Now or never

As we reach yet another milestone on the road to what I hope will be a historic, emphatic and proud two fingers held aloft to the British establishment on the 18^th September, I feel that now is the time to (briefly) reflect on the campaign so far and to prepare ourselves for the final, massive push in our quest to begin the journey to transform this country into a land to be proud to call home. 100 days to go. 100 days that will determine our, and the nation’s future forever.

The past 2 years for every activist in this campaign are I’m sure ones we will remember for the rest of our life. Every single day I think about new, exciting ways to get more people involved in our movement and how will we win this in September. That is what it is, by the way, a movement. The campaign to secure self-determination for Scotland has grown so rapidly and so wide spread that it simply cannot be described as anything less. From the 3 parties that make up Yes (SSP, SNP, Greens) to RIC, The Common Weal, National Collective, WFI, LFI and many more organisations fighting for a Yes vote it has been a period of great, and crucially joint activity. This campaign has once again united in particular the left to a level I myself have never experienced thanks to the now infamous Sheridan sex and perjury betrayal.  We have on this road so far since the launch of Yes Scotland back in 2012 came a very long way, but the finish line is still a considerable distance away.

With the latest polling putting Yes at a level of around 40-43%, it is quite clear that in the 100 days that follow we need to be out doing much more. We in Yes are very fortunate to have a massively larger grassroots campaign; we now NEED it to be rolling out across Scotland in vast numbers. The first step to this, being the RIC National Mass Canvass on the 22^nd, an event which has in my opinion the potential to be one of the greatest showings of the campaign so far and a real springboard from which to finish this campaign in style. The message going into the last stretch has to be quite simply that the consequences of a No vote are absolutely disastrous for the people of Scotland. We will have as a nation rejected the chance to control our own destiny, we will have looked at being the 4^th most unequal country in the developed world, a country with foodbanks being the major growth industry, a country in which people shiver to death in winter, a country in parts with lower life expectancy rates than that of some nations of Africa and the Gaza Strip, a country with a corrupt political and social elite and we will have taken all of this into account and accepted it as being the best we can do. We will have become the first nation on earth to reject the chance of self-determination.  I am simply not prepared to allow this to happen.

The referendum on September 18^th is more than a vote; it’s a symbol of self-confidence. Confidence in our ability to take control over all of our affairs and our ability to create a fairer and kinder society. The rather timid approach of some within the campaign desperate not to rock the boat too heavily is one that the left cannot adopt or play by until September 18^th if we truly want to win this. A message of real and radical change after September the 18^th is the only thing that will truly win this referendum and the only reason we as Socialists and progressives back the need for Independence. The left needs to promote ideas such as a charter of workers’ and disabled rights, a real living wage for ALL workers, a commitment to reindustrialisation and to skilled employment, a commitment to equality for all, a commitment to a desire for a Republic, a commitment to free and high quality higher education, a commitment to politics of the people, a commitment to high quality public services. These are the approaches, the visions, the ambitions to which we need to be talking about and aspiring to create. Capitalism wrapped in a saltire simply isn’t good enough.

It really is now or never, we either seize this chance or spend a lifetime wishing we had. For our own and future generations sake need to win on September 18^th. Forever be remembered as the generation which allowed our country to prosper, grow and evolve into a fair and just society or the generation which consigned our country to more austerity, more Tory governments, more inequality and more poverty.  I know which I want to be remembered as. Get out there and play your part. Onwards to victory!