As I understand it, Liberate Scotland view the SNP as an anti-independence party, hence the decision to split the vote on the constituency ballot. Until they break out of that mindset (and I doubt if they will) it can only be a destructive exercise.
— James Kelly (@JamesKelly) June 29, 2025
Who is going to provide the credible plan?
— eva comrie (@mickbrick54) June 29, 2025
Certainly not Liberate Scotland. I'm astonished that you're standing for an alliance that includes a nativist party like Sovereignty. You were Alba's Equalities Convener - surely the most fundamental equality of all is equal citizenship rights?
— James Kelly (@JamesKelly) June 29, 2025
Diversion James. It doesn’t work with me. Who’s providing the credible plan? #IndependenceNothingLess. BTW you don’t need to remind me of the content of my own CV.
— eva comrie (@mickbrick54) June 29, 2025
Great, you remember. So what the hell are you doing in alliance with Sovereignty? Do you have any red line? Would you go into alliance with the BNP if they were pro-indy? This is not diversion - this is fundamental. I have no interest in ushering in fascism in the name of indy.
— James Kelly (@JamesKelly) June 29, 2025
As I said your attempts at diversion don’t work. Who’s producing the credible plan?
— eva comrie (@mickbrick54) June 29, 2025
Barrhead Boy, presumably. #sarcasm
— James Kelly (@JamesKelly) June 29, 2025
You *seriously* have no answer to what you're doing in alliance with the far right? You really think that just refusing point blank to answer is going to work for the next *year*? Good luck with that.
I asked you who’s providing the credible plan because I genuinely want to see one. I cannot help if you cannot answer.
— eva comrie (@mickbrick54) June 29, 2025
But not only do you not have an answer to my question about what you're doing in an electoral pact with fascists, neither do you have an answer to *your own* question either. If you demand a "credible plan", who in Liberate Scotland is providing it? Barrhead Boy?
— James Kelly (@JamesKelly) June 29, 2025
I understand that you desire independence and that’s why you rejoined the SNP. I’d really like to know how you think they can achieve independence. However I respect Gil’s view and wonder if you think there’s a credible plan up John Swinney’s sleeve ?
— eva comrie (@mickbrick54) June 29, 2025
If you're asking me whether I think John Swinney has a more credible plan than Barrhead Boy or the far right nativists of Sovereignty, which is the only relevant question given who you've thrown in your lot with, the answer is yes. An extremely low bar, admittedly, but yes.
— James Kelly (@JamesKelly) June 29, 2025
As you know, I'm far from content with the SNP leadership's current approach to independence, but the point is that pretty much any plan is superior to the Barrhead / Barcelona brew of a) uniting 0.2% of the independence movement under a "big tent", b) demonising the other 99.8% of the independence movement as "saboteurs", c) fiddling the franchise so English people living in Scotland can't vote, d) strolling effortlessly to a landslide election triumph, and e) marching on the UN to beg them to decolonise us.
This is the first time I've had any contact with Eva since she made what I can only describe as the dreadful error of joining Liberate Scotland. If she had stayed as a genuine independent candidate and stood on the list only, I think she would have had a small outside chance of becoming an MSP, but she's blown it by associating with a brand that is likely to become as toxic as Alba (if not more so). But as I hadn't previously spoken to her about her decision, I expected she'd have some kind of thoughtful answer to the question of what on earth had possessed her to enter into an electoral pact with Sovereignty. Her refusal to even acknowledge the question, let alone answer it, stunned me.
I was on the Alba NEC with Eva for a year in 2021-22, and two things stood out for me about her. One was her absolute commitment to the equalities role - she was extremely passionate about aspects of it that have been neglected by others, most notably justice for Scotland's Travellers community, which is an issue that has been in the news very recently. It's hard to believe that someone who feels so strongly about equality for one of the most marginalised segments of our society would have much truck with the idea that some residents of Scotland should be denied citizenship after independence on arbitrary ethnic grounds, but that appears to be the Sovereignty position.
The second thing that stood out was Eva's hardheaded realism about electoral strategy. When she was concerned about the deficiencies in Alba's preparations for the 2022 local elections, she spoke up volubly and identified exactly what she thought the shortcomings were. She was nobody's yes-woman - she cared about independence and about the party above all else, and if she thought that Alex Salmond and Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh needed a forceful dose of reality, she was more than willing to provide it. I find it very hard to believe that she's naive enough to think that the questions about Sovereignty and its nativist policies will go away if they're just studiously ignored. It's one thing fobbing off fellow independence supporters on social media, but when the mainstream media start asking the same questions, Liberate Scotland are going to be absolutely crucified if they can't find a more convincing and respectful way of answering. (That's assuming the mainstream media pay them any attention at all - and if not, all of this becomes totally academic because Liberate will be lucky to get 0.1% of the vote.)
To me, the obstinacy of just repeatedly ignoring the questions has more of a "made in Barrhead" or "made in Barcelona" feel to it than "made in Clackmannanshire". Barrhead Boy is by all accounts the de facto leader of Liberate, and Eva may be reluctantly going along with the dubious wisdom of a "just sling a deefie" directive imposed by HQ in sunny Catalonia.
Oh dear. Having read the Sovereignty manifesto, I had it in mind to question Eva myself, but it looks like there is no point. It really does beg the question of what are the limits on a broad church Independence initiative.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am very rejoining the EU, I can see that there would be space for brexit supporting parties within a pan-independence initiative. But a party which has a manifesto to come out of the EHCR [court and convention] is for me beyond the pale. Independence is to make things better, not just an end in itself. And certainly not to give a gateway for a Scottish Trump. And I am quite shocked that Eva would actually associate herself with this.
To me this is all a product of the ugly mess of self serving, fobbing off and diversion that the SNP leadership has maintained in relation to independence. It is completely classic that the desperation engendered by this approach pushes people, who would otherwise never consider it, into relationships with fascist tendencies.
ReplyDeleteA united front approach towards differing, proindependence, democratically inclusive tendencies is essential but - no platform for fascists, or their near relatives the ethnic nativists !
There has to be more to this surely for such a dramatic and extreme move? Who joins an essentially fascist party?!
ReplyDeleteThe media may very well pay attention if they think they can blacken the whole independence movement with racist Sovereignty tar.
ReplyDeleteWill Starmer ban the sectarian orange and republican marches. Is the no surrender brigade got special permission to spout the venom?
ReplyDeleteIts all very well calling for a credible plan but if only 20 people vote for yer party and thats just ex SNP or ex Alba members that had already made up their minds for the last twenty years then ye'll achieve fuckall .... I give the SNP the benefit of the doubt cos their attacking this on 2 fronts ...1 being in government and providing the people with fair policies and 2 trying to juggle the independence movement . The next Scottish election HAS to be about Scotlands right to decide for itself ...make that the main priority and get it talked about on tv debates ..its the only way the people might wise up enough .
ReplyDeleteWhy give these idiots the time of day ? Their political appeal is microscopic.
ReplyDeleteSalmond and his devo max separatism started this
ReplyDelete