The biggest fear for the establishment/politicians in any country is a united proletariat. Revolutions and regime change only ever happen once the people are united in a common cause. That is why since 2014 both the UK and Scottish Governments have been determined to divide the people.
During the 2014 independence referendum the YES Movement became globally famous as the most organised and largest political movement in the western world. Yes, the politicians had ‘started’ the YES idea, however, it was the people who took it on to the levels it reached, nearly taking us to freedom.
When we all gathered together, be it in Freedom Square, Glasgow or on The Mound in Edinburgh, we were all united in one cause and one cause only: independence. As we stood together hearing speeches and singing songs, we did not ask the person beside us if they were left or right in their political views. We didn’t ask if they were rich or poor, straight or gay, Rangers or Celtic! Your religion or ethnicity was unimportant; all that mattered was your desire and support for a YES victory!
We were focused on a single issue: independence. The referendum was a binary choice: Yes or No. That was what worried the Better Together side the most. Sure, they deployed their usual tactics of: Too wee, too stupid, too poor, what currency will youse use? You will be kicked out of the EU, Nobody will trade with you etc. etc. We ignored all their jibes and we nearly succeeded in our quest because we were united!
We didn’t care about any other reasons, and the more we promoted that single word YES the more the unionists worried. That is exactly why they conspired with our corrupt foreign-owned media and came out with the: Daily Record, VOW! It is also why post-referendum Nicola Sturgeon and her acolytes in the SNP set about dismantling and marginalising the movement. The powers that be fear the people united!
Has anyone forgotten the article in the Sunday Herald by Neil Mackay where Angus Robertson and Alyn Smith attacked the ‘cybernats’? After that article the signal went to the SNP MPs, MSPs and faithful that the YES Movement was unhelpful to the cause and should be reviled. They did the exact same with the independence media that had been a driving force in the campaign.
Slowly, and inextricably the Yes hubs, groups and shops closed, consigned to memory only. Today, a few remain; however, most of them are manned by SNP loyalists and the unity that made it so strong has been replaced by factionalism and tribal loyalties. Indeed, there are numerous Facebook Pages and so-called independence- supporting organisations and groupings that block Through A Scottish Prism, Wings, Grousebeater and anyone else that questions the SNP party for the lack of movement on independence for the past 11 years. It is a sad fact of life that it is so, and the people who are the happiest about the splintered, undivided independence movement is the devolutionist wing of the SNP and the British unionists.
Alliance To Liberate Scotland was begun to recreate that unified YES campaign. The founding principles of the party were and are the single policy: Independence Nothing Else, Independence Nothing Less.
The people that formed this party discussed and debated and knew that unity was the formula required to break the union. They recognised that policies such as GRA and HCB had absolutely destroyed the last vestiges of unity within the independence movement. The founders wanted to ensure that the same fate would not befall ATLS. They also understood and agreed that ALL other policies and other distractions needed to be shelved until after we had secured the main goal, our independence from the union.
Sadly, in recent times some who agreed with that have forgotten those founding principles. In their own minds, it seems that when they agreed to the single policy, the single ideal, with the exclusion of all other matters, that they meant everything except … their pet thing. They have since invented new criteria and tried to suggest there were other things agreed; that, is simply untrue. They have suggested that anyone (in their opinion) deemed to be a careerist or a carpetbagger was to be excluded. This, I can assure you, was never discussed or agreed.
Week after week on this Through A Scottish Prism Podcast we have repeated that slogan: Independence Nothing Else.
We also said on every podcast the door is open, the hand is extended; we did not on any occasion say only open as long as you agree with us on everything we believe in, we didn’t say everyone except X or Y because personally I do not like that person.
It should also be mentioned that from the earliest days ATLS was encouraging ALBA to join the coalition. So many on social media were asking ATLS, “Why haven’t you asked Alba?” We did on numerous occasions, just as we tried to involve the SNP. We also said week after week, ”We cannot do this on our own; we need more of you to step forward and help us. We need activists, candidates and supporters.” Some did step forward–not enough,it never is— however, the biggest critics on social media are now trying to tell us that ATLS is so wrong in doing exactly what ATLS said it would do! We are the Ronseal of Scottish politics!
In Tommy’s case, if Alba had survived and joined the alliance, would these same critics say you cannot unite with Alba because of Tommy? Would they really put such things ahead of our cause? We didn’t and never will; the cause is paramount,not hurt feelings, that we leave to the woke mob.
Those that are criticising us the most did not step forward, did not offer their services, and did not offer a penny or two for the coffers. They want to tell us how wrong we are from behind their keyboards; they don’t actually want to do anything that might resemble work for the cause. You can spot them at Freeport meetings or Salvo meetings asking lots of questions and being highly critical of the good folk in those organisations; where you won’t see them is on the street stalls or knocking on the doors or delivering leaflets during elections. They have multiple excuses to avoid doing any of that. However, as soon as the election is over, they will be online talking into the bubble to tell everyone how wrong the campaign was and how they knew the winning formula but just forgot to mention that before the election.
These naysayers would rather tell you everything that is wrong and yet they offer no alternative course of action. These are the full-time keyboard warriors that have degrees in hindsight and never attended a class on foresight!
Today, with Eva, Phil, and Hazel out campaigning and trying to get independence, I have on the podcast two of our newest Holyrood candidates, Craig Murray and Tommy Sheridan. They are on here to speak for themselves. They were asked their motivations for joining the ATLS; they were asked to answer their critics. They did not hide behind their keyboards to reply; they stood up and speak out. That is exactly the type of characters we need. We do not need the type that run away the first time they do not get their own way.
Ask yourself this: who benefits most when we Scots are divided–the cause or the union?
FYI, since we welcomed the ex-Alba members into ATLS, our membership has risen by 450% (not just ex-Alba members) we will be able to field an extra 14 candidates, and on the week that Labour announced a £500k funding from Mother England, our tiny finances quadrupled.
Listen to the podcast and then ask yourself: is this good or bad for our cause? We say unity and independence, nothing else, every time!
So if the TRA Sophie Molly or a member of friends of Isreal applied to become a candidate for ATLS will they be accepted?
Try and act your age not your shoe size!
In keeping with your pish, now that you have changed parties again Liberals,SNP,Alba ALTS and now ISP does this make you a carpetbagger and a grifter as by your own double standards?
that is a very nasty & unnecessary comment, I believed that Alan always gave everyone what was in his heart as to the number of parties he was a member of is irrelevant, how many others have found that the one they were in had LEFT them? from where I stand it always looked like he gave 100% to any task he was involved in.
if this is the way you’re going to treat anyone who does not agree with you I will have to reconsider how I am going to support this party.
People do not know the truth, believe me. It is only for the cause that myself and the rest in the exec in ATLS are not going public with the skullduggery and lies being told. Lies are being portrayed as truths.Confidences have been betrayed and why? Because on a democratic vote of 4-2 a decision was taken that so-called democrats didn’t like. No back door deals no re-voting on an issue. We refuse to go public on social media that harms the cause sadly, Allan’s personal feelings he places above the cause.
Let’s just push on with a bigger and better set of AtLS candidates and ignore the numpties who can’t see the wood for the trees.
Exactly what we are trying to do Nick, and we keep a dignified silence, despite the personal attacks and false accusations and smears. Funny how one of our detractors who had been a member of a Unionist Party and has now been in 5 parties accuses others of being carpetbaggers!
sounds like it’s back to “Wheesht for Indy”. Aye, well, women won’t wheesht. This will lose them votes.
I am so dismayed with the way things have turned so far. Who to trust with everyone saying it’s others’ fault and playing the blame game? Even those who’ve put so much time, energy and effort into getting this far. Politics is definitely a dirty game.
I want independence and I fear this may be our last chance to get it before the scorched ground (hopefully not literally with the way this Iranian war is going) makes the turnaround impossible.
Apart from the SNP 1&2 believers who now feel vindicated in their choice, and the SNP 1 Green 2 people who all seem intransigent in their opinion, will there be enough folk who’ll trust the new ATLS ? I guess we’ll just need to trust their better instinct and ignore the sniping.
Glad to hear that membership has increased by 450% and that all are welcome. If Scotland ever reasserts its full statehood it needs everyone to make it a country and state we would be proud to leave to future generations and instil a pride in the country which is sadly lacking at the moment.
The biggest hurdle for Scots is its apathy and indoctrination. When you look at the world today and see states fighting for their very survival such as Palestinians, Yemeni, Iranians, Lebonese, (there are so many but i cite these given current circumstances) and then you look at Scots who are so apathetic that they merely moan when the English gov, which styles itself politically as UK, repudiates the treaty by openly stating it will ignore the partnership that underpins the entire treaty and illegally impose its will on Scotland. This latest from the English government was a direct challenge to Scotland and Scots do nothing. It will be a case of ‘see we are not an equal partner’ while actively ignoring the fact that Scots can and should take direct action against the English government. For too long Scots have looked the other way, blamed English establishment and ignored their part. The treaty did not grant England unilateral control over the new state of Great Britain. England’s authority has always ended at its border. Both the kingdom of Scotland and the kingdom of England sent a delegation to the state parliament to act on behalf of their nations. Scots appointed English state representatives to govern Scotland just as many still do. The 308 year governance has led to such deep seated apathy that as a nation the Scots simply accept every single material breach of the treaty that England has and continues to make. In the past few days the English government didn’t just challenge Scots sovereign authority and the treaty itself but ripped up the cornerstone of the English constitution. No-one is asking why. What is the end game?
I hope that Liberate ask these questions and more and demand answers from the delegates Scotland sends to the state parliament – their Scot gov MPs – and from the administration at Holyrood. As a sovereign nation and equal partner, either this is a partnership of equals between sovereign peers or the treaty itself is void. It can’t be both.
Thanks Gail, this is a set back bit should make those who continue as candidates all the more resolute in the cause. While not getting my hopes up yet, I certainly hope there will be a breakbthough
I posted this on social media yesterday:
The arrival of Alliance to Liberate Scotland on the scene has been no secret; what’s been a surprise has been how suddenly it’s emerged as a fully formed movement with an impressive list of candidates. It reminds me of the old SNP that existed in my student days in the 1960s, a party that had one policy, and allowed people with all sorts of views, right and left, if they were committed to the cause. I’ve often spoken about Antony J C Kerr telling a bunch of us that as soon as Independence was won, the SNP would dissolve. As I see it, that was logical then and is still, unless you want to create a one party state like North Korea. I’m assuming there are some basic competency tests, to rule out complete lunatics. That means that it should be acceptable if a candidate urges people to vote SNP on the first vote, if there’s no AtLS one, and provided their candidate does actually support Independence (there may still be some in the SNP who do, despite all the evidence). What is terribly important right now is not to destroy what can be an essential vehicle to take us forward with a voting system 90% don’t understand, in these extraordinary times. Let’s keep talking!
As always I am behind you in every way! Welcome everyone to join the Alliance – absolutely every one! We just have to ignore the disrupters and naesayers as if they don’t exist!
Join and donate!
Thank you Alison it is appreciated.
Absolutely fair comments Ewan G Cameron. The strength of the SNP was its commitment to independence as its absolute core aim. And that allowed people of different hues to come together as one.
However, with a little help from our friends our movement was turned and our unity splintered. And not just the the SNP who contested elections, but that exemplar of commitment the federation that was YES. Together the SNP and many different groups came together with unity of purpose. And that is what terrified the British State. We ran them close, closer than we may dare think and it could not be allowed to happen again.
And so the SNP turned, it became ipso facto anti independence, and Yes was helped die. And ALBA a party launched in 2021 with a clear strategy to secure a super mandated independence majority in Hollyrood, it was sunk by an SNP promoting SNP1 and SNP2 which delivered the result of 1,093,000 voters delivering 2 MSPs.
Yes, two MSPs for 1,093,000 votes whereas that second vote cast for ALBA would have seen somewhere between 25 and 30 ALBA independence MSPs added to the 60 odd SNP MSPs. Instead the SNP promoted strategy delivered 2 seats.
And then the nonsense started. Unjustified allegations and police investigations against Alex Salmond. Arrests and charges against selected individuals. A purge and a concentration of power and influence into a mall clique. Wheesht for Indy, failure to use utterly thumping Westminster majorities of SNP Scottish MPs. It goes on and on.
But as we keep saying, as the polls keep indicating, the desire for independence is still strong despite no campaigning whatsoever. And that is why when we come together independence will be ours. No power can stop it when the people say yes.
And that is what our enemy does not want us to do. But that as your article points out is exactly what we can do when in in not so many weeks we get a slate of candidates focussed on strategic unity.
A good article Roddy.
Thank you Willie
Like!
Tommy & Craig are exactly the type of people we should be glad to have the opportunity to support and vote for ( if possible, ie in the relevant constituency ). People with instinctive decency and humanitarian values; not only with the intelligence to see the endless, now planet-threatening lies & warmongering psychopathy that we see all around us, also, critically, with the strength and courage to state the truth – at all times and under all circumstances. How many of the current incumbents in WM & Holyrood can that be said about? I’ll tell you…… NOT A SINGLE ONE. They are also two men whom the Brit State has persecuted for – whatever the * official * pretext – the * crime * of being not only stalwart advocates of Scottish Independence, but Socialist ones too. That our enemy, ie the British State should do this is no surprise; the true ugliness is the collusion in the contrivance of the prosecutions and satisfaction with the result of same – prison time for both men – shown by many Scots, most nauseatingly, many supposed Independence supporters. No one can stab you deeper than those you thought had your back
These men are a breath of invigorating, uncorrupted honesty in a field of stale, fetid political air and we should be embracing & celebrating their presence in our deeply wounded ( eg by 11 years of SNP bad faith, obscurantist micro-agendas & bumbling/bungling incompetence ) tattered-but-unbowed Movement.
Great comment Robert.
I could not agree more!! Tommy and Craig are exactly who need to represent our movement!! If my nomadic lifestyle didn’t prevent me from standing I also would be so happy to ‘get in there’ and be prepared to go for it! Call a spade a spade and fight for freedom. We do not need any more careerists!!
This is depressing. Every time I invest energy in listening to TASP, and building up trust in the perspectives of it’s panellists, there seems to be a breakdown in relationships among the panellists and it is all so dispiriting. And the journey from SNP to Alba to ASL or Workers Party or ISP simply confirms my sense there is something in our clan/Presbyterian/Scottish genes that makes us determined to split into smaller and smaller groups. Ian Lawson, Yvonne Ridley, Alan Petrie…..Eva, Phil, Lloyd…please tell me you remain friends.
brilliant comment. You are definitely ot the only one with these thoughts David. ATLS seemed to be the latest great Scots hope before this, like Alba had been before it. We need every one of the TASP panel fighting in one direction only, for independence, not fighting themselves.
Roddy, I understand your frustration in getting the message across and it’s a simple message and here is an example it is needed, the SNP stand on the ticket of Independence at every election but it isn’t the only policy they stand on and here is Scotland problem and this is why we are in the cul-de-sac on Independence.
If a party has one single policy like Independence and nothing else, the general public know exactly what was offered to them during the election and why they voted for that party. It makes the case to the international community stronger for Scotland to be accepted as an Independence Country if England refuses to acknowledge the election vote and if we have to declare UDI.
If a party who supports Independence stands on more than one policy it easy for the Unionist to say NOT EVERYONE VOTED FOR THEM FOR INDEPENDENCE one policy party destroys that argument out right.
Roddy you’re a dedicated Scot and I would argue with anyone who said otherwise, Allan is completely wrong if there was a vote and one side lost that’s democracy if you’re on the losing side you move on this is politics. You lose when you become offence when trying to make your case and it’s this dedication for Independence that make people say and do things they wouldn’t usually do.
I am surprised at Allan, he above all should know that standing on more than one policy during an election will not make the UKG accept the result and would give them a stronger case to refuse to accepting UDI.
To suggest to give a vote for a party (SNP) who isn’t prepared to include every other Independence party in my opinion is a wasted vote simply because they aren’t 100% for Independence and there only goal is to get elected and nothing else.
I’ve noticed from the comment that people just do not understand the importance of a one policy vote, I hope this helps or maybe a better writer than me can put it across better.
Thank you for that. Some people just choose to not understand. As I often say, life is simple,it is people who make it difficult.
Excellent podcast. Delighted to see that Tommy and Craig will be standing for the Alliance.
There is only one thing I disagree with. And I disagree with it with passion. I am referring to the part about “holding the nose and cast a vote for the SNP if there is no other pro-independence candidate”.
I wholeheartedly disagree with it because I do no longer see the SNP as a party that stands for independence. The last 11 years of calculated and deliberate inaction by its leadership have been a testament that has evidenced that beyond any reasonable doubt.
And not just that, actually. Those 11 years have provided to me sufficient evidence that demonstrates the SNP is actually actively and deliberately aborting any progress towards independence.
The SNP is now, in my view, a full blown unionist party that only wheels out the independence card at election times to deceive pro-independence supporters. To make matters worse, the SNP is now a political outfit that fully complies with “British establishment” foreign policy.
In the world stage, how independently a state behaves is measured by how independent its foreign policy is. Can you consider a state really independent when its foreign policy is dictated by another state/s, even when this foreign policy knowingly and deliberately goes against the views, wants and interests of the majority of the people in the primary state? I do not think you can.
Casting a vote for the SNP will not help to deliver independence. It will do the precise opposite. It will sink us even more into this blind, cowardly and negligent compliance with “British foreign policy” which appears to include complete subordination to USA’s and the zionist state even if that means disgusting contempt for international law and the wishes of the Scottish people.
To be frank, at this stage I am no longer convinced that, behind closed doors, the British establishment still counts votes for the SNP as support for independence. Do they count them as a threat of independence or do they count them as a “neutralised threat” because the SNP is clearly intending to do absolutely nothing proactive to progress Scotland towards regaining its statehood?
Therefore, in good conscience, I cannot and will not hold my nose and cast my vote for the SNP nor encourage anybody else to do so.
Unfortunately, my opinion extends to the Greens. Whilst the foreign policy of the Greens does not tow the line of the UK establishment and that is welcomed, the SNP and the Greens have together held a pro-independence majority in Holyrood for since 2016. Yet, we are today further back from independence than we were on the 14 November 2014, the day the SNP, as our vehicle to deliver independence, was deliberately sent to the scrapyard by its own betraying leadership.
In my opinion, in the absence of an Alliance candidate or an independent candidate that is explicitly and demonstrably pro-independence (this means through their actions, not just their words), it will be far less harmful to the independence movement to spoil the ballot or to refuse to endorse the election than casting a vote for the treacherous SNP.
The British establishment continues to deliberately hide it, but at some point the low turnout in elections will have to be looked at. You can no longer talk about democracy when less than half of the electorate cast a vote.
My family will cast their votes for the Alliance both in constituency and list if they have candidates in our area. If not, we will look for alternative pro-independence candidates (this does not include SNP or Greens) as our second option. However, if there are none, then we will either spoil our ballots or refuse to vote.
We are determined to vote for independence, nothing less, nothing more. In agreement with Tommy, we firmly believe that the very first and most crucial step to ensure we can get the things Scotland wants and needs is independence. Scotland will never be able to improve anything until that first crucial, now existential step has been achieved.
Mia, many thanks for your great comment. One thing that the Alliance To Liberate Scotland Party make plain is this: Independence,nothing else. There is no party whip on anything else, members and candidates are entitled to their own personal views on everything else. Many are like your goodself would find it impossible to support a party they feel has betrayed them and the cause. Others take a more pragmatic approach and believe that a vote for the SNP in certain circumstances for certain cabdidates will benefit the cause. Similarly, some like the idea of EU, NATO, Monarchy,etc.others take the opposite view, that is the strength of The Alliance, priorities!
The most important thing now is Independence, everything else comes after that and can be sorted out by the first democratically elected Scottish Independence government.I doubt that will be the SNP.