I will freely confess to not being fond of the billionaire property tycoon Donald Trump. Ever since he started a war with Aberdeenshire residents over his plans to build his monster golf course and obscenely-expensive luxury hotel ‘resort’, I have felt angry on behalf of the humble villagers who have been displaced. Forced out of family homes that have been in their hands for generations, because an arrogant businessman wanted to rip up an entire community so that the global bourgeoisie has somewhere pretty to fritter away their wealth and time. This isn’t the kind of place you can have a casual game with some friends for a tenner. Oh, and did I mention the ecological catastrophe of transforming an ecologically significant beach and shrinking a nature reserve?
But these villagers could have relied on their government to defend their rights, couldn’t they? The issue fell under the purview of the devolved Scottish Government. Alas, the Scottish nationalist First Minister, Alex Salmond, was good friends with Trump and through the government’s weight behind Trump’s campaign to bully, bribe and browbeat the scheme’s opponents, ultimately with complete success. Today, a sprawling golf course stands, a gaping hole in rural Scotland and a symbol of the ubiquitous victory of capital over community.
So, I’m gobsmacked at the nerve of the Trump Organisation to be initiating a desperate political and legal battle to block the construction of a small windfarm within view of his hotel (the “resort” is still under construction). Trump reckons that he can blackmail his old friends in the Scottish Government into rejecting the planning application for the cluster of a dozen or so offshore wind turbines by threatening to pull the plug on his abomination development. Of course, there are no residents to echo Trump’s objections because he’s just got rid of all the residents.
That’s alright then. We have a choice: further allow a foreign businessman to dictate the actions of our elected government, or have a useful green energy project and get said businessman to pack up and leave us alone? Mmmm. Tricky.
Let’s hope that Scottish judges cannot be bought as easily as the political system.
