Radical Independence – now more than ever

This was published four years ago. Today it deserves a second publication.

A community, a society and a nation. An economy, an environment and a home.

These are not objects that exist because they are measured and weighed and counted.

They are not commodities, they are not someone’s gift.

They are the footprints each of us leave. They are the sum total of our actions and of our will.

Scotland wills itself to be a better nation, one we rebuild with our own hands. Who then will tell us our will is not big enough? Who then will tell us our hands are not strong enough?

Must the hope of the Scots for a better Scotland be the hope of the beaten for a less painful defeat? Must the will of the Scots once again come second to greed and privilege?

This despair has a name. It’s name is NO.

It is a despair that believes poverty inevitable and the decline of public service necessary. It is the cry of people who believe that wealth should belong to whomever has the sharpest claws.

Our poverty, our decline, their wealth, their NO.

For 30 years we have waited for Britain’s rulers to live up to our hopes. They either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

But now they notice. Now they see the chance for working men and working women to take back a nation. Now they tremble at the thought that we might really do it.

Because what drives NO forward is the fear of those who stand to lose their privilege. They fear their kingdom of greed faces its demise. They fear real democracy. They fear that in a land beyond Westminster we will rediscover hope.

That hope has a name. It’s name is YES.

It is a hope fashioned from knowledge. We know a better economy is possible because we have seen it in other nations. We know greater equality among citizens is possible because we have seen that in other nations. We know that ending poverty, reviving democracy and respecting our environment are possible because we have seen these things too.

And we know how to bring these things to Scotland. We must abandon 30 years of the politics of exploitation, the damning, corrosive exploitation that makes a few rich from what the many lose. We must replace it with the politics of sharing, where we all gain from the riches of our land and the fruits of our labour.

It is a fine Scottish tradition; to find what works, to find out how it works and to make it work better. For centuries Scotland’s ingenuity has been a gift to the world. Now let it be a gift also to ourselves.

Let us gift ourselves an economy where we make and create. Let our creativity make working people prosperous. Let prosperous people sustain a great welfare state. Let that state end the fear that comes with insecurity. Let us gift ourselves that Scotland.

Look at the forces that stand behind NO. Look at the forces that stand behind YES. Choose your side.

Together we can raise up our heads and work for a Scotland yet to come but visible already. A Scotland of the Common Weal, of shared wealth and shared wellbeing.

Our Scotland. All of us first.

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Comments (8)

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  1. Willie says:

    Why did Westminster want us to stay when the UK is now being reported have agreed a payment of around £45,000,000,000 to the EU to leave.

    And now that we are leaving the EU when Westminster told Scotland that remaining in the UK was the way to stay in the EU, where do we go from here.

    Our economy has the lowest growth in Europe, the pounds value has fallen, industries are leaving, austerity cuts are still with us, and social security is being savaged.

    And so with this huge payment due to the EU, where do we go. Maybe our majority of SNP MPs could tell us.

    £45 billion is a lot of money. It’s about £2,800 for every full time taxpayer in Scotland.

    Just fabulous, absolutely fabulous. But at least we’ll have the pomp and circumstance aplenty of a Royal Wedding to take our mind off things.

    Beggars in our own country.

    1. Will Casey Purvis says:

      Willie, I am a Scotsman 165 IQ. Do I really need low IQ people directing me?? I am sure the Scottish people can figure out their own path Will Casey Purvis

    2. Alex Thump says:

      Willie don’t let the all this Westminster prevarication get you down. They are trying to break our will but they will fail in the end. The irony is that if we are taken out of the EU against our will then BREXIT has handed Scotland a golden opportunity to rejoin on much more beneficial terms. The SNP are obliged to exhaust this with Westminster before going to the people.

      By irony I mean that they can present the No voters with an option to be part of Europe whilst part of the UK, honour those who voted to remain in the EU by presenting an alternative form of membership, get out of the common agricultural and fisheries policy, all whilst maintaining open borders and trade with England & Ireland. The Nordics have been doing it all for decades.

      You could do worse than read McSmorsgabord by Lesley Riddoch, available on Amazon.

      We are discovering to our cost that BREXIT really does mean WRECKSIT. Time to EXIT BREXIT.

  2. w.b.robertson says:

    Hope is the last thing to die…maybe we will all get a bit of wedding cake as a wee minding…

  3. David Sillars says:

    Maybe it is the British nationalists who should explain, because they were the ones that asked for it,both Labour and Conservatives.

  4. e.j. churchill says:

    I’m confused – the background music to this piece – is it the ~Internationalé~ or the theme from ~The Twilight Zone~?

    ‘Too wee, puir, dumb.’ are existential, articulated best (but by no means the earliest) by Dr Johnson in 1725. Scot rulers have finessed, ignored, walked-around, minimised … since before the first David.

    Unless/until ALL facts-on-the-ground (not just the pleasant ones) are addressed and ameloriated, Scotland WILL be a ward of … somebody.

    Baying at the moon, v2.0.

    rgds,

  5. SleepingDog says:

    When the article spoke of fine Scottish traditions, I couldn’t help thinking of the story of James Watt’s patent suppressions:
    https://mises.org/library/james-watt-monopolist

    Indeed the binary nature of this article’s YES/NO thrust is partly reminiscent not only of Watt’s competitive chicanery but also of Trumpist opposition-crushing.

    Rather than bounce an electorate into a YES vote with passionate appeals and then do the hard work (a bit Brexit for me), I suggest an alternative approach.

    Make it plain that the road is hard, not easy. I would advise setting the bar high not low (say 51% of electorate or, say, two-thirds of voters on a referendum turnout). And do the work by strategy and tactics beforehand so that the vote will be generally seen as a mere formality endorsing a clear general will for independence. In fact, downplay this as a choice, the opposite approach to this article (which did not work, and if it had a 55%-45% ‘victory’ we could be in Brexitland now).

    So, a long and hard road, but set clear milestones that create positive feedback, virtuous cycles that allow people to act and cooperate in positive and improvable patterns. Social revolutions are particularly useful in areas that the government cannot legislate in or control by infiltration. Any individual can be suborned, so weaning off the celebrity culture, ancestor worship or great man theory of history can only help. For independence based on popular sovereignty requires a collective participation,

    Think of how unionism perpetuates itself, what do its proponents seem to fear, revere, protect and hide? Some things seemingly of ceremonial or dry legalistic purposes are nothing of the kind, but the rivets and straps that hold an iron mask over the face of the populace. Pry, loosen, uncover, reveal, repeat. Learn.

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