By Brenda Robb
Following the launch of the SNPs manifesto many folk have taken to Twitter and newspaper comments to bemoan the SNPs ability to make progress on securing independence. Every armchair expert claims to know what they should have done with solutions ranging from challenging obscure constitutional treaties, declaring UDI or just somehow sorting it. In some ways the Westminster refrain of “Now is not the time” was highly successful as it has allowed time, frustration and division to take their toll on the independence movement.
This is not new. A quick internet trawl gave the following timelines for other countries seeking their independence
India 1894 – 1947
Ireland 1880s – 1921
Canada 1867 – 1982
Malta 1959 – 1979
I have given links to my sources below in case you want to get more detail on these 4 examples but I just want to mention a few of the strategies that eventually led to success.
Ireland -campaigning consistently resisted by Britain and the Unionist North, followed by repression, propaganda and armed conflict. Three points to note are the intervention of the pope warning both England & Ireland should calmly consider some means of mutual agreement, the initial reaction from Britain “what chance of success have you against the mighty forces of the British Empire” and Churchill’s concession “What was the alternative (to granting independence)? It was to plunge one small corner of the empire into an iron repression”
Clearly violence is not the answer but seeking the support of allies elsewhere and perseverance against the odds are lessons we are learning here in Scotland
India – Ghandi started a resistance movement in 1894. He was elected to the National Congress party in 1915 and escalated action with mass protest demonstrations, boycotts and non-cooperation. The British response of violence and mass arrests failed to diminish support for independence which was finally achieved in 1947
Lessons to be learned could include harnessing the power of the people and making that too visible to ignore and the role of peaceful civil disobedience tactics
Malta – perseverance, refusal to give in to Project Fear pronouncements and negotiation, all told much better by Believe in Scotland (see link below).
Some similarities to Scotland eg while not so rich in natural resources the British wanted Malta for its strategic position. I loved this quote “In his memoirs, the former secretary of state for the colonies, Olivier Lyttelton, described Maltese problems as ‘amongst the most difficult to deal with in the whole world’, adding that the ‘underlying reason which makes them so intractable is that
“The Maltese aspire to political independence and to financial dependence’
and finally Canada – although granted self governance in 1867 full independence was only achieved over 100 yrs later. Self governance as a dominion of Britain meant Canada was no longer seen as a colony but free to “act like its own country” (!) with its own laws and parliament, financial independence and responsibility to defend itself. An interim agreement in 1931 saw Canada get full legal autonomy but Britain was still able to amend the constitution if the governor general thought this necessary.
A point to consider here is whether it is acceptable or total failure to accept more devolved powers over time until the balance tips. I think most of us would love a quick decisive route to independence asap but how can that be achieved? When will we reach our tipping point?
www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/mahatma-gandhi-changed-political-protest
www.history.com/news/canada-independence-from-britain-france-war-of-1812
Talking-up Scotland / Facts on NHS, Crime, ferries and everything else you can think of 
There is no instant route to dependence, all I ternat political and legal routes have to be attempted and exhausted before international bodies can be involved.
If the people already have all the government departments needed to run a country the declaring independence is possible although that might result in waiting, in some cases for years, for international recognition.
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Yep, it does indeed prove archives are prohibited despite “sent successfully” popping up.
I suggested GMK’s article in the National made a great deal of sense of the background noise… If you try to archive it you’ll find it’s already done.. https://www.thenational.scot/politics/24396299.scottish-independence-means-putting-politics-aside-election/
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Scotland can vote for it.
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and they have time and time again returning a majority of indy supporting MPs and MSPs at each election
However so far it hasn’t been enough to shift the dial. If you think about it it took the Tories to win their 80 seat majority to “get Brexit done” despite vote leave winning the referendum several years before. Here in Scotland this possibility is impossible at Westminster where Scottish voices will always be outnumbered and highly improbable at Holyrood with the different voting system.
We need to be realistic but determined, we need to persevere against the odds to make clear this is not going to go away no matter how many leaders are lost along the way
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Scotland has already reached this tipping point but Scotland has a very different problem to deal with very different from India Canada Malta Ireland that problem is that we inhabit the same island , strategically India Canada Malta Ireland were important to England in their time but would not be so important now because england is not the world force it once was.In todays world england retreats into itself on its part of this island but is now trying very hard to claim that this whole island belongs to them.Oh how they would love that but both Wales and Scotland will never agree that they are not separate countries because they both have so so much history showing that they are seperate countries.England and USA are not law abiding countries in the international sense , they both like to talk big on law and order to everyone in the world but only if it is their own laws that they and everyone else has to adhere to and they will quite readily change their laws to suit their politics of the day even if that means they discard their judges and appoint new judges that are willing to bend the laws to fit.Scotland has an old generation of WWII people who cling to britain we won the war then there are the thirties to sixties who want a better work life deal and just cannot commit to what they know will acheive this because it requires time effort and work to commit to Scottish independence so they bumble along then you have the young who know what they want and know what is right but detest politicians and politics so they dont vote which even though they support Scottish independence will not get them Scottish independence.The oldies are a lost cause you wont change them the thities to fifties are well on the way but we need to find a way to get the young people to actually vote.
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Sharing a land mass is being used to suggest additional difficulties should we gain independence but then I suppose we could look to the Nordic models to see how they worked things out?
As for persuading folk, especially the young, to vote I think we need to look to reviving the sense of optimism and positivity seen in the run up to the first indy ref. We can’t change the current political situation we find ourselves in with its cost of living worries and NHS challenges but we can change how we talk about things eg clear analysis of the problems, promotion of our beliefs in the value of public services and transparent higher tax rather than shadowy private payment plans, and clear explanations to show how being independent can help us all. Just watching clips of the Tartan Army this week shows the value of positivity and enthusiasm and resilience ie the ability to bounce back when things go wrong. Belief in ourselves is infectious and people respond to it much better than constant whingeing and negativity
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Totally agree and as an ‘Oldie’ myself I came across the same apathy amongst my generation in 2014 which in a sense surprisd me as a ‘Dylan’ fan I found ‘Times are changing’ to be a byword for change for the better and a time for the the then ‘old guard’ to step aside. Strange days indeed.
Lets be clear there is no easy or ideal path to Independence; it requires a leap of faith underpinned by good evidence which at times has been lost and as a SNP long time member myself I can sympathise with the frustration that has arisen. My (and perhaps theirs as well) overriding hope has been that if the SNP could make peoples lives better would in turn open their eyes to a more prosperous future. Alas decades of Austerity/Covid/Brexit and global economic uncertainties has hindered that which I bedlieve has sadly caused the rift in the Indy movement.
It has also become a two edged sword in that as lives for many have got better all thanks to this Gov’s policies on poverty then that apathy will unfortunately remain.
Robbo
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Throughout history there have been ‘Imperial forces’ at work quietly sowing discord ‘behind the lines’, so no surprise whatever that “Following the launch of the SNPs manifesto many folk have taken to Twitter and newspaper comments to bemoan the SNPs ability to make progress on securing independence”.
As was highlighted elsewhere, what appears to have so ‘irritated’ some over the SNP manifesto is “Give the people of Scotland a say on their future. Demand the permanent transfer of legal power to the Scottish Parliament to determine how Scotland is governed, including the transfer of power to enable it to legislate for a referendum.”
Rather than taking the view of the ‘irritated’ that this is again capitulating to Westminster, my own is that this is the last throw of the legal dice – It no longer matters if Westminster refuses, SG will be seen as having explored and exhausted every legal avenue available to them of measuring the democratic wishes of Scotland.
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You may well be right Bob but if this is indeed the plan SNP representatives should try to explain their reasoning better so that they send out a clear message. So many folk just see an endless cycle of promises never fulfilled but if each “failure” is contributing to an overarching strategy we need to show how eg 2015 election showed us that support for independence hadn’t gone away but was also too close after the referendum to ignore the union supporters
What did the subsequent elections tell us and where do they fit in in the independence timeline?
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I doubt it can be explained as a fixed plan, they’ve had to change strategy many times since May said “Now is not the time”, which is not how the arrangement is supposed to work.
The last, the SC decision, was IMHO dodgy, but SG are obliged to comply with it – This latest plan to request the legal powers would then satisfy the SC, but I fully expect further prevarication by WM if not an outright refusal, but this will cause ructions.
It will not just infuriate Scots, you’d be surprised the majority in England who have supported Scotland’s democratic right to hold a referendum on Indy since Brexit – If anything it has grown, it’s the political/media cartel who are against it – More importantly however is how the international community will see refusal as blatantly anti-democratic, and this will bring considerable pressure to bear on an already beleaguered and deeply unpopular government.
The ” endless cycle of promises never fulfilled ” is very much what the agitators wish to see spread, tying YES to the fate of the SNP, the “Torches and Pitchforks” game of wearing down support for a unified stance. Anybody who has followed this will be acutely aware everything SNP tried met a new obstacle, so whose fault is that when they are obliged to operate within a legal framework ?
Coupled with a massive Indy campaign for Holyrood 2026, YES which is already in majority I predict will go through the roof, all we need do is hold our nerve.
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Now here’s a strategy
x.com/msm_monitor/status/1803714131087757596
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