The origin of the idea of a yellow ribbon as remembrance may have been the 19th-century practice that some women allegedly had of wearing a yellow ribbon in their hair to signify their devotion to a husband or sweetheart serving in the U.S. Cavalry. Indeed, A film with a similar name, “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” came out in 1949. It starred John Wayne. If the Duke was involved, it must be true!

During Operation Desert Storm, Americans turned to the established folklore of yellow ribbons to express their support for those fighting the war. Yellow ribbons spouted like daffodils in spring, decorating front doors, lamp posts and traffic lights.

In Catalonia it also became a symbol against the imprisoning of political prisoners by the Spanish Government. The yellow awareness ribbons in Barcelona and in Catalonia region of Spain were in support of politicians and former members of the government of Catalonia. They were either in prison or exile and were accused or convicted of various charges including rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds.

In June of this year the nine imprisoned Catalan independence Democrats were pardoned and released from prison. They have all vowed to continue the struggle for Catalan independence. I myself have a Yellow ribbon themed keyring I bought to support the internees. Throughout their incarceration yellow ribbons adorned homes, public buildings, trees, bridges as a constant reminder to the population and wider world that Spain had imprisoned democratic non-violent politicians for their beliefs.

In Scotland the brave women’s rights campaigners have taken to using ribbons in suffragette colours of purple, green and white. This as we know has invoked the wrath of the easily offended. Who can forget the stooshie in Kirkcaldy when the police were alerted to a ribboning in the town?

We have a women’s rights campaigner and all round good egg, Marion Miller awaiting her day in court for tying some ribbons that scared a 6 foot 4 inches anti-women rights campaigner and would be actor at his place of work. Scared of a ribbon?? Laughable!

The ribbon is a peaceful symbol of resistance and political statement. Why it so scares the establishment is easy to understand. The government of the people only want compliant docile citizens. They rightly fear an engaged politically motivated populace, especially one that is organised, determined and focussed.

Today is the first day of Craig Murray’s eight months in prison for crimes that can only be described as trumped up. I think it would be wrong if after just one day of expressing our anger we ‘moved on’ from Craig’s plight and just await his release. It would not only be us, abandoning our comrade to his fate it would be us allowing the corrupt COPFS and SNP Government off the hook of rightful criticism for their actions.

I propose that we start our own Free Craig Murray ribbon campaign. We should of course, not use Yellow it to closely resembles the SNP logo. Blue is a color that symbolises peace, calm, serenity, freshness but also the sensitivity. White represents mainly positive values such as purity, balance or innocence. It also makes us think of the calm, peace and serenity.It is also the colour of our beloved Saltire. We need to use the blue and white ribbon as a symbol of our resistance to Sturgeon and her allies in the COPFS as well as our desire to see Craig released immediately back into the loving arms of his family.

A small gesture that will mean a lot to Craig and his family and act as a warning to our government that we will no longer tolerate their actions against peaceful dissidents or women’s rights campaigners. It is time for us to reclaim the narrative.