In terms of Scottish Sovereignty, Independence or Self Determination whatever you want to call it we all know what it is. I have pondered and researched and debated this topic and believe I now understand how we can achieve full Sovereignty. I have also realised how we can fail. The biggest single issue we have is what I call Echo Chamber Politics.
But who am I to say? Why listen to me? A few facts, nothing fancy. Refugee post war from Europe. Grew up on the Clyde, family in shipping. Witnessed the demise of Scotland’s industries. Skills include the ancient crafts. Graduate of Maths and Computing; the really big ones. Moved to live and work in City of London late eighties. Director of a Global plc.
My passion and my identity is Glasgow. Returned regularly from 2012 to fight for Independence. Retired from London in 2015 and returned permanently. Gutted in 2014, thought we had it in the bag, but not defeated. I have been thinking about this ever since.
I was always good at talking but not so good at listening. That was getting me nowhere, so things had to change. I started to listen. I could write, so I started to read.
Putting together my skills, my life experiences, my business knowledge and my technical background I realised there was something missing. I was frustrated, I was angry and I was impatient. However, it was not until I started listening and reading that I realised I needed to be thinking. I didn’t need to think about the stuff I knew, but I did need to think about all the new stuff – and there was plenty of that. This is just a flavour:
WHY DID WE LOSE IN 1979 AND IN 2014?
In 1979 we lost because we underestimated the treachery of the opposition. Setting a minimum turn-out threshold, or rather accepting that was as naive as it was stupid. We leaned a little – not much.
In 2014 we conducted a masterclass in people politics. We did almost everything right. I felt we were part of history in the making. Nothing could stop us. We lost. Well they told us we had lost. Many of us doubted the result. We, conspiracy theorists were sure it was a fix. Of course it was. This was too important to Westminster to leave anything to chance so they gave us a masterclass in subversion. In fact Westminster we so good at it, Cameron succumbed to an EU referendum and was so confident of success he failed to consider losing. As we know, he did and his only option was to vamoose.
What did we learn fro 2014. Be honest? Very little. We have chalked up some earth shattering election results; 56 from 59 MPs is unprecedented in democratic society. We have uncovered some of the finest senior politicians in our ranks, and guess what? We are probably further away from full Sovereignty than we have ever been. We know or suspect the quislings in our midst, the Trojan Horses, the hostile media, the treachery of Westminster, we know all that. But that is not what beat us. Echo Chamber Politics beat us.
OK, that’s about as bad as I am going to get so now I want to turn it around and morph this disaster into a success.
My three topics are simply, Political Usurping, Echo Chamber Politics and the Winning Strategy.
POLITICAL USURPING
This was one of my first blogs, of very many, way back in early 2014. Here is a link [ Not about politics ] Since then I have written this to death by frustration.
Let me call this LESSON NUMBER ONE:
A country’s right to Self Determination is not a political question, it is a humanitarian imperative. The SNP are correct in bringing the objectives of self determination to our attention. Their job was to get this put in front of the people, create and ensure a free and safe environment to make our choice and explain the pros and cons. Let me say this again with a different focus. Explain the pros and cons of Self Determination NOT THE PROS AND CONS OF AN SNP STYLE SELF DETERMINATION.
This is where it all went wrong. The SNP did a great job of securing the opportunity for the people to choose Self Determination. They did a poor job setting up a safe and secure environment for the people to choose. They did a woeful job following through on ‘interference in the people’s right to choose’.
Once the 2014 Referendum die was cast and the environment set up, including the YES Tsar, Blair Jenkins the SNP should have stepped back and done nothing, absolutely nothing more. When questioned about the referendum the correct answer was:
THAT IS NOW UP TO THE PEOPLE OF SCOTLAND.
But no, no no. The SNP produced the extensive SNP White Paper. Every business person in Scotland must have placed their head firmly in the hands and gasped, Christ no! They really could not see it. That in a sense is why the wrong people are in politics. I digress; company A is in a bidding race for a contract. They send a copy of their bid to rival bidder??, company B. Company B secure the contract, company A gets squit. I’m sure you follow me, however ….
When I read the Westminster White Paper on the benefits of the Union? What? you did not get it, you did not see it? Of course you didn’t. They did not produce one. THEY DID NOT PRODUCE ONE. They were too busy with their very best liars, deceivers, spinner, media etc tearing the SNP White Paper apart and using it to beat the f@ck out of us with the rolled up version (excuse the language please).
Final point: Politics UK style is totally adversarial. In Westminster they sit across from each other hurling insults, jeers and even threats at each other like adolescents. The only way things get done is when you have the numbers. Scotland is fundamentally out gunned 650 to 65 so there is no chance, not the slightest chance that Westminster will cut down their money tree; they are too busy swinging from the branches. When we adopt UK style politics we adopt adversaries, pure and simple. Can you imaging going into a Court and your Counsel says ‘I am here to represent the Defendant’ and the Prosecuting Counsel says ‘oddly enough I am also here to represent the Defendant. No, neither can I! The uncomfortable truth is simply this; if every single person in Scotland registered to vote and voted for the SNP it would not make a jot of difference to Westminster. There is a reason for that. They use the democracy argument against us because that is recognisable and justifiable. However, when that argument pales we must realise it is about wealth; our wealth. We have so much wealth and so few people. So let’s be very clear,
FREEDOM IS NOT SOMETHING YOU REQUEST IT IS SOMETHING YOU TAKE
THE ECHO CHAMBER
So now we have lesson number 2; Echo Chamber Politics. And here I can hear Mark Zuckerberg laughing his head off. The Internet is the most amazing source of utter crap, with fantastic information buried in the detail if you can find it and fact check it. Millions of American kids sit in their bedrooms regurgitating old news, fake news and a mixture of both to get ‘clicks’ millions of clicks, and they turn that into a revenue stream. Seriously, they do. Everything is in there but you must know or learn how to find it.
Social media is something different, SOMETHING VERY VERY DIFFERENT. It is an echo chamber for like mind people, people who agree with you, people who want to watch you, do you harm etc etc. They produce algorithms advising you who to follow, who likes you, who agree with you, what groups to join, who to wish happy birthday – basically:
HOMOGENIZED HUMANS
Your following has become a badge of office, a line in your CV, social standing, a barometer of your worth as a human, I could go on and on. Seriously, you all know this. Social media in it present form should be
NOWHERE NEAR POLITICS
In 2014 we relied heavily on social media as a barometer of how were doing with the campaign. The feedback we got was incredibly positive. We were following each other, searching tags we felt appropriate, joining friendship groups, we were listening to OUR OWN ECHO and worse than that, we did because we chose to do that. Naturally, the feedback we got was very positive. Very positive very quickly becomes very complacent.
So let’s move on to LESSON NUMBER 3
THE WINNING STRATEGY
First of all, this is not a lesson as such and I am not preaching to people. This is in the main, listening to others, distilling that with some life experience and offering this as something to consider. So, here we go …
87% of YES voters in 2014 were not SNP. At best they were on side with SNP but they were not members. This tells us something powerful. The vast percentage of people/voters understand this is not political
After, we have retrieved our full Sovereignty there is absolutely no doubt we will have a national discussion and adopt or craft a new form of politics.
However, we must get away from adversarial politics. So we can begin by getting away from
ADVERSARIAL STRATEGIES
Up until now we, or rather I, have focused on people rather than politics. The media, in panic, are telling us we are a divided nation. Perhaps this is the one time we believe them. Did they say that because they know we wont believe it and think we are united as a people? Well, there you have it!
There have been a number of attempts to galvanise the YES movement’s disparate groups, same with Indy groups and on and on and on. Then out pops
THE PEOPLE ALLIANCE
Suddenly, I thought, this is different. It could be different. It should be different.
IT MUST BE DIFFERENT
The Peoples Alliance must be the people; all the people who have a view on our Sovereignty. All the people who don’t care one way or another. All the people who simply cannot be bothered. Most importantly, it must include all those people whose view is to remain in the United Kingdom. That my friends are who the people are. Fully inclusive, what a great place to start.
The people who do not care have an important contribution. They have one of the the keys that unlocks our future. We may have a view as to why we think they don’t care. However, they are the people who can tell us why they don’t care. The more they tell us the more able we are to try to address why they don’t care. Sure we can speculate but let’s be sure and ask them.
The people who can’t be bother have another important contribution. They also have one of the keys that unlocks our future. They may not care but for some reason they don’t care enough or there is no compelling reason for them to take the time to consider their views and act on them. If we knew how to address this issue we will have learned a very valuable lesson. Let’s ask them.
Perhaps the most important people we must reach out to and listen to are those who care more about the Union than about their own country having the ability to govern itself. I have asked so many Union supporters but have yet to get an answer. The key to unlock the weight of their argument is to ask them why they prefer to remain in the Union, why we are better together. However, the all important point is this. We must ask the question because we genuinely want to understand their reasoning and NOT to simply destroy their argument. Let’s not be convinced by our own hype. If we open our mind to their arguments we may learn something, we may be able to offer a counter or alternative argument. We may even be persuaded by their argument of even parts of their argument. But first we must get then engaged with us in a non adversarial way.
If we can break out of our echo chamber and get on board with all the people of this country then will truly have the key that unlocks the door to a future for our country and our descendants.