We don't often get angry about anything, but the sudden death of Iain Lawson has upset us more than we would've expected possible.
It's not that we knew Iain personally. But it's clear that he was well-loved and respected and his passing has come as a genuine shock for many. We followed his blog closely and re-published a few of his articles.
What's angering us is the fact that yet another stalwart has passed and we are not one millimetre closer to independence. Indeed, we seem to be moving further away from the solidarity and cohesion which was the hallmark of the Yes campaign throughout 2014/15. It's not jut the scale of the gatherings which has diminished. Something rotten has taken hold at the heart of the movement.
The decision by AUOB to cancel its planned September 7th gathering and protest against a 'far-right' rally in Glasgow on that same day has enraged many independence supporters. We raised a Twitter poll during the week and it closed yesterday. Here are the results:
We always caveat these polls with the reminder that we are a toty website with very limited presence. But almost 1,500 votes cast is significant.
If over four-fifths of respondents are saying that the George Square 'British' protesters/demonstrators should not be confronted by Scots, they must have good reason. And they do. We encourage readers to scan the comments, here:
What we didn't expect, when we posted the poll, was that we would end up having to block fellow independence supporters - people we've followed for years - because they felt comfortable condemning us and anyone else who didn't agree with AUOB's proposed action, as cowards and fascist sympathisers.
Wings Over Scotland's latest post(*) sets out the moribund state of the SNP right now and this comment btl sums up how many are feeling:
That last sentence sums up the disquiet being expressed by many of those who object to what AUOB has done. By unilaterally declaring that an independence umbrella movement is also an anti-Fascist group, their political neutrality is nullified and a precedent has been set. What next? AUOB declares that the independence movement is a staunch LGBTQI+ ally and must give that hideous flag 'pride' of place at the head of any future marches? Conversely, what if the AUOB management is determinedly GC and insists that no TRAs are welcome?
We've already seen the proliferation of Palestinian flags at gatherings - no matter how passionately many of us support the people of Gaza, the principle remains the same: AUOB gatherings were only ever meant to be about bringing grassroots independence groups together 'under one banner'. As soon as other issues, flags, slogans are included because they're more or less 'worthy', the message is diluted, disagreement erupts and damage is caused.
The SNP is on some strange form of life-support and no-one has the authority to switch off the machine keeping it alive. That in itself is bad enough but we now have to contend with self-harm in the grassroots.
There once was a self-styled 'escapologist' who performed in Glasgow's Barras market on weekends. He would draw a crowd, invite a burly man to lock him in chains, then enclose him within a huge hessian sack which was then also chained and padlocked. Then he went to ground and started wiggling around. After some minutes had passed the crowd started heckling, demanding that he appear so that they could get on with their browsing. He failed to emerge. Several minutes later, as the crowd dispersed, a voice was heard to exclaim 'What a load ay shite!'.
We leave readers to compose their own metaphors for the current baleful state of affairs.
*Wings Over Scotland | Ten Years Asleep
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