We now focus our full energies on developing the independence case in anticipation of the referendum vowed next year.
Alex Salmond
This is precisely what the SNP is doing. And what the Scottish Green Party is doing. And what the Independence for Scotland party is doing. And what countless other pro-independence parties and organisations and groups are doing. It may be that by some miracle of coincidence they are all developing the same “case”. Or by an only slightly less miraculous happenstance, “cases” which complement each other rather than conflicting horribly.
Vastly more like is that this plethora of parties and overabundance of organisations and glut of groups will produce a dizzying welter of contradictions and inconsistencies. The Yes campaign will be diffused and diluted just as in the first referendum.
Inevitably, there will be tension between and among the parties advocating “cases” which cannot coexist peacefully in the environment of a political contest. Just as inevitably, these parties will expend as much or more of their efforts and resources fighting one another than they devote to Scotland’s cause.
In short, it is a recipe for disaster.
Arses need to be kicked. Heads must be banged together. Scotland’s entire political class is betraying the nation in the name of partisan interests and personal ambition and perhaps a few even less worthy motives. Everybody agrees that the independence movement must unite. Nobody is prepared to make the necessary compromises. Everybody wants unity on their own terms. The independence movement cannot and will not unite until every individual within the independence movement discards partisan interests and policy agendas so as to focus on the one thing all can agree on – #DissolveTheUnion.
It is obvious that the parties themselves will not take the lead on this. The various factions within the Yes movement are even less well-disposed to setting aside their dogma and concentrating on the fight to restore Scotland’s independence. That quote from Alex Salmond reflects an attitude that is common to all the factions and splinter groups. They’re all insistent on doing their own thing. They’ll each put in a colour and it’ll come out grey. Causes don’t prosper by means of a grey campaign.
If our political leaders won’t put Scotland first then it is down to individuals to correct this. Scotland’s cause needs more rebels. All Alba has done is take potential rebels and neutralise them. People left the SNP to join Alba as an act of rebellion. But all that’s happened is that these rebels have been defanged. They’ve been rendered ineffective. The energy that might have been part of a mighty sword in the hands of the Yes campaign has been diverted to the petty squabbles of party politics and policy agendas.
There may still be time to correct this. If the independence movement goes into a referendum campaign in its present condition WE WILL LOSE! That is as much of a certainty as you’ll get in politics. Not only does the Yes movement have none of the things it needs to fight a successful campaign it has all the things that might prevent it from fighting an effective campaign. The keywords for an effective campaign are Solidarity! Focus! Discipline!. Either we acquire these attributes PDQ or WE WILL LOSE!
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Peter A Bell 
“… If it is not, then an entirely different perspective will open up in Scottish politics where the distinctive ALBA voice of how to secure freedom for our country will be absolutely necessary… ”
The above quote is from Alec Salmond, Peter. The ‘if not’ he is referring to is the SNP promise of a referendum in 2023, and what will happen if it is not delivered. I absolutely agree with you that, unless a campaign kicks off very soon and all the work done that needs to be done, is done, we will lose a second referendum – if it is agreed to by Westminster, that is, in the first instance. The point is not whether there will be a referendum because we know there won’t be one in 2023. So does Alec Salmond. It is the ‘entirely different perspective’ that is the most interesting part of that quote. Everyone who really wants independence will rally round if and when independence is on the agenda again.
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The concern is not that there will be no referendum in 2023 but that the referendum we get will not be fit for purpose. If Alex Salmond was acknowledging this then I might believe the stuff about “an entirely different perspective”. To date, nothing that Salmond has said suggests his perspective is any different from Sturgeon. There is no “distinctive ALBA voice”.
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I find myself in agreement, Peter. To be honest, I’d rather we didn’t have a referendum in 2023 because it won’t be worth the paper on which it is written. However, I can’t see how there can be one in time. If Neale Hanvey’s account of his experience is correct, and I have no doubt that it is, then absolutely nothing has been done anyway. How many times have we heard the same nonsense? How many times has Ian Blackford made aggressive noises only to crawl back into the comfy position he vacated just a few moments before? Sturgeon will not survive to fight the 2015 SE, but a Sturgeon clone would be just as bad. If she presents us with a referendum that cannot be won under any circumstances, in her position I’d flee Scotland. If she presents us with a refusal by Westminster, she had best flee, such is the mood now, let alone after a refusal. She is the one who insists that a S30 Order is the sole route. Few others.
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Arrrrrrggghhhh! Typo again. Should be 2025 SE. Duh!
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I feel very disconcerted I actually agree with your post Peter , normally I just put your views down to bias against ALBA but TBH it is now appearing that people who put themselves forward as political representatives are either too scared to challenge and expose sturgeon as the fake independence leader she is and a grossly incompetent FM or are comfortable being part of the establishment junta
Where are the REAL SCOTTISH LEADERS AND REBELS who are NOT AFRAID to expose the lies and corruption endemic throughout Scotland
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Yes Peter! Rally round , consolidate, grab the initiative.
Who is it that can unite!!
Break the SNP log jam.
It is beyond me, what the SNP are not up to.
If the ones at the top of the SNP are not up to it.
They should be kicked out.
Politicians are untrustworthy.
It will only emerge from the ground up
Mass meetings with folks that can create the initiative and strength
To carry it forwards.
Weekly waves of rousing meetings
From now or near as dammit.
🐼🐼🏴🏴
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Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
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There seems to be general complaint that the ‘Yes’ movement is only let down by politicians and that politicians are not delivering up opportunities and silver platters of ‘something’ to the Yes movement.
Given the thousands of influential bodies, institutions and individuals of significant influence across the board in Scotland, what networking initiatives have the Yes movement made to lobby these influential bodies, institutions and individuals in order to present the Yes movement’s case for independence and to keep knocking on their door to ask for presentation, conference and debate events and opportunities?
What initiatives have the Yes movement taken to organise presentations to and exchanges with journalists and the media? Or is the extent of that initiative to continue with marches of like-minded individuals making repetitive presentations to themselves, mostly more complaining about the SNP or Nicola Sturgeon and complaining that the press and media don’t pay the Yes movement the attention which it claims it deserves?
The SNP and Scottish Government are the ones who are left to field all of the disapproval and active working against independence from all of those influential bodies, institutions, very very historically influential individuals within Scotland and with-out Scotland whose m.o. has always been to pull the ladder up from under themselves and ensure that the ordinary Scottish public don’t tip up their considerably lucrative and influential apple-cart. Why does the Yes movement avoid taking on all of these influences? Why does the Yes movement (or the loudest shouting complaining element of it) spend all of its time harping on about what Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP are supposedly not doing FOR the Yes movement – instead of attempting to make waves and show itself and take on the hard task of communicating with all of those significant anti-independence bodies and have some engagement with them?
A nation is not a nation until it thinks like a nation. The SNP and Scottish Government are hampered by a huge percentage of that nation who are anti-independence and who set up brick walls every day to stymie every effort of progress the Scottish Government and SNP attempt to make. These are real obstacles which only the people you seem to have made a mission out of complaining about have to deal with – but which the Yes movement ignores, or pretends doesn’t exist or doesn’t feel it should take any responsibility for – for some odd reason.
It is put about by the impatient anti-Nicola Sturgeon and hail Alex Salmond and Joanna Cherry will get us independence contingent – that the reason why thousands are not rushing to attend marches must be because people are feeling let down by Nicola Sturgeon (you seem to tunnel it solely to Nicola Sturgeon) – that people are despondent and that people don’t feel they can ‘campaign’ until there is a referendum date – and until then – why there’s nothing to do! There’s apparently nothing the impatient Yes movement contingent can think of to do to engage with the population outwith your own group. There’s no intellectual rigour circulating to come up with any ideas of how to engage with the elements of the public required to come over to Yes – the entire mission seems to be navel-gazing, looking backwards to Alex Salmond and staying in a cul-de-sac of ‘Ach let’s just keep whacking the Sturgeon pinata, it’s fun, we can shout loud and we can reminisc about 2014 and what fun it was’ blah blah blah.
That’s a cul-de-sac of your own making. The reason why people don’t rush to turn out to marches is absolutely nothing to do with any despondency of feeling that Nicola Sturgeon is no longer for independence or isn’t doing enough to get us a referendum. The Yes movement is as responsible for getting that referendum and getting the country on side to want it as Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP or anyone else is. The responsibility is equal and applies to us all. Hiding away with the lazy excuse that ‘we can’t do anything until there’s a date’, or continually bleating ‘Oh that Nicola has done nothing since 2014’ – and all of the other backward looking time-wasting specious excuses is just a distracting split-perspective tactic to achieve a somewhat other goal – and it isn’t independence. If it was genuinely independence, the Yes movement of old wouldn’t be spending all of its time (a couple of years now) ignoring the public it needs to win over to achieve independence and marching around in circles of cynicism putting 100% of its efforts into merely complaining about and blaming Nicola Sturgeon for all of it’s perceived woes!!!!
Reflect and ask yourself why people really are not turning out in such great numbers for marches – and look at the positive things they are doing instead to engage with the people we need to think and want independence. SNP members keep being accused of being pink fluffy Nicola worshippers or called any number of negative epithets because they don’t spend their time being cloned into being cynics. People keep insulting SNP members, trying to lure them in and move them around the board to just march around and thoughtlessly do the same lazy cynical stuff. But you forget that those who are continually insulted as sheep – are individuals or all calibre and well capable of exercising their ‘think for themselves’ muscles and are not let around like what is it – after a dangling carrot!
Sorry Peter – but our nation has to think as a nation and go forward – and times are 20 times more complex than they were in 2014 – and ignoring all of those complex factors and narrowing down getting independence to the simplistic by turning the guns on Nicola Sturgeon for expediency to achieve another goal – is going to keep you in the cul-de-sac of one group within the Yes movement – but separate from country – and it’s country independence is about – not one impatient element of the Yes movement which seems to be ‘of itself’ only these days.
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It is clear you have not read much of what I’ve been writing these last two or three years. The views and attitudes that you criticise are not mine. The only part of it that chimes at all is the bit about thinking like a nation. Which is something I’ve been saying for decades rather than just years.
You make a very basic error. You take aim at your own caricature of the dissident voices in the Yes movement. You miss me completely. You miss the point completely. While there may be a few among the dissidents who approximate your caricature, they are the very ones you need to ignore in order to understand the criticisms and concerns. Instead, you generalise from those few oddballs. Which is exactly what Unionists do.
I don’t intend to go through your comment point by point explaining your serial errors. I’ll mention just two more things besides the ‘think like a nation’ bit that you imagine hasn’t occurred to me. Firstly, you echo the nonsense of the #WheeshtForIndy numpties when you dismiss as impatience what is in fact a very appropriate sense of urgency. If you fail to understand why that sense of urgency is appropriate then you fail to understand the entire situation.
Secondly, you make the foolish mistake of imagining anybody who criticises Nicola Sturgeon’s approach to and handling of the constitutional issue must perforce be a member of the “hail Alex Salmond and Joanna Cherry will get us independence contingent”. In fact, I have been just as critical of Salmond and the Alba Party as of Sturgeon and the SNP. Which, had you been paying attention, you might have gathered from my comments about us being let down by the whole of Scotland’s political class.
You’re comments are welcome. It’s just that they have nothing whatever to do with me or my views.
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Excellent sparky response Pete. 🙂
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