The National is hosting a rally in Glasgow’s George Square on Saturday 2 November which will be addressed by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP. Supposing I’d been asked to speak at this event, what might I say? Perhaps something like this…
Patriotic pride has never held much appeal for me. I am Scottish by accident of birth. Being Scottish took no effort on my part. I cannot count it a personal achievement, so there is no cause for personal pride. You won’t hear me say I’m proud to be Scottish.
I am not proud of my nationality. But I am proud of my nation. I am proud of Scotland. Not all the time. Not unquestioningly. But, generally speaking, I am proud of Scotland.
I am proud that Scotland dares to be different. Under a regime which demands that we settle for being less than we might be, Scotland aspires to be more than it has been. In a political environment that encourages and rewards the worst of human nature, Scotland strives to be a better place.
I am proud that, in a British state where it is regarded as natural that the many should be disadvantaged in order that the few may prosper and that the weak should be sacrificed to benefit the strong, Scotland yet clings tenaciously to its collective social conscience and to the idea of community and to the principle of universalism and to the belief that every person who calls Scotland their home is worthy of dignity, fairness and respect. .
I take pride in the fact that, as a corrupt and collapsing British political system continues to concentrate power, privilege and patronage in the hands of an imperiously insensitive elite, we steadfastly maintain that sovereignty is vested entirely and exclusively in the people of Scotland.
There is much about our nation of which we can be justifiably proud. But there is much that humiliates us.
I want to be proud of our Scottish Parliament. But I cannot so long as it is befouled by the presence of self-serving British politicians who, while theatrically proclaiming their proud Scottishness, treat with sneering contempt the institution to which they have been elected. Liars, deceivers and hypocrites who boast of their Scottish heritage even as they barter our nation’s interests and dignity for the tawdry rewards of loyal service to the British state.
I cannot be properly proud of Holyrood while it remains subordinate to a parliament which is foreign to me, thirled to a political system which is alien to me and subject to the whims of a British ruling elite which is abhorrent to me.
I cannot be properly proud of our Parliament until it asserts its authority as the only democratically legitimate voice and agent of Scotland’s people.
I want to be proud of our Scottish Government. But I cannot so long as it continues to accept Scotland’s diminished status within the Union.
I cannot be properly proud of the Scottish Government while it looks to powers furth of Scotland to validate our nation’s claim to constitutional normality.
I cannot be properly proud of our Scottish Government until it declares its full confidence in the people of Scotland and total belief in the sufficiency of our own power to achieve Scotland’s destiny.
I want to be proud of our First Minister. Perhaps most of all I want to be proud of our First Minister. I know her to be a person I can admire and a politician I can respect. But I want her to be more. I want her to be the leader that Scotland needs.
I want her to be bold. I want her to be assertive. I want her to be fearless. I want her to be fearsome.
I want her to confront the British ruling elite. I want her to reject their authority. I want her to defy their rules.
We don’t need a lawyer politely pleading Scotland’s case. We need a warrior relentlessly fighting Scotland’s cause.
Make us proud, Nicola! Make Scotland proud!
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Peter A Bell 
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a 50+ Female.
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Hear, Hear!
Scotland’s cause is moral, just and democratic. It is not exceptional nor economic. We aspire to mere normality.
Let’s hope that Nicola expresses the case in something like these terms.
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Well Peter.
The fact that she is now addressing her people is a good thing. We have all been very critical of her tactics , and perhaps she has taken this on board. I noticed a change in tact when Blackford took on Boris about the consent of Holyrood over Brexit.
To me it looks like the gloves are finally coming off!
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Been there before.
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FGS! You come across as a ”glass half empty” kind of guy. When have we been there before? In 2014 when the Scots let the SNP down?
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We haven’t changed tactics Big Jock, just tempo. We’re still planning to conduct a democratic exercise and hope the result both goes our way, and then crucially gets respected, but we’ve very much been here before.
We should know by now, the result in Scotland only gets respected and ‘allowed’ to be sovereign if it suits Westminster, (YES 2014), but it’s dismissed as irrelevant when it doesn’t. (Brexit 2016). Hellfire, Westminster will rewrite legislation retrospectively to obstruct Scotland’s wishes, and we shrug our shoulders and go along with it.
Instead of seeking an Section 30 from Westminster, why shouldn’t we be brave and seek an “International Section 30” seeking affirmation that the International Community will respect the sovereignty of the Scottish Electorate? Or, what benchmark they might recognise for doing so.
I repeat for the umpteenth time, if the SNP want to keep a handle on this, please, let us seek to have Joanna Cherry seek to revoke Article 50 unilaterally, as the literal, Scottish Sovereign Prerogative so neatly defined by the ECJ. The action itself will kill a lot of birds with one stone, and sadly for them, the unfortunate ravens at the Tower of London.
Even if the action ultimately failed, and the ECJ affirms Article 50 is a UK prerogative, (though I very much doubt it actually would), even in the worst case scenario, Scotland’s Sovereignty will still be at the top of the agenda, and Westminster’s faux Parliamentary Sovereignty will be formally disputed.
The Union will hardly survive our defeat any easier than it survives our success. The irony being that is the exact 180 degree reciprocal of the Union which stubbornly survives regardless, however Scotland might vote.
Scotland should revoke Article 50 unilaterally.. or ‘live’ trying..
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”I want her to confront the British ruling elite. I want her to reject their authority. I want her to defy their rules.”
And she will Peter as you’ll see when she holds Indyref2 next year.
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Don’t ask for it, Nicola, don’t ‘demand’ it. Just announce it and get on with it.
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Comments of the type you are posting on this blog Petra are redolent of the Blairite style groupies of the nineties, i.e. the party and the leader can do no wrong. However by continuing to read this blog the process of your re-habilitation would appear to be well underway!
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Get real, Robert, I didn’t say that the SNP can do no wrong. I disagree with a number of the SNP issues that they are trying to deal with right now such as those forced upon on them by GRA Westminster and UN / EU, but at the end of the day we should fully support them until (in public) we can achieve our Independence and then we deal with the dross. That GRA crap can be overturned at the drop of a hat such as the OSBA. It’s totally inconsequential right now.
And by the way that dross doesn’t ever countenance sending Scots, in an Independent Scotland, off to fight in an illegal war ever again, as per Blair the warmonger.
How you can ever compare the SNP and Tony Blair’s ( Labour party) with the MASSIVE damage that was done by them in the Middle East (plus the Tories) Worldwide is beyond me.
Time for you Robert, to smell the coffee and get real.
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Just looked at your time line, if this is what smelling coffee does tae you, nae wonder your spouting nonsense like this, tired and emotional immediately comes to mind in the dross laden foundations of your rant. Bereft of any analysis and understanding of the political conditions that would seek to usurp the sovereign right of independence to all who would seek to live in Scotland!
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“I want … I want … I want …”
I want Independence for Scotland.
“We don’t need a lawyer politely pleading Scotland’s case.”
In international terms that might be precisely what we need. And it migh have to get through courts in Scotland and the UK first.
It’s just as well you haven’t been asked to speak at the Rally next Saturday, with your current mindset you’d be as much use for improving morale and making people feel positive as a wet blanket in the Arctic. And no, I’m not one of the SNP stasi, in fact it’s probably me invented the term.
Cheer up man! It won’t be long now.
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Did USA go thru the Courts to get Independence?
Did India?
Did Eire?
And regards Ireland, we see how it has turned out, these past 100 years on Eire, the way the UK
Establishment sought to keep hold of part of it, when it knew it couldn’t keep all of it.
The pro London Establishment has learned absolutely nothing from that, and even today, there are still political figures in England, who resent the Republic, and consider it a kind of subsidiary bit of Britain. They hate the fact, it is an Independent country!
And they hate it even more, that historical Empire on Eire, is holding back their Brexit plans.
I heard a European politician on NewsNight, mid week, dunno, think he was German, talking about bits of a country “separating”.
It is unfortunate, we have this total misunderstanding about Scotland’s position within UK.
Scotland and England are co-signatories to Treaty of Union.
We need “permission” of no one to end this Union.
If England wanted to end the Union, say for example, to make their Brexit dream easier, does anyone seriously think they’d ask Scottish permission?
No way they would!
And this talk of the “Nation”, the Country”, The “whole Country”, the “whole Nation”, etc, etc, must always be challenged.
Tell us what other country there is, as such, with 4 different national soccer and rugby teams?
There is no such arrangement anywhere else in the World.
Tho we do note that for Olympics and other similar sporting events, there is just the one UK wide team.
There has been murmerings about this arrangement, elsewhere.
We actually have some Scottish politicians who wouldn’t mind a single UK wide soccer team.
We wonder how that would go down with the many Scotland team supporters who don’t want Independence.
Perhaps the threat to this arrangement would sway them!
When East Germany united with West Germany, out went their separate sporting teams, and were simply made one with all Germany.
Scotland and England, are not, and never have been “one Nation”.
The Legal side of things, is well covered, as far as that is concerned.
What is needed, is a lot more emphasis on the part from pro Independence politicians.
It will do the First Minister well, to become far more assertive.
But what we are getting, is this endless hope for the best, play it nicely, nicely, wait and see approach.
We don’t have time for that any longer. And waiting till near end of next year for this Independence vote, is just not good enough.
The First Minister, should have Parliament in Edinburgh announce the Dissolution of the Union, and have confirmatory vote following from that.
And Scottish MPs should consider not be taking seats in Westminster.
Had 56 out of 59 Scottish MPs walked out of Westminster following that summer 2016 Brexit vote, this country could well be Independent today.
It is all very well for the likes of would be MP Kenneth MacAskill to tell us to wait and wait, These politicians can afford to wait and wait, the rest of Scotland cannot afford to wait.
The waiting time is over.
It was over a long time ago, actually.
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”Did USA go thru the Courts to get Independence?
Did India?
Did Eire?”…
Well I don’t know about you Gordon but I much prefer the SNP’s handling of getting us our Independence. The countries that you’ve mentioned had to go to War with England to get their Independence and in India’s case take a look at how that panned out.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple
”And waiting till near end of next year for this Independence vote, is just not good enough.”
A few months more Gordon to get our Independence in a democratic and peaceful manner. What’s not to like about that following over 300 years of subugation and exploitation?
”The First Minister, should have Parliament in Edinburgh announce the Dissolution of the Union, and have confirmatory vote following from that.”
Do you really think that the Unionists, around 50% of the population, would put up with that? They’d be on our streets rioting and dragging Nicola Sturgeon through the Courts. One case after another that could go on for years.
The only way out of this (hellhole), imo, is to do our utmost to convince a majority of sovereign Scots to support Independence. Something that’s not happening on this site. To get the Section 30 Order, which we will do and hold a Referendum.
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The dumb complacency here is sickening.
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Spot on yesindyref2. I DEARLY want Independence for Scotland, however some so-called pro-Independence bloggers are dragging us all RIGHT down right now. For God’s sake Peter do something. Buck yourself up or just give up altogether. You are doing nought to helping us getting our Independence at all. Can’t you see it?
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Just saw a note – The Herald – Scots Gov spending £40K on recruitment of a supremo for a new Scots Development Bank. At last! Bit late and only one of several steps which need to be taken. But this sort of infrastructure building is what voters need to see to start believing that Scotland is creating its own tangible new dawn.
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It’s been in the making for quite some time now, Phil, and ”will be operational in 2020, investing in businesses and communities across Scotland.”
https://www.gov.scot/policies/economic-growth/scottish-national-investment-bank/
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“Just looked at your timeline.”…
Yeah well you know Robert not everyone has a Monday to Friday 9-5 job. Some people, such as the Police and doctors, work through the night and get the occasional break. And there’s other reasons of course for being up, and about, when others are snoring their heads off. Making “assumptions” seems to be the name of the game on here.
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