MUCH as I admire The National and its readership, we are not the totality of the voting population here in Scotland. We know that, but we forget it too frequently.
At the rally on September 18 at Holyrood, how many undecideds were there? Or “don’t knows”? Damn few I suspect.
Or maybe those “I voted Labour 2024 or No in 2014 and now think I was wrong”, where were they? At home, watching a live feed? Or across the nation at another event? Doubtful.
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It is a given that we don’t command the media in any form. We have The National and the likes of the wonderful Indy Live, the Scottish Indy Podcasters, Lesley Riddoch and more. I’m sure we enjoy and support as many as we can, and they keep us going. Bit by bit, slowly, their readership, viewing figures, participants are increasing.
And if that helps steady the ship, keeps pro-indy voting stats around 50%-plus, great, and if slowly they’re winning over some more, even better.
Despite it being such a vital part of our arsenal, that’s what it is: a part. It’s not enough, not when arrayed agin the pro-Union media. So let’s face it, two things we know for sure: the pro-Union media won’t convert to pro-indy any time soon and nor will any Westminster government “allow” a Section 30 again. All this talk about the people’s will, the settled will of the people, the people being sovereign, people seeking to regain independence, all this is nothing without a route.
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How many watched Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Fein’s leader, at a fringe event at the Labour Party conference saying that a new British government brings “opportunities” and that she believes Sir Keir Starmer should be preparing for a referendum on the unification of Ireland: the process clearly outlined in the Good Friday Agreement? That’s their route, something we don’t have. We have lost the untried, untested power of a majority of SNP MPs in Westminster. We are left with a rump, which has seen the loss of central funding given to second-placed opposition parties, loss of exposure at PMQs, and loss of infrequent media attention.
There’s no point in some dream of asking Westminster: what’s our route, what route is acceptable to you? We have to define our own, but to do that, we need power. Both legitimately and legally, on the international stage, that means the people exercising their power starting in 2026.
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Holyrood elections need at least a three-way approach. Firstly and most of all, we need to take many more people with us, not on party political lines. To do this, we need to go beyond our normal channels of communication. So why not a non-party, civic convention to determine priorities, confirm values, discuss how to secure the wellbeing of Scotland’s people? We’d be identifying national priorities and objectives coming from Scotland’s people, not political parties. There would be the confirmation of values and aspirations whilst challenging political parties to show how they would deliver for Scotland.
So secondly, step forward those parties intending to stand in 2026 agreeing some strapline that confirms our voting for them is a vote not just for independence, but for starting the process of leaving the Union. Finally, we need a concentrated, multi-faceted PR campaign that includes a voter registration programme, shows how to use tactical voting when the time comes, but right through is informed and chimes with people's visions for the future, and the will to achieve those confirmed through the convention.
2026 has to be our moment. We owe it to those who went before, who believed it then, just as we do now. 2014 can’t be the end.
Selma Rahman
Edinburgh
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