Introduction

We have chosen this topic because within Scotland, and around the world, history is being used as a weapon of war. Here in Scotland, Facism is a growing force exploiting our lack of knowledge of why things are the way they are, and our experiences of poverty, isolation and disempowerment. This means we target vulnerable groups within our communities instead of those with power. Around the world, genocides, mass displacement and exploitations of people are happening, and many people feel like they don’t understand what's going on or how to help. History gives us crucial information about how things have come to be, an ability to recognise patterns and tools we can use again. It also offers a sense of belonging, not based in violence against, or the exclusion of, others. In this topic we try to understand the role history has in our society and why it matters? 

‘No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history, teach you your true heroes, if they know that that knowledge will help set you free’ - Assata Shakur 

In her book ‘The Wee Yellow Butterfly’ Scottish poverty and housing activist Cathy McCormack talked about the ‘War Without Bullets’ in reference to the impacts of the class system on the physical and mental health of our communities. She wanted to draw attention to the impact of less visible oppressions; such as bureaucracy, urban planning and social policy as well as the very tangible realities of uninsulated and mouldy housing. A community organiser and activist all her adult life, Cathy struggled not only with poverty, parenting and trying to force Glasgow City Council to listen to tenants, but also with the impact of what the Kurdish Freedom Movement calls 'special warfare'. This refers to psychological attacks  on society - through things like the media pitting communities against each other and social policies which promote isolation and separation. In Cathy’s case in the 90’s this was the rhetoric of ‘benefit scroungers’ and ‘single mums’, today it is ‘stop the boats’ and ‘trans people using toilets’. 

It is important to recognise this as a war, because the powers waging it — such as states and corporations — certainly approach it with all the purposefulness and violence of warfare. The aim of this ‘war without bullets’ is to make us feel powerless and alone, to prevent us from understanding ourselves or acting collectively . 

As individuals and communities we need self defence, and learning and telling our histories is a world which aims to silence them, is self defence. 

“History is the fruit of power, but power itself is never so transparent that its analysis becomes superfluous. The ultimate mark of power may be its invisibility; the ultimate challenge, the exposition of its roots.” ― Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History

To know our history is to know that we are not alone, that we are part of a lineage of struggle and a global community. That we are a link in a chain which will far outlive us. As F Marian McNeill said ‘Remember, no one can face the future with courage and confidence unless it is solidly founded upon the past. And conversely, no problem will be too hard, no situation too strange, if we can link it with what we know and love’. To learn our history is an act of resistance. It offers us hope and the glowing ember of possibility, through the dark times. 

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