Corbyn lets us prove once and for all we are not "narrow" nationalists ... and more

Corbyn is an opportunity for us to demonstrate once and for all that the "nationalism" of the Yes Movement has nothing at all in common with the narrow jingoistic nationalism of our (and his) British Nationalist opponents. By finding common cause with Corbyn on issues of social justice and worker solidarity, we expose as utterly hollow every accusation of "narrow" or "nasty" nationalism levelled at us by our critics.

But we do more than that. We create the space for us to articulate more fully the idea that the self-determination we seek transcends control of an apparatus of statehood which is merely used as an instrument of oppression and exploitation. We aspire to more than merely being able to appoint the executive committee of the ruling class within our particular jurisdiction.

We show we are motivated by authentic individual human responses which can, for example, see over £10,000 crowdsourced from Scottish Independence supporters to pay the fines of a woman in England convicted of shoplifting a chocolate bar she had stolen because she had not eaten for days due to benefits sanctions. We show we are motivated by sympathy which means we can, for example, welcome those in distress who are fleeing the impacts of climate stress in the forms of drought, famine and war in their countries of origin, rather than resort to the racist vilification we see from the right wing press and the tory government confronted by what they consider a "swarm". We show that the Independence we seek is one that celebrates humanity, rather than wields it as a racist neo-feudal category reserved for the privileged few while repelling foreigners and sanctioning the "lower orders" to keep them in their place.

In the Yes Movement we have been able to share a commitment to self-determination while respecting differences of opinion on other subjects. So we can share a commtment to social justice and worker solidarity with Jeremy Corbyn without compromising our different point of view on self-determination.

The anxiety is that finding common cause with Corbyn suggests self-determination is not necessary for achieving our objectives in relation to social justice, while opposing Corbyn risks legitimising the "tartan tory" slander and renders us little better than his other "red tory" opponents in some eyes. However, this is a false dichotomy, a misreading of the situation.

Finding common cause with Corbyn shows that the self-determination we seek is an enabling rather than a limiting development. It allows us to speak with an authentic voice and therefore we abdicate nothing in offering our support. We want to be free to raise our voice in support of a just cause unhampered by the policies of whatever war criminals happen to be in government in Whitehall or anywhere else, whether or not the injustice that offends us occurs within our borders, whether or not its authors wield power over us. 

The Yes Movement shares many concerns with Corbyn and his followers are energised by the same ground-swell of opinion on these issues. We can support Corbyn on the basis of the influence he can have at Westminster to achieve shared objectives while Westminster still exerts some authority in Scotland, and also on the basis of the more general solidarity with friends, family and colleagues in England, and further afield,  that will remain even once Westminster's usurpation of that authority has ended.