PATRICK Harvie has called on Scottish Green Party members and supporters to prepare for a second independence referendum as he appealed for those who voted No in 2014 to “join our cause”.
In his keynote speech to his party conference in Perth, he said: “There is an unresolved democratic deficit, a fundamental conflict. As much as we voted, campaigned for a Yes vote, and others did, Scotland voted two years ago by 55 per cent to remain part of the UK.
“Scotland voted this year by 62 per cent to remain part of the European Union. Even if the Better Together campaign had not tried to pull the wool over people’s eyes by saying that voting Yes to independence was the only thing that would be a threat to our membership of the European Union, and even if the Leave campaign had not been riddled with lies, there is a fundamental conflict still between those two referendum results and it may yet come to pass that the only way to resolve them is to put it to the people once again.”
Harvie said the party had already agreed to lay the groundwork for the Green Yes campaign.
“We need to convince people of the values our Green Yes campaign took two years ago, and so we will also continue to strengthen the case for independence, because it’s not just a case of rehearsing and repeating everything in that big book of answers from the SNP’s White Paper.”
He said they now had the opportunity and responsibility to reach out to some of those who were not convinced in 2014, including many Labour voters who shared much of what the Greens would like to see in a fairer, more sustainable and just society, which their party was not in a position to deliver.
“Instead of merely witnessing meekly the racist and xenophobic hatred we’ve seen this year, we need to commit to the inclusive values which would let us offer a welcome to the refugees in our society and those who need to reach our shores, and to all those who migrate to Scotland, who make Scotland their home, enriching our culture as our friends, our colleagues and neighbours.
“We can deliver that. So I say to those people who weren’t convinced in 2014: Help us deliver it, join our cause. It’s surely clear to them as well that there is no British route to nuclear disarmament, but we can deliver nuclear disarmament, so help us deliver it and join our cause.”
He then turned to a currency union, saying that with the UK on a self-destruct course towards Brexit, a currency union between a Scotland that was part of the EU and a UK that was not would prove even more unconvincing than it did in 2014.
Harvie said that as well as that issue, they had to build the case to overcome Scotland’s remaining over-reliance on fossil fuels, such as oil and gas. “We cannot afford and we will not permit a new Scottish economy and a new Scottish currency to be a petro-economy or a petro-currency.
“That is not a sustainable future which can offer prosperity for this country or sustainability for the world.”
Earlier, Harvie reflected on 2016 as the “weirdest year in modern politics”, with the Labour Party continuing its apparent course towards meltdown and the woes of Ukip – “the party of disgruntled Basil Fawlties”.
He added: “This isn’t a joke because the toxic leave campaign – Ukip included – has generated the same kind of hatred, division and resentment as the Trump campaign has in the US.
“In both cases what brand themselves as a people’s anti-establishment movement is in reality something truly dangerous.
“Nationalism is a very broad umbrella term. It’s abundantly clear to anyone who’s been involved in the Scottish political debate over recent years that our inclusive civic form of national identity that informs the independence movement is the polar opposite to the aggressive and racist form of nationalism which has led some of the Brexiteers down south to start demanding unethical medical checks against child asylum seekers trying to make their way to safety in this country.
“Or indeed the increasingly explicit white nationalism which the Trump campaign is tapping into. Trump’s delusional, aggressive, bullying and bigoted character is something I think many voters in the US are wising up to.”
Harvie said that had been clear to Scotland for some time, urging delegates: “If any of us have colleagues, friends or family who are voters in the US, share some of that back-story of our experience of this odious man.”
How do Green delegates feel about independence... are they still on Team Yes?
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