Buds of spring

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Regular readers of this blog who also delve into the comments (as you bloody well should, because there’s a lot of good stuff in there) may be aware that I have lately been talking about my totally unscientific gauging of the mood in the independence movement involving responses to my comments below-theline (BLT) on The National’s website.

This morning, I find a perfect example to illustrate the point I’m trying to make. It is a single response to one of my comments. The significant thing is that this response is from an individual whose responses to date have all been dismissive, if not abusive.

Bear with me, as making this point requires some generous quoting from the National article on which I was commenting. You’ll get the gist of that article from the headline — First independence poll of Burnham era predicts Scotland would leave UK.

My comment went as follows:

Any strategy that is critically dependent on factors which are not controlled doesn’t deserve to be called a strategy. It deserves to be called idiocy.

All this poll tells us that Scotland’s cause has made absolutely no progress in the past twelve years. We knew that already. Presumably, voters knew it as they voted. But they continued to vote for the party which is responsible for this failure. Pro-independence voted in large numbers for the SNP because there really was no alternative. No other party was offering a better strategy than the SNP. Being better than the SNP on the constitutional issue is very easy.

As I have observed on many occasions, these polls are pointless. It doesn’t matter if the poll indicates 55% support for independence, 65%, or 75%; without a genuine party of independence, nothing happens. We need a way to convert public support for independence into votes in a proper constitutional referendum. No existing party has a plan that will take us to that proper constitutional referendum.

First we take back our government, then we take back our parliament, then we take back our nation. That’s #ScottishUDI.

The response I refer to I’ve captured in a screenshot:

What is interesting about this is the fact that it comes from someone whose responses to me in the past have tended to be very negative. Something has happened in this individual’s mind. I would explain this as him beginning the process of decolonising his mind. This has not been prompted by me alone, I hasten to add. I suspect John Swinney must get a lot of credit. And maybe Andy Burnham. Thanks, guys!

I can’t leave you in suspense, not knowing how I reacted to what I want to see as the first buds of a new spring for Scotland’s independence movement. Before that, however, I would like to point out something that I think justifies the hope that this change of attitude is not confined to this individual. Look at the scores:

Even up to a week ago, that would typically have been reversed. I must reiterate that I am not pretending that this ‘method’ is in any sense scientific. Having said that, I would ask you to remember that I am someone who is perhaps extraordinarily immersed in the constitutional issue and the online discourse around it and who has been for around 15 years. When I say I have a feel for the mood in that part of the independence movement which is active online, that statement carries a bit more weight than it would normally deserve.

Now, to close, my reply to a question I would never have thought I’d get from the individual concerned.

Taking back our parliament is the second step. First, we must take back our government. Meaning, we must elect people who are committed to a process for restoring our independence, which the British state will inevitably say is illegal under local (British) law but which accords perfectly with international law.

At present, there is no politician or party in Scotland that is telling you the truth about Scotland’s constitutional situation, because telling you the truth would mean admitting that the only route to independence lies in the space between the strictures of local law and the fundamental principles of international law. They don’t want to tell you this because it would mean they can’t use independence as a device for getting your pro-independence vote without committing to action which is bold. Our politicians don’t do bold.

The other thing they’re not telling you is that before we can even begin the fight to restore Scotland’s independence, we must secure the means and opportunity to fully and freely exercise our right of self-determination. That’s why #ScottishUDI doesn’t promise independence. What it does promise is a proper constitutional referendum. After that, it’s up to the people.

I leave this for you to ponder upon. And, no doubt, comment.