SOME MYTHS DESTROYED
It also amazes me how some people are all too ready to dismiss potential solutions to very serious problems by giving too much credibility to the “knockers” in politics. They exist in all countries, indeed they are a serious and deliberate component of political life across the World. It’s just here in Scotland we seem to have attracted more than most.
Let me give you some examples. Here are just a few examples of some of the “put downs” Salvo and Liberation face regularly. Let’s examine what’s said, why it’s said, prove it wrong and move on.
Let’s start with the 1689 Claim of Right. This is “knocked down” because it is “ancient” comes from “centuries before” so therefore must be somewhat “irrelevant”.
The problem for the “knockers” on that one is they seek to defend the Union of the Crowns (1603) which in effect is being used illegally to plunder Scotland of our resources including our oil, gas and renewables and, in due course, our fresh water. Nobody seems concerned with that coming from eighty six years BEFORE the Claim of Right 1689 which outlaws the asset stripping of Scotland and was a strict pre condition of the later Treaty of Union 1707. Indeed it was agreed as such by both the Parliaments of Scotland and England as that pre condition. Ignoring the Claim of Right invalidates the Treaty of Union and gives a solid legal basis for ending the Union.
Salvo argue for popular sovereignty arguing that no Parliament or Monarch are sovereign in Scotland but that this power is held by the people of Scotland previously exercised on their behalf through a Convention of the Estates.
The “knockers” dispute this is possible, how could the “ people” exercise that power in the modern age? It is completely impractical. Can’t be done is their message.
Sadly some are influenced by this type of attack. This is a pity because it is very easy to disprove! I can give you a clear example of a country where that “popular sovereignty” exists to this day. It is one of the most successful countries in Europe, one of the richest with a very high standard of living. That country is Switzerland. Where the people don’t need to wait years for an election to change things but where the people through securing 50,000 signatures, followed by a majority popular vote in favour, can veto any law adopted by Parliament (a so-called Optional Referendum). Even better, 100,000 signatures in favour of any issue related to the constitution can secure a popular vote in a referendum list to do whatever they want changed (a Popular Initiative).
By the way, taking account of Switzerland’s higher population (8.7 million compared to Scotland’s 5.5), comparable signature thresholds for Scotland would probably be something like 40,000 and 80,000 respectively.
Referendums are a mechanism to block adopted legislation coming into effect whereas initiatives involve partially or completely changing the constitution so nobody can deny the Swiss the right to self determine their future. Political parties need to operate being aware that it is relatively easy for the Swiss people to overturn any Government going down a road that a majority of the people oppose.
The Swiss would never accept the sort of dictatorial Government Scotland has suffered from in recent years from either Westminster or Holyrood. Through regular referenda or initiatives the people could exercise their sovereignty to stop any abuse. I think we can safely assume neither self ID or GRR would have been successful and trials without juries would be a non starter as well. The people will have spoken and ensured, by virtue of the immediate effect requirements, that the Government must act in accordance with the people’s wishes – proposed legislation is immediately blocked by a popularly accepted referendum and successful initiatives come into effect immediately.
There have been regular referenda there, they often taken place roughly quarterly at national, regional and local levels and with voter turnout ranging from the mid low forties to over sixty five percent, dependent on the issues, participative democracy is very healthy indeed.
So to return to why these knockers exist? There are a host of reasons but political parties must be high up the list. They need to “knock down” anything that comes from another Party or Group. They exist to promote their ideas at the expense of everyone else. That is how they win votes, and votes means power. So by the very nature of it all political party rivalry creates division and negativity.
The above reason is why both Salvo and Liberation are both strictly non Party political. We seek to unite all Scots behind our case. We do not seek votes or seats in Parliament. We seek progress on the Independence road by internationalising the issue in a way that is not open to any political party but only possible through a true National Liberation Movement. So we need everyone to support us by signing up to Liberation.Scot and if you want to help campaign also taking the option to sign up at Salvo.Scot as well.
Our role is to educate Scots on our rights and to motivate direct action to make those rights a reality. We don’t want your vote, we want your support and where possible your efforts to bring more people into the National Liberation Movement. Let’s unite and get things done…that way we can leave the knockers behind.
I hope this article demonstrates that popular sovereignty can and does exist in the modern World. Is it not amazing that our ancestors were so ahead of their times that they wrote our laws, even then, to protect our people which makes it all the more tragic that we have “ knockers” today who seek to block us reclaiming those rights and privileges?. If we are serious about Independence we need to confront the “knockers” with clear evidence they are wrong. Switzerland displays that popular sovereignty can work well in the 21st century. It is much superior to living as second class citizens in our own land, witnessing a greedy neighbour illegally removing our assets every day!
I am, as always
Yours for Scotland.
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YOURS FOR SCOTLAND 
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
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A very encouraging article Iain, well argued.
The one argument against using the Claim of Right 1689 that I’ve come against is that it is sectarian in nature, specifically anti-Roman Catholic.
While I have countered with this by stating that the particular application at the time of the CoR was that “the people” did not want a monarch (James VII) that adhered to the Roman Catholic religion – Scotland had just gone through The Reformation – their further rejoinder is something like “well, that’s what’s written down”.
And that’s it. Their mind is closed … or colonised by British propaganda.
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Yes we need to have the Swiss experience at the forefront . It proves popular sovereignty is both alive today and relevant. The COR religious text was a sign of the time and would never feature in Scotland’s new constitution. Look at the wording of the Edinburgh Declaration, it strongly resembles the Irish Declaration of Independence. Salvo/Liberation seek to unite not divide.
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The maximum of «subsidiarity», local participatory sovereignty, in governance is highly desirable.
In Scotland’s case, a country of geographic and cultural diversity, essential.
The days of the «mega» are coming to an end.
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If sectarianism no longer operated the sectarian bias of the Claim might be overlooked. However, the British state and Scotland prior to the Union is/were overtly sectarian. The bedrock of both was the reformed Protestant religion which monarchs of UKGB&NI are required to swear to uphold.
That is fact. The events of today, however remodelled by pseudo historicity, demonstrate it.
Monarchy and democracy are oil and water. For a time they mix but inevitably will separate.
Likewise, sectarianism, even merely a hint of it.
My Syriac Catholic heritage has been instructive in showing the ways sectarianism, in this case Islam, can disturb the equilibrium to the grave disadvantage of any minority.
I would hope that a free Scotland would be nationalist and culturally pluralist, in the best sense of the terms.
It has to be remembered that the Catholic James VII defeat at the Boyne was greeted with rejoicing in the Vatican as it seemed to put a break on French expansionism in mainland Europe. It was not essentially a religious conflict. Like much to do with Scottish and Irish history it was a dynastic, political and strategic muddle in which both became entangled to their long term cost.
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When the Orange Order marches to celebrate the victory of the Battle of the Boyne,they seem unaware that that when news of the defeat of James VII reached the Vatican, there were celebratory bonfires since it was seen as putting a brake on the French as you say. It was a different time in international politics
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It was a document of its time. Much of it could easily be included in a new Scottish Constitution. The anti Catholic rhetoric would certainly be dumped as irrelevant, objectionable and outdated.
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You epitomise the colonised mind to which I refer.
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Aren’t we actually sick of British propaganda – even those among us who trot it out with boring regularity as an excuse for laziness, cowardice, failure of imagination? As we endure a veritable orgasm of British propaganda (don’t touch that dial!) it shoud remind us of what James Keir Hardie said about the function of royalty – not just that “Round the throne gather the unwholesome parasites who cling to the system which lends itself to their disordered condition”… although that is obviously true. But that those so base as to “worship an empty form, to make pretence to believe a gilded mediocrity indispensable to the well-being of the nation” are, in fact, victims of a “diseased organism”. And this, folks, is what it’s like to live inside a diseased organism.
Of course, in Scotland, we have the double whammy of living inside a diseased organism inside a diseased organism. We are doubly diseased. And it feels like it. Keir Hardie talks about the attributes that command the respect of a healthy, well-developed people – “The great mind, the strong heart, the detestation of wrong, the love of truth” – but there is a strong preference for the vital illusion… whether it is applied to the history of Scotland, and our subordinate status, or to the corrupting influence of the SNP government and those who basked in Sturgeon’s smile.
It’s apparent that we can neither resolve nor leave behind our history, and we have difficulty seeing beyond a future of social, cultural and environmental decay. If there are those who find comfort in making pretence to believe in the Myths of Servitude to the Profit-mongers, it is probably better than heroin or benzos – or, then again, maybe not. It is just a different sort of oblivion.
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“We are doubly diseased. And it feels like it.”
Yes, postcolonial theory tells us that colonialism is ‘a sickness’, a psychological condition affecting both colonizer and colonized, and that colonial society is thus ‘a diseased society’. Colonial oppression comes upon a dominated people not just from the mother country’s metropolitan center, but also via a compromised national party elite and its ‘colonial administration’, hence the double layer. Those on the Left such as Keir Hardie then and now still believe the class system to be the enemy in a battle of socialism versus capitalism, whilst ignoring ‘racism as the con-substantial part of colonialism’.
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This is wonderful. Gave me hope that we can eventually become independent.
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Sorry I hadn’t quite finished my reply above to Ottomanboi before it actually got sent which is why it ended so abruptly in mid sentence. It would be a bit self-indulgent for me to go on and complete it since it wouldn’t add greatly to what went before. My apologies.
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Such referenda would make it harder or a hostile UK government to use section 35 of the Scotland Act. There would be a remedy to some perceived problem available to the people.
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Those who question our Claim of right and Sovereignty or more accurately deny it are Unionists who dont want independence. Once the British establishment have crushed the SNP from inside as a credible Government ,Westminster will then offer a phoney Fedrealism, the vow Mk2 or a rigged Referendum on the doggy voting franchise like 2014. Then they will know that there rotten UK, Ok will then be safe, along with their stolen plunder of free Oil, Gas and Electricity. We dont want there fixed Referendum we want a Plebiscite election at every election going forward till we are free.
With Brexit British Colonialism is fully unleashed.
Dissolve the Union.
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From what i read, Scotland the often marginalized is, paradoxically, seen as the keystone of the British state structure. The territorial loss, for example, would be significant. The rich seas around Scotland would be out of bounds and the sceptered realm would have to find other ways of defending itself.
Without Scotland the entire edifice would look just too archaic. The expensive mummery of today would be seen for what it is, a deep, post imperial identity crisis.
Truly, the swan is singing an «auld sang», the End of Ukania dirge.
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Yeah I have been seeing for myself whilst engaging in pointless crap on Twitter. You can see by what they write that’s exactly what has happened. The policies that’s created this mess are being used by them online as leverage to try destroy indendence. They come in a group stating the same things. People think we are stupid and don’t know what’s happened.
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JGEDD
Alas the Lodge is not tuned to irony.
Pope Alexander VIII, was he a closet Orangeman🤡
Of such contradiction is history made.
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Another excellent article Iain, full of historical nuggets of information, and explaining with reference to Switzerland how popular sovereignty can function in the present day. Popular sovereignty is, of course, the bedrock of Scottish constitutional history. It is also important to note that the purloining of Scotland’s wealth by England is not only unjust, but criminal. It is fundamentally illegal as per the Claim of Right and the conditions of the Treaty of Union. When we witness a crime being committed before our very eyes is it not incumbent upon us to stop it, and as a nation seek immediate redress? And if, in Scotland, the people are sovereign, then are the crimes being committed against our nation not also crimes being committed against our very person, our very being?
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I think the problem in Scotland isn’t acceptance of sovereignty, our detractors will always find something to gripe about, but the mechanism through which we can empower ourselves.
The Constitutional arguments in my opinion are adequately persuasive and robust, the provenance is very well documented, and Scotland’s status as a Nation is undeniable. Our case is proven. I passed Sara Salyers on the march yesterday, and I really wish I’d stopped to shake her hand for all she’s done, because she is on the money. We need an alternative voice, a voice that is NOT of the system, but OUTSIDE the system.
The missing component is the linkage… the protocol which connects the sovereign people with their sovereign rights. We have lost our understanding of how to mobilise ourselves and defend Scotland from colonial encroachment upon our rights. These days we Scots seem uncomfortable about giving ourselves a voice outside the constraints of Westminster or Westminster’s parliamentary system.
It pains me to say it, but we are conflicted between a belief that we are constitutionally sovereign and a delusion that Westminster’s UK protocols are legitimate. There is an inherent contradiction to this.
If we are using Westminster democracy or Unionist protocols, (by that I mean Westminster or Holyrood elections, or the whole Section 30 Scotland Act malarkey), we are already misunderstanding what our Scottish sovereignty means.
The problem is, we cannot seem to step away from the UK styled protocols, because so far, we have no Scottish protocols to fill the void. Straight away, we run aground. If we do set up a Convention of the Estates, then how do we decide who sits on it? Errr, em, I err, .. Not sure. This all needs codified and adopted by the people… THEN we’re in business.
We NEED a Convention of the Estates, with it’s own codified constitution, in other words, Scotland’s own version of the Scotland Act; the written, codified principles and protocols of Scotland’s sovereign government in waiting.
But unlike the Scotland Act, which enshrines the power of Westminster, we need a superior mechanism to recognise and enshrine the ascendancy of Scotland’s sovereign people. Legitimacy for it can NEVER come from Westminster. It must be a Scottish initiative given it’s potency through International recognition.
Lastly on the subject, I think there is another misunderstanding.
Even if Scotland DIDN’T have it’s sovereign constitution, nor 1000 years of Scottish history as an established Nation, Scotland’s people would nevertheless have the right under UN Human Rights legislation to elect our own Government. Scotland would have rights from a standing start.
But this Scotland of ours is an ancient beast. We are blessed with start point which is vastly more advanced. We are not required to establish our Nation from a standing start, because our rights and integrity, our recognised Declaration of Arbroath, our 1328 Edinburgh / Northampton Treaty, our Claim of Right, are ALREADY established under International Law.
Both our London Government and London King are obliged to watch their step and tread lightly when it comes to Scotland’s ancient lore and constitution, but what has emboldened them these recent few decades, is the realisation that Scotland has no mechanism to Police it’s ancient rights. Scotland is currently defenceless.
“THAT” is the mechanism, the defence, we desperately need to resurrect.
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A sovereign people has no need for sanction or to be mired in the legalism of another country.
A beggar does not make the law «no begging», nor Scotland «no independence».
The British state, a term we might all use instead of UK, GB, Britain etc.,has its own survival protocols.
Nationalists should not give a fig about them. Let the British state do its worse.
It is not possible to serve two conflicting principles.
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Agreed. Thing is, it isn’t all that radical a step to start taking the constitutional initiative, and leave Westminster to play catch up, and let them instigate the legal challenges at the UN for what Scotland’s “sovereign” government is doing.
The SNP are doing neither and both… they’re squandering all constitutional initiative completely, while presenting Westminster with open goal of asinine legal cases which Westminster can surely win, and thereafter present to the world as seminal precedents which have been set.
Jeezus, more than half the staunchest Independentists want the Pervert’s Charter sunk without a trace, but with the SNP’s “strategy”, Westminster gets a useful constitutional precedent set into the bargain. It’s sheer f!”*$%g idiocy by the SNP.
As Alex Salmond rightly said, wrong case, in the wrong court, at the wrong time.
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This is all absolutely true. I keep saying WE, THE PEOPLE, have to do something. We do
But the question is, will we? Groups are starting to form and that is a good thing. A hopeful thing. We must keep on this path. Thank you for writing this. Karen-Claire 🏴🏴🏴
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BREEKS
I hold «the law» to be that thing invoked by those determined to frustrate any intentions that might hurt the interests of the established order. In political matters it is not neutral. The law of the Spanish state does not allow for «regional» secession. The constitution of the US is similarly anti secession. It is not beyond reason the British state could do likewise. It would have Westminster’s, and probably public, full support.
The British state will fight dirty to maintain its control of territory. Scotland «going» is every reason to make sure all is in gear, whether the law, international links or media.
The security of the British state very much depends on retaining «North Britain».
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/scottish-independence-implications-british-defence
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I fully expect the UK Government to pull every dirty trick in the book, and I also fear, (very greatly in fact), that a freshly Independent Scotland would pay dearly if we were to approach Independence in the woeful style of the SNP these past eight years. Frankly, it embarrasses me.
Jeezo, Jean Claude Juncker and Guy Verhofstadt were all but taking us by the hand, telegraphing what Scotland should have done in 2016 post Brexit; adopt holding pen status inside the EU until we sorted ourselves out constitutionally… The Treaty of Union completely compromised, and Independence was right there within our grasp… but Idiot Sturgeon had her own ideas.
I firmly believe Europe will embrace an Independent Scotland. I wouldn’t leave it to chance, and aim to nurture said desires positively, but I believe Europe is as pro Scotland as Scotland is pro Europe, but most off all, I believe the sheer gravity of Europe will smooth out any bumps in the road as we escape London Rule. Just look at the Northern Irish Protocol.
More controversially for some, I believe the days are numbered for the US Dollar as the World’s Reserve Currency, and the BRICS phenomenon is here to stay. It will grow expotentially and could be the best thing in decades / centuries for many nations exploited by the West. I don’t have a crystal ball, but America seems riven with instabilities and economic minefields, and a Brexiteering Westminster needs sectioned under the Mental Health Act to save itself from self-harming.
I genuinely don’t know how China, India, the Middle East and Russia feel about Scotland, but I have reason to believe we have grounds for optimism.
Off the top of my head, I believe it was a Scottish Admiral who became known as the father of the Russian Navy, Samuel Greig from Inverkeithing. And thanks to Scotland’s Eric Liddell of Chariots of Fire fame, who stood by the Chinese people and perished in a Japanese Internment camp while striving to improve the lives of those around him, Scotland is very well thought of in China. I know that first hand, from a few days I spent in Beijing. China is complicated, but not as we see it portrayed.
Will Nations allow themselves to be influenced by such sentimentalities in Scotland’s favour? Maybe. I hope so.
Will similar Nations, many of them former colonies of the British, will they really put the interests of the British ahead of a Scottish “killing off” the Great British Empire once and for all? I don’t know, but I like the odds.
Independence is there to be won, but with belief in ourselves we could win it well. A massive new freight terminal at Scapa Flow should be our calling card / sweetener for the trading economies of Europe, China, the Middle East, Scandinavia and the Baltic, yes, Russia and the US too… a 21st Century deep water super-facility for boosting trade and transport efficiency all along Europes Western Seaboard.
…. And that is just the start. As the World Order changes, Scotland could become a rare node for progressive interaction. peace and common good. Build that dream into a terrestial reality, and it might sweep along our doubters and “Better Together” cynics. I’ve said it before, Scotland’s Scapa Flow could become the Istanbul of Western Europe. It’s a challenge yes, but not that difficult. Mother Nature has installed most of the critical infrastructure.
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“The security of the British state very much depends on retaining «North Britain».”
Agreed, but the British state is not entitled to that security if it has to rely on deliberately denying and abusing the security of another sovereign state to do so. The UN would accept this, but not until it understands the internal structures of the British state, which means recognising that Scotland is still a fully sovereign nation within it.
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I belong to an ancient MidEast nation which the UN and the international «community» has little concern for, hence my skepticism regarding «the law».
The security of the West counters any «regional» interests. The ongoing proxy war with Russia makes those «regional» interests even less important.
In this matter Scotland may find «friends» turn false. The world stage is not for novices.
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This might interest you.
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I have a beautiful wee treasure from a wee girl who came to Scotland from Syria. She drew me holding a cup with a cat mug with warm hands and a wee blue and yellow Christmas tree. Adults should listen to children when they speak. Most of these children miss home and they draw the pictures of their home before war and sadness came to them.
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Spot on Ottomanboi
We are kidding ourselves if we think there is love out there to feel. There are more-or-less shared values and shared interests. We are not Norway or the EU or any other place on earth. We should have friends – not reinvent ourselves to accommodate the self hatred colonialism brings.
We are Scotland – ourselves, alone. We need to understand that.
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Do you Wonder why presidents and prime mininsters get elected? Brexit?
Regarding Trump’s becoming President ” played to people’s worst inclinations.” Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us about Who We Really Are Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
learned that Google has lots of information that is missed by the polls that can be helpful in understanding—among many, many other subjects—an election. There is information on who will actually turn out to vote. More than half of citizens who don’t vote tell surveys immediately before an election that they intend to, skewing our estimation of turnout, whereas Google searches for “how to vote” or “where to vote” weeks before an election can accurately predict which parts of the country are going to have a big showing at the polls. There might even be information on who they will vote for. Can we really predict which candidate people will vote for just based on what they search? Clearly, we can’t just study which candidates are searched for most frequently. Many people search for a candidate because they love him. A similar number of people search for a candidate because they hate him
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Britnat propaganda can be subtle at times the gaslighting and the brainwashing, take the Media’s sanitisation of Cruella the Queen of Battersea. She had me fooled for a moment her picture taken with puppies doe eyed smiling in a caring manner. It wasn’t till my wife put on the Camila hate fest on YouTube that I came to my senses in the realisation I was looking at the same old conniving rottweiler. The point is tell a lie often enough people eventually believe them, dont listen to their lies or argue with fools. If you argue with a fool you become one.
Dissolve the Union.
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I take issue with one thing Alastair – rottweilers are a delight 🙂
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Any nationalist SG of good intent is fully able to legislate for an Optional Referendum to be available for all laws it passes. That would shine a bright light on the elected dictatorships of the UK and boost the YES vote. This SNP won’t do it. Under Sturgeon they pursued policies with no democratic mandate – their own personal agenda – and now they will pay the price of this diddie arrogance.
If ALBA included this in their manifesto for Holyrood elections I think it would go down very well with voters. Could it be included as a mandate for all laws in Westminster affecting Scotland?
Another though: In one campaign leaflet list the questions asked in Westminster by ALBA and those asked by the SNP – let folk see the quality and focus of their MPs.
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