[Robin McAlpine Blog] The power of STFU

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The power of STFU

Independence supporters who either read the National or have seen it on social media will have seen reports of a meeting on Friday in Cardiff and that I was at it. It was civic pro-independence organisations from each nation exploring collaboration. I want to explain very briefly why you’ve not heard about it, very, very roughly what it is about and why I’d encourage you all to let this move at a pace that makes it work.

Or, to summarise, one of my strongest learning points came from a pal who used to be in street gangs. He told me once "the best way to lose a fight is to talk about it first". Basically anyone who spends time discussing exactly what they’re going to do to their prospective opponent in the fight they think is brewing in the pub, they’re in is the one likely to lose.

The one likely to win is probably trying to avoid the fight altogether but if he has to will stand up and lamp the other guy without a lengthy conversation. It is a very good metaphor for campaigning. The more you talk before you’re ready, the less ready you’ll get.

So fundamentally, I have nothing but contempt for people who cannot Shut The Fuck Up. If something is worth doing, do it and do it right, don’t talk about it.

And in this instance there is even more at stake. I have already told you that in my judgement a coalition of Welsh, Northern Irish and Scottish Campaigners all coordination on a ‘national liberation campaign’ (or whatever – Ireland wants re-unficication, not independence) is not only unprecedented but offers all of us the best chance of success we could possibly have.

Wales is currently a united movement. It has a single civic organisation that is democratic and represents everyone. Northern Ireland’s re-unification campaigners are united. They have a single civic organisation which is democratic and represents everyone.

Scotland is a fragmented, antagonistic mess. Forget grandstanding, our first task is to make sure the other two see us as reliable potential partners. Shouting our mouths off was most certainly not the way to do that.

It is the most optimistic thing in the independence movement I’ve been at for a long, long time

I’ve had long-standing relations with the Welsh movement and they’ve been talking to me about this for a while. This is decidedly not because I’m the messiah or that this is about me. I was rather hopeful that we could get to the other side of this without it really being about individuals altogether. All that matters is the project.

But this became public domain from Wales – which is fine, but unexpected. The National picked this up from Wales yesterday hence today’s papers. It isn’t a stunt from my end. Far from trying to bounce people, I’m desperately keen to try and include everyone, give everyone a good reason to trust this process, to make this initiative one which can finally unite the whole movement behind a real, meaningful initiative which has a really good chance of working.

And I’m very much not the only person from Scotland involved. We’ve tried to involve as many groups as we could and still keep this manageable. This must be broad based and collegiate. We must come out the other side with the whole movement happy and enthused about what is happening. That’s why I think it is really important to take this at the pace needed to get it right, not the pace needed to press release it or to scramble for position.

The meeting in Cardiff was unknown territory. Nothing like this had ever happened before. We had no idea what our mutual three-party chemistry would be like. We didn’t know if we were even conceiving this as the same project in our respective heads – did Northern Ireland think this was the same thing I did? Did other Scottish reps?

It was an incredibly positive meeting and the answer is we’re roughly on the same page (for a first meeting) and we all got on well and are enthusiastic about making this happen. It is the most optimistic thing in the independence movement I’ve been at for a long, long time.

But we have a long way to go and a running commentary isn’t going to help. I am going to return to my habit of not talking about this until we’re closer to an agreement, not because I want to control anything but out of respect to partners and to under no circumstances fuck this up.

For me this is it and if anything happens to derail this and it comes from the Scottish end, then I think I can conclude sadly that we’re not ready and that we don’t really deserve to make progress. I think we can avoid that. I think everyone can find something they can get excited about.

Talking about it now isn’t going to make it happen faster.

Source: The power of STFU