Scottish independence: the prospect of a nation based on social democratic values ​​and not on the ‘winner takes all’ principle gives the Yes movement real hope – Iain Bruce

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The Yes movement is currently hoping that the Supreme Court will rule in favor of the Lord Advocate and agree that Indyref2 is indeed within the Bailiwick of Holyrood, but given their denial of the right to incorporate the United Nations Human Rights Covenant of Children in Scottish Law, we are certainly not optimistic.

But the movement must sustain that hope beyond the Supreme Court hearing in October to believe that whatever a plebiscite election is, it can deliver the outcome of independence that we desperately need given the serious threat that weighs on our very survival as a decentralized nation.

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With the looming prospect of a neo-Thatcherism political landscape, devolution will be dead and we will once again be locked in as Northern Britons in a political landscape, so far removed from the ‘One Nation’ conservatism of Alec Douglas-Home and Harold Macmillan. .

It was the last time the Conservatives won a general election in Scotland. It was a time when the welfare state was an integral part of a mixed economy, not the economy of gangster capitalism, when the NHS operated in the service of the people rather than the shareholders of healthcare companies, and when it there was a notion that members of society have obligations to one another, or as it is called in Scotland, the common good, with the Israelite theory that society should be allowed to grow organically rather than to be designed.

When in the last few weeks have we heard of this of the dwindling number of opportunists, basking on the conservative political podium where no thought has been given to the common good outside the confines of the calculator, the self-interest, selfishness serving the interests of middle England.

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In a New Scotland, I hope to have political choices that make sense, with compassionate governance and a social contract between the nation and its people.

Being part of a faded imperial power is not in Scotland’s interest, says Iain Bruce (Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

I hope social democratic values ​​will inform our government of workers’ rights and consensual politics, and put an end to “winner takes all”.

I hope to live in a country where nuclear convoys no longer pass through our biggest city at night. I hope to be part of a society with a collaborative approach to dealing with wars and displacement and which makes environmental protection a priority.

In pursuit of my hopes, I can be optimistic that Article 1 of Chapter 1 of the United Nations Charter of Human Rights is real, that the right of peoples to self-determination is real. And that is no longer a hope, it has become that well-known oxymoron, a Johnsonian truth, as he recently acknowledged in his unqualified support for the rights of the peoples of Ukraine and the Falkland Islands to self-determination, although obviously this was not for viewers in Scotland, as they sometimes say on the BBC.

I can also be optimistic in view of a judgment of the International Court of Justice on Kosovo, according to which respect for the law of the predecessor State is not a condition for a declaration of independence to be recognized by Third States, if other conditions for recognition are fulfilled.

While the pressures of the reality of Brexit are continually ignored by the Conservative Party’s response to Tweedledum and Tweedledee, we must be biased in our own collective interests and pursuit of independence, as the Rule Brigade have repeatedly demonstrated. Britannia nothing but contempt for their northern neighbors in Britain.

When others, even the Union Jack Labor Party “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil socialism”, look out for their own interests, we must seize the opportunities to take the lead.

Now that the pursuit of a mythical Westminster gold standard Article 30 order has surely run its course, let’s waste no more time because it seems like an even bigger nightmare than Johnson’s legacy. prepares.

If the Supreme Court does not grant my grandchildren the benefit of the rights advocated by the United Nations, I can hope, but I am not holding my breath, that they will cross the horizon to save Scottish democracy.

Circumstances are constantly changing. There is no frozen time. Each generation thinks its crisis in the world is different and worse than those experienced by its ancestors. Undoubtedly, the post-Brexit global economy is very different from the hegemony of our imperial past. We need both hope and the ability to respond to the circumstances of our times.

I am not anti-English, but I am fiercely against the undemocratic British establishment, its increasingly undemocratic ways and its vandalism of a democracy for which the youth of previous generations were sacrificed in two world wars.

To face our 21st century circumstances, we must have hope and articulate the issues on our own. We cannot sit back and let others express their views on our behalf. Being part of a faded Imperial power is definitely not in our interest. The ability to make decisions that reflect our hopes and values ​​is all we want.

I hope Scotland say enough is enough, I hope our time has come, so let’s come together and do it.

On the other side of the coin, however, our opponents are optimistic that Scotland is too small, too poor and too stupid to believe in certainty that independence makes sense. The simple task of the Yes campaign is to disabuse them of this notion.

Dr Iain Bruce is a retired architect and an active participant in the Yes Highlands & Islands network of 25 pro-independence groups stretching from Yes Shetland in Yes Cowal and Western Ayes in the west to Yes Elgin/Moray in ballast.

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