No Easy Walk

So far, a total of 65 countries have left the British Empire. Each did so united as a democratic movement persuaded of the benefits of independence. Who better to decide a country’s destiny than those who choose to live there ?

In 1952 Nelson Mandela paraphrased Nehru ‘ there is no easy walk to freedom.’ Whilst the struggles and terrors of India and South Africa have been substantially different from those of us in the modern movement for Scottish Independence, some aspects of creating the route to regaining our liberty remain the same. 

Beyond unity and tub-thumping, every independence campaign has required to assess and address risks, establish and build support, motivate and mobilise with comprehensive voter registration and identification and, crucially, a date of a plebiscitary election on the horizon. When people understand the advantages of independence over colonialism, when there is hope that positive change can come through the ballot box, when there is a date to work towards, that optimism and desire to change can surge through the population as an electrifying galvanising force.

Scotland today has advantages other countries who walked the road to freedom could only dream of – untold natural wealth, oil, gas, wind and wave, fishing, forestry; our schools and universities deliver education regardless of birth and not simply gained via privilege or rank, a health service free to all at the point of need; natural and built landscapes which render us breathless and awed. 

We know that support for Scotland’s independence stands now at least at 52%. We know too that Alex Salmond took our movement from 28% to over 50% prior to the 2014 vote, hence The Vow, Hands Over The Border and the Imperial Stroll. We also know that were Alex Salmond leading an Independence campaign today he’d take a start of 52% as a gift, run with it and add another 20% to the final total.

We’re not going to see Alex’s like again; he was unique. But as a collective with imagination, dedication, drive and an unbending belief in the people of our country we can together fashion a platform where all of us committed to Scotland’s cause come together, committed to independence, where we listen to each other and where we carry our country’s hopes carefully towards the end of this first leg of our journey – to Independence Day.