Pamela Nash: Olympic Unity

Having just watched the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Opening Ceremony, I cannot help but be touched by themes of the ceremony, which reflected the difficulties the world has faced during the Covid-19 pandemic, and “Unity in Diversity”.

In particular the ceremony looked at how we have come together to overcome the challenges the pandemic has posed, by global cooperation and reaching out to friends and colleagues across the world. The Olympics illustrates perfectly what can be achieved when we work together and the benefits of an increasingly interconnected world.

The President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, in opening the games referred to “togetherness” as “the light at the end of the dark tunnel” as people forced to separate due to Covid-19 can start to be together again, and the Olympics acting as a representation of this with the world coming together.

“Unity in Diversity” looked at inclusivity and also showed that the peoples of the world are stronger when we unite and work together. There is momentum for reducing the impact of borders and working on the big issues of the day, such as on preventing climate change and fighting Covid 19, on an international basis. When the rest of the world is working increasingly closer together, why would we want to create a new border which would be an impediment to this?

Us citizens of Scotland are also global citizens, and we are part of a network that allows us to contribute to the world and to benefit from being part of the international community. This is not diminished by us being part of Britain, it is enhanced by it. In the coming 17 days, we will see this perfectly illustrated by our Scottish athletes performing proudly as part of Team GB.

At Scotland in Union we are looking forward to seeing what our Scottish athletes achieve, and we will be loudly cheering on all of Team GB.