INDEPENDENCE FIRST LAUNCHES E-PETITION THROUGH SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT

Independence First, the Referendum campaign have launched a petition for a referendum on independence through the Scottish Parliament's E-petitioning system.

The petition reads as follows:

Petition by Neil Caple (National Convenor), on behalf of Independence First,
calling for the Scottish Parliament to consider and debate what moves it could
make to ensure the early presentation of a referendum on self determination to
the people of Scotland.

Mr Caple commented: "Recent opinion polls have indicated that there is a growing wish amongst the people who live in Scotland for Scotland to take control of her destiny and become Independent."

"Independence First, which is a non-party political organisation, would like to hear your views and we would like you to sign our petition in support of holding a referendum on independence as soon as possible."

The petition is available at the Scottish Parliament web site here
http://epetitions.scottish.parliament.uk/view_petition.asp?PetitionID=123

Mr Caple added: "Please sign this petition and pass this address on."

The will of the people should prevail

Your letters
August 31 2006 (Herald)

Ian Bell is the best columnist currently working in the Scottish press. Yet I want to register my disagreement with the main thrust of his polemic on August 29. If the Scots in next year's Scottish parliamentary elections return a majority of MSPs committed to the concept of a self-governing Scotland then the will of the people should prevail.

The new Scottish government could use the poll results as empowering it to proceed to secede from the United Kingdom and the complex negotiations that would entail. Or it could give the electorate another bite at the cherry with an independence referendum. If a majority voted for independence in the Scottish parliamentary election why should they vote against it in a referendum some months later?

I can't see how, given the nature of the electoral system that now applies in Scotland, any one party could have an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament. A majority vote for a referendum would then require the supportive votes of MSPs from other parties. The Greens are committed to an independent Scotland. The Scottish Socialist Party is similarly committed, though God knows where it will be next year due to its schismatic tendencies. And the Labour Party MSPs could be anywhere.

If it loses power some of its MSPs might vote in line with the people's will as expressed through the election and/or in a referendum. As for the LibDems? Who the hell knows? Given even a sniff of power they can perform the most extravagant somersaults.

Will this happen? I don't know. Nobody knows. But from my earliest teens and as a young socialist I have always fought for the right of self-determination for all nations. The United Nations is predicated on this principle. The rights of small nations are always particularly vulnerable lest they be swamped, in various ways, by the sheer numbers and political cultures of a much bigger neighbour. The Polish people know this to their great sorrow. The Labour left has always supported this principle except, it seems, when it came to the small nations within these isles. The Scottish people never had a say about joining the UK. They have never had a say about whether they want to leave the UK. That can't be right.

Jimmy Reid, 5 Bishop Terrace, Rothesay, Isle of Bute.

Ian Bell is mistaken if he thinks an early referendum on independence will be lost. What evidence does he base this assumption on? Independence First, the non-party political campaign for a referendum on independence for Scotland, has collected every opinion poll we can find on an independence referendum. The results are published at www.independence1st.com/polls.shtml and they show that in almost every poll since the devolution referendum where a simple unambiguous question has been asked the majority has supported independence. Almost 80% of the population favour holding a referendum on independence. Why do the unionist establishment not hold a referendum if they're so sure they would win? The fact they never have held a referendum speaks volumes.

I invite anyone who would like the Scottish Parliament to hold a referendum on independence to support Independence First's petition which has been presented to the Public Petitions Committee and can be seen at http://epetitions.scottish.parliament.uk/view_petition.asp?petitionID=123

Neil Caple, Honorary Convener, Independence First, 14 Mill Place, Tarland, Aboyne.

THE hostile, negative tone of Ian Bell's discussion of the SNP's prospects of success next year was not surprising. But it did contain one accurate forecast. In the event of an independence referendum in Scotland the British state will certainly "use every means to influence the choice". Lies will be told, fears exacerbated, pro-Union propaganda will flood the broadcast media and the newspapers, all of which without exception are unionist, and Gordon Brown will come up with some blatant bribery to convince us all of our pathetic dependence on the English taxpayer. There will be many dirty tricks played and this respect the British establishment will be aided and abetted by the CIA. It will not be in the interests of the US for their most servile ally to be weakened by the secession of Scotland from the UK.It would be astonishing in the face of this onslaught if the people of Scotland had the courage and intelligence to vote for independence. I look forward to being astonished.

Iain Hall, 1 Georgina Place, Scone.

SSP MUST RE-FOCUS THEIR ENERGIES ONTO INDEPENDENCE

I have followed the Tommy Sheridan trial with interest and I warmly congratulate him on his victory against the lowest and sleaziest 'newspaper' in Britain.

It is instructive that Douglas Wight has recently been promoted to a features desk in London after his 'useful' stories about Sheridan. I understand he has also been given time off his work recently to write a book. A substantial series of bonuses, but then again Mr Sheridan is a substantial target.

Tommy Sheridan was one of the first people to help organise the Scottish Independence Convention. He was one of the first supporters of Independence First, the referendum campaign. There is no doubt whatsoever that he is a strong and passionate advocate for the Scottish independence cause.

The News of the World offered no proof for it's story, it merely tried to throw so much muck that they hoped that maybe some of it would stick. A jury has provided this rag with it's answer and hopefully it won't be as cavalier with the facts next time someone approaches them with an 'exclusive story' and their hand out for £20,000.

Some of Sheridan's accusers are also strong advocates for independence, and some of his backers, specifically the CWI and SWP are not. Nonetheless I understand that Mr Sheridan has had to take support where he can find it during a very difficult time.

Independence is the lynch pin around which Scottish politics currently revolves. The SSP is a pro-independence party but since Sheridan's term as leader has ended, they have been less active on this question than they should be.

It's important that whoever the SSP elect as their leader in October that they make sure independence remains firmly at the top of their political priorities.

Sheridan and McCombes excellent book 'Imagine' showed that the SSP had a genuine vision which set it apart from the rest, a realistic democratic vision of socialism which is a world removed from the revolutionary hogwash perpretated by some of the more deluded groups on the traditional 'Brit' left.

As a republican socialist I call on Alan McCombes and Tommy Sheridan in particular and the rest of the SSP to put aside their differences and work together to push independence at the next elections.

The SNP can't win independence on it's own, however with the help of the Greens and a resurgent SSP the Scottish parties might yet get a combined one million votes for independence, enough to defeat Labour and the Tories and enough to push through a democratic vote for freedom for Scotland.

Scotland needs a win for independence next year.

Tommy and Alan and the rest, please don't let the people down by squabbling amongst yourselves over irrelevant rubbish about 'he said, she said'. It's all nonsense based on a right wing paper's lies.

The Scottish Socialist Party needs to move on and grow up before it's too late.

English voters 'oppose Scots PM'

A majority of English voters think Scottish MPs should be barred from becoming the UK's prime minister, according to a BBC survey. ICM research spoke to 1,000 people for the poll for the BBC's Politics Show.

They were asked whether it was right for a Scottish MP to be prime minister now Scotland has its own parliament. While 45% of those questioned across the UK thought it was okay to have a Scottish PM, 52% were opposed. That figure rose to 55% in England alone.

However, just 20% of those polled in Scotland were opposed to an MP from north of the border becoming prime minister.

Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond said the findings were "bad news" for Labour.
"It means the current prime minister is deeply unpopular in Scotland while the future prime minister is unacceptable in England," he said. "It shows Gordon Brown's new-found Britishness cuts no ice north or south of the border."

However, a Labour spokesman insisted: "The people of Britain will pick the next prime minister based on his ability to deliver a strong and stable economy and a secure future."

ROCK ON TOMMY! SHERIDAN TRIUMPHANT OVER NEWS OF THE SCREWS

Tommy Sheridan has won his libel case against the News of the World.

BRILLIANT! The News of the World is the scummiest of all rags and this is a fantastic victory by a man who has devoted his whole political life to helping the working class of Scotland.

The question now of course is where now for the Scottish Socialist Party? Since Colin Fox was elected leader the party has diluted its interest in independence, his attack on the saltire was an indication that he had never lost his attachment to his Brit left roots.

People have been going around suggesting that Sheridan is about to sell out the cause of Scotland and join Respect, while I could imagine Fox going down that road I have no doubt that Sheridan would tell Gorgeous George where to stick his one man band - which has as about as much political relevance as Robert Kilroy Silk's Veritas.

There is little doubt in my mind that Sheridan will thrash Fox. What he needs to do afterwards is re-concentrate the SSP's energies on winning independence by working together with the Greens and SSP. It was Sheridan's desire to do this which led to his original break with English Militant, unfortunately some of his comrades who apparently joined him at the time didn't share his desire to break up the British state.

He should now rid his party of the rest of Militant, the CWI, SWP, RCN and all the other fringe t*ssers who don't give a damn about Scottish independence and re-orientate his party firmly back to pushing Scottish independence from the left.

This putrid trial will hopefully not have damaged Sheridan's credibility as a standard bearer for the Scottish left, however it will damage his so called comrades who stabbed him in the back by participating with the News of the World in this hatchet job.

It beggars belief that Sheridan would admit to these allegations and at the same time expect to be backed in his fight. That a handy minute of these meeting would be kept for the NOTW is also bizarre, almost as bizarre as his comrades discovering respect for the legal process just in time to knive their former national convener!

Obviously some were willing to see their former leader fall so long as it furthered their own careers, if their careers now founder on the rocks they have only themselves to blame. Sheridan built his party from the ground up. He put his neck on the line for ordinary Scottish people time after time after time. He should have got a hell of a lot more loyalty from his former comrades than he did get.

Obviously they preferred to take the word of a scummy rag over that of their former leader. If their short lived careers are now flushed down the political toilet then they have only themselves to blame.

Rumours are not facts. I always treat people based on my own experience of them not what someone else says about them. Sheridan like every other person had an absolute right to be 'innocent until proven guilty'. The news of the World providing nothing but rumours and innuendo and no solid facts whatsoever.

Tommy has now been proven innocent and deservedly so. Well done!

I said in this blog a few weeks ago that I hoped Sheridan would kick the NOTW's collective a*se and it is great to be proved right.