument, known colloquially as ‘Edinburgh’s Disgrace or ‘Scotland’s Folly.’
The columns which were built to resemble the Parthenon in Ancient Athens.
The memorial stands in tribute to the Scots Fallen from the Napoleonic Wars.
And it is poignant to be here in the week that’s in it when we marked 80 years since Victory in Europe.
Edinburgh’s Grace
But Edinburgh’s Disgrace? Well, the columns were erected out of public donations which ran out.
Meaning that it remains unfinished.
There is of course something beautiful to the unfinished.
As only the divine creation could be considered complete.
Which would account for Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.
There is of course a symbolism too about an incomplete work such as in the Martin Luther statue in Washington DC.
Which will only be finished when true civil liberties have been achieved.
Friends across the water
The same might be argued for Scotland’s National Monument and its aspiration to be The Athens of the North.
On a day when God shines sunshine on Edinburgh we stand at the Monument’s pillars.
And hear the argument for a republic and the abolition of the monarchy.
The Scots cite the Declaration of Arbroath, the template for the US Constitution and Robert Burns and A Man’s A Man For ‘A That.
And brithers be and sisters too as Catalans, Bahamians and Jamaicans take the stage and sing and rouse the faithful.
Redemption song
We bring the curtain down with a rousing anthem, Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry, sung with gusto by Rue Cooper.
And wish the Jamaicans well for their Autumn referendum to give themselves the right to instal their own head of state.
Rue knows her audience and adapts Robert Nesta Marley’s words to accommodate Calton Hill, Edinburgh.
And bathed in the light we consider Athens of the North’s unfinished republic.
And promise to build a new future and return here when the work is finally all done.
