IT MIGHT not be the smartest question I have ever asked, but where is our grassroots movement, last seen on the streets, in halls, in meetings, in rallies around the country in 2014?

You know, that inspired movement that transcended the class divide, galvanised younger people, featured women, artists, pensioners, got voter registration to new heights...?

I could go on. But I seem to have lost it, that momentum which helped move us from 22 per cent to 45 per cent. All those pro-indy votes brought us close – not close enough, but they didn’t come from any one political party.

I recognise the one big Glasgow march and rally immediately before June 8, but that was planned before the election was called, not as part of an election campaign.

It may take a while, but I’m waiting to learn the facts around the voting patterns, because a lot of people didn’t vote for pro-indy parties having done so in 2015.

Tactical voting and Labour pleas to vote Tory didn’t help, but that cannot be the full story.

The campaign focus for the Unionists was spear- headed by the Tory party here and we appear to have allowed them to steal the idea of an “independent Scotland” with all its potential of hope, progress, social and economic change.

They replaced it with the mantra of a “divisive second independence referendum”, which was never seriously challenged.

I’m not too sure how that happened, or if any one particular person or campaign tactics are to blame. But Labour and the LibDems shamelessly held on to the Tory coattails. ScotLabour couldn’t even bring itself to embrace Corbynism.

So as I sat in the last days of the General Election campaign and looked at the vast crowds and rallies that Corbyn generated, I wondered: what does that remind me of?

I realise that rallies and crowds don’t work in isolation. The Labour manifesto had a very clear identify: not centre left, but left. Team Corbyn reached out to the “youth”, first-time voters, used social media, rappers, artists in a way that also reminded me of 2014: the politics of hope and change. But where were we?

It’s OK to take the high ground. Whilst it’s a truism to say “It’s a general election, and not about devolved matters”, who was listening, except us, talking to ourselves again?

The notion of policies, left of centre, the confusion between Corby and Kezia (deliberate?) – one for a possible second indyref, the other saying no, might also have swayed some Labour folks to return to the fold in the futile belief in a Corbyn victory and that second indyref.

I hope we haven’t won something of a self-defeating victory, even in the short term. Media has already started to focus on opposition gains, SNP loses, highlighting the supposedly victorious opposition leaders and new MPs whilst ignoring the fact that after 10 years in government, that same party gained the most votes and most seats.

In the coming months, we need to be able to re-capture the hearts and minds of those previous pro-indy voters, irrespective of their party politics. But to do that, we have to be bold enough to understand why they changed. And then recognise that we need to respond, with plans and actions, not mere knee-jerk reactions.

If I try to answer my own question: I believe the grassroots movement never really went away.

I’m not sure what we thought we were waiting for, but we just got far too quiet for far too long.

Selma Rahman
Edinburgh

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A message from the Basque Country: do not give up

I AM Basque and, given that the Basque Country is a stateless nation where the nationalist movement has always been strong, during the last years I have followed the surge of Scottish nationalism led by the SNP with great interest.

The first nationalist party in the Basque Country (the Basque National Party, EAJ in Basque) dates back to 1895, and although Basque nationalism has accomplished many things throughout the Basque Country’s history, I can only feel that we are many steps behind compared to what the SNP has accomplished during the last decade.  Of course, Scotland and the Basque Country are two nations with the same goal, but our history is very different in some ways. To begin with, there has never been a terrorist organisation within the Scottish nationalism, whereas the legitimate national aspirations of the Basque people were damaged by the terrorist group ETA. Also, the Basque nationalists have always been divided into many parties.

Today, there are two main nationalist parties: the centre-right EAJ and the left-wing coalition EH Bildu. Since the end of Franco’s dictatorship Basque nationalism has dominated the politics in the Basque Country, but the agreements among all the nationalists haven’t been easy.

But there are similarities between Scotland and the Basque Country. In the Spanish general election of 2011, the nationalist parties in the Basque Country achieved a very good result (52 per cent of the vote), just like the nationalists in Scotland in the 2015 general election (50 per cent of the vote). In the last general elections, the Basque nationalists went down to 38 per cent in 2016, and the SNP to 37 per cent in 2017. 

The message from the Unionist parties is that the nationalist cause is dead, but they could not be more mistaken. In the Basque Parliament election following the general election, the nationalists achieved, being the first two parties, a solid 60 per cent of the vote. What many people don’t seem to understand is that in a general election the issue of independence is not at stake, so people vote differently. That’s something we have experienced many times in the Basque Country. 

So, my message and advice to the people in Scotland is that, although losing votes and seats compared to an historic astonishing result, no-one should think that the cause for independence or Scottish nationalism are dead, especially when the SNP won the election after all.

During the last decade the people of Scotland has time and time again trusted the SNP to take Scotland forward.  And Scotland has inspired and showed the way to the other stateless nations in Europe. I’m sure that Scotland, just like the Basque Country, will find its own way to become a new state in Europe.

Martin Txintxurreta
Plentzia, Basque Country

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NOW, more than ever, we need to look up and beyond the poor results for the SNP.  Remember the feeling of total failure on the September 19, 2014? Well folks, this is nowhere near the scale of that, yet here we are just two-and-a-half years later with a strong and building independence campaign. 

Now, after all the tireless support we have shown the SNP it is time that was reciprocated. We now need to put our efforts towards the grassroots who cover every demographic, not the politicians persuading our fellow citizens of the case for independence. 

Groups such as aYe Scotland, Women for Independence, Greens, Common Weal, The National and a whole host of others are core groups of the Scottish Independence Convention (SIC) and it is time that this collective of groups are shown full support now. 

We have always maintained a multi-party inclusive position at aYe Scotland. From the very beginning we pursued a mandate of seeking out all sides who support independence to have a voice and now all those voices must be heard through the SIC, there are sound and solid plans being discussed and put into place right now amongst us at these meetings and certainly the last discussion we had as a group was very encouraging so get behind us fully now and support our effort to Build.

We never thought this was going to be easy, but watch now as the Tories make an even bigger mess than they already have, clearly evidenced by the inclusion of the DUP, the political face of paramilitary terrorism, showing people just what and who they are. 

The Corbyn effect cost votes to the SNP but the Tory effect will bring votes to independence. I would just like to ask this one question of my fellow citizens who still support the Union: how bad are you willing to let it get?

John McHarg 
aYe Scotland