Trying to figure out WTF is going on 'Independence first, everything else later’ is a straw man. It is a risibly simplistic misrepresentation of the arguments against an excessive focus on selling independence like a holiday destination while being unable to explain exactly how you plan to get people there. It falsely portrays as a simple binary choice what is actually a far more nuanced argument for getting the balance right between vision and process. It fails to address the contradiction inherent in Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp's preference for the 'glossy brochure' approach to campaigning on the constitutional issue - on the one hand saying independence is about the right to choose while on the other laying down a prescriptive agenda that pre-empts almost every choice. Gordon would also have us ignore the fact that the 'glossy brochure' approach is the orthodoxy which has dominated campaigning since 2011 or even earlier. To the extent that there has been any independence campaign at all over the last decade, it has predominantly been of the 'glossy brochure' sort. I'm sure Gordon would respond with great indignation to the suggestion that there has been no campaigning. Indeed, it is part of his schtick that Believe in Scotland is the biggest campaigning organisation. He would certainly not accept that Believe in Scotland has been idle. And Believe in Scotland is all about the 'vision' thing. It follows that the campaign over this period has also been all about the 'vision' thing. And it has been signally ineffective in terms of increasing support for independence. Gordon has spent the last ten years making his glossy holiday brochure vision of independent Scotland ever glossier and more replete with brilliantly coloured pictures of what it will be like. And nobody is booking! Basic logic bids us conclude that this approach is wrong or inadequate. I would plump for the latter. It is certainly not wrong to postulate a better Scotland once the onerous burden of the Union is lifted form her shoulders. But it is not enough to present even an honest, unenhanced vision of future Scotland. People may love the vision. But they need to have confidence that it can be realised if they are to actively support it. They may see the 'glossy brochure' depiction of independent Scotland as their dream destination. But unless they see a plan for getting them there, it will remain nothing more than an idle reverie. The 'glossy brochure' approach also undersells independence as a mere means to an end. An end, moreover, which is predetermined and not left to the discretion of the people of independent Scotland. In reality, independence is an end int itself. I stress AN end, not THE end. It must be so because the restoration of Scotland's independence is a matter of justice. It is rectifying the ancient and abiding wrong of the imposed Union. It is decolonisation. It is liberation. Support for independence will start to rise when people stop seeing independence as something that might be nice if only we were allowed to have it and start to understand it as something that is essential and something which must be taken. something that is theirs, but which is being withheld from them. Support for independence when people are roused to cold, determined anger by the injustice of the Union. Support will increase when people are persuaded that restoring independence is a realistic possibility by being given a clear, detailed explanation of the process by which it will be done. A prospectus without a plan is just a wish list. You're currently a free subscriber to Peter A Bell. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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Saturday, 23 August 2025
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