From Noon Wednesday.
Those of us involved in the Scottish independence struggle look back on the summer of 2014 as the pinnacle of Nationalist fervour and power. This was because the entire Scottish Independence Movement was united. While it emboldened us patriots, it terrified the House Jocks in Scotland and our English colonisers.
To this day the unionists among us love to peddle the lie that the Independence Referendum was some kind of civil war with brothers and fathers becoming estranged and that there was fear everywhere. All lies of course, except the fear bit. The unionists were truly afraid that the Scottish money tree was going to leave Mother England for good. The little people of Scotland had for a few short months scared the living daylights out of the British suits.
Post the referendum we all still believed that our biggest threat would come from the English political class and their minions in their branch offices in Scotland. What we did not expect or think possible was that our biggest threat was the very same party the movement had given 100% unswerving loyalty to since 1934, the SNP.
The motives of Nicola Sturgeon may never be known. However, the result of her actions are there for us all to see today. Maybe it was that politician thing where if there is something they cannot control they feel the need to destroy. She couldn’t control the YES Movement, so she set out to destroy it and the unity of the people. She nearly succeeded, fortunately many true patriots hung on to fight another day. Sadly, this blog and podcast will be blocked on many so-called YES Pages on Facebook. The Sturgeonite loyalists still cling to her lies that those of us who criticise the lack of independence urgency by the SNP are enemies of Scotland. How the establishment on both sides of the border loves the gullible!
Something unique happened in the summer of 2014. The politicians of both the SNP and the English Nationalist parties could not tamper or divert the Yes Movement. They were running in the tailwind of the movement scared to be ignored or seen as irrelevant.
These YES groups sprang up all over Scotland. There was a Yes Group in every town and village. Yes Glasgow, Yes Dumbarton, Yes Aberdeen, Yes Everywhere. We had Trade Unionists for Indy, Women for Indy, Pensioners for Indy, Indy Bikers too many to mention here, it was truly wonderful.
There was no hierarchy and as such there was no plan from on high. It was Yes individuals that decided to organise marches and rallies, not the SNP politicians. The locations, the times, the speakers were chosen by the sma’ folk, not the suits!
For the first time ever the people set the agenda, and the politicians had to play catch up. The politicians asked to speak at rallies and Town Hall meetings organised by the folk. There were almost waiting lists. The YES Movement, united and motivated knocked the doors, held the street stalls, raised the funds, delivered the leaflets. It was arguably the biggest and best grassroots political campaigning group that the UK or Europe had ever seen.
While the ordinary folk were revelling in the spontaneity and liberation of this new politics we now know the politicians were in a panic. This phenomenon could upset the cosy consensus in the political bubble. The gravy was perhaps in danger!
Slowly but surely Sturgeon and her cabal began briefing against the movement. First to receive the attacks were the pro independence bloggers. Convincing people gathering and marching bloggers were harming the cause. The YES Movement controlled social media and new media. Sturgeon and her gang of carpetbaggers set out to isolate and demonise those that had given us alternative to the London based MSM. It was a sad day when SNP MPs and staffers started referring to ordinary independence supporters on social media by the unionist term ‘cybernats.’
Subscribing and reading pro-independence blogs became anti-independence, anti-Nicola, we were all secret yoons. Attacking all the people who were so dedicated to the Independence cause became almost a ritual for those needing to curry favour with Nicola the Charlatan and the SNP.
Many of these thriving Yes hubs decided to close their doors stop their meetings, cease raising funds. At best they went dormant, most just packed up. The majority of those Yes Groups that remain are not havens for independence supporters. They have become and remain Yes for SNP and no to anyone that does not believe every word that comes from the SNP HQ.
The man that created The Vow along with David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Ed Milliband and Nick Clegg, Murray Foote would ultimately become the SNP CEO. Is it any wonder the independence movement disintegrated?
As different Scottish patriots looked for ways to keep the cause alive new and different groups emerged. From being one group suddenly we had a host of different groups all looking to keep the dream alive. With the Yes Movement no longer working in unison, the unionists could relax, the Scottish colony was cowed!
Unity is what scares them the most. Scots ordinary folk uniting as one in common cause. This site has been pleading for unity as far back as 2019. Long before ISP or Alba even existed. Our pleas fell on deaf ears. The SNP shunned any talk of unity.
Now we are in a situation where we have polls telling us Independence is sitting at 53% and the SNP at 35-40%. Unifying the movement would be the sensible course of action. Sadly, the SNP won’t talk to other independence parties or indepence groups. They will appear on Unionist podcasts and unionist television programmes. They wont however appear on pro independence podcasts. They do try and make pacts with British Labour, but not with Alba or ISP.
We here at Barrheadboy and on Through A Scottish Prism have decided like so many that we cannot depend on the political parties to do what is necessary and believe that the grassroots need to once more take charge of events.
That is why today I am beginning a series of programmes bringing together as many of the independence groups as possible in the one forum. This is just the first of multiple programmes that will give a voice to the grassroots. We are looking for common ground to begin the task of campaigning for independence. It is once again time to have the politicians running after the movement, not the other way round.
I am joined by representatives of SSRG, David Henry. YES Pentland Sheena Jardine. Schemes for Independence, Leanne Tervit and last but absolutely not least Salvo and Iain Lawson more affectionately known here as The Paisley Mohawk!
Everyone in the movement is aware that Iain and I have had our differences. What we have never deviated from is our desire for independence. We may be going at it from different directions however, we both have the same goal. The freedom of our nation from the clutches of Westminster.
We are setting an example for the politicians. If we can find common ground then so can you. If you cannot do that then you better get out the way because we are not going to wait on you growing up and behaving like adults. Scotland needs its independence and it needs it now. Join with us or begone. Our solution is simple, unity or replace those that stand in the way of harmony.
Are you in?
Agree with everything you say. Lead on Macduff.
All for one and one for all!
Support the National Convention this is not “constitutional” it’s about self-determination and voting is through Scotland Decides. Each and every person in Scotland can register and your vote has equal weight with everyone else’s
http://www.scotlanddecides.org
I agree with you Roddy that the UN is to a some extent captured by imperial powers. But it disnae maitter what the UN thinks or does. Because the important thing is, for now, that once a people know and understand they have been colonized, that’s enough for them, and all they will then want is their liberation. So we need to educate the people about their (colonial) oppression, about how they are dominated and exploited, which is also the root of inequality in a colonial society.
In this task our politicians have been clueless. For a start thay dinnae speak the same langage as the fowk, and they are also culturally a part of the dominating colonial society – private schools, elite uni’s, privileged middle class backgrounds etc. In ither wirds, thay dinnae hiv the same values as the fowk thay claim tae want tae leeberate.
Leanne and Iain hit on very valid points. Liberation can only be accomplished together, i.e. ‘with the people’ (Freire). The oppressed group have ‘a submerged state of consciousness’; their reality is ‘concealed’, and it can only be revealed by working together with the oppressed group. This requires ‘a dialogue between the oppressed group and the intellectuals’, with the former leading. ‘The oppressed must participate in the elaboration of their oppression’.
‘Liberation is the opposite of domination’. Which is why the Salvo/Leeberation initiative is so important, whereas the politicians are part of the dominating oppressive culture.
A huge THANK YOU, Roddy!
The need for unity – I prefer the term ‘solidarity – is as obvious as it is urgent. As Alexis de Tocqueville said,
“In democratic countries, knowledge of how to combine is the mother of all other forms of knowledge; on its progress depends that of all the others.”
We have mislaid that knowledge. I like to think we haven’t lost it. I hope we can find it again. I hope we can recover something of the spirit of the early Yes movement. I don’t think we can recreate it. Times have changed. Circumstances are very different now. For one thing, we know a lot more than we did then.
We must build the Yes anew. We cannot push together all the various factions of the fragmented movement. It would be a mistake to try. People don’t like being pushed. What we might be able to do is draw the parts together by stating concisely the purpose for which they should unite. A single thing, stripped of all agendas other than that of restoring Scotland’s independence.
The old Yes movement was held togethr by the singular purpose of winning the referendum. Now, there is no referendum in prospect. The only democratic event on the horizon (or closer) is the UK general election. Unfortunately, there is no voting strategy that will have any influence on the outcome of that elect – or its aftermath. Whatever nominally pro-independence party you vote for; and even if you vote for one of them in huge numbers, the outcome will be the same. That outcome will, as always be decided by voters in England.
Scotland’s voice cannot and will not be heard if we play by the rules and vote for a candidate very few of us will have had any say in selecting. To be noticed, we have do something different. We have to break the rules.
This is why I have suggested a campaign to #RepurposeYourVote by writing across it the legend #EndTheUnion. This, surely, is something everybody in the Yes movement can agree on. We all want the Union to end. If enough of us spoil our ballots in the same way, that becomes a campaign. Those #EndTheUnion ballots are counted and recorded. They will also be seen by many of those attending the count. If it is big enough, the media won’t be able to ignore it. Our voice will be heard in a way it will not if we behave as we are expected to behave.
Perhaps more importantly, this – or something similar – has the potential to unite the Yes movement. It gives us a purpose. It gives as something to work towards. It won’t bring independence any closer. But then, nothing we do in the Westminster election will bring independence any closer. It’s a choice between voting for a candidate (party) and having you vote disappear like it had never been cast, or repurposing your ballot paper in order to send a message to ALL politicians in Scotland. That message is,
THE YES MOVEMENT IS BACK! AND WE ARE COMING TO KICK YOUR ARSE!
Watch this very space over the coming days I think you might get a pleasant surprise on something Peter.
Much respect & appreciation to both Roddy & Iain for being * big * enough to put aside whatever they disagree about ( possibly the only thing they disagree about ) and reconnect to further the cause we ALL agree about .
Great to see . Real/true friendship can survive passionately-held divergent opinions . Q.E.D .
Right . Let’s get it ON ! compadres 🙂
I can only speak personally, although I suspect the sentiment might resonate quite widely, but there’s an elephant in the room whenever we discuss unity and coming together, and that is extent to which the division and disunity has been deliberately sown.
I myself feel very reluctant to see a “United” YES movement if the price of that unity means an effective amnesty on those disingenuous characters amongst us who have had acrimonious disruption and animosity as their primary objective.
I think we are oversimplifying this, bourach, chaos, call it what you like, because that infusion of disingenuous characters stinks to high heaven like the covert subversion and dirty tricks which security agencies the world over are renowned for. You don’t need spies everywhere to paralyse and bring down a movement, the belief there are spies everywhere will probably suffice, once the general suspicion kicks in.
We don’t need a Messiah candidate to lead us, we just need “clean” people who are what they say they are, and can be trusted.
I say we “just” need that, but at the risk of unsettling people, I think we need some form of censure to clip the wings of the “disappointments and underachievers” who will scurry to be on board. The list of people I “don’t” want to see leading the movement is far, far longer than the list of people I do.
We have no Scottish security services of our own to vet our community for subversives at large amongst us. Instead, I think it’s a given we have security services working hard to embed such subversives amongst us. Caution too, these are not the same “enemy” as Unionists with whom we can engage in constructive debate and discussion. These individuals we need weeded out, not presented at the top table rubbing shoulders with our heid yins.
I agree, the infiltration and the bad actors are one of our major problems just now and I have written to both Alba and Salvo about it as it is so concerning. We can see what has happened to the SNP, no doubt with many “fakes” in the party and we really should all be talking about this and letting them know we are aware of them and what they are doing. One tactic is just being difficult, non-communicative, using bullying, blaming, lack of co-operation, rudeness etc. to make good people leave and give up. There are probably various levels and different tactics used at different levels. Bringing awareness, as you say, would be half the battle.