My guests this week are Eva Comrie, Yvonne Ridley, Leigh Wilson 3 candidates for The Alba Party in this weeks Council Elections. We discuss the campaign, the results, the way forward for the Alba Party and the YES Movement, Are they downhearted? Not a bit of it, they are full of enthusiasm, hope and ideas.
Later I am joined by Jason Michael Mcann and Phil Boswell to discuss the remarkable reaction result in Northern Ireland. Is this the beginning of the end for the British Union? Will the 6 occupied counties reunite with the rest of Ireland?
The conflict in Ukraine, the propaganda and lies of both sides and the consequences for the EU, NATO and the UK 🤣🤣 ‘Special Relationship.’
Brilliant show
Great Prism again, Roddy. No, ordinary people in the West have no idea of how we are manipulated. It terrifies me just how gullible and malleable so many are, even those who purport to be our leaders.
I have to disagree with the ‘wait and see’ philosophy, though. You could hardly claim that Sinn Fein waited and saw. They had a conflict with Britain, a civil war, a short conflict in NI, then a much longer conflict in NI in between the North being primed to hive itself off from Eire and the present day (not advocating those). They have also refused all persuasion to enter Westminster again. We have suffered nothing, in recent times, in comparison to the Irish on both sides of the border, at the hands of Britain, yet we whimper and cower and refuse to stand up to them.
Another point with which I disagree is that we should be pushing the SNP for a 2023 referendum because we cannot win it. The uphill climb to take us to where we were in 2014, then to climb even higher to take those with us who do not agree with us now, is too massive. A pre independence referendum will not work for the same reasons it fid not work in 2014. We need to radicalise the ALBA agenda and manifesto on independence itself and offer a different route from the SNP’s favoured cul-de-sac. If we are going to cast envious eyes across the water to Belfast and Sinn Fein’s victory, then we need to approach independence differently, but in a way that chimes with being Scottish rather than Irish.
Phil: I, too, voted for NATO membership because, when I saw how America had forced Germany to retain American nuclear weapons on its soil, I felt we had no chance unless we did join NATO and try to negotiate a nuclear-free future. Like you, I no longer believe it is possible – if it ever was – to avoid US interference. This is why I believe we should be utilising our links to the US Scottish diaspora and persuade it into becoming a real, political and economic force on our behalf in the US.
Jason Michael: there are issues on which we disagree strongly, and I don’t want to go into those here, but you are bang on the money in relation to the US motives and the end game for the Russian Federation, with Europe stuck in the middle. If WW III starts, will the Americans be late again then charge us massive amounts, which we will be paying off until the end of the century, if there is another century, to come in on our side? It sickens me the extent to which even people in the independence movement pander to this nonsense about Russia, seemingly oblivious to the fact that we are the UK’s front line. The SNP’s roots lie in pacifism and jaw-jaw rather than war-war, but you wouldn’t think it, so little do so many understand about the movement’s origins.
A big thanks to all your guests and to you too, of course, Roddy. That US imperialism is on the march again in the world, will only be disputed by those who have little knowledge regarding the meaning and inherent dynamics of the term. (Why, I’m almost tempted to recommend Lenin’s wee book: Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism, as a primer – Penguin £5 99).
Alba’s poor showing was completely predictable, so no source of surprise. That Alba will rise is, I’ll argue, equally predictable. Patience (a priceless commodity), will be just as important as the inevitable political-slog will be in the process.
Thanks to all, once again, for another outstanding Prism!
Unfortunately this isn’t one of my usual plaudits for the Prism show. I am feeling a bit grumpy.
Firstly…. if Alba keeps doing the same thing, we will get the same result. Failure. In my area, which was typical, to come second last out of 10 candidates and beat the Family Party by a couple of votes meant failure. The half of the population that is still unionist (thanks to Ms Sturgeon) voted for unionist councillors …. so why didn’t Alba or ISP succeeded in getting even one councillor from the indy-supporting 50%? Why was the indy-supporting public determined to NOT give Alba its third vote? This feels particularly relevant given Sturgeon’s failure to progress independence.
Yes, Alba is a young Party and yes, the SNP traduced Alba. Before Alba was formed, the SNP traduced the ISP. ANY pro-independence Party is the dog’s breath to the Devolutionist SNP. They have only a transactional relationship with their ‘sexual politics’ brethren, the Greens. But this doesn’t explain why the SNP was successful in annihilating Alba among general indy-voters. I do not refer to the SNP faithful which is wilfully in denial. (In 2019, I was asked by my SNP convener if I had utter faith that Nicola Sturgeon believed body and soul in independence. I replied that I had joined a political party, not a religion.)
Instead of acknowledging the need for serious recalibration, Roddy’s guests seemed to engage in a group hug or focus upon regaining the dispossessed who voted Yes in 2014. They also ignored that in 2014 those who believed they had anything to LOSE by independence, won the vote for ‘No.’ The absence of convincing these people of the gains, including economic ones, of independence continues to plague us.
Anyway, to the post-mortem after Thursday – Alba must move beyond comfort-bubbles. Successful leaders do not confine analysis to their own bubble. Obama brought in independent, professional analysts to help him understand challenges with the electorate and how to overcome them. They hold focus groups, undertake other research into why voters made choices. For example, why is Alba’s message not getting across? How did the Party Political Broadcast go down with the public? Did they watch it? Or did they not watch because they associated the Alba brand with Alex Salmond?
Success means having a P.R. strategy. There is no doubt that our leader’s reputation is trashed among the public. Can this be turned round or should Mr Salmond undertake a different role? What strategy is required to seize the Indy helm from the SNP and persuade many thousands of lifelong SNP loyalists to move to Alba? People like the 60-something gentleman with the SNP rosette outside my polling station who hadn’t heard of Stuart Ballantyne and believed that any criticism of Ms Sturgeon was a unionist plot.
As a republican, I have watched with awe and dismay the success of the Windsor Family ‘Firm’ as a successful company. It has navigated and survived huge crises and manipulated the public by means of PR. I recall reading that many years ago the ‘Firm’ had a meeting with a PR company after a poll showed that in Scotland the monarchy was unpopular. As advised by the PR advisors, they took a decision to woo the Scots. Englishwoman Anne Mountbatten- Windsor was given ‘Scotland’ as a special project, particularly the Scotland Rugby Team, and sported a tartan sash. Hey presto, their popularity – particularly glumpish Anne’s – increased in Scotland. Alba has to get real, be professional and tackle its PR problems. I say that as someone who, among many other things, pounded the streets for the Party and given a significant amount of income to the Party.
Moving on to the Ukraine discussion (I can’t say ‘debate’)… I’d have welcomed Iain Lawson’s participation as a potentially different viewpoint. However, a few points occur to me … would the Prism be available in Russia if showcasing an opposing view to that of Vladimir Putin? Nope. Roddy is free to move to and from Spain and we are free to move between countries as we please. Are Russian citizens free to move? Nope. A final point …. polls of ethnic-Russian citizens in Ukraine demonstrate that they do not want integration with Russia. Have your panellists considered this? I also saw footage (substantiated by UNICEF) of an overwhelmingly Orthodox Jewish Ukrainian town shelled by Russian troops, with the usual carnage involving the vulnerable. Are we to believe that these people (some of whom are survivors of the Holocaust) are Nazis? Let’s have some balance please. It’s possible to be critical of ‘western’ behaviour without making heroes of anyone who in combat with them.
I notice, by final comment, the total absence of mention of the Taliban turning women once again into walking, faceless ‘tents’, their humanity once again vanished from the streets. If this was being done by the ‘West’, I am sure that the panel would have much to say. Irrespective of the Coalition’s motivation for invading Afghanistan, according to WHO, maternal mortality in childbirth fell by 70% and infant mortality by 50% during the Coalition occupation period. Having read the stories of survivors, of women’s appalling treatment by the Taliban in the 1990s (including being denied medical treatment because women couldn’t practise medicine and were only allowed to be seen/ touched by male family members), and viewed their justified despair when the Taliban returned, I await (albeit without bated breath) fair mention of this on the Prism.
Joan, you ask: ‘Would the Prism show be available in Russia’ if it showcased opposition to Putin. Yes, it would. Abby Martin was an excellent example of how Russia Today could be critical of Mr Putin and his government. Russia has a number of independent and opposition news channels and media outlets. Perhaps you got your information from 1982?
You also ask if Russian people are free to move. The answer to this is also ‘Yes.’ The only thing getting in the way of the movement of Russian citizens at the moment are the sanctions your British government and other governments have imposed on them in some sort of collective punishment project. Again, I am assuming this information you have came from 1982.
You saw footage of a village being shelled and the majority of the residents were Jewish. This is awful. Does it mean that they are Nazis? Strange question, but no. Does it mean all Ukrainians are Nazis? Hmm, no. Ukrainian Nazis are Nazis. There was a Nazi coup in 2014. There are Ukrainian Nazis in key positions in the civil service and at every level of the military. This means that there are powerful and influential Nazis in positions of power (even over _elenskyy) in the Ukrainian state. I don’t understand why you are defending Nazis, Joan. This is not a great look.
You say you want balance. You just offered ‘balance.’ But this balance is garbage. It is based on false assumptions and factual errors. Let’s deal with facts first, eh?
@Joan Savage
Hi Joan, Despite the missing ferries documentation, the lamentable state of the Scottish NHS along with the care-homes scandal, to name but three potentially explosive political news stories, the SNP gives every impression of remaining untarnished in the public-eye and has actually increased its share of the vote. I, for one, find it very hard to believe that we’re playing on an even playing field here. You may take from that what you will, but I’m of the mind that the state, when existentially threatened, will trump smart PR with ease, every time.
Hi Joan,
I’m somewhat perplexed in reading your commentary on the show from this weekend – were we watching the same show? I was incredibly impressed with Eva Comrie, an articulate and very smart woman who confronts injustice to the most vulnerable in our society, but the contribution made by Yvonne of late on the show is immense. Out of curiosity, did you watch recently when Roddy interviewed her from Afghanistan and demolished the very thing you mention about the treatment of women in Afghanistan (incidentally, your remarks pertaining to religious attire are ill-judged and frankly offensive)? At 5.8 deaths per 1,000 live births, the United States (where 37 million people live in poverty and in excess of 31 million have no health insurance) ranks No. 33 out of 36 OECD countries, so I’m not entirely sure of the relevance in the point that you’re attempting to make. Anyway, Alba and the election results, the efforts of everyone involved is to be applauded but of course that’s not why we contributed in our various ways, we have a long road ahead and one where the SNP sponsored UK media can easily neuter the presence of Alba, but it’s making inroads and that is as much as we can expect in the first year of any Party that doesn’t garner favour with a bias media.
With regard to the Ukraine, yes, a predominantly Neo-Nazi nation who, if you undertake some rudimentary research, will find that its recent history has a rather unpalatable track record for pro-Nazi behaviour and even worse if you care to go back to WWII and not even faintly disguised; I’m not inclined to look the other way. I’ve listened to, and read, Iain’s irrational pro-US thoughts, devoid of anything based in fact and unsubstantiated but originating from the media that he pertains to be that alternative to, perhaps he just needs to stay in the US where his opinion is more mainstream. What’s quite remarkable has been the level of censorship exercised by the West on what we’re permitted to read, hear, watch, and to that end I could care less if Prism were to be permitted in Russia, I’m only glad that it’s out there as an alternative here, today, right now, and for that we are all of us owed Roddy and his team for all that they do.
So, we’ve established that your remarks, for the most part, don’t relate to the program broadcast and that’s fine
That’s brutal about replacing high Russian culture with drive-thru McDonalds! But true!
I’d be interested to know what your sources are for these assertions about Russia Joan, I’m suspecting the same Corporate MSM that lies through its teeth about Scotland – prove me wrong by posting some links.
You’ll certainly get lots of the sort of ‘balance’ you seem to be looking for from the BBC & other Western Corporate Mainstream Media.
With regards the freedom to relocate I suggest you ask journalists & whistle blowers Julian Assange & Edward Snowdon about how ‘free’ they are after exposing US behaviour or even some of the innocents released after decades from Guantanamo Bay or tortured in Abu Grahid. Let’s not even go into the millions killed in the ultimate curtailment of their freedom to even live.
That of course is leaving aside the many ordinary Russians who have & do live outwith Russia. After all they’re getting thin on the ground in the minority of countries, like the UK, that support the US proxy war in Ukraine because of their rampant Russophobia.