This is an excellent article by Ross Greer. Thoughtful and insightful. He does well to recognise that Brexit is not an isolated change to the status of the UK, but part of an ongoing global process of political decay that will not be stopped simply by revoking Article 50. Even if a second EU referendum were to return a UK-wide Remain vote, the constitutional anomaly of the Union would remain. And the need for Scotland to address that anomaly would be even greater.
“Scotland will still be stuck in a Union where devolution has come under direct attack and where our long-term future in Europe will be at risk. The only solution to that is to leave the Westminster basket case behind with independence in the European Union.”
It may seem banal to say that restoring constitutional normality to Scotland will not not instantly transform the nation. But Ross does well to remind us that rectifying the grotesque constitutional anomaly of a Union which prohibits the full and effective exercise of our sovereignty merely restores to Scotland’s people the democratic power that is rightfully theirs. What matters; what will bring about the transformation so many of us aspire to, depends entirely on how we use that power.
“Independence and EU membership won’t automatically solve these problems. It will take political will to reverse austerity and to restructure the economy away from finance and towards sustainable industries rich in lasting, high-quality jobs.”
The difference between a Unionist and an advocate of independence is that the latter has total confidence in the ability of the people of Scotland to manage our nation’s affairs and steer Scotland towards becoming the better, fairer, greener, more prosperous land we hope to bequeath to future generations.
It is heartening, too, that Ross acknowledges the outward-looking, internationalist character of Scotland’s civic nationalism. Just as those who share this ideology want Scotland to take a “fundamentally different path”, so we want our nation to be a force for positive, progressive change in Europe and beyond.
“An independent Scotland must be a voice for reversing the austerity disaster across our continent and building a people’s Europe in its place.
The EU can be reformed. It is constantly reforming. Let’s tell the story of how an independent Scotland can not only thrive but can lead that transformation.”
The fight to restore Scotland’s independence is a worthy cause. A noble cause. It is a cause which must succeed. The cost to Europe and the world of failure may be no more than unfortunate. The cost to Scotland and its people would be unthinkable.
The cause of independence which Ross Greer promotes with such eloquence, passion and reason is increasingly urgent. The threat to Scotland’s democracy posed by British Nationalism is real and imminent. Already, as Ross notes, “devolution has come under direct attack”. It is the Union which allows the British state to withhold powers that rightfully belong with the Scottish Parliament and to strip from Holyrood powers previously granted. It is the Union that allows successive British governments to impose on Scotland policies that are anathema to us – even though both governments and policies have been comprehensively, decisively and repeatedly rejected by the Scottish electorate.
It is the Union that allows the British political elite to presume the authority to veto Scotland’s right of self- determination.
It is the Union which allows that same British political elite to make our elected representatives at Westminster second-class MPs and to treat them with unfailing discourtesy and contempt as they seek to speak for Scotland.
It is the Union which denies the sovereignty of Scotland people and makes us second-class citizens whose democratic will can be disdainfully dismissed.
It is the Union which withholds from Scotland’s people the democratic power that is rightfully ours.
Only when we #DissolveTheUnion will we be able to write Scotland’s story in our own words. Ross Greer is absolutely correct. The only solution for Scotland is independence.
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Peter A Bell 
I’m pleased to read the Ross Greer gets it; I’m wondering, at the moment, if many within the SNP hierarchy do too.
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Yes, I too am getting ever more angry at the suggestion Scotland’s Indy should be put on hold as it will be difficult to negotiate our departure due to WM having enough on their plate. How bloody dare they suggest we are neither competent or strong enough to guide our country forward…just because of the example set by WM! Scotland does not seek enemies, nor does it seem to dominate any political relationship. Our arrogance is that we can, we will, we choose to have a better country, a country where our elected representatives are working for us, answerable to us. No archaic not fit for purpose protocols & traditions that belong in the Xmas Panto. We have the people now, we are nurturing & growing the future change makers. As my wee Mammy used to say ‘Who said No to me’ ?
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ITS TIME.
YES needs to start finalising out its points/language for “that talk” everyone needs to have with their parents (or others)
YES needs both:
1 – A clear rational for Indy in a Brexit world (with no muddying from 2014 indyref arguments)
2 – A statement about the future…(only points that will flow directly from Brexit)
Point 2 should never include things that Scotland will need to vote on later (monarchy, constitution, currency).. The only answer to all of those is:
– “What Scotland decides is best for Scotland”…and/or
– “if 70 other countries can do it, why is Scotland uniquely unqualified to?”
Although, just to stir the pot, I do wish the response to currency was: “Scotland brought the pound in and Scotland will take its pound with it…The question should be what England will use for currency without our pound and without our oil”
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OK…apologies for this long post….This is just an off the top of head notes about the future of an Indy Scot (with Brexit England)
…………………………………….
England outside EU/EEA changes everything.
NEW CONNECTIVITY
Scotland connected to Europe not via England (outside SM/CU) will require a massive re-infrastructureing to flip the country away from London to its own ports. The economics of 2 lots of pointless customs when shipping to EU will make infrastructure viable…actually inevitable.
Once you start with the basics (major SW and NE ports connecting the North Sea/Celtic ring) it necessitates the upgrading of internal Scottish connectivity (road/rail/bridge/shipping) to all Scottish regions. Haven’t you always wished for one Scotland connected from land to sea.
Scotland’s new transport infrastructure will be required because the energy resources will need it…and fund it. (find any mine in the world…no matter where it is or how remote, it always has a mega road/rail/air link.). Thinking big, at some point in the near future, Scotland will need to connect directly to Ireland.
ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE
Not only oil rich, Scotland is central to the renewable energy future of Europe. Scotland’s economic future will be as a major supplier to Europe’s planned energy infrastructure. Scotland needs connections from Scotland’s islands to mainland and onto the planned Dogger Bank island and EU.
SCOTLAND – A MORE BALANCED ECONOMY.
It is almost impossible to think of an area of Scotland that is not an important contributor in one or multiple of: Energy, farming/agri, Fishing, Tourism, Whisky/Gin, Finance, Tech, Shipping. This also balances the political importance of each region.
Here is the question: how does a new Scotland choose to recognize that balance…Is it the old Westminster model of central control?…or a new Scottish model of constitutional recognition of the regions and an upper house that balances their interests in a Scottish parliament?
ISLANDS BECOME INTEGRAL SCOTTISH CENTRES
The importance of the Islands to Scotland is central not only to the culture but also economically. For too long these have been deliberately starve by lack of infrastructure and England’s nuclear obsession. An independent Scotland by necessity has to re-link its islands, as its future is a symbiotic relationship.
GATWICK….
You will need a real international airport. Show it some love.
Funny thing is, for many north English, it will be the simplest airport to travel to EU countries….how’s that for irony.
CLYDE SHIPBUILDING.
It only makes sense in an independent Scotland. A North Sea/Arctic country connected to its EU neighbours by sea, with off shore wind, and fishing. How can Scotland not have a ship building industry and that’s even before you want a navy.
PORTS
We’re no longer talking just fishing ports and harbours that have become little more that harbor-side housing for wealthy. Scotland will need international freight and container ports. The world over, major ports are becoming knowledge and tech hot spots leveraging fabrication, production and transport. At a minimum Scotland would have 4 such hubs including one at the Ultra Deepwater port on Shetland.
JOBS
No matter what happens after independence, the amount of infrastructure will generate a jobs boom across Scotland. This will only be boosted once the breaks are taken of education, health, and housing.
Funding you ask…it is funny how banks will always lend to governments for infrastructure when they want access to the resources.
SCOTLAND – BIGGER + FASTER
Taking the London centric breaks off Scotland’s economy will attract people back to Scotland and encourage others to join. Scotland with a great health service, abundant energy, clean water/air, world class education, one of the worlds great food/drink producers, and new infrastructure…that is an attractive European country to be in.
Those above are essential and are a direct flow on from Scotland independence All the other issues are QUESTIONS FOR SCOTLAND TO DECIDE…but they are no less massive:
• Do you want to continue the Rent Seeking economic model of Westminster and England?
• Do you want to continue the model were poverty and food banks are normal in a country that is so energy rich?
• Do you want to be an afterthought? (Has Westminster ever stood up for Scotland the way the EU has for Ireland?)
• Do you always want the lowest pensions in Europe consigning many elderly to poverty? P.S. Want to boost the economy and create jobs, give the poor money to spend…they spend it. Trickle down never worked but trickle up does.
Scotland, if you want a different model – that only occurs with independence.
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PRESTWICK….what a brain snap.
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P.S.
Once rUK takes on US food standards – which will be required for any US/rUK trade deal–the rUK/Scotland trade will alter forever.
Trade won’t just be limited by rUK becoming a 3rd country…and its not just chlorinated chicken. Its the entire approach to contamination, antibiotics, and phytosanitary that are the total opposite of EU/EEA’s.
Hence Scotland will benefit from changing supply chains to internal or EU/EEA to avoid customs/tarrif issues.
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While your ‘Point 2’ is fair enough, the first one could hardly be more wrong. In the first place, we do not need a “rational” [sic] for independence. We don’t have to pass any test. We require to satisfy no authority other than the people of Scotland. Nobody has to explain why they want to be normal citizens of a normal nation. Nobody has to justify their Yes vote.
It is the Union which is anomalous. It is the Union which must be justified.
Secondly, we’ve already ‘made the case’ for independence. Some of us have been making that case for half a century and more. The Yes campaign in the 2014 referendum was obsessed with making that ‘positive’ case for independence. We’ve already won all the converts that are going to be persuaded to make that journey from No to Yes by a clear rationale.
Those say we need a better Yes message are talking shite. No such thing exists. Hundreds of Yes groups and thousands of individuals have expressed that message in every way imaginable. And repeated it endlessly. We’re not going to significantly increase support for a Yes vote with that positive case for independence for the simple and glaringly obvious reason that the people we now need to address are the ones who just aren’t listening to that message no matter what form it takes.
These people are not susceptible to the lure of independence because they can’t even see the bait. But they are vulnerable to doubts about the Union. We cannot make them enthusiastic about independence. But we can rouse their anger at what the British state is doing.
It’s not a “clear rational for Indy” the Yes campaign needs. It’s a barrage of arguments against the Union that will find the cracks in the shields No voters have erected to fend off happy-clappy Yessers telling tales of a golden city on a hill.
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Peter
Your point: …”We require to satisfy no authority other than the people of Scotland”
Isn’t your point that YES has to satisfy the people of Scotland? That is what I meant by a rationale. It was not for external audience, it was YES may still have work to convince some in Scotland.
I agree, there has always been a case for a better Scotland. However, the threat now is more urgent and pressing that ever. 2014 was leaving the status quo…but for many they saw that a No vote would just continue on that earlier status quo.
I don’t think that is the case any longer.
Brexit Westminster is a scary beast and to my reading plans to consume Scotland whole this time. The call to action is strongest when it directly addresses the threat…while offering hope.
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