Calls on the “community of Scotland to claim leadership of the independence campaign”
In a Wee ALBA Book meeting in the Meadowbank Inn Arbroath, at which he shared a platform with Jim Sillars for the first time since the Scottish Referendum of 2014, former First Minister Alex Salmond said;
“For the first 60 years of the SNP’s existence, Westminster basically laughed at Scotland’s hopes of independence. That all changed with the Jim Sillars Govan by-election victory of 1988. From that date, the primary establishment emotion was fear, turning to outright panic in the referendum campaign of 2014. Now, given the trials and tribulations of the SNP, they have reverted to laughing at Scotland’s aspirations once again.
the SNP is only a part of, but not the whole of the independence movement
Jim Sillars
It is the task of ALBA and the rest of the independence movement to re-present the goal of independence with the credibility that the SNP have thrown away. We need the hard yards of policy formulation, the inspiration of a socially just and prosperous country and the potent electoral threat of candidates who place independence first, foremost and always.
The ALBA Party will play its part in seeking to gather together an independence coalition for the final push to independence. If we can mobilise the power of the people, then the Westminster establishment will not be laughing long.
Here at Arbroath in 1320 it was not just the political hierarchy but the whole “community of the realm” who declared for Scotland’s claim of right to freedom. Now in 2023 it is the community of Scotland who need once again to assume leadership of the independence movement.”
Former SNP Depute leader Jim Sillars said:
“ For Unionists, it has been Christmas every day this past month. They say it is all over for independence. They are wrong. Our movement is not going to fold its tents, and slink away from the political battlefield.
Why, despite a daily horror show, is the level of support for independence still so high? Two reasons: first, the SNP is only a part of, but not the whole of the independence movement; two, because that 45-48 % know, from hard experience, that Scotland must escape being handcuffed to the declining, failing British state, if all of our people are to obtain a good life in a good society marked by decency.
In the real world outside the deep trench of trouble my party is in, a clear analysis shows that this is a golden opportunity time, to show why that escape from the British state is essential, and so win over people to the substantial majority that should be our aim.
Now in 2023 it is the community of Scotland who need once again to assume leadership of the independence movement.
Alex Salmond
The unionist case that won in 2014, that for Scotland to survive, we had to shelter inside the beneficent, large, powerful economy of the United Kingdom, is being exposed as false every day of the week.
As one headline in the Daily Telegraph put it: “The UK is a poor country pretending to be rich.” The British state is living on an international credit card. The word that defines the British state isn’t growth – it’s debt.“
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Originally posted by Alba Party, April 20