BREEKS KICKS OFF 2023
An article from regular contributor Breeks to Yours for Scotland forms the first post of 2023. I don’t want to add fuel to the argument. It’s just not productive. Personally it’s been a long haul rabbiting on about Scottish Sovereignty since what feels like forever, including being schooled by Robert Peffers on Wings, who taughtContinue reading "BREEKS KICKS OFF 2023"
An article from regular contributor Breeks to Yours for Scotland forms the first post of 2023.
I don’t want to add fuel to the argument. It’s just not productive.
Personally it’s been a long haul rabbiting on about Scottish Sovereignty since what feels like forever, including being schooled by Robert Peffers on Wings, who taught me a lot I didn’t know. I like to think however the arguments and discussions we had were important because there were a lot of people who didn’t know ANYTHING about Scotland’s Constitutional Sovereignty. We have come a long way in 10 years.
I didn’t talk much in terms of the Claim of Right, because to me, the Claim of Right was just a documented implementation of the Scottish Constitution in action. It was essentially a trial held under Scotland’s Constitutional Law. The dethroning of James VII didn’t define the Scottish Constitution, but illustrated the robust principle of Scotland’s long running Constitution.
To me, the Declaration of Arbroath has always been more explicit in defining the Constitutional principle of a monarch who answered to the people. But yet again, while a pivotal document, and like the Claim of Right, the Declaration of Arbroath doesn’t define Scotland’s Constitution, it merely cross references it.
Of the two, I would say the Declaration of Arbroath is the more “weighty” document given the fact it can be linked directly to the 1328 Papal Recognition, (surely the International Recognition of it’s day), and Edinburgh/ Northampton Agreement where the Dowager Queen of England abdicates all Claim over Scotland in perpetuity. The Declaration of Arbroath enjoys contemporary corroboration of the highest possible order, and the paperwork for it all still physically exists!
Here, in what’s left of 2022, it is neither the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath nor the 1689 Claim of Right which are important. These documents are both “witnesses” of their own time. What DOES matter is the constant running principle that the sovereignty of Scotland rests with the people. What we need is that same and ancient sovereign principle “witnessed” afresh in 2022-23.
We don’t need to be experts on the Claim of Right, nor indeed the Declaration of Arbroath, but we DO need to be much more sure footed in our understanding of Scotland’s essential Constitution, the sovereignty, which predicates all of them. While I wouldn’t dream of calling myself a Constitutional expert, I have “known” this for as long as I can remember. “Known” it from childhood, but not understood it. (I could never understand how the “proven” truth could be defeated by the demonstrable fallacies).
In this respect, Sara Salyers hasn’t actually taught me anything I didn’t already know, BUT!!! She most certainly HAS given me a much fuller and richer context for better understanding what these Constitutional principles were, and how Auld Scotland’s society interpreted their everyday use. I actually need to slow the brain down because there’s an enormity to all of this that is quite daunting to comprehend. SALVO has a “Heineken” factor, getting to parts that other beers don’t reach.
I have always grasped the essential principle of popular sovereignty running through Scottish History like an unbroken lightning conductor, but the “SALVO” inspired big revelation for me has been to see how much richer and more complex our Scottish society was, and how too, it was a fundamentally different society to the Anglo Saxon society we live under today. These aren’t just words. The structure; the societal skeleton is NOT the same. Had there never been a Union, Scotland would NOT be governed like it now is, and I don’t just mean Parliament, I mean the whole Nation, from land ownership to economic infrastructure.
I suppose you might compare Sara’s revelations as startling new evidence revealed in some archaeological dig; spellbinding artefacts which change the way we see “everything” else, but the revelations are just the beginning. That’s when the hard work begins.
Growing up, the Constitutional argument in my head was Westminster holding the rule book which belonged to Scotland, and this “somehow” imprisoned Scotland. But the story is actually much sadder than that. Scotland hasn’t only been forced to suffer a loss of control and say in it’s own affairs; Scotland has been greatly impoverished in ways we can hardly imagine, and has been completely disassociated from it’s cultural origins… (though maybe not “completely” disassociated).
To give a rather abrupt and clumsy analogy, we Indigenous Scots have all been raised to be “white men”. We have lost the “old ways” of our forefathers. We are now Eskimo’s who wouldn’t survive on the ice… but maybe, …maybe, there is still time to save some of the old ways and ancient wisdoms.
The Claim of Sovereign Right, the popular sovereignty of the people, still survives as a threadbare remnant of Scotland’s once rich and vibrant society, but it has only survived these past 300+ years due to it’s categoric obduracy in Law. For that we should be thankful, but it’s a humble remnant from our extraordinarily rich and diverse origin, and right now it’s in danger.
Recent events, the Holyrood Assembly and it’s notorious Scotland Act, a UK “Supreme Court”, and most notably Sturgeon’s craven and idiotic capitulations to Westminster’s “sovereign” ascendancy have greatly imperilled this threadbare principle of Scotland’s Constitutional Sovereignty. If we don’t fight for it, now, and not only fight but actually win that fight, then I fear Scotland will be lost permanently and forever.
We Scots don’t have much time to undo the damage, but we really, really must take command of this vestigial principle that the people are sovereign in the Realm of Scotland, and take this message to the wider World.
The letter of the law still protects Scotland…. Just. Westminster still shrinks before the Claim of Right and buckles to rulings from the Court of Session, (see Joanna Cherry’s Prorogation), and furthermore the King of England also swears fealty to the Scottish Claim of Right. .. But the significance of these benchmark rulings is being eroded all the time, and Holyrood with it’s supine idiot Sturgeon, is dangerously accelerating the erosion process.
This is an existential battle we cannot afford to lose, but yet we are disjointed and disorganised, (and I’d have to say thoroughly infiltrated if we are meant to include the SNP). We NEED an active command structure which “sees” all, and understands exactly what is at stake.
To be blunt, I don’t give a shit whether people like him or hate him, recognise genius or liability, but by my own deductions, I believe we have the rarest of commodities in Alex Salmond; a man who does see all, and can structure a highly motivated and effective YES army. He has done it before, and he puts the fear of God into Scotland’s enemies. He’s not the Messiah. He does make mistakes, and for the record, personally I think we’d hotly disagree on the place of democracy, but this man has the strategic acumen and gift of Leadership that is rare beyond measure.
I don’t care how the idiot SNP reacted, not the point, but Alex Salmond and the ALBA party running for List seats electrified the Scottish Elections like a jolt from defibrillator. Ok, it didn’t work, but it could have if we’d had better leadership in the SNP. The point is, the idea was a haymaker and nobody saw it coming.
Plan the dive, then dive the plan… but can we please, please, please do our homework and cover every conceivable option? I believe SALVO is doing exactly that, but all of us need to be studying, learning, strengthening our core arguments and can we please agree where the finishing line actually is?
If we “know” we’re going to fall out and bicker, then let us prepare for it. Do we need an Arbiter or neutral third party to chair a structured debate? Do we need an “Indy” ACAS of our own to broker compromise? If you’re feeling exasperated, join the club, but it’s a known fact that Sturgeon’s SNP spawns 98.7% of all exasperation.
Dissent is seen as a bad thing because we are saddled with an arrogant and stupid SNP which is deaf, dumb and blind to criticism, and this fosters bitter acrimony and exasperation. They’ve poisoned the well, and maybe deliberately. But we need to remember “constructive” dissent with a positive frame of mind very often makes us stronger, and the compromises we work out build our alliances.
Let us start playing to win here. We hold the Constitutional Aces, we just need to be smart about playing them, but in the end, believe in ourselves and we win.
MY COMMENTS
Breeks as usual tackles the difficult conversations head on. He offers good advice but also recognises it is going to be very difficult to bring all the different forces within Yes together to achieve maximum impact. He also sees Salvo and Liberation as key to this. It is difficult for various political party rivals to agree a common path. Non Party Salvo/ Liberation can act as the catalyst and example of developing the most positive and challenging message but it is going to take some spirited campaigning to be successful. I think we will see that in the near future. Let’s hope for good positive times ahead. They are badly needed. Let us make 2023 a year to remember!
I am, as always
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