By Ian Hamilton
When the American Colonies fought for their freedom they countered organised might with Minutemen. Minutemen carried on with their work but undertook to take action at short notice. Today in Scotland we have need of Minutemen and Women. I am not talking violence. I am talking of civil disobedience….of legal disobedience.
Under normal circumstances we have the courts to protect our civil rights but these are not normal circumstances. Since devolution there is no law to protect us from Westminster. Westminster is an English Parliament; English in tradition, vastly English in membership.
Think on this.
Every political institution in Scotland has been created by the English Parliament. What it creates it can take away. This applies not only to Holyrood but to the whole framework of our local government. It applies to every function we hold jointly with England. They have the say. We have permission to agree.
We have just seen how it applies to the BBC. We are a democracy but the state broadcasting system elects to give a voice only to the Unionists. This is manifestly unfair. Yet the Court must administer the law as it is handed down from England. Our say is silence.
Do not think I exaggerate. The BBC is only one example. In a private debate on Calman I heard an English academic say blandly that the Scotland Act would be repealed if Scotland successfully insisted in an international court that it was Scotland’s oil. This would mean that Holyrood would cease to exist.
What would be our remedy? Other countries have their Supreme Court. England has one which struggles constantly with its government. Canada, Australia and the United States have them. Alone in the free world Scotland has neither law nor court to protect our political institutions. Our power, like our sovereignty, lies only in our people.
And our people are an unorganised rabble.
In the piece below I called for a demonstration outside the BBC. I could still call for such a demonstration but I would want to be sure it was organised. We have organised such things before. CND has its protest marches and meetings. Arrests have followed but very few prosecutions. The right to protest is a real right. The arrest of Church of Scotland Ministers at Faslane has made arrest ‘respectable’. I boast of mine.
But CND are organised.
When the BBC uses the might of the United Kingdom to silence us at elections…..when the English political parties use their strength to push through legislation hostile to Scotland such as the Poll tax……when night after night hostile attacks are made on Scottish independence by state subsidised bodies such as the BBC…..in short when the United Kingdom does anything hostile to Scotland we need to call out our own Minutemen and Minutewomen in protest and in civil disobedience.
Once in my long life the people have risen themselves. That was in protest at the Iraq war. The English Parliament betrayed us then. It will always betray us. They do so daily with Trident. It is too deadly to have in an English port. They force the shame of it on us.
The exclusion of the Party of Scottish Government by the BBC should be an alert to us all. The years leading to independence may be years of turmoil. We will increasingly be in conflict not with the English people but with Westminster. They have too much to lose….their seat on the Security Council…..……our oil…….our ports for their navy……..and above all their face. They cannot understand that we want nothing more than to be friends.
Let us prepare for civil disobedience. Our duty of obedience is to the law not to our rulers. Let us circulate our email addresses as Minutemen. Let each of us keep a list and when needed the press of a key will call all who want to come. No such list can be private. Let us all exchange our lists with each other. Here’s my email ianvr764@gmail.com
Who will join?
Head your email:
Minuteman.
Our just war must be non violent. Let there be no illegality. Westminster may not see it that way. There may be arrests.
So let it be.
