THE PEOPLES INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT IS BACK

It has been great to see the last few weeks activities in the Independence movement.

It seems to me that we are starting to see the people being involved again after the last two years of us having our in person campaigning paused or limited.

This should excite all Independence supporters, as no matter what route you believe Independence is going to come from, the one common thing we can all agree is that it will be the people of Scotland that reclaim it.

ALL MOVEMENTS TO INDEPENDENCE POSITIVE

I will list below movements/groups that some might not fully agree are beneficial to the movement but I personally believe any movements/groups that have independence as there goal should always be afforded a hearing and we should keep an open mind to all.

That is not to say we can’t be questionable or critical, but we should do it in an open minded respectful manner and never shut the door fully on anyone who fights for our independence.

For example, If Scottish Labour were to come out tomorrow as “finally seeing the light” and realising there party can only be saved by supporting Independence, we would all be questionable of motive and critical of there previous but we wouldn’t shut the door on them.

And this is how I personally view any supporters of Independence., ask questions, be critical (if needed) but always stay open minded.

AUOB MARCHES

All Under One Banner held a march for Independence the week after the local elections which seen people of all parties and none come together. I never managed to make it down to the march but the feedback from those I spoke with was, while there were still not the numbers we seen pre 2020 there was certainly a higher number participating and a feeling that the momentum for people attending theses marches is coming back.

I certainly hope it does and would encourage anyone to attend future marches if they can.

Mass participation on the streets is a tactic everyone can play a part in to show the watching world the people of Scotland’s desire to be independent and when needed help us in gaining international recognition as an independent state.

SNP CONFERENCE 2022

I was delighted to see that the Snp conference will return to an in person conference.

While some might say why does the Snp conference bother me?

My answer to that would be, the Snp are the party of government and conferences are where part policies are decided so I am glad that the snp members will be back to having those all important in person meetings and debates that every party needs to be having.

I believe this will also be a month after the programme for government is set out in which the details of the 2023 referendum should be outlined and detailed

So I would hope that Snp members will attend in large numbers and create a carnival atmosphere that regenerates there activists, as well as other independence activists, into a winter and summer ahead that will be fully packed with campaigning activities leading up to that all important date in 2023.

WEE ALBA BOOK ROADSHOW

Again I was delighted to see the Wee Alba Book roadshow continuing after the election.

The first post election meeting held in Pollockshaws with a great guest list of Alex Salmond (Alba), Alex Niel (Snp), Robin McAlpine (Common Weal) and Kenny Mackaskil (Alba) taking part in some great discussions with a packed out hall.

These roadshows for me are just as important as conferences as they engage with the public on important topical issues of how an independent Scotland could look and are a reminder of how great our 100s of town hall and village hall meetings in 2014 were.

PROGRESS TO YES

I will be honest, I wasn't going to put this event in here as I have been disappointed at some of the comments posted by the organisers AIM (Aberdeen Independence Movement) where they have insinuated that an Independence supporting party was a “Dark Fridge” as well as “bigoted and exclusionary” which in my opinion is only adding fuel to the fire of the current “difference of opinions” within our movement.

Nonetheless this is a Independence supporting event and I believe it is a sell out, so the event itself deserves praise as the positive is there will be 300 odd people attending an in person event to discuss moves towards Independence.

SCOTTISH SOVEREIGN RESEARCH GROUP ROADSHOW

These roadshows this summer are looking great with public meetings across the country to talk of the SSRG’s 6 strategies for Independence including the Claim of Right option which seems to be gaining momentum and has recently launched its new website www.salvo.scot

It also has meetings about the future in an independent Scotland including (but not only) last nights currency meeting hosted by Dr Tim Rideout of The Scottish Currency Group who have done an incredible amount of work and research on our currency in an independent Scotland.

The SSRG also have an in person conference coming up at the end of July which again is an in person gathering discussing Independence.

MANNIEFEST

Last but certainly no means least is the exciting festival next weekend in the highlands.

Manniefest is an independence supporting gathering full of great musicians, fantastic speakers and an appearance from Saor Alba Pipe Band as well as the Yes Bikers.

This also has the added bonus of being on the jubilee weekend, so if you are looking to escape all the union jackery and sweet carolines get yourself along to Manniefest in Golspie for a gathering of like minded folk, celebrating all things Scottish Independence.

Tickets can be found at following link

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/manniefest-golspie-tickets-312909509767

SUMMERY

As I mention in the opening, it is great to see all these in person events starting to take place again and there seems to be a rejuvenated momentum building towards our Independence.

We have been told there will be a referendum next year, no ifs, no buts, so I believe all these events are important to get ready for the campaign of our lives.

For those that don’t think a referendum will happen, it is just as important to build up the momentum and the movement, if there is no referendum in Septembers Scottish governments 2022/2023 plan of governance, then I believe a new strategy will be needed.

And for a new strategy to be successful there will need to be momentum and the movement must be ready.

So ALL independence supporters have a big challenge ahead in the next few months, but from the events above I think we are in a good starting position.

I should again note I know I likely haven’t listed all events that are or have happened but that should be seen as a positive as it means there's so many thing happening I just haven't been able to fit them in but they are just as important as those mentioned above.

COMMENT

I recently read a tweet that stated all those writing blogs should question whether it is a blog or an opinion piece,

I have a big amount of respect for all the bloggers that have been imperative in the Independence movement thus far, the time, effort and research they put in I am sure is more than a full time job and should be credited.

For me this is just an output to put my opinions onto paper so for that reason I have changed this to be an opinion piece rather than a blog.

Forget the Parties, Unite the Members

 

Welcome to my first ever blog.
I decided to do this after a long reflection of where I believe the independence movement to be, after taking into account last year’s Holyrood election as well as this year’s council elections.

I will set out from the start – yes, I am an Alba Party member and stood in the recent election. However, my reason to start this blog is to, if I can, play my small part in moving the independence cause beyond the party politics that is holding us back in many ways. Throughout these blogs I will not look to promote any party but only the independence cause and that alone.

However if that means promoting and questioning policies or opinions of either political parties, independence supporting groups or individuals, I will do so but in a respectful manner.

I will base the blogs on national issues as well as local issues to me in the Highlands & Islands.

So to begin with blog number one, I will focus on the current divide or as I prefer difference of opinions in the independence movement and why I believe the focus should be on uniting the members of these parties and not uniting the parties.

PRE-ELECTION

Before both elections there was a drumming up of a divide between the Alba Party and the Scottish National Party. This divide was jumped on and, to an extent, exaggerated by the establishment and the mainstream media, who must have thought all their Christmases had come at once.

If we are to move forward, both parties also have to be honest that there were members of both, who didn’t help in the divide. The establishment and media need no explaining, we all know their reasons, but in my opinion, the parties’ members and supporters have been misrepresented.

Firstly, the members that were vocal in negative campaigning against what they seen as a threatening party were a minority on both sides.

Secondly, most - not all granted - but most who were vocal negatively, were within their rights to voice their concerns, dissatisfaction and frustration.

For the SNP members – they saw a new party forming, which, they believed, risked dividing the cause, while the Alba Party members saw a party they believed had already divided the cause.

Both were entitled to their thoughts and beliefs, what unites us all here is a worry and concern for the cause of Scottish independence.

There was of course a small minority on both sides that had other reasons and that is of course also OK as we still live in a democracy (until the Tories remove that as well).

ELECTION RESULTS

That’s where I believe we were at both pre-elections, if we look at the election results themselves.

The SNP have done well, improving their votes in both elections, while the Alba Party haven’t quite made the political breakthrough we had hoped for, but I don’t believe it has been the hammering defeat some would want you to believe.

I can only talk of my personal experience, in the Holyrood election yes there was a lot of animosity towards Alba, we were new, we had just formed after the parliament enquiry which did divide opinion, and there was still a lot of anger and members again on both sides who maybe acted out of anger of not knowing what to make of the sudden divide between 2 of the leaders many had seen as the leading forces of our movement in the previous decade, and of course members on both sides believed they were right.

However, in the recent election I found there to be much less animosity and a lot more open minds to what the party were saying.

In the results the Alba Party were presented as having 0.7% - 8% of the vote. BUT first of all, that is first past the post votes, which I think even the most optimistic of the Alba Party members didn’t expect to challenge on. For me the important figures were the transfer of votes from the SNP candidates and indeed the Green Party candidates, where they also stood. I have only taken random samples, but I estimate the Alba Party featured on 20%-25% of the SNP and the Greens (next votes). And secondarily, as we know, council elections seem to always have lower turnouts, which always affects the independence supporting parties.

Therefore, for me the SNP members, the Alba Party members and the Scottish Green Party members can be optimistic about the results of this election.

I may have rambled on a bit there about the Alba Party results and that is not me trying to defend the results or make excuses, but to explain my position of being optimistic in going forward united.

Many, I am sure, may think that the SNP don't need to unite, they are doing great as it is, or that the Alba Party don't need to unite as their support is building.

The truth is, both are probably right in one context. However, what we need to remember is that they’re both right if independence could wait another 10 years for this divide to heal. But the reality I hope we can all agree on is that the UK living standards and decisions in Westminster are getting increasingly worse and independence is now a necessity.

Both parties have big assets to the independence movement and I don’t think it’s any secret that most of who moved from the SNP to the Alba Party were pro-active activists, and it can’t be denied the SNP have the public backing.

Remember pro-active activists got us from 30% to 45% in the summer of 2014 and the combination of pro-active activists and public backing won the SNP 56 out of 59 seats in the General Election in 2015.

GOING FORWARD

How do we use that to the movement’s advantage?

In my opinion, we need to stop focussing on the parties’ leaders, when we are discussing party involvement in the independence movement. Let’s start thinking of the party memberships, as illustrated at the start - there is more that unites us, than divides us.

We also need to separate the day to day politics from the movement.

And, all independence parties need to focus on positive campaigning for their own policies as well as the independence movement.

That is not to say we should all just “wheesht for indy” and not hold each other to account on policies and strategies, political parties should always hold each other to account that’s the reason of having different political parties. But there we can do it in a positive manner with attacking each other..

I think within the next year we will see one of two scenarios play out:
1. A referendum will be announced for 2023 and the movement will need to come together to campaign like our lives depend on it.

2. A referendum won’t be called, and we then need to re-analyse the movements strategy on winning independence, which there will be many options put out on the table, of that I am sure. We will hear the Plebiscite option, we will hear the Claim of Right option, we will hear the Super-Majority option and we will hear the Section 30 court case being pursued option.
It will then be down to the independence movement to decide how to go forward and, maybe more importantly, when we need to change tactics.

To finish off this first blog and, maybe something I will write on more in the future, I also think the independence groups need to unite.

I think I have heard all groups calling for the parties to unite, yet we still do not have a fully united movement going forward, and that is something we need. I suspect like most of us I am sure that whatever strategy or tactic is used we have a big fight ahead and it is down to these groups to help unite and organise us as we will need to be organised. But for them to unite us they too must be united.

I hope this has been an OK first attempt at a blog and kept respectful to all independence supporting parties and those of no party, of which, I acknowledge I have not mentioned all, but for the context of this first blog I hope you understand my reasoning.