Tuesday, October 4, 2016

YES is not party political

I read Cat Boyd's "The spirit of radical politics lives on, and it's needed more than ever" in the National today and the lid of my laptop slammed down.

I don't normally get properly annoyed at Yessers. I'll occasionally block if I regard a Yesser to be abusive, but that is a rare event indeed. I want to hear all the voices. That's why I did so much doorstep canvassing for Indyref 1. 

I have total respect for people that have been out on the doorsteps of Scotland to listen to their concerns and ideas... but here's the but:

Yes is not about party politics

Yes is simply about achieving enough 'hands up for an independent Scotland' to get us out of a union that is simply not working in the best interest of our nation.
I don't want to see an 'us and them' within the Yes movement. I don't want to see point scoring or cheap jibes. The British Establishment will lap this sort of divisive stuff up. So when I read: 


      "We didn't choose to campaign in     Labour-voting, urban working class areas because we felt these voters would be easiest to manipulate or the most confused about currency"Cat Boyd

I'm like: Whit? Whit????

If this is your campaign strategy laid bare I have some serious concerns.

All doorsteps are equal Cat. All doorsteps must be visited. All voices must be heard. 

And then to use the 2 main arguments that unionists use to seed doubt in the minds of Scots...... Aaaarrrgghhhh.

   "Meanwhile, the economic case for independence hasn’t advanced, leaving aside the contested matter of the European Union. In many areas, like oil and currency, the case has weakened. There are solutions, but they aren’t solutions of the political centre. The campaign must move right – embracing a smaller state, as Mike Russell and others have suggested – or move left by arguing for progressive taxes."Cat Boyd


Independence is not going to fix everything overnight. Independence just kick-starts everything. Independence gives us the freedom to choose all these things. Independence is not dependent on the "what currency will we use" or "what is the oil price?"
To make these questions legit arguments against us being independent only panders to the unionists who would have you doubt your own capabilities as a nation. They use these questions over currency and oil price to caw the feet from you.

It is for us to make Indyref 2 a non-party political campaign. 
It is not about what currency we will use or oil price. 
It is about ending London rule.

  "We never intended to be tireless workers for Alex Salmond's economic programme. We certainly didn't want to be Animal Farm's Boxer, the cart horse who is working all hours while the pigs feed."Cat Boyd


This is grossly insulting to all yessers. If you cannot see that the SNP are a only a channel to independence - a temporary holding position - to protect Scotland until she becomes independent - then take a step back and look again.

And by the way - Alex Salmond is not the leader of the SNP.

I watched the #RIC16 conference on Saturday via the fabulous Independence Live peeps with great interest and heard some fantastic voices from the panels and more especially, from the audience. That was great stuff. Real ideas backed up with passion and belief. I live tweeted it. Thoroughly enjoyable.

I recently followed RIC to find out more about what was going on in this central belt organisation. 

Having lifted their own lid in this article, I have to say, I'm a bit gobsmacked. Do you want independence or do you want to form the perfect government? I am not getting you. Independence is everything. Everything else comes after indy.

Let's work together for an independent Scotland without insulting each other. I have enough grief living under yet another unelected Tory Government. 




5 comments:

  1. Sound like fellow travellers to me. AFTER independence then we can all jump on our wee hobby horses and let the people decide which way our future lies but until then there is only one objective.

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  2. Well said Sir, independence first then vote for whatever, shape of Scotland, you want.

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  3. That's exactly how I feel. I'm at the point where I don't care if we have a currency let alone which one it is! I'd barter just to get out of this union. We need Independence because we need to be independent. End of.

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  4. This constant quest for minutiae from the unionists during indyref 1 was, you'll have noticed, sadly lacking from the #Leave campaign during #EURef, the lead protagonists of which promptly legged it when they got what they (didn't really) want.
    We really want Independence but we need to stop getting caught up in unionist traps amongst ourselves - let them barf on about what colour stamps we'll have, how much they'll cost and what flavour the sticky stuff on envelopes will be.

    We need to consider the big questions but the biggest question of all is do we want to be independent ? If the answer is YES, then we fight together. Now is not the time to be having an "I'm a bigger YESSER than you" competition.

    Get Independence, elect our first Scottish Government of an Independent Scotland and then decide on all the finer things in life.

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