Scottish independence campaigner Ken Scott says its vital for Yes supporters to embrace No voters and make Scottish independence a welcoming prospect
IN the time since the Leave result of the EU referendum we've been bombarded in the media with declarations from many cross party politicians of unity, calm and moving forward together to achieve a common goal of stability with the principle of working together for the betterment of the country.
We've heard again and again the what's past is past and that people on both sides should come together and heal the wounds created by the referendum as the bitterness, rivarly and polarisation of both sides against each other does no one any favours.
In England's experience collectively they are in 'uncharted waters' and are struggling with what is effectively, at best, a headless government and parliament. In Scotland we've had nearly two years experience of having to deal on a collective and individual level with that experience. We've had the advanced luxury of both the gains we've made and the mistakes we've made in this healing process.
Independence is an inevitability, that genie was out of the bottle in 2011 and the only variable in that equation was when it would happen, not if.
Scotland stands at the crossroads now, too, not so much about whether we choose to remain in the UK or become independent, which is a bit like trying to choose whether water is wet or dry. Independence is an inevitability, that genie was out of the bottle in 2011 and the only variable in that equation was when it would happen, not if.
The crossroads Scotland stands at is internal among the Yes movement. 2014 polarised a country against itself with distinct lines drawn between Yes and No that still exists to this day. Following the 2014 result it's perfectly understandable why many many people on the indy side took up an entrenched, and sometimes, bitter position against 'nawbags' as the sense of being cheated by the establishment took form in frustration, rage and anger against the result.
In many cases we got it right, we railed against the 'enemy within': the unionist press, BBC and the turncoat red tories that existed under the banners of their forebearers whose legacy they sold in their greed-filled lust for power and personal gain at the expense of the very people they claimed to represent. We got that right, make no mistake.
The outcome of the EUref in so many ways has qualified the views and perspectives we've held about the bias of the media, the dangers of the rise of rightwing ultra nationalist politics, the lies and broken promises ranging from near federalism/home rule to being secure in the EU if we voted No.
England is now starting to wake up to what we realised during 2014 and its Smith Commission and EVEL aftermath deceits and will have to forge their own journey, heal their own wounds and carve their own path to the future the way we did in 2014.
We can, if we choose to, bask in the self righteous and churlish glow of 'we told you so' and continue to entrench ourselves into the polarised bitterness and division where that particular tribalistic road leads to, or we can choose something else, something better.
Following the 2014 result it's perfectly understandable why many many people on the indy side took up an entrenched, and sometimes, bitter position against 'nawbags' as the sense of being cheated by the establishment took form in frustration, rage and anger against the result.
I can accept that people voted No in 2014 the same way that I can accept that Yes people voted Leave in 2016; to refuse to accept this is to bury our heads in the sands of denial and the polarised positions of bitter tribalism which only consumes itself and will always defeat us.
I voted Yes and I voted Remain, not because I'm Nicola Sturgeon's lap dog but because I honestly believe deep down that it was the best thing for my children and their children, and because, like many people in Scotland, politically I'm a complex person.
There are many people on the left who voted Leave and I can fully understand their position on this: rejecting being part of a neoliberal, capitalist conglomerate and I hold nor bear no grudge against them nor see them as somehow 'less indy' that the 'rest of us', just as I bear no grudge against either side that voted both votes SNP or voted strategically.
Each person voted and took a position based on their own personal view of how we should proceed to the same goal of independence. It is said that all roads lead to Rome, I put forward that all roads lead to the same truth.
We have to cast our minds back and look, with honesty, at the rise of the Yes movement from 2012 onwards and accept a simple truth that the left wing, Rise, Ric, Greens, WFI, Solidarity or the SNP did not and do not hold ownership of that movement.
There was and is only one group that can claim ownership of it and it's the collective umbrella of us as sovereign Scots which encompasses all the above organisations and many more not listed, as well as the individuals with no group or party alliegance who altruistically got involved because they wanted something better than the scraps off somone else's table when it came to nationhood.
We can, if we choose to, bask in the self righteous and churlish glow of 'we told you so' and continue to entrench ourselves into the polarised bitterness and division where that particular tribalistic road leads to, or we can choose something else, something better.
We all believe in unity, in something bigger than ourselves, if we don't then we have to ask ourselves, as individuals, exactly why we even want independence in the first place. This is an inescapable truth.
The crossroads before us has two paths and now is the time to choose which path you personally take as it's not a choice we can afford to make later on. Both paths have benefits and both paths have losses.
The first path is the narrow insular path of continuing to hold resentments, grudges and fight among ourselves, the road of blame, accusation and counter accusation, the internal tribalistic boxes of divide and rule, that gift our real enemies their victory and silence us all once and for all while we bask in our self righteousness and hold our heads high that even though we are utterly defeated we have our own small 'self respect'.
The second path is the broad path of inclusion, of accepting that the Yes movement is about sacrificing our own individual short term desires or goals for a faith in something bigger than any one person or any individual group or party.
The establishment wants us to fight among ourselves, that is how it wins, it's how it has always won: 'why fight an enemy when you can make an enemy fight itself' is a strategic wisdom that is as old as the hills and still is as valid today as it ever was.
We do not need to convert every No voter to a Yes, all we must do is to sway or convert enough as there will always be entrenched No voters that nothing will ever sway for a range of reasons.
The crossroads before us has two paths and now is the time to choose which path you personally take as it's not a choice we can afford to make later on. Both paths have benefits and both paths have losses.
My friends, I invite you to listen to the better angels of your nature, to make the sacrifice we now must make if we are to prevail. We need to swallow our vanity, ego and pride and reach out if we are to succeed. We must reconnect. We need to accept that if people who voted No before now wish to vote Yes, we must embrace them or lose, we must adapt or die.
This must also include putting aside the differences and the petty posturing and point scoring of Yes, No, of Both votes SNP or not, of Leave or Remain, as ALL of these positions are the rhetoric of the narrow path and the epitaph of our eventual
defeat.
In the words of Jo Cox, "Far more unites us than divides us". Let this be our battle cry.
Picture courtesy of Alf Melin
Check out what people are saying about how important CommonSpace is. Pledge your support today.
