Determination, Independence First, the Convention, etc etc

Dave Coull · Determination, Independence First, the Convention, etc etc

The News Of The World printed an article about myself which was factually inaccurate, and in which every single alleged "quote" was in fact a mis-quote. They claimed I had fallen out with Scotland United, Democracy Scotland, and the Campaign for a Scottish Parliament, none of which was true. And they failed to trap me into making a personal criticism of _any_ supporter of independence for Scotland. I have seen a solicitor about their article, he has written to them on my behalf, and we are waiting their response. Precisely because we are waiting their response, I don't want to say anything more about that at present. However, as part of the related discussion here on this forum, Rinty, wearing his moderator's hat, wrote " If we are to have a debate on the relative merits of IF and Determination then a new thread should be started that will be carefully monitored in case it becomes too personal".

I am starting that new thread, and will, as usual, seek to avoid making it too personal.

Earlier this year, a group of members of Independence First were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the way IF was going, and decided to resign from membership and form a new group. But this was during the run-up to the Scottish Parliament elections, and we didn't want to give the establishment media any excuse to talk about disagreements amongst supporters of independence, which just might conceivably have an influence on the result of that very tight election, so we delayed the actual resignation until election day itself. That date was chosen quite deliberately, with the intention of "burying" bad news.

Twelve of us issued a collective statement of resignation, and were joined by three others who sent individual letters of resignation. Here is what we said - “This is a collective statement of resignation from a group which includes those who originally created Independence First, among others. Reasons : Independence First was intended to be non-party-political. We feel having a national office bearer of a political party as convenor of IF compromises that non-party-political nature. Also, making the Convenor no longer ‘honorary’, and having the convenor chair ALL meetings, goes against the egalitarian origins of IF. The last straw came when the April general meeting closed down the members forum and banned e-mail between members. This crude authoritarian attempt to stifle internal dissent makes it impossible for working groups to function. We are forming a campaign called Determination, the non-aligned campaign for self-determination for Scotland. As well as campaigning for a referendum, Determination will pursue other avenues to independence, and will co-operate with IF where possible. Although we are resigning from IF, Determination will have no ban on dual membership. Anyone who wishes to learn more about Determination should e-mail determined.scots@gmail.com ”

Some of you may see no problem with having a national official of a political party in a prominent position in a "non-party-political" campaign. Some of you may think we attached far too much significance to the practice of rotating the chairing of meetings. Some of you may even have no problem with closing down a members forum and banning communication between members. Nevertheless, statement of fact, these were important to us, and, so far as I am aware, that collective statement contains ALL of the differences between Determination and Independence First.

Which obviously means that there are a lot of other things that we agree on. We recognise that both groups are only a small part of a wider pro-democracy and pro-independence movement.

I say "we" because what I'm saying here is something we all agree on. But, if this discussion develops, I will probably use the first-person-singular more, to show I am expressing my own individual view.

Okay, there's a start, if anybody does want to discuss this. But remember what Rinty (wearing his moderator's hat) said, and try to discuss principles, policies, strategy, tactics, for a referendum and for independence, without making it too personal.