All day today (Tuesday 18 September) there have been postings on social media about it being the four year anniversary of the Scottish independence referendum. I heard no mention of it on the mainstream media. To be fair, I didn’t have the radio on as much as normal. I did catch most of the lunchtime and teatime TV news though. What were they hiding? Half the programme on Brexit. Nothing new, just spouting the same old scare stories.
A comment from one of my facebook friends caught my attention this afternoon. After commenting that it was four years he went on to say ‘just think what we could have done’. Indeed, he has a very valid point. Look at what the Scottish government has managed to achieve with their hands tied behind their back. At every turn the unionist parties have either voted against or sat on their hands and abstained. Personally I would not allow abstaining. How much more could have been achieved if we had been in full control of our finances and government departments?
I have lost count of how many campaigners for a free Scotland have departed this world since the referendum. This makes me even more impressed that the support for Yes is still so high. To have lost so much support by natural causes we must be continuing to gain new supporters.
We have had a bit of a busy summer promoting the Scots Independent newspaper. This has let us see what is happening outwith our own patch. It does the heart good to see the strong support out there. It gets a bit soul destroying being in the same wee group chapping doors. Cold calling at doors is not for everyone but when no new faces are showing up to help you can get a bit low. So experiencing the other events going on where people only need to turn out and be in a big crowd with like-minded people gives a bit of a boost.
It does sadden me though to see falling out between different groups. I have been campaigning since I was a teenager. I have not always agreed with policy, I have not always seen eye to eye with other campaigners. I tackled this by always having my eye on the end goal. If we cannot work together to get us to independence how are we going to work together to shape the kind of country we want? Those who dislike organised party politics are going to have to figure out how they are going to influence what Scotland will look like. Lots of individual voices working on their own are not going to gel support for their ideas. At some point they will have to find like minded people to help them make a presence. To pull together support to allow their ideas to be heard and discussed. Making decisions requires compromise.
I look foward to seeing if the resurrection of The Sottish Independence Convention can make some of the individualists gel together.