THERE will be many ways of winning independence for Scotland, but the Yes DIY movement has already shown that combining campaigning activity with cultural events is a formula that might just work.
It has just been announced that the Scottish Covenant Association has been re-formed and is planning a a major event for Perth in July – a giant outdoor ceilidh on the North Inch.
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Author Annie Harrower-Gray from Fife is the brains behind this latest attempt to combine culture and campaigns, with the relaunch of the Scottish Covenant Association something she has long desired.
For those not in the know, the Association had its roots in the movement founded by ‘King’ John MacCormick in the late 1940s. His idea, based on the original National Covenant of 1638, was to get the Scottish people to sign en masse a demand for devolution.
The Scottish Covenant was eventually signed by more than two million people and was responsible for making the population aware of the possibilities that a Scottish Assembly could bring.
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It also gave us a famous moment in nationalist history as it was four young students from MacCormick’s Association who removed the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey in 1950.
The Association was non-partisan and not a campaign for full independence, unlike the re-formed Scottish Covenant Association which as Harrower-Gray says, “is aiming for 2.1 million signatures for independence, each one as good as a ‘Yes’ vote in a referendum”.
Ambitious, no doubt, but with the Yes movement perhaps not yet coalescing around a focused campaign, something like the new Covenant might just provide food for thought.
According to Harrower-Gray the event in Perth on July 14 “aims to bring together both those who voted ‘Yes’ in 2014 and previous ‘No’ voters, for a fun family day out as well as to address Scotland’s situation, past and present and to sign The Scottish Covenant”.
She adds: “In 1997 Scots voted for a devolved parliament. Their views are now being stifled as Theresa May works at reducing that parliament to nothing more than a tourist attraction. Our First Minister told May Scotland wants powers coming back from the EU to go to Holyrood as they should do under the Devolved Settlement. She is being treated as if she doesn’t exist.
“Through The Scottish Covenant, Scots can find their voice and say ‘enough is enough.’ We want to run our own country where every Scot living here can reach their full potential; where every Scot who left their homeland feeling there was nothing here for them, can then return to a land of renewed opportunities.”
The ceilidh is free but donations are being sought on Gofundme.com
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