[SCOT goes POP!] Every year in the last fifty has contained a world event that the current SNP leadership could have used as an excuse for postponing an indyref yet again

Started by ALBA-Bot, Mar 08, 2022, 10:40 AM

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Mar 08, 2022, 10:40 AM
Every year in the last fifty has contained a world event that the current SNP leadership could have used as an excuse for postponing an indyref yet again

The above tweets attracted a hysterical response from certain quarters, to which all I'd say is that the SNP leadership loyalists doth protest too much.  They evidently know that this is the point at which they have to double down and claim that the war in Ukraine is yet another totally unforeseeable event that must, sadly and inevitably, delay the supposedly "scheduled" 2023 independence referendum yet again.  If they don't maintain that pretence with the utmost seriousness and self-righteousness, a large chunk of the SNP's own support base might start to think that the leadership have cried wolf once too often.  Actually, they're likely to start thinking that anyway.

Yes, in the literal sense the current war was largely unforeseeable, but what we do know and what we have always known is that major world events will crop up fairly frequently and regularly.  If you squint hard enough, every year in the last fifty has contained an event that could have been used as an excuse by the current SNP leadership for kicking independence into the long grass.  This is not even the first time in the last decade that Russia has invaded Ukraine, and yet other countries' politics have gone on.  It's the third time this century that Russia has invaded a fellow ex-Soviet republic, and yet other countries' politics have gone on.  The Soviet Union was at war in Afghanistan every year between 1979 and 1989, and yet other countries' politics went on.  The US and its allies were at war in Afghanistan every year between 2001 and 2021, and yet other countries' politics went on.  Israel has been in conflict with its Arab neighbours almost constantly since it came into existence in the 1940s, and yet other countries' politics have gone on.

Let's be honest: the only genuine reason the SNP leadership have ever had for postponing an indyref (a reason as opposed to an excuse) was Covid.  It would have been pretty much impossible to hold a referendum during full lockdown, and for campaigning reasons it might have been undesirable to hold it during a partial lockdown.  But with all of the governments of the UK prematurely declaring a return to normality (even though the virus is still absolutely everywhere), that reason no longer applies.  If the Scottish Government are now immediately latching onto yet another totally unconnected "delay is unavoidable" narrative, it's hard to escape the conclusion that they're not looking for opportunities to bring independence about - they're frantically searching for excuses to run away from it.

We as an independence movement don't have to continue going pointlessly round in circles like this.  There's a political party out there that doesn't just believe in independence as a nice idea in the abstract, but actually wants to achieve it in the real world, and with an appropriate sense of urgency.  Please consider giving Alba your first preference vote in the local council elections in May, and let's see if we can get the campaign for independence firmly back on track.

*  *  *

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Source: Every year in the last fifty has contained a world event that the current SNP leadership could have used as an excuse for postponing an indyref yet again
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