Our attacks on Gillian Martin will only hinder real change

But the tsunami of opprobrium that followed her short-lived nomination to become a junior minister last week was, in my opinion, way over the top.

Gillian had deleted her blog and apologised two years ago. If her remarks were distasteful, then so too was the spectacle of sanctimonious politicians revelling in her humiliation.

Had Gillian written those blogs last week, then she would deserve everything that has been thrown at her. Had she written these words 11 years ago and continued to defend them today, she would deserve to be blocked for promotion.

But she’s taken it on the chin, apologised to those she’s offended and made it clear that she has left these opinions far behind her. So, when I hear people – including friends whose opinions I otherwise respect – condemning her as “unfit for office” it takes my breath away. It seems to suggest that people cannot change – that the person who wrote these words 11 years ago had her character fixed back then like clay fired in a furnace.

Yes, she was 38 years old at the time, as her critics point out. Some have made the point that we all do silly things in our teens and student years, but a woman in her thirties should know better. But I could cite many examples of people whose views changed radically in their thirties and beyond.

Blairite former cabinet minister Lord John Reid was a member of the Communist Party in his thirties – and then went on to become Home Secretary and take charge of the UK Defence Ministry. Popular actor Ricky Tomlinson was a member of the National Front until he was arrested and jailed for a punch-up on a picket line in his thirties, an experience that turned him into a left-wing socialist.

The whole basis of progressive politics is that people change, otherwise we would all have packed up our placards a century ago and surrendered to the status quo. Women’s suffrage, the abolition of slavery and the creation of a welfare state didn’t happen by magic. For things to change, people need to change.

Social attitudes in Scotland have changed dramatically since those dark days just after the millennium when homophobia ran rampant, whipped up by right-wing politicians and tabloid editors defending Section 2A (otherwise known as Section 28). The Republic of Ireland has changed beyond recognition in the past decade or so, as spectacularly borne out by the landslide vote in the recent abortion referendum. So why can’t Gillian Martin be allowed to change her opinions?

People aren’t knitted in perfect patterns that can never be unpicked. Opinions are fluid and sometimes volatile. To win independence, to fundamentally alter the distribution of wealth in society, to achieve liberation for women, to bring about true equality for all of those who are oppressed, we need to change people’s minds en masse. At least some of today’s Sun readers, Daily Mail readers, sexists, bigots and racists have to be transformed into tomorrow’s supporters of social justice and equality if we are to have any hope of changing society for the better. Otherwise progressive politics is nothing more than sanctimonious badge-wearing that makes us feel superior.

At an individual level, who among us can honestly say that all of our musings from decades past conform to today’s ethical values? When I was young, I used to sing the Billy Boys. I was anti-abortion. I went to the “Paki’s” for milk and I got a “chinky” on a Friday night. Ergo, I am unfit for public office.

So, who is? What sort of person would manage to navigate their way through decades of social change without leaving behind some landmines that might blow up a future political career? Yes, there are no doubt some New Labour types who go to Oxbridge, study politics, join debating societies, map out their future political career then walk seamlessly into lucrative special adviser jobs or safe seats. That’s not the people I want representing me.

Gillian Martin is a politician who never set out to be a politician. If she had, she’d probably have taken more care to avoid posting blogs that would come back to haunt her. She’s a woman who was politicised by the referendum. Someone who threw herself into building Indy Quines and Women for Independence with the energy and enthusiasm only the newly politicised possess.

I used to be that woman. When I first joined the SSP, I could hardly cope with the information and ideas that were firing at me like atoms in the Hadron Collider. I soaked up books and pamphlets faster than spongy kitchen roll. I changed. I’d been on a journey my whole life till then. But I’d never felt so new.

Of course, at some point – and anyone on the left will recognise this – my newly confident politics was taken down a peg by some intellectually superior (as they saw themselves) lefty men who seemed uncomfortable around rebellious women. The culture of the left can too often be holier than thou, which forces you to overthink things and hesitate before you speak. Fear of making a faux pas is a dead hand on any hope of changing the world.

So, isn’t it time we all grew up and learned to live with the idea that we all make mistakes and that no-one is perfect? That we stop this relentless focus on the flaws of individuals and abandon these repetitive demands for resignations and sackings? That we concentrate instead on the structural problems we need to address?

I have one last question. Surely anyone who believes themselves to be progressive believes in rehabilitation and redemption? I support votes for prisoners. I’d like to see people who’ve led hard lives and maybe done things they regret get into politics. We need that kind of real-life experience. Are we seriously saying that can never happen?

One of those pamphlets I read way back was by one of my heroines – Rosa Luxemburg. She said: “the great masses of the working people first forge from their own consciousness, from their own belief, and even from their own understanding, the weapons of their own liberation.”

We need that sort of awakening to be able to make change happen and welcome it.

What’s happened to Gillian Martin is not fair. If she can do the job she nearly got, then she should get it. We need the Gillian Martins of the world.