I have not heard anybody, anywhere, argue in public or on the media the case for Scottish Independence for six months (except for me). I have not heard any elected representative of the SNP argue the case for Independence for… well since Autumn 2014.
It is not surprising the increase in the polls of support for Independence has stalled, as nobody is putting the argument. The trouble with leaving the matter aside until support becomes overwhelming, is that if you leave the matter aside support never will become overwhelming.
I am therefore considering standing as an Independent in the Scottish parliamentary elections, purely to put the full-on case for Independence. There are plenty of other people who can argue about the minutiae of the glorified council at the bottom of Holyrood Road. The SNP has explicitly stated it wants the votes of unionists as well as nationalists in this election. I don’t.
I want to give people who want to express their desire immediately to be shot of the corrupt and warmongering British state, a chance to say so unequivocally at the ballot box once again.
This is a question of principle. It is not undertaken with any expectation of being elected. I would stand in North East Scotland on the regional list ballot. The question is, were I to do this, are there people out there who would help me?
Yes, Silvio, the U.S. has a history of fixing elections, at home and abroad.
The following is from a piece on Daniel Ellsberg’s book Secrets:
Back in the days of the campaign I stated my view that I’m British for better or worse and cautioned that revolutionaries and idealists are always betrayed from the Russian revolution to the election of Obama. Its usually a disappointment You have either been duped with PR or in a major event the rotten old elite are booted out but replaced by the even more blatantly corrupt and inept who have no experience to draw on.
So idealism yes. All comes from ideas. But it must be thought / idea first and emotion second. Its not easy. Its idealism coupled with pragmatism.
Craig I like and we need your spirit and risk taking. I think the SNP should have taken you. A clonesville party is sterile. You would have livened it up, but I can’t help but think that the SNP clone operators will think their right and that you would have been too unpredictable.
But if you had been selected and were now on the inside as an SNP MP would you still have resigned?
Anyway keep up the voice of dissent…crying in the wilderness…i appreciate it even if it might nit always pay the bills….when is the book coming out?
.
“Congratulations to SILVIO for managing to sneak in – yet again! – a long screed about his favorite obsession “Operation Gladio”.
“I’m at a loss to see its relevance to Craig’s theme but I’m sure SILVIO would be happy to explain.”
It is explained in Silvio’s post. The relevance is obvious enough. Silvio only scrapes the surface of the matter: US interference in elections in the Bundesrepublik, where the aim was to keep the Social Democrats away from power, as well as the ban on the Communist Party were two instances of inititives that no German politicians, (least of all any with Adenauer’s record) post 1945, would have dared to carry out. The same pattern was found in France, where the most popular party was also kept at bay. And elsewhere. In fact in Britain several Labour MPs were expelled from the PLP for supporting the Italian Socialists in the 1948 election.
But the clearest indication of the US antipathy to democracy was in Spain where the Franco regime-in all its nastiness-was preserved for thirty years after it should have been left to the mercies of the people of Spain.
I was recently inspired by this interiew with Wanee Horn -Miller see wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waneek_Horn-Miller
on the BBC World Service:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03g1g9n
She was bayonetted by a Canadian soldier who they recognised and she was recuperating slowly when her mother said to her. : ‘I didn’t raise you to be anyone’s victim’.
That mother is not my mother, but really she is all our mothers who have been literally or metaphorically spiked by authority. She asked her daughter about her dreams of competing in the Olympics, and it stung her into action.
3 cheers for Craig for galvanising himself into action as an independent.
Also for his gruelling domestic schedule. At least the campers can crawl into their own little tent at night.
Waneek
Habba
“I do not think that standing as an independent would be a good idea (you can work out the reasons for yourself).
And avoid Solidarity at all costs.”
Agreed, but will give 2 good reasons.
1 Slowly slowly catchee monkey has gotten us a hell of a long way down Independence road since that approach won the day, and Independence road is a one way system.
For all we need that fundamental change, and ‘would love to see it in my lifetime’, better me dead without that pleasure, and my children reap the caw canny tack reward.
2 Given you agree with the above sentiment, realistically what can you achieve that would be of either any constructive impact in speeding us on, or you reaching your true potential. Doing what your doing.
Politico doesn’t suit such a character as yourself, IMHO, from being a long term reader.
Ba’al (from previous thread)
Trippy doesn’t go quite far enough to describe that. Fab. TA
Usual offer stands, Craig. I’m sure we could put a team together for you here.
Congratulations Craig, I fear that the SNP as a vehicle for independence is in a ditch, verily Scotch on the rocks. The way they’ve been since the fake general election seems suspiciously like Syriza, the antifascist partei that’s implementing fascism faster than PASOK.
All together now, “Snouts in the trough, snouts in the trough, ee-aye-adio, snouts in the trough!”
Let’s see your economic policy, then.
““Congratulations to SILVIO for managing to sneak in – yet again! – a long screed about his favorite obsession “Operation Gladio”.
“I’m at a loss to see its relevance to Craig’s theme but I’m sure SILVIO would be happy to explain.”
It is explained in Silvio’s post. The relevance is obvious enough.”
__________________________
With great respect, it is not explained and there is no relevance (except, possibly, to an obsessive).
Craig’s post is about resigning from the SNP because it is not vigorous enough about independence….and possibly standing, himself, as an independent in the forthcoming Scottish election.
Silvio’s post is about the CIA interfering with elections and then a long screed (by no means for the first time) about Operation Gladio.
Unless our friend Silvio is suggesting that the CIA will intervene in the forthcoming Scottish elections, or that Operation Gladio might in some way be activated to play a role in those elections then I believe his post was irrelevant and a simple rehashing of his favorite obsession.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PS – You should perhaps let Silvio defend his posts himself because you didn’t make a very good job of it. But I realise he won’t/can’t.
The SNP is much more comfortable using the threat of independence to screw more money out of the English and obtain more powers for itself than actually wanting independence.
I’ll give it to Craig, though. He actually does want to see an independent Scòtland, but how he balances this with his support for the EU remains a mystery.
“He actually does want to see an independent Scòtland, but how he balances this with his support for the EU remains a mystery.”
There are international socialists, whose core belief is in the brotherhood of man, the abolition of borders, and a worldwide, transcendent devotion to the greatest good of the greatest number. (Fine, but people don’t work that way.)
And then there are those who believe that egalitarian socialist aspirations, while unattainable in the world at large, can nevertheless be reached within national boundaries under national legislation. These could be termed ‘national socialists’: the term is so tainted by association (with a dictatorship using it as a lure for leftwing votes) that they generally aren’t, except by Fred, who likes a good smear.
I agree with Anon, for once. It is impossible to be both. To support the EU, you have to be a globalist capitalist: the sacred Market is the sole reason for its existence, and we have seen ample evidence of its contempt for egalitarianism in the wake of the 2007/8 crash. If there is a route to international socialism, this ain’t it. And, Craig, you are not a globalist capitalist.
A truly independent Scotland isn’t going to peacefully rearrange itself overnight, however. And the gradualist approch (which allows the country to reconsider its course en route if necessary) is, as Defo says, justifiable. From the Scottish perspective – my own loyalties are divided – if the advantages of a safe income and extensive control over its own affairs can be realised, there’s very little point in going for the full monty. The class of the Scottish Left includes, possibly as a minority, the class of the Left Nationalists: democracy doesn’t demand full independence.
“I’ll give it to Craig, though. He actually does want to see an independent Scòtland, but how he balances this with his support for the EU remains a mystery.”
If Britain leaves the EU the Natzionalists can wave goodbye to any hope of independence.
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/opinion/columnists/alex-bell/english-out-vote-would-be-a-nightmare-for-scotland-1.925807
“I agree with Anon, for once. It is impossible to be both. To support the EU, you have to be a globalist capitalist: the sacred Market is the sole reason for its existence, and we have seen ample evidence of its contempt for egalitarianism in the wake of the 2007/8 crash. If there is a route to international socialism, this ain’t it.”
Especially with the EU secretly planning enslaving us to the corporations by TTIP.
http://truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/ttip-enters-new-and-dangerous-stage-as-democracy-is-dismantled-in-secret/
Alarming news:
“Pirate attacks on Britain’s ports “cannot be ruled out” following Brexit, says the government’s dossier.”
Well said Vronsky, he’ll need a team sooner rather than later. Would be good for someone to do the sleuthing regards which constituency being the best suited, with most support.
As the southern boy I would say anything around Dundee would suffice.
@CjK There is nothing to stop the Scottish Greenparty campaigning on Independence, indeed it might also be to their advantage.
I would advise to stand in an area were you are not opposing those who campaign on the very same issue, Craig, it not only looks better but is the wise thing to do in the long run.
I know that you have bad experiences with Rupert in Norwich North, but why not join the Greens? get in touch with a few in Edingburgh. The only contact I have kept is with Linda Henry, an ex councillor, but she lives less than 3 miles from you.
what about you Ba’al, a quick run up to the Saltire free state? …;)
TTIP update for Scottish activists
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/resources/ttip_update_feb_2016.pdf
H.T.H. Craig. If you want independence you need to be aware of everybody who is trying to shaft you, apart from Whitehall.
Alan, you are jesting aren’t you? Cameron is full of praise and joy for the TTIP, if you think that running away from our European bride will safe us from being married ton TTIP, think again.
Britain will adopt TTIP faster than you can make your out cross.
BTW. how will the votes be counted, and will a majority of 1 win/loose the referendum? will it matter how many of us take part? one would not want to claim full support for A or B if hardly anybody bothers to vote bar the usual party hacks.
BTW. EU negotiations are not even half way, so keep your cool.
I have been waiting to see if there would be some strong ‘Independent’ Independence voices rising from the ashes of the referendum, and have been disappointed until now. Voices like Margo MacDonalds, and more recently Jean Urquart and John Finnie have shown that there is room for Independents in Holyrood, and that they can make an impact. The system was set up to allow for Independent candidates to have a voice, it would be fantastic if yours was one of them.
“EU negotiations are not even half way, so keep your cool.”
What’s fuck all times two then?
I have joy of being represented by the only Tory in the Village: Herr Mundell. I thought to try pulling his blue heart strings with this paragraph. Apologies for my poor prose:
“As a ten year old I witnessed the Falklands conflict. We holidayed in Portsmouth that summer – my father had retired the previous year from a distinguished career in the Navy. I think it ironic that we would send such a grand fleet thousands of miles to save Britons living under foreign military rule on an island in the south Atlantic – but deport other Britons in the Indian Ocean to make way for American military personnel.”
I must give him his due: he has helped me in the past. But that was when he was a mere backbencher.
History of the United Kingdom
The Kingdom of Great Britain came into being on 1 May 1707, as a result of the political union of the Kingdom of England (which included Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland. The terms of the union had been negotiated the previous year, and laid out in the Treaty of Union. The parliaments of Scotland and of England then each ratified the treaty via respective Acts of Union. ally separate states, England and Scotland had shared a monarch since 1603 when on the death of the childless Elizabeth I, James VI of Scotland became, additionally, James I of England, in an event known as the Union of the Crowns.
So, that means, in plain English, that the UK first came into being under a SCOTTISH king, James VI. This, of course, raises the question of who wants Independence from whom? I think it is high time we English got some independence from politicians with Scottish names, such as Cameron and Blair, and that you Scots should keep your Scottish monarch, there not having been an English monarch since Elizabeth 1st.
A brave Move Craig..would like help out in some ways.. I am kind of losing heart a wee bit with SNP.. though I’ll shall be out on the streets for them here in Inverclyde.. I feel certain Labour Stole the Indy vote here, So it’s payback efforts.
As has been mentioned already, would crowd funding be a good idea.. Would hate to see you losing Thousands at the end..All the best for this..and Thanks too.
With the Latest Polls showing 60% lead for SNP.. STILL,– before a crucial vote on renewal of the controversial nuclear deterrent has taken place – Fallon will announce today the replacement of Trident is already underway
Bastards
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14316300.Fallon_declares_Trident_replacement_underway_ahead_of___600m_announcement___and_before_MPs_vote/?ref=twtrec
Craig, wouldn’t it be an idea to “poll” your readers to see which region offers the most support before you pick one. I’d vote for you in Glasgow.
I think you’re well shot of that crew.
Like the other UK parties, what really interests them seems to be just having power over other people.
The creepy “Named Person” policy really tells you all you need to know about the SNP.
“Britain will adopt TTIP faster than you can make your out cross”
It would have to be adopted as a separate deal. This could not be done secretly. It would have to go through parliament.
Don’t think Parliament would be a hurdle for TTIP, MJ, more like a sling shot.
Like the other UK parties, what really interests them seems to be just having power over other people.
Tell me that isn’t the whole point of politics. Even on the individual level the hard-won and rare sensation of influencing events and people plays straight into the sense of personal power. It empowers. Whatever the justification offered by a politician, this is at the core of his motivation.
I am wondering if it is any less likely that TTIP – style cossetting of big business and finance would occur if we left the EU. On the contrary, as we will inevitably be looking to do more US business when the European market becomes less accessible, it seems more likely. Only the initials will change. Absent a clear plan for complete restructuring of UK trade, investment and finance, the fear of TTIP is no argument for getting out.
I’m not surprised by your finally parting company with the SNP, my impression of you is that you don’t fit into institutions, which always function like a living organism whose main goal is to perpetuate its own existence, irrespective of (a) its consciously stated purpose, and (b) the interests of its individual members. Institutions always therefore push to maximise the “compromises” demanded from their members.
Further to the above, if Scotland was “a Nation once again” then the SNP’s continued existence would be unnecessary, therefore independence would be the greatest threat to the SNP when it’s considered as a living organism separately from its individual human members.