Watching the excellent Prism today, and reading the various blogs, apart from Scot Goes Pop and the yearly fall out with Wings Over Scotland entertainment, I just felt that we are going around in circles, we are repeating the same arguments and not really achieving all that much right now. Don’t get me wrong, New Media is vital to the debate and do a fantastic job, but it is getting harder and harder every day.
When I was thinking about the state of play today it was just depressing to look at the main parties and see that they are all just Tories now. Labour have pretty much driven out Momentum and the left, the last hope for the party that is supposed to represent the workers. The NuSNP gradualists and gender warriors have pretty much driven out the fundamentalists from the party, some have gone to Alba but most have probably been lost to the movement in so many ways. The Liberals were driven out the Liberal Democrats a long time ago.
It is a sorry state of affairs right now, one that is sucking the life out of many of us. I have never felt that independence is as far away as I do today, when it should be within our grasp Nicola Sturgeon, the likes of (P)Wishart, Robertson, Smith, McDonald, and the inaction of Cherry and MacNeil etc are doing more damage to the independence argument than the unionists can ever do. While the cost-of-living crisis, the destruction of the economy by the Tories, the mishandling of both Brexit and Covid-19 should be sending a very powerful message to Scottish voters and driving forward independence it has only confirmed our colonial mindset.
I was speaking to a friend who is a staunch yes supporter and will never change from that view, but they admitted that they too are feeling tired, broken in so many ways. They expressed their realisation that the party they vote for, support, have let them down. They noted that they really don’t trust the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon any longer, and what they have done to the cause of independence, they actually feel that independence is now pretty much dead, and it is hard not to disagree with them on that front. I encouraged them to not give up, to think about Alba, but they are more likely to just walk away and vote if that time comes around in another referendum.
It really is a sad state of affairs right now. We are governed by the most useless people ever to be elected, with an opposition who are some of the most useless to ever have been elected. In Scotland we pretty much have the z standard of politicians in all of the parties. There was once hope when SSP had some MSPs, when Scottish Labour were still left of centre, when the SNP were radical and actually progressive, when it looked like Scotland was embracing a truly representative parliament. What do we have, a parliament that has no ideas, is bereft of talent, is full of pension pot savers and seat warmers with every party filled with the next batch just ready to toe the line and kiss ass with the best of them where the voters just don’t matter.
I am sorry for this comment being so down and depressing but I just don’t have any enthusiasm right now, I am not the only one, but I am willing to write about it. I think that what I have written needs to be said right now. Does anyone have any ideas how we move forward; I know we don’t give up, we can never give up, but does anyone have a clue as to where we go from here. The Claim of Right won’t get us there, it will be ignored, and not enough Scots care. There won’t be a referendum next year, and the so-called plebiscite is not worth the toilet paper it is written on. Sturgeon has a firm grasp on power when she needs to be gone, but if she leaves all that will replace her is the next Tory equivalent.
Democracy does not exist anymore. Only the illusion of it. (Pauline)
Is it time to take a step back and really reflect on where we are. Repeating the same arguments, pointing out the same problems, calling out the same politicians is not working right now, they don’t care, the voters don’t appear to care. Is it time to take a step back and let people lay in their own shit until they wake up and see Scotland for what it is right now, a colony despite what our so-called educated betters and politicians want us to believe. I am at a loss as to where we go from here and would welcome any suggestions as to what that is. Again, sorry for being so negative but if you have read this blog before you know that I write about my opinion, and I don’t really hide away from how I feel.
grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com 
Like you, my wife and I abandoned the belief that (in our case , The Scottish Greens) could get us independence or move us closer to living gently on the planet. Sturgeon is a narcissist charlatan and has betrayed Scotland. Salvo, Alba, have not got access to any media that will support their cause. So it looks bad. We have set up an environmental group in SW Scotland called The Machars and Cree Valley Climate Action Network (MAC-CAN) based on the local area of the DG8 Postcode. Building up a local network and that includes in our case Scottish Independence. Its got to start again from the bottom. Am I optimistic about independence soon. Naw. But we have to engage in some sort of action that will keep us sane in these times. We concentrate on building community . Thats what Bruce did in the 13th Century. Keep optimistic. We value your blog
George Pattison.
George
That is really positive about your group, well done for keeping going. I won’t give up, but I really do think we need to take stock and reconsider the strategy as repeating the same things is getting us nowhere. I do the blog and try to bring things to people’s attention as best I can as most people don’t access news anymore, certainly not like they used to. I think you are right about the bottom up, and that will happen if enough people either lose most of what they have or have had enough to fight, we are not there yet but the way the UK is going it might end up being between actually standing up or starving to death for too many. Sturgeon has been a disaster for Scotland since day one, I really can’t stand her anymore, haven’t for a long time. She is no better than the other Tories in the 3 Tory Parties we now have. I used to give the Greens my list vote but didn’t the last time as the Scottish Greens, like the SNP, have been hijacked by the gender warriors and people who have a different agenda.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Bruce
Excellent. Best of luck George.
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
I think many of us indy supporters have finally given up, When Nicola uttered the words “The yes side have time on their side” sickened me, just as many supporters of independence die having never seen their dream of an Scotland come to fruition.
My own father was a Nicola supporter right up until he was in his final 6 months in his battle with cancer, he was often seen in Corpach, Caol and Ft WIlliam with his walking frame, flying a saltire, and Yes posters on the front and sides, speaking to Yessers and soft no’s turning them to Yes voters until he started to see the Alex Salmond stitch up, the missing £600k of which he donated £250 from his pension, that he couldn’t afford, and finally the shitshow GRA/Hate Crimes Bill and he realised then that the nuSNP needed to come hard to starboard to get back on its true course(those were some of his last words to me in January, and he used that terminology mainly because he was a fisherman before his health started to fail him)
ayeinskye
I am sorry for your loss, your dad sounds like the tough Scots like my own father, sadly passed too, that we seem to have less and less of now. I haven’t given up yet and it is people like your dad that help keep me going but it gets harder and harder every day that is for sure. Sturgeon, I despise as much as I do any Tory. She is not fighting for independence, only for herself and power. I do think they went after Salmond; I don’t doubt he was possibly a pain at times, maybe even inappropriate at times, but they feared a comeback and tried to ruin him. Throw in the crap governance, the worst of any FM and it shows Sturgeon to not be the genius that some think she is. She is a con merchant of the worst kind for myself as her politics have conned us all.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce