Jeremy Corbyn’s election as leader of the historically formidable and well established Labour Party is particularly troublesome to those in power at Westminster due to his strong anti-establishment outlook matched together with a distinctly farther-than-usual left agenda.  Scotlan’s reaction has been cautious and mixed.  Corbyn is anti Nuke, which speaks favorably to a growing consensus in Scotia against the renewal of the Trident nuclear submarine program housed in Scotland.  Indeed, the Conservative UK government has suggested that the Corbyn victory has created a UK wide risk to national security, economic security and every family in the Union.  Probably a bit of over reach, but it does express the degree of discomfort the established political organizations in the UK are experiencing.

Scottish Indy. On the other side of the coin, Corbyn is a Unionist and has not in the past supported Scottish Indy.  Indeed, there is an argument that a Corbyn led and potentially resurgent Labour Party could stifle the recent surging support for a Scottish exit from the United Kingdom by fueling some hope of an alternative to the wave of recent Tory Conservative majorities in the UK Parliament at Westminster.

The seeds of SNP and Labour cooperation were sown earlier during the Labour leadership campaign when Corbyn signaled that, unlike his predecessor at the Labour helm Ed Miliband, Corbyn would be willing to work with the SNP at Westminster if it meant the opportunity to defeat the Tories and create a coalition UK government.  Although that position raised criticism from Corbyn’s own party in Scotland, the SNP’s Alex Salmond, now an MP at Westminster representing a Scottish constituency, welcomed the sea change saying that he could work with Corbyn on a range of issues such as welfare reform and abolishing Trident.

Scottish Culture and Heritage.  Regarding preservation and enhancement of Scottish heritage, there are a few things to remember about Labour.  The Labour Party in Scotland is a “branch office” of the UK Labour Party, ultimately taking direction across the board from Party leadership in London.  The influence of “Corbynism” will be strongly felt in Scotland.  The Labour Party has never proven itself to be a very interested partner in the Scottish Diaspora’s expressions of Scottish heritage, preferring a more completely forward looking agenda.

The most current Labour Party Manifesto (2015) does not focus on heritage issues at all and fails to mention Scottish native language revival. Labour’s 2015 Charter for Culture and the Creative Industries  includes the basic statement,  ”[T]he beauty of our cities, towns and villages, including exceptional monuments, churches, cathedrals and historic houses should be protected and enhanced.”  Not a resounding and deeply thought commitment but a place holder at least.  There is little reason to expect the election of Jeremy Corbyn to alter that outlook.

The post Landslide victory for Jeremy Corbyn in the UK: What will election of a new Labour Party leader mean for Scotland? appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

Today a second poll was released, showing similar results as last week’s Ipsos – Mori poll. Significantly, the TNS poll utilized a different approach and methodology than the Ipsos – Mori poll which adds encouragement to the independence movement. One commentator has labeled the effect of this fresh TNS poll as earth shaking (“Political earthquake as TNS agrees with Ipsos-Mori : there is now a majority for independence” ).

Here are the big numbers: Favor Independence?  47% Yes, 42% No, 11% Undecided.  Excluding those who are undecided, the poll puts the Yes side ahead by 53% to 47%.  Recall that last week’s Ipsos – Mori poll was remarkable in that its finding of 53% in support of Scottish independence was inclusive of the undecided vote, which was a very low 3% in that poll. Is Scotland changing its mind regarding independence?  Still far too early to say but we now have a strengthening argument that it is.

More detailed poll results will be worthy of a peek as they appear.  Questions such as “why” did you vote “No” a year ago but are ready to vote “Yes” today become the focus of analysis.  The various age brackets all appear to remain voting in blocks similarly to the vote taken in 2014 (generally, the younger the voter the more likely she is pro-Indy). Are the new “Yes” supporters distributed across the age spectrum of Scotland or have recent events convinced more young or more senior Scots to change their mind on this most fundamental constitutional question?

Then there is geography. Where do the new “Yes” supporters live?  The TNS poll appears to confirm that Glasgow remains very strongly pro-Indy but what about the rest of Scotland?  Many questions.  More analysis …

As always, these polls offer insights that go beyond the independence question.  For a good breakdown of some of the other aspects of the TNS poll, check out the STV News analysis HERE.

Stay tuned!

The post Scottish Indy Quick Update: One more poll showing a majority now in favor of Scottish independence appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

Last May, just a few months after rejecting independence, the Scottish people seriously culled their political landscape by abandoning the SNP’s two major political rivals - the Scottish branches of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrat party.  In the United Kingdom 2015 General Parliamentary Election, Scotland chose 56 of it’s 59 Ministers of Parliament from the ranks of the SNP.  That was a cool 50 more SNP Ministers than had been sent to London for the 2010 UK Parliament.  Not only did Labour and the LibDems lose significant numbers in Parliament, almost all of the party icons – the high leadership of the Scottish branches of the Labour and LibDem organizations – were electorally ousted in one fell swoop.  They were replaced with SNP warriors.

As SNP membership numbers continue to grow, political forecasters are generally united in predictions of a continued SNP majority at the Scottish Parliament when Scotland goes to the polls in May 2016 to choose the next Scottish Parliament. The latest Scottish poll on the matter shows 62% support for the SNP for next year’s Parliamentary contests.  The only question it seems, is how dominant will the SNP majority be?  One Scottish political commentator has suggested that “… right now, nobody would write off the SNP’s chances of taking all 73 Scottish parliamentary constituencies in next May’s Holyrood election.” (The Scotsman, August 23, 2015).

Indeed, that same journalist has noted that the SNP is so very dominant that the real political battles are occurring now, months prior to the election, within the SNP party structure to determine who will stand in 2016 as an SNP candidate.  The Scottish version of party primaries will determine whether incumbent SNP MSPs will keep their right to even stand for reelection. What are the other political parties in Scotland are doing in response to this SNP open field romp?  The traditional Labour powerhouse in Scotland continues to lick its wounds while it remains tangled up in a bloody struggle to find a new UK Labour leader.  The last Labour party leader - Ed Miliband - stepped down with his head hung low immediately following last May’s electoral debacle.  The battle to name a new leader has been so nasty and divisive that some Scots believe that the Labour party may not survive it.

At the very least, many believe it not likely that Labour will be able to get it together to mount a serious challenge to SNP dominance next May. The LibDems seem less of a threat than Labour and for decades the Conservative (Tory) party has failed to grab much oxygen in Scotland. Given the unpopularity of the Conservative government at Westminster in center and leftward leaning Scottish households, there is little reason for optimism on the Tory front in Scotland.

So there sits the SNP, in government with a majority that is almost certain to grow significantly in the next election cycle burdened with a day to day governmental mandate that is occasionally at odds with the party’s founding mission – independence – and almost always stealing time, attention and focus away from pursuit of that enduring Scottish goal.  The SNP has campaigned itself into a potentially unmanageable position where it must now run a devolved Scottish Parliament when it’s core mission is to deliver an independent Scotland – two fundamentally distinct – and possibly contrary jobs.  More than a few believe that the cause of Independence is getting lost in the shuffle.

The realization of this still developing political imbalance in Scottish politics has triggered a few interesting responses from the legendary Scottish left. In 2003 Scottish Parliament included six MSPs representing the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) and seven from the Greens. It has been suggested that since those halcyon days the Scottish radical left has collapsed now having little influence left at Holyrood (Scottish Parliament).

The radical left may have collapsed at Holyrood but a new political alliance will “rise” from the ashes this Saturday as a new Scottish political element is born. The name is “RISE” and it stands for Respect, Independence, Socialism, Environmentalism.  Pretty concise and says pretty much everything about the new group.  RISE has been billed as a grassroots anti-austerity movement, built upon the foundation of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) and the Scottish Left Project (SLP). RISE plans to stand candidates for election in May’s Holyrood elections and is billing itself as a replacement for Labour in Scotland and the continuing heartbeat of Scottish Independence.

Whether RISE will even survive to see the 2016 elections is not certain.  One thing is certain though.  If you want to keep informed on the big picture of Scottish politics and the independence question, be sure not to blink.  Scottish politics is still on the move.  If you want to dig a bit deeper into RISE, a political “alliance” not a party that is based upon the Spanish Podemos movement, check out these two articles from two very different perspectives:

The New RISE Alliance Is Doomed To Fall

On The Rise: A New Leftwing Force

The post Don’t Blink! Scottish politics is fast and furious these days. appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

Scottish Environment: Scots Government Taking Heat For Banning GMOs

August 11:  Expert who advised SNP slams move to ban GMO crops (Herald Scotland)

August 9:  Scottish government under fire for GMO crops ban (Herald Scotland)

Scottish Wildlife: Another Raptor Fatally Shot On Scottish Grouse Moor

August 11:  RSPB Scotland appeal after rare raptor shot dead in south-west (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Scotland)

[Backgrounder] March 23:  New drive to tackle Scottish wildlife crime (The Scotsman)

Scottish Independence: A new Scottish Independence Party pops up, disappears and then …

August 11:  Is the SNP about to split as a new Scottish Independence Party is formed? (Telegraph)

August 10:  New Scottish pro-independence party aims to field candidates for next year’s Holyrood election (Daily Record)

Scottish Youth: Scotland’s campaign to register 15 – 17 year old Scots to vote in May 2016 Scottish Parliamentary elections is underway

August 10:  New campaign launched to encourage young voters in Dumfries and Galloway to register (Dumfries & Galloway What’s Going On)

[Backgrounder] March 8:  Campaign to encourage young voters to register is launched across Scotland (UK Electoral Commission press release)

Scottish Arts:  August means things get weird in Edinburgh at the Fringe!

August 11:  The Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2015 – In Pictures (FestivalSherpa.com)

August 6:  Surviving 24 hours at the Edinburgh festival (BBC News)

The post Watching Scotland: Your Midweek News Update appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

No one in Scotland or the UK wants to turn this exercise into the dreaded “neverendum” that flips Scotland this way and that like a carnival coaster every few election cycles. Yet clearly in 2012 Scotland finished negotiations with the UK without having to accept language in the agreement that would have put a clear hard time limit on when another referendum could be brought if the first attempt failed. One might imagine that such language was something that the UK would have wanted to see and that Scotland would likely have found too limiting.

In any event, Scotland’s leaders will no doubt be careful not to actually put independence to a vote until there is a definite comfort level regarding the chances of its success. That means that folks in Scotland will be busy figuring out who the most likely new “Yes” voters might be and guessing about the impact of current affairs particularly from those Scots’ points of view. Lets engage in a little bit of that speculation ourselves.

What are the issues and who are the voters who will be the center of attention for all things Indy? We can see a few things that have already nudged Scotland towards a second vote and a few that are likely to have an impact in the future.

A Broken Vow. In the days just prior to the referendum vote last year the Better Together campaign leaders issued a series of fairly detailed promises regarding further devolution and they marketed those promises as “the Vow”. These promises were widely credited for solidifying many “No” votes. In the event, the changes, or “further devolution”, that the Conservative led Parliament is actually willing to give in return for last year’s ”No” vote have failed to meet the expectations of many “No” voters let alone nationalists. This failure likely had a great deal to do with the remarkable numbers of SNP Ministers elected to the UK Parliament in May this year. What effect will it have on the continuing independence debate?

A Benefit Cutting Welfare Bill. The UK government and parliamentary majority recently passed a severe welfare reform bill that cuts benefits for children and other vulnerable Scots at a time when food banks are already expanding. The Welfare Bill has served to coalesce the left against economic austerity policies developed and approved by non Scottish Conservative government and voters. Former First Minister Alex Salmond has commented that the combination of a weak Scotland Bill and a particularly severe Welfare Bill fails to deliver “Devo Max” and instead offers “Austerity Max”.

“Brexit” (short for a British “exit” from the European Union). David Cameron has threatened to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Union as it is the Conservative party’s view that membership in the EU is an overall negative for the United Kingdom. Those on the left including the SNP in Scotland heartily disagree with Cameron’s posture vis a vis the European Union. Nicola Sturgeon has openly stated that if the UK withdraws from the EU without first gaining explicit approval from each UK nation, Scotland will almost certainly revisit Independence in the near term.

 Labour Fail. The Labour Party has largely gone silent in the wake of the disastrous General Election last May leaving the Tory led government to legislate almost at will without opposition except for that of the SNP 56. The stark absence of activity from Her Majesty’s Official Opposition party has prompted more than a few surly remarks including one suggesting that the Labour party leadership have been as effective as if they had departed the room and left the automatic vacation response on. In a particularly annoying bout of simply not showing up the Labour leadership instructed Labour MPs to abstain from voting on the draconian Welfare Bill thereby enabling the Tories to pass the bill. If Labour fails to find any traction many Scottish voters will have very little alternative but to hop onto the SNP band wagon. Caution is advised regarding the effect of political redistribution on the independence tally however. Scottish voters are well known for voting one way in a UK election and voting quite a different way in a Scottish election.

Where Will More “Yes” Votes Come From?

None of the foregoing will make a whit of difference in the larger Indy debate unless it strikes enough of a chord with enough “No” voters to swing the vote by greater than 10 percentage points. Of course the “Yes” people are predictably outraged that Scotland is once again stuck with a Conservative government and parliament in London for which it did not vote and that is not living up to its promises. However that state of affairs has been par for the course in Scotland/UK politics for decades now and it has not thus far moved the majority of Scots to choose independence.

A closer look at the “No” voters in last year’s referendum reveals some very interesting statistics. First, roughly 55% of native born Scots voted “Yes” for independence. Think about that. By and large it was the migrants whose families have immigrated to Scotland who were reluctant to leave the larger safety of the United Kingdom last September. Scotland is playing this statistic down but it does identify a potentially fertile pool from which to grow more “Yes” voters. While 55% of native born Scots voted in favor of independence 45% voted against it. A “NO” vote from a native Scot is a bit counter intuitive in most cases.

A material number of native Scots voting against Independence can be found in the Highlands and Islands, a community that has not historically been cozy and comfortable with rulers from London or from Edinburgh. On the whole, Highlanders and those from the western islands often view the committees and bodies just down the road at Edinburgh with greater disdain than rulers centered in London who typically take far less note of the far north. If Westminster’s arrogant disregard for Scottish needs and perspective continues apace, potentially the Highlands and Islands could become the SNP’s low hanging fruit in a second independence vote as a London government begins to prove itself more dangerous than an Edinburgh government.

Another potentially fertile pool of vote switchers are voters over the age of 55. Last September, voters below the age of 55 were generally “Yes” voters while those over 55 were more likely to reject independence. Scotland’s more senior voters became entangled in the Better Together speculative fear based campaign and were concerned about the impact on their benefits and otherwise stable lives in the turbulence and uncertainly of an independent Scotland. A stark reality check brought about by a failure of The Vow and a Welfare Bill that is tough on seniors. Will it be sufficient to nudge a few of Scotland’s older “No” voters to take another look at a separation from a Conservative led United Kingdom?

Well, there you have a little cogitation about Scottish independence. It will be fun to see how things play out and how close American speculation is to the mark in Scotland. Till next time, what say you?

The post Watching Scotland: What Is Driving Independence? appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

Less than a year after voting down the “once in a generation” Scottish Independence Referendum Scottish voters may be asked to do it all again as early as 2016 following the next Scottish parliamentary election. Last September 18th Scottish voters chose “No” to independence from the UK. The vote was roughly 45% in favor and 55% against independence.

Recently the question of a second independence Referendum has surfaced from London to Jakarta to Hong Kong to Edinburgh. On July 26^th, former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, now a Scottish MP at Westminster, suggested that in light of recent behavior of the Conservative government and the House of Commons majority a second Scottish independence Referendum was “inevitable”.

To which UK PM David Cameron dropped his chopsticks in Jakarta and immediately ruled out a second Referendum anytime in the next five years. Indeed the PM believes that based upon prior understandings and representations, the UK should be free of any further independence talk or action for at least a generation. Perhaps most importantly Cameron believes that a Referendum on Scottish independence that is not sanctioned and approved by proper UK entities is not a legitimate constitutional action. Presumably Cameron would disregard any such action taken by Scottish voters. And then what?

To which sitting Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon informed an audience in Hong Kong that Mr. Cameron was much mistaken. From the Scottish First Minister’s perspective another Scottish independence referendum will occur if and when the Scottish people decide to have one regardless of any blessings from London. Presumably Ms. Sturgeon has been alluding to the people’s decisions to be made in the upcoming 2016 Scottish Parliamentary elections. According to an opinion published in The Daily Record by SNP MSP Joan MacAlpine, “The SNP should go into next year’s Scottish election with a manifesto clause underlining the moral right of the Scottish Parliament to hold a referendum at a time of its choosing.”

If the SNP are swept back into power with such a manifesto Ms. Sturgeon is prepared to find a mandate to hold a second referendum when the time is right. In her Hong Kong remarks, the First Minister added the clarification that in the event that the Scottish people make such a decision no politician can stand in their way. Presumably that includes David Cameron.

To which Scottish Conservative Party leader Ruth Davidson chimed in advising her political boss David Cameron that his comments regarding a new indy referendum would set up a “hellish position” for Scottish Tories if the SNP won a majority in the 2016 Scottish parliamentary election with an independence Referendum in their Manifesto. Ms. Davidson has spoken directly to the Prime Minister asking him to tone it down a bit.

To which Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser suggested that the SNP should stop obsessing on independence and respect the outcome of the 2014 “No” vote.

When all of the harrumphing is finished for awhile one thing is clear: there is no clear authority that says Scotland can or cannot seek authority for a second shot at Independence in 2016 or thereafter. There is the Edinburgh Agreement of 2012 which stipulates that the 2014 Referendum must produce a “result that everyone will respect.” There is the SNP white paper on independence which characterized the first Referendum as a once in a generation opportunity. There are international human rights statements acknowledging all people’s rights of political self determination.

Despite these vague allusions on the subject the SNP is busy cobbling together a list of materially changed circumstances that could provide a basis for a second bite at the apple. Nicolas Sturgeon has unequivocally stated that she will not allow the people’s decision to be deterred by David Cameron’s foot stomping prohibitive declarations or by some real or imagined promise made regarding a “once in a lifetime” vote last September.

So, expecting the subject of a new Scottish independence referendum to remain on the front burner, what events might nudge Scotland closer to an independence ‘do over’ and which Scottish voters might be convinced to switch their vote from “No Thank You” to “Yes!”? I’ll take a look at those two questions in the Wednesday Watching Scotland Weekday Update.

Till tomorrow, what say you?

The post Does Scotland Get An Independence Do-Over? David Cameron Says No But Nicola Sturgeon Says Yes appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

Hàlo! Is mise Siusaidh Nic An Toisich!

Susan McIntosh

In case you didn’t quite recognize that it is Scots Gaelic for “Hello! I am Susan McIntosh” – and I am honored and excited to begin blogging for the great team at ScotClans. A few folks may already know me as the immediate past president of the Council of Scottish Clans & Associations (COSCA). I stepped down as COSCA President in March of this year so that I could slow down a bit and try my hand at a few new tricks. Some of you might also have run across nearly three years of my column on the back page of Scots Heritage Magazine called “McLetter From America”. While all of that was great fun, I am chuffed to say that I have consolidated my efforts into the most active, inquisitive and engaging Scottish heritage presence on the web and on the field – ScotClans. Whether we are old friends or new I can’t wait to begin to interact with you here on Bletherskite.

I will be writing about the two Scots loves of my life. No, not Sean Connery and Sam Heughan, although I would not shrink from that duty. I will be reporting on Scots Gaelic culture and history and on Scottish contemporary affairs with an eye to making both easily accessible, intelligible and fun for folks of the global Scottish diaspora. Here’s a bit more about what’s in store.

Not your father’s Gaidhlig

Not everyone with a Scottish heritage sports Gaelic ancestry or interest but many do. Even if yours is a family of Scottish Normans, who somehow never made the Bruce mistake of marrying into those wild eyed Gaels, a better knowledge of the Scots Gaelic culture will enrich the larger brotherhood of Scots. Plus its just plain fascinating stuff.

I will be looking at our Gaelic ancestors using a different lens, using resources that focus with and on Gaelic eyes and words free of non Gaelic interests and bias. This will be a story that has gone untold and is largely forgotten in the Scottish diaspora world. Resources with which to learn about Gaeldom from the Gaelic perspective based upon resources written in Gaelic by Gaels are tragically few and largely inaccessible to the Scots Diaspora.

The good news is, over the last few decades, more scholars and institutions are locating and digging into these true primary Gaelic resources and they are providing insight from a native perspective. The less good news is that most of these resources and scholarly interpretations are widely dispersed and hard to find, often written fully or partially in the Gaelic language, and not easily available and organized for those who have the greatest hunger for the information and the least time to spend hunting for it – the Gaelic Diaspora.

Americans learn virtually nothing about our Scots Gaelic past in school and those of us with an interest must take it upon ourselves to go find answers. Yet when we discover what has been written about our ancient indigenous roots we too often find that it fails to satisfy. We learn about Gaelic culture through the filter of words such as “savage”, “barbaric”, “primitive”, “outlaw”, “backward” and “anxious to be improved by British civilization.” We have been fast forwarded to a history told from the perspective of a growing, Anglicized, urban-centered, industrializing and outward looking 19th Century British Scotland. As you might guess we aren’t getting the whole story. Or necessarily the correct story all the time. We want to know as much about our ancestors’ worlds as possible. Consequently, we want to know their world through their own eyes.

But what is that story? It’ll be my job to begin to chase that down and bring it to Bletherskite. I am not a Gaelic scholar and my own knowledge of the language is steadily approaching rudimentary. I will be picking the brains of the best scholars out there today to begin to paint the picture of what it means to be a Gael – from our own perspective.

And lest we forget, Gaelic culture is a living thing. So don’t be surprised to find some chatter about the contemporary arts side of our Gaelic world to complement and give context to the ancient roots. I look forward to an exciting and enlightening journey to recover and learn about a great Gaelic civilization and I hope you join in!

Watching Scotland: The world is watching Scotland – maybe we should find out what all the buzz is about.

While most of us in the Scottish Diaspora can extemporaneously provide a rousing and mostly accurate recount of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, few of us can do the same for 2014′s version of “the 45” or “the 56” for that matter. My second job at Bletherskite is to begin to change that for anyone that is interested.

Both “the 45” and “the 56” are new monikers, freshly minted in the exciting and turbulent world of contemporary Scottish politics. Scotland boasts an extremely engaged, creative and energetic society today and Scottish independence from the United Kingdom is only one area that has garnered huge worldwide attention.

Scotland is currently in the midst of fundamental land reform discussions the outcome of which could have profound consequences for the Scottish diaspora, including our built and environmental heritage. In other news, the very backbone of Scottish politics and government, the Labour party, has recently imploded while a record 56 Scottish National Party (SNP) MPs were sent to Westminster recently, one of whom is the youngest Minister of Parliament in the history of the Union at 20 and she has a colleague who is 23. Scotland is folding 16 and 17 year olds into the electoral process as the nation recognizes the importance of youthful views and judgment for the future. Scotland is an exceptionally exciting place to live – and watch – right now!

No one outwith Scotia is more interested in Scotland than the Scottish Diaspora but geez-Louise it is difficult to find trustworthy straightforward reporting on the subject. America is a particularly difficult market as we are not of the Commonwealth and thus one more step removed from news of the United Kingdom.

Then there is the challenge of understanding it all. From the American perspective just about everything about Scottish and United Kingdom politics and government are, well, foreign. Who can tell a Labour or a Tory MSP from a hole in a pine tree over here? Ta da! I can and I’m going to help you make some sense of it all too.

Specifically, I will abandon the comfort of good ol’ American news sources and daringly sift through actual British and Scottish news and opinion and blog about the stuff that matters most to the Diaspora:

• Scottish independence (or not)
• Scottish natural environment
• Scottish heritage

You’ll see a few interviews with key Scottish leaders here as well. As we go along, Rodger, Amanda and I will be providing some keen resources to help folks in the Diaspora interpret what is going on in your ancestral homeland today. Look for my first Watching Scotland post here on Bletherskite for a wee glossary of terms necessary for understanding what the heck is going on over there.

So that’s it! If you have any thoughts or suggestions or comments or gripes, fire them over. We are interested in your ideas. I can’t wait to get started and I hope to see and hear from everyone in the ScotClans extended family!

The post Introducing Susan McIntosh – Our latest member of team ScotClans! appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

Saltires being carried up Arthur’s Seat

Last Thursday evening I set my alarm for 2am and took to bed early, the fridge was stocked with snacks and beer and a bottle of wine sat in the kitchen, champagne seemed too much like tempting fate.

I checked my phone just before 2.00 to find a message from a friend, Clackmannanshire had declared for no and it was already not looking good. My heart sank. Nevertheless I got out of bed and tuned into the BBC coverage. It was relentless and despairing, as each declaration came in the inevitable result became clearer and clearer. For some reason my mind drifted back to the awful night my father passed away, the family were together through the night by his hospital bed and looked at each other as he slowly drifted away over the course of the night and into the next morning. We were helpless and powerless and as I watched him I thought about all those memories and experiences that were about to be extinguished forever. That same feeling washed over me as I watched the dreams of so many Scots being slowly strangled by fear.

Around 7am I crept into my sons bedroom and sat beside him on the bed, he woke and sat up, looking at me through sleepy eyes, ‘I’m sorry, it’s a no’ was all I could say. He lay back down and pulled the covers over his head, I heard him struggle to hold in his emotions. Back in the living room I returned to the TV coverage but I could now hear the sobs coming from his room.

I opened my laptop and began to remove myself from numerous pro independence Facebook groups, to ‘unlike’ all those many pages that had for months tried to spread a positive message of hope. Slowly my social media feed began to return to normal.

And that was it… The dream of a better Scotland was just that, a dream and I’d woken up on a grey September morning to contemplate a bleak future. However in all of this I’d forgotten one simple and unforgettable truth…

This is Scotland and we are the Scots.

As Friday wore on my mood began to lift. As my friends across our wide social networks began to react to the result I saw each find their own way of dealing with it. Some changed their Facebook profile pure black or white in mourning. Others returned their images to how they had been before. Collectively we were going through the stages of grief.

And then it stopped.

In the end Scotland had voted against independence by 55% to 45%. That 45% represented over 1.6 Million Scots, far more people than the entire turn out for most elections. 1.6 million people had said that they would not be frightened by the scare stories in the media, that they did not believe the establishment’s promises of extra powers. 1.6 million of us chose hope over fear. And that was quite an achievement.

Around lunchtime on Friday some inventive person started up a little Facebook community, they borrowed a slogan from the ‘occupy’ movement and called it ‘we are the 45%’. What happened over the next few hours was quite incredible; within minutes several hundred had joined the community, within hours it was in the thousands, by the early evening it was tens of thousands. As I write this over 175,000 people have joined this online gathering. A beacon had been lit and the shell-shocked troops of the yes campaign had seen it and they were regrouping. Suddenly it became clear that we were not dead, this was not over, and this fight was really just beginning.

But then the news started filtering in from George Square in Glasgow and reality bit hard again. For weeks the Yes movement had more or less occupied the square, a multi cultural festival of singing and dancing and speeches had shown the world what was great about Scotland. For the next few hours we were about to see the other side, the darker side, the Janus face of Scotland. Like a scene from some zombie horror movie the square began to fill with union flag wearing bully boys, throwing flares, making nazi salutes and attacking anyone wearing a Yes badge or holding a saltire flag. Within minutes the square, which had focus of peace and hope became an ugly scene of threat and intimidation. And these were the so-called ‘winners’?

The next morning I left a grey overcast Edinburgh behind and headed up into the highlands with some old friends to climb in Glencoe. It was as spectacular a day as you could imagine, a perfect day to clear the head, blow away the blackness of the last few days. We even managed to joke about the spectacular views of ‘North Britain’ from the top of Buchaille Etive Beag. That evening we settled down for a night of drinking and entertainment in the famous Clachaig Bar; A Saturday night at the Clachaig is always a bit special and fairly rowdy but in all my years I’ve never seen it like this. The bar was packed and people sang along to the band and danced on the tables even though the low ceiling forced them to be bent near double. A divided nation? Not here it wasn’t.

Online though the immediate aftermath of the result had some strange effects on people. In all of this it’s been very easy to ignore how those who actually voted no have reacted to the result; The vast majority have gone back to business as usual but for others the fact that the ‘45’ have refused to just go away has caused frustration and anger. I probably lost more friends in the days immediately after the vote than I lost in the weeks leading up to it. Strangely many who had been deafeningly silent for weeks found a voice and the internet was charged with negative particles mostly, unremarkably, finding Facebook and Twitter as an outlet.

But the 45 were not going to be silenced. A grass roots movement this big was never going to disappear overnight. What none of us expected however was the overwhelming reaction in the week that followed; Within a few days the membership of the SNP (Scottish National Party) more than doubled making it the third largest political party in the UK ahead of the UK wide Liberal Democrats, other ‘pro’ parties such as the Scottish Greens also saw a growth spurt so great that over the week they were actually one of the fastest growing political parties in the whole of Europe. Even the fairly modest Scottish Socialist Party were overwhelmed by applications for membership. It was clear that this huge political movement were ready to send out a message to the rest of the UK establishment. “we are still here, and we are watching”.

And just as well too, for it took less that a few hours before the promises made to us to secure a no vote were beginning to unravel. Within a few days news reports of huge oil discoveries in the North Sea magically began to surface in the media and a little over a week since the referendum we are about to go to war in the Middle East again! The last week has been nothing short of Orwellian.

We are watching, and we are no going to be quiet.

So on Saturday, 10 days after the referendum day thousands gathered at the Holyrood parliament building in Edinburgh. The event was not organised by the SNP or Yes Scotland or any other political group, it was organised instead by a mum who wanted to show the rest of Scotland that the fight was not over. Under a tree in one corner at the far end of the parliament square hundreds of shopping bags were being deposited, all donations for food banks. As I stood in wonder I watched a severely crippled man struggle over the last few yards, a Sainsbury’s bag swinging from his crooked arm, he stopped and carefully added his contribution to the sea of goodwill. And that was when the wave hit me full in the face. I could not hold back the tears and had to find a quiet spot to let it out.

Food Bank Donations

For the next few hours the crowds of saltires grew and people listened patiently as speakers got up to say how they felt. Some were professionals such as SNP MSP Marco Biaggi but others had just found their way to the microphone to vent their anger, their frustration, their defiance and their testimony. Somehow my son who a week ago had been devastated by the result managed with his friend to get himself behind the speakers and he stood holding his end of a saltire flag aloft to provide a backdrop. I don’t think I’ve ever been so proud in all my life. Every speaker had one common message – this is not over.

Rally at Holyrood, Edinburgh

The fat lady is not for singing.

So what have we learned over this week? I think the overriding lesson has been that what lost the referendum was not the argument it was our lack of control of the message that was being fed to the public. The fact that many more older people voted no was almost certainly because they were the demographic that the online media was not reaching. Forced to rely on the press and TV they were never given a chance to make a balanced decision.

When the campaign begins again (and begin it will) we need to have better control of traditional media. The move to ensure that begins now; already plans are underway for the foundation of a new red top newspaper for Scotland. Plans to enter into the broadcast arena are being formed too, all coming together thanks to crowd funding. The grass roots basis of the yes campaign once again proving its resilience by ensuring that within days many of the initial crowd funding projects designed to work on simple feasibility studies had already met their targets.

And then there was Labour. Their red hand had been all over the No campaign, from its leader right down to its show of strength in the last days before the vote and Gordon Browns maniacal speeches. In less than a year we will have a general election and its already clear that this political monster that has been created will work as one unit to ensure the utter destruction of Labour in Scotland. It may be almost unrecoverable for them across the UK too, The Conservative led government have collectively taken one pace backwards and Labour in their utter idiocy have been set up.

And it’s exactly what they deserve.

Because here’s the thing. If next years general election result is a complete rout of Labour and we can assume by that same token the Conservative’s and Lib Dems will continue with their pathetic showing north of the border then the Scottish part of the UK will return a huge SNP representation, and if that is large enough it would constitutionally permit Scotland to declare UDI; a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, this was the route that led both the Republic of Ireland AND the USA to declare Independence and it might yet be our route too. No referendum, no conspiracies of recounts, no media interference. Job done.

The 2014 referendum was not the end of the fight. It was a bloody nose but that’s all and Scotland is not out. We are back off the ropes and now we know our opponents best moves we can counter the punches and fight back.

“Wha’s like us? 1.6 million and were nae deid”

Rodger Moffet

The post What Now Scotland? appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

The view from my window in Aberdeen

It could be any other lazy, late summer afternoon today in Aberdeen. Sunlight is attempting to squeeze its way through the clouds, seagulls are circling in droves, and ship horns are belching at the city’s bulging harbour. Right on cue, the haar has begun to roll in off the North Sea, making the crowd of the oil industry’s supply ships anchored off the coast look spectacularly ghostly.

But there’s something peculiar in the air today. The view from my window looks out on to one of Aberdeen’s relics from the not-so-distant past – a magnificent 1950s council tower block, that’s today dotted with saltires and simple one-worded banners. I kid you not, I can also hear the sound of someone playing Flower of Scotland on the bagpipes somewhere down the street. Today the atmosphere in Aberdeen, and indeed all over Scotland, is a mash of anxious-electric-hope as we all sit on the very edge of history.

I’m roughly 17,800 kilometers from my hometown of Rotorua, New Zealand. Sitting here today in the North East of Scotland, I somehow have landed myself right at the crossroads of what is one of the most important moments in this country’s already exceptional history. And thanks to my London-born father I’m one of those lucky buggers with dual-citizenship, which alongside my Scottish address gives me the right to vote in Thursday’s Independence Referendum.

New Zealand’s path to independence from the UK is, I’m rather embarrassed to admit, one of national confusion. We don’t even have an Independence Day, because no one can agree on when it actually happened. However we’re still part of the Commonwealth – which to me means that a well-to-do woman from London graces us with her presence on our coins and banknotes.

The Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi by Marcus King

Our independence came about after well over 150 years worth of baby steps, beginning with the signing of the ‘Treaty of Waitangi’ in 1840. The Treaty is a hotly contested topic at home to this day, and depending on who you speak to, it’s either the official date that we became a Crown Colony of Britain, or, when Maori chiefs gained sovereignty over the Crown. See why we’re so confused?

Over the next century, following our own war, then two world wars, our relationship with Old Blighty eroded as we slowly found our own feet in the world. We established and gained more and more degrees of self-rule, until finally, one day in 1986 the last remaining shreds of apron strings that stretched to the other side of the globe were cut. We developed our own constitution, removing the residual power of the UK to legislate.

A few weeks before I moved to Scotland almost two years ago, I watched from the other corner of the globe as Mr Cameron and Mr Salmond signed the Edinburgh Agreement. I remember thinking that Cameron seemed a little too calm in his post-signatory interview, and wondered why the prospect of the break-up of perhaps the mightiest Union in history didn’t seem to bother him. I thought perhaps the campaign for independence was too small and wasn’t perceived as a serious matter by Downing Street.

It’s now two years later, and let me tell you that this matter is so very far from small. Never mind what the people in suits have said – whichever side of the campaign ordinary folk are on, the sheer engagement and engrossment by every man, woman and child in the future of this land has been unprecedented. It’s been a truly electrifying and galvanising experience that I will cherish with all my heart for the rest of my days.

And so here I sit in my adopted home, right in the thick of it, poised and ready with poll card in hand.

I look around me at the gigantic gap between the rich and the poor in this city and wonder how the outcome on Thursday will affect the people who are visibly struggling to make ends meet. I look at the single mother and her daughter who walk past my door on the way to school each morning and wonder if my vote will affect that girl’s education prospects. And the wee old man who gives me a wave from his window every afternoon on my way home from work, how will this affect his pension scraps?

On Thursday morning I will place a tick beside the box marked Yes. Because I believe that there is a real genuine hunger in this country for something better. And I believe that the alternative is something that we will all be better off without. How incredibly fortunate we all are, that we have the right to choose.

As we say in my home – Kia kaha, Scotland. It means stay strong. If little old New Zealand can do it, then you sure as hell can too. Grab your independence by the baws and aim for the stars.

The post The View From the Ground in Aberdeen appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

We have grown in the tens of millions and developed differently than we would have in Scotland. We know of course that only Scotland is Scotland – the weather, the landscape, the Scots. There is no Scot like a Scot from Scotland. Yet, likewise, there is no Scot like a Scot from America or Australia or Singapore. Scotland owns us all, as Robert Louis Stevenson and others have noted, to the twentieth generation and beyond.

With its mind lately on independence, Scotland may not have noticed that as the Scottish nation has recently become ascendant in the eyes of the world, so has its diaspora. More people are aware and proud of their Scottish ancestry and heritage today than at any other moment in history. Scotland today has a very big and very supportive global family and that is no small thing.

The matter of Scottish independence is now burning brightly on the world’s screen. The transformation of ‘the Scottish question’ into a question of global importance via the unpredicted success of the YES campaign means that the world is now closely engaged with what had previously been portrayed as an internal if not somewhat trivial British matter.

Despite sharp prodding of journalists, most of the leaders of Scottish diaspora organizations have remained silent on the question of Scottish independence while the debate remained almost entirely a Scottish matter. As the President of The Council of Scottish Clans & Associations I have been one of those who have withheld opinions. However, as the President of the United States has now officially opened the ‘butting – in’ season in America and the rest of the world has followed course, I will add my individual Scottish American voice to the din.

Of course I cannot and do not speak for the Council of Scottish Clans & Associations on this matter as COSCA has not taken an official position on the Scottish referendum. However, as the debate over Scottish independence widens to the world, the voice of the Scottish diaspora ought to be heard. So count my voice simply as one of those who care.

It’s the Union Stupid.

My own view toward Scottish independence has only recently been solidified. It has been determined more by the demeaning, warlike and punitive nature of the NO campaign itself than by the whizzing shrapnel pieces of economic, social or political substance that I have managed to catch while following the heated battles. It isn’t that all of the facts and figures and ‘what if’s’ are unimportant. Of course they are important – those that aren’t simply fantastical scaremongering. Yet there is something much more fundamental that seems to be motivating the heart of this young, energetic, upbeat & spirited YES campaign. Something that must be settled even before you can get to the economics.

As Henry McLeish insightfully predicted as early as 2012, the rock solid refusal of Westminster to honestly accept Scotland as an equal partner within the British Union will eventually result in a sovereign and independent Scotland outside of the Union. Britain’s relentlessly negative drum beat has finally led me to place one of those snappy wee YES twibbons on my social media profile and I suspect it has moved more Scots in a similar direction than almost anything else in the campaign. The manner in which London has approached and conducted this campaign is the best evidence that many at Westminster prefer to dominate Scotland instead of deal with her as an equal sovereign partner sharing an influential but very small set of islands. That is no good foundation for a political union.

In the wake of a YES vote the need for England to live next to Scotland on a friendly, cooperative, commercially active and healthy basis will of course remain as important as it has always been. If a new union of interests as to certain areas of life appears to be in the best interests of both nations in the future, logically, there is no reason both Scotland and England as friendly neighbors would not pursue that or some other mutually beneficial path. Certainly it is hard to believe that the people of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland would want anything other than a decrease in the present level of conflict. That is what the rest of the world will want.

Yet until the very recent fear and panic set it, Westminster’s NO campaign statements sounded as though September 19th following a YES vote would initiate a period of intentionally destructive economic and social warfare levied against the people and institutions of Scotland. While not at all an unprecedented reaction by England, it doesn’t really predict the sort of temperament that you might want to cuddle up to in a 21st century political union. Point of the YES team made. The British Union was improperly founded and has matured in a way that disallows Scotland’s people the opportunities to freely and completely pursue their national vision for the future.

I Am Unanimous In That

In a way, the original referendum campaign is over. The YES campaign has already won victory: Scotland is, by now, fairly united that fundamental constitutional adjustment must come and come now. All that is left is for Scotland to determine what the relative positions of the two nations will be in the negotiations that will follow the vote. Will Scotland choose to enter those discussions unified as a free and independent member of the nations of the world or as a questionable sub region of a marginally and temporarily repentant overlord? That question remains critically important.

Scotland has gained the high ground. A NO vote now surrenders the nation. The time to back down and hope for the best deal – if ever there was such a time – is past. Scotland seems to be growing more united behind major constitutional change but London is clearly not. Achieving a true commitment to a different fundamental relationship between Scotland and England south of the border is not a thing that can happen in a day and it won’t occur without a strong hand. Success will require unity and clarity of purpose in the people of Scotland so the leaders can be held to no less. If Scotland believes that it is every nation’s equal in the 21st century it should begin 2015 having made a clear and unavoidable declaration of that belief on September 18, 2014.

Can The Torch of Liberty Be Loaned?

I am a great fan of the American independence movement – the old one back in 1776. The primary point of the American Revolution was to break old bonds that no longer made sense and create something better and more just than anything mankind had attempted before. Historical scholarship is now firmly united in the view that we got our ideas about freedom, liberty and justice more from 17th and 18th century Scottish enlightenment thinkers than anyone or anywhere else. Aye, and the development of America was largely engineered by the pioneer Scots who flowed across the country and Arthur Hermann has sold an awful lot of books entitled “How [the Scots] Invented The Modern World (And Everything In It)”. For good and for ill this isn’t the first time Scots have been at the heart of major political change in the western world.
Our modern world could use some peaceful reinvention and no one may be more keenly aware of that than Scotland’s Yes voter. Certainly no one in western civilization is presently more willing or better equipped to take the first difficult step along that path with courage, commitment, selfless virtue and goodness of heart than the people of Scotland and those around the world who support that nation. After all, these are the people who, over the course of decades of work and commitment, have come to the brink of engineering a major political revolution crafted with ideas and dogged human communication instead of bullies and bullets. Perhaps it is now time for America to lend the torch of liberty back to the people of Scotland so that they may advance the cause of human freedom, equality and justice a little further on down the line.

The post The World Is Watching – A View From the USA appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.