It is a wise thing to look at how other nations escaped the parasitical grasp of Westminster rule. From the American colonies in 1775 to Hong Kong in 1997, the Brits have never left willingly or with good grace. Most of the nations have had to resort to the barrel of the gun or in the case of Hong Kong, China merely had to remind the Brits the 99-year lease was up and by the way we have 1 million men and women in uniform and enough nukes to send UK back to the stone age. You always have to chase out the imperialistic Brits they never leave of their own accord. Democracy and fairness are not in their DNA, exploitation, racism, and theft is their DNA.
I am a believer in peaceful means to attain Scottish independence. I certainly would not advocate violence unless the Brits resort to type and brought their murderous ways to the streets of Scotland.Then by whatever means necessary to rid our nation of the scourge that is Westminster.
In all cases the nations that have been under London rule pillage and unfettered theft has been the modus operandi. All the dominated countries have been left virtually bankrupt by the time the British have been forced out.
A good example for us to look at is Ireland. When Ireland left the UK, it was the poorest region in the union and one of the poorest nations on the planet. Now Irish GDP per head is far greater than that of the UK. Ireland’s GDP per capita at PPP is very much higher than that of UK. Near $70 k as opposed to a tad over $40k for UK. If you were to strip out the tax evading millionaires and billionaires sitting in London the $40k drops further.
Just prior to becoming an independent state Ireland had an Irish Nationalist Political Party that played the Westminster game and lost. It took the Irish a long time to realise the champions they sent to Westminster to achieve Irish independence had become corrupted by that cesspit to democracy. They had indeed settled down and into London life. Though to the best of my knowledge no Irish MP ever attempted to become the Speaker of the English Parliament. Comfy and cosy as they were in the English House of Commons even they didn’t slink that low.
After the Easter Rising of 1916 and the barbaric executions that followed it, public opinion in Ireland turned against the British crown.The Nationalists were viewed by the Irish voters as too comfortable with the status quo. (Sounds kind of familiar) The Irish voters displayed their displeasure with their votes. In the 1918 general election, Sinn Féin, the nationalist party, won 73 of 105 Irish seats in the House of Commons.The Nationalists were totally shocked they believed their voters would always support them as the only route to Irish Independence. (Again sounds familiar huh?) Sinn Féin, unlike the Irish Nationalists, had pledged not to sit in Westminster but to create an independent assembly in Ireland.
The party made good on its promise by inviting all elected Irish representatives to attend a parliamentary assembly in Dublin. On 21 January 1919.
As you would expect the Unionists and other assorted Irish Nationalist MPs with comfy slippers refused to attend this democratic gathering. Many of the Sinn Féin elected MPs were in captivity in London and they obviously could not attend. Despite these difficulties progress was made.
During the two-hour sitting, Dáil Members adopted a Constitution and read out a Declaration of Independence. This declaration ratified the Irish Republic that had been proclaimed by the heroes of the Easter Uprising in 1916 and declared that the elected Representatives of the Irish people alone would have power to make laws binding on the people of Ireland. They also declared that the Irish Parliament alone was the only Parliament to which the Irish people will give its allegiance. In one action they cut out Westminster and the English MPs having any say on Ireland.
Sadly, this democratic action by the Irish was ignored by the British and some of the Irish Nationalists as well as Unionists. A civil war sadly followed which would eventually lead to the partition on the island of Ireland.Had the Anglos acted democratically and in good faith the civil war and troubles of later could have been avoided.
Now in 2021 the six occupied counties still remain in British hands. One though feels post Brexit, Westminster would heave a huge sigh of relief if the six northern counties united with the rest of Ireland. These days there is nothing left in Northern Ireland for London to steal or exploit.
The last half dozen British SOS for Northern Ireland when challenged have not even bothered to read, let alone understand the Good Friday Agreement. That really sums up the attitude of Mother England to this British Union outpost. Maybe one day soon the most British of the British, the Unionists of NI will realise that their devotion to the Union is not reciprocated by the English.
There will be a UK General Election in either 2023 or 2024. This will be Scotland’s chance to take back control of our country. Any Scottish nationalist standing be they SNP, Alba, ISP they must make it very clear to the electorate and the Westminster Parliament that it is being treated as an Independence plebiscite election. On winning a majority of the Westminster seats, those Scottish MPs elected must not take up their seats or swear any oath to the Monarch at Westminster. A Grand Assembly of Scotland should be called immediately after the Election where they should swear an oath of loyalty to the sovereign people of Scotland not any monarch.
In that Assembly a declaration of independence and the ending of The Treaty of Union must be declared. It should be read out firstly in Gaelic, then in Scots and finally in English.We should start as we mean to go on and what better way of asserting our Independence than by using our own language first. A copy of the same declaration must be sent to the UN, the EU and every other capital city in the world.
Those MPs elected in Scotland, that choose to go to London and swear the oath will be viewed as rebels and treated according to Scots law whenever they set foot back in Scotland. That should also be made clear in the run up and during the election campaign.
Between then and now we should be devoting all our time to preparing our political parties and people for that election. A draft constitution should be agreed and placed before the Scottish people preferably before any UK General Election. Once the sovereign people of Scotland endorse this document then no power on earth can challenge the will of the people.
Then it is just a matter of global recognition and a negotiation of secession. The best ideas are usually the simplest. This is a way of using the ballot box in our favour and with no ability of Brits to interfere. They cannot prevent our candidates standing on this platform. They cannot deny the result. Also, more importantly the world will recognise the voice of the people of Scotland. It also has advantages for us because it is not a binary choice and the Unionist Parties will all be vying for votes.
It has to be hoped between now and the UK Plebiscite Election that the leadership of the SNP and the other Scottish Parties can reach an accommodation. This is Scotland’s chance. We have to do whatever it takes to ensure our nation is put before any personal agendas or vendettas of any individuals. It is up to the ordinary members in all the parties to bring their leaderships on board.
Absolutely brilliant, Roddy! Let’s get a move on – leaving all slippers behind.
Interesting that you would focus on the Irish experience. The similarities between Scotland’s situation now, and the Irish situation prior to their independence are stark, not least the relative numbers of noes and yessers, which I believe are similar.
You suggest that we follow the example of Sinn Fein, but you skip over the civil war that ensued after the declaration. Is it your contention that we Scots have any kind of guarantee that a civil war won’t break out after a similar declaration in Holyrood?
Yes that is my contention. There is no religious ghettos or areas as was the case in NI. We have no set of society being denied their basic human rights as was the case in Ireland. We have had no soldiers on the street or Easter type uprising. We have Unionists and independinistas the violence has been minimal and unlike Ireland which was divided by centuries over religion. No such thing exists in Scotland.
We do have the Orange Order and their extreme Unionism, or Loyalism as they call it. It would not surprise me if they would take up arms.
Great post RODNEY, now let’s hope the people who want INDEPENDENCE no matter which party they follow come together & do what is right for this country. It is time we saw & felt that pride in our country once again. NO more referendums for the BRITS to run and cheat. When you see how the UNIONIST parties worked in 2017 & it cost us 21 Mps.. They now know how to game the system themselves and they may very well do even better at the next GE. We LOST our best chance in 2017, we also had the majority in HR and NOTHING happened.
We still have the majority in WM and with the greens who are supposed to back INDY, there is also a majority in HR.. I do not think we should wait for another Election, but we know Sturgeon will..
Since 2014 we may have lost a lot of Europeans who would vote yes today, but we have gained a lot of BRITS that will NOT..
Spot on . Yet again.
The Irish situation is very dissimilar as the Scots do not have a citizen army trained to fight their imperial masters. It was this citizen’s army that split and led to the year long bloody Irish civil war.
Any use of troops against the Scots would destroy the house of windsor, the UK forces and the tories internationally and at home. A Scottish declaration of indepence would be immediately recognized internationally ( In Ireland, especially as it would be political suicide not to recognize an independent Scotland).
I am now going to refer to all yoons as loyalists. I advise and hope others will do the same.
Well said Roddy. Every one of Scotland’s pro-independence national representatives need to finally step up to the plate. They need to exercise the sovereign power over our land given them by the Scottish people. They could do so now, if they were not so petrified of power. At the moment they are squandering our sovereignty. That cannot and must not continue.
Thank you to you and our other Indy bloggers for keeping hope alive
Great but with one difference; declaration of independence should be read first in Scots then Gaelic.
It could be read in Klingon for all I care – as long as it is read!
If only the SNP had the baws – or even the inclination.
Great to see Alphie Baird’s comments. Waiting for an election is procrastination. There is a Climate Change/Brexit Crisis Now – Action is crucial to pre-empt further hardship!
Sounds like a plan Roddy, now until the general election we must put the heat on the snp to make it a plebiscite election. Also if and when the snp drag their heels or reject this plan, we must educate the public as to the reason why they are, and to show them that this is the easiest route to independence,and yes if any of them head for Westminster treason charges should be brought against them all.
love your ideas and plans ,but if you think the snp will agree to this you must be soft in the heed,the snp people in power in scotland will play the long game to try and stay in power for as long as they can, building the snp backroom staff to greater hights, are they not looking for a new press officier for westminster, they are trying to build up an empire like the torys.
I refer you back to my blog and the fate of the Irish Nationalist Party at the hands of the voters!
Great idea…but we don’t have to wait until 2023/24 to implement it…Northern lreland being given preferential treatment and remaing in the EU customs union is a breach of the Treaty of Union so to is the Internal Market Bill…So the FM is entitled to call a general assembly of all Scotland’s MP’s and MSP’s right now and if they vote in favour of dissolving the union the only thing left to do would be to have a referendum asking the question “do you want to remain out of the union?” OR “do you want to negotiate a return to the union” and depending on the result of such a referendum we would be an independent country once more…
No return to the union and yes FM could take this action now she won’t sadly and that is, why I am calling on ordinary party members, of all parties to make this a reality.
I am 100% in favour of this, for more reasons than just it would work.
Firstly it puts power in the hands of the people – those of us who followed Alex’s instructions to vote SNP1 handed power to the Queen of Covid to float around for another 5 years doing anything BUT work towards independence. Now I personally believe Alex wanted to prove once & for all that she has no interest in leaving the union so it worked in that sense, but five years of book reviews & celebrating chix with dix is a long time.
Secondly I’m not even interested in a referendum anymore – whatever form it takes it is open to dodgy dealings, sticky fingers & strange happenings in the count and that’s just from the SNP. Heaven knows what the unionists will get upto, setting the ballot boxes alight and blaming global warming probably.
Also, all the arguments over the franchise are blown away if there is no referendum, so all those unseemly disagreements over who gets a vote and who doesn’t are no longer valid. However getting the indy vote out will be important as unionists, particularly tories, are known for bringing out the nearly-dead as long as they can mark an X next to some chinless wonder on the ballot paper.
And oh please, please, let be me there when Wishart has to have his comfy slippers surgically removed and the green leather peeled from his entitled erse – sorry Pete, it’s either the indy way or the highway but you could always rejoin Runrig…………. Oh sorry, they’ve disbanded, whit a shame.
Unfortunately the biggest obstacle (enemy) to independence at the minute is the current SNP leadership. They simply do not have any desire for it. They’ve demonstrated that over the last 7 years by actively campaigning against those pro Indy people who decided to independently take some form of action. If you want to make one further comparison with Ireland, Sinn Fein are day and daily working towards a reunification referendum. Holding discussion groups and forums, presenting strategy documents, making international alliances and answering the questions on what kind of free Ireland they would like to see. This type of campaigning activity is non-existent with the SNP. Alba now need to confront the SNP establishment head on, just as SF did with the Irish Nationalists – the SNP in its current guise will not free Scotland.
Thank you for this. A plebiscite seems the only sure way to gain independence. I think we’ll have to depend on Alba adopting this strategy, fielding candidates in every constituency, and going all out to persuade the electorate, because I don’t see the SNP going for it.