Opinion polls ask the wrong question, in an attempt to grade importance of issues, vying austerity, foreign affairs etc against independence. This approach fails to illustrate that a progressive independent Scotland, with all of our (suddenly recognised and exploited) resources could go some way towards addressing these issues.
It’s hard to forego a little nostalgia for 18th September 2014, the hope, enthusiasm, optimism. Nor forget the heartache, anger, disbelief of the result. Ten years on, the energy is still there, but much of it somewhat darker and less hopeful, behind a stifled, austerity-battered, media-trashed, culture war-speared fragment of a movement. Our parliamentary vehicle, the SNP looks beaten into the centre/right ground where progressive ideas go to die.
In 2013/14 Yes was considerably more relatable as a movement, not a party. It belonged to everyone who passed a comment of hope to their neighbour or colleague, who grafted over stalls, hustings, doorsteps, articles. It was an impeccable arena of good will, debate and good manners, despite the hovering media vultures, ready to pounce on any hint of public disorder. It’s worth remembering that the ‘divisive referendum’ is a construct of media and a bitter, complacent and entitled opposition. Our personal/work relationships are essentially intact. It was a peaceful revolution that fizzled to a damp squib as the unspeakable happened. The majority said No Thanks to sovereignty.
How different would things have been? We’ll never know from the 2014 perspective. We do know that the movement, the people, did the work. Salmond threw in the towel the next day. Despite his reputation as a ‘betting man’ and the SNP landslide victory of 2011, offering a clear mandate, Salmond seemed hesitant to embark on the road to independence, looking initially for more powers via a third option, with the polls still in the 20s for independence. There was an element of brinksmanship, after Labour’s leader in Scotland, Wendy Alexander taunted ‘Bring it on,’ the Edinburgh agreement, finally signed between Salmond and Cameron still haunts us today.
Nicola Sturgeon was still at the height of her popularity as FM in 2017. The ‘material change of circumstances’ after the Brexit result…Scotland most definitely taken out of the EU against our will, provided a cast iron mandate for indyref2. ‘Now is not the time’ has morphed into ‘Never, on our watch’ by Tory and Labour leaders.
The arguments rage on from there about the SNP’s commitment and direction of travel towards independence. With much of Scotland acutely enraged about Brexit, and former Noes migrating to Yes, maybe we missed a golden opportunity for a 2nd referendum, but it still begs the question of how to do so legally. A much-overlooked issue by many, especially those who have walked away in protest, has been the importance of international acceptance, should we wish to re-join the EU or any other trading body.
With gaps in the movement growing, the filthy hand of transphobia reached in, turning a substantial number of political warriors into genital obsessives, becoming a brand, a USP for Salmond’s Alba, under the guise of Women’s rights. Ironically, Salmond’s unpopularity with women was a clear disadvantage for the movement during the campaign. In spite of Alba’s war of attrition against every aspect of the SNP, his followers are unable to suggest a viable legal route.
But what of substance? Has anything changed ten years on, from the indy-lite offering of 2014? It was more than enough for so many of us to come to the realisation that we were big, rich and clever enough to be independent. After ten years of Tory, now faced with AusteriTory UK Labour governance, we can clearly see that we need our own powers of taxation, immigration, borrowing and other issues covered by acts of parliament. The actual nitty-gritty roll-out of a brand new country in all its complexity was and is, another matter.
It was left to bodies and individuals outside of government, (and there were plenty of them, encompassing policy, strategy, currency, arts…) to offer the content, colour, quality and substance. Groups such as Common Weal, for one, offered the practicalities, calculations behind the transition. And how they grafted, with little or no recognition or collaboration from the Scottish Government.
In a strange twist of events, a perfect storm of resentment and an undercurrent of culture wars, Salmond’s growing vendetta towards Nicola Sturgeon resulted in an opportunistic joint war of attrition against the party of government…my enemy’s enemy is my friend. No collaboration stranger than that between Common Weal’s McAlpine, Salmond and Stuart ‘Wings’ Campbell, for the (once popular) Wee Blue Book, mark 2. Nor the so called anti Scottish establishment Conter group, and their willingness to fête old right wing stalwarts such as Kenny McAskill.
With much of the grassroots contaminated and, in some kind of weird act of self-harm, the movement has been eaten away from within. That’s before we even start on media/opposition tactics. We await the solutions to the many, many criticisms raised by these groups and individuals. A proportion of Yes activists voted (in their alternative reality) for a left-wing Brexit, or Lexit, another barrier to recognition of the mandate that the ‘material change of circumstances’ gave. It’s their way, whatever that may be, or the highway.
We could have predicted Brexit, the seeds had been sown for some time, but the pandemic and aspects of its political fallout took us all by surprise. No, not the opportunist grifting and immoral shenanigans of the Tories, but the twenty plus polls in a row that gave Yes a lead. Maybe Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership was admired, given its stark contrast to Boris Johnson’s. Her visibility, authority and humanity was a threat to Jackie Baillie and others of the BritNat establishment. The rest, as we know, is an ongoing and unrelenting onslaught against every aspect of our movement and elected representatives.
Humza Yousaf’s leadership proved to be an exhausting push/pull on our emotions; his questionable ending of the Bute House Agreement with the Scottish Green Party (at the behest of others?), against respect for his unwavering support for Gaza, in the face of an increasing barrage of personal racism. Neither Humza nor John Swinney appear to have assisted our passage to independence to date. Furthermore, the ominous presence of deputy leader Kate Forbes mocks any aspiration towards a progressive route from the parliamentary side. Ill-advised discussions with the Israeli underpin this.
Is it all doom and gloom though? Can you kill an idea? I’d say you can severely disable one, suffocate, lie about it. The energy cannot be destroyed but it can darken. We can never, ever recreate 2013/14 Yes. Marches and rallies are still popular, but where people power is concerned, a great deal of positive energy is being directed towards the urgencies of genocide in Gaza, the rise of the far right, dawn raids on asylum seekers…
Opinion polls ask the wrong question, when they attempt to grade importance of issues, vying austerity, foreign affairs etc against independence. This approach fails to illustrate that a progressive independent Scotland, with all of our (suddenly recognised and exploited) resources could go some way towards addressing these issues. As long as there is visible engagement on major issues, regardless of constitution preference, there is every chance that awareness will grow, develop and reach the conclusion that we must be independent. There is no other sensible option for future generations.
Sent from my Galaxy
