Scotland say ney for now, Dont mourn organise !

Yesterday Scotland voted against independence. Today half the country are mourning, their hopes of a new state and it’s social democratic promise dashed. The other half are relieved, if perhaps not enthusiastically celebrating, the potential uncertainty removed; things will persist as before. We neither mourn nor celebrate. The scaremongering of the No campaign would likely have proved largely unfounded. So too would the promises of the Yes campaign. In reality our lives would have continued mostly as they did before in either event. We will trudge to the same jobs we hate along the same roads, through the same congestion on the same expensive transport. We’ll do so so we can pay our wages back to the capitalist class in the same shops, to pay rent to the same landlords and mortgages to the same banks. We’ll take our kids to the same schools with the same education system, when we’re ill we’ll wait to use the same hospitals. We’ll escape our jobs to the same parks, beaches, museums and pubs. An independent Scotland would in most respects have resembled the Scotland of the UK, a patriarchal, capitalist, environmentally destructive society. A country with the most unequal land ownership in the developed world – where 50% of the land is owned by just 432 individuals. A country dependent on North Sea oil for much of its exports – oil that must be left in the ground to prevent climate catastrophe. A country with huge poverty and huge wealth and little in the way of organised working class action to change that dynamic. And in so continuing to uphold the same institutions, the same structures of power, the same business interests, and the same political configuration, our fight against the state, capital and oppression continues. Social Movements It has become popular amongst some on the pro-independence to claim that even in defeat politics has been radically altered. People are engaged with politics for the first time, turnout was 85%. A new broad popular social movement is born, the referendum was never about a vote for the Nationalists (capital N1). The campaign they built to push for independence will now re-orient itself against the Scottish and British governments and push for material concessions, emboldened by how close they came and bringing newly radicalised people with them. But a high turnout in itself tells us very little of what will come next, the complacency that we have already changed politics is dangerous. Leaving aside the tactical mistake of offering the SNP the support they wanted to pass the referendum and then hoping to win concessions rather than making those concessions a precondition of support, this seems at best an optimistic prediction, which is far from certain to be realised. It is highly probable that the movement built to advance a radical case for independence will fail to maintain the unity it has shown pre-referendum in a post-referendum situation. A new left unity party (perhaps Left Unity itself) seems likely to form out of the Radical Independence Campaign and will have to compete for votes with the Scottish Green Party. The disintegration of the SSP last decade bodes ill for the lasting chances of that configuration. If the parliamentary left can regain even the position it held from 2003-2007 it will have done exceedingly well (in its own terms). Undoubtedly many from the radical independence movement will want to maintain extra-parliamentary organisation, though how much of it is truly independent of the parliamentary parties will be an open question. But as with the referendum itself elections have a tendency to draw activists away from direct struggle and towards themselves however good peoples’ intentions are. Perhaps the most debilitating effect of the referendum campaign was its draw away from other, more meaningful, sites of struggle – the boycott workfare campaign, anti-deportations and pro migrant work, environmental organising and so on. Of course, that is not to say that no independence campaigners continued their engagement with these causes, but no one has unlimited time and energy to contribute, and that expended on the referendum could have been better placed elsewhere. Ecology As the independence referendum moves into the past, other issues may start to regain their prominence. Foremost must be the commitment of politicians in Westminster and Holyrood to continuing extraction of Scotland’s share of North Sea oil. The independence debate was consistently shaped by the prospects for oil production and how the proceeds will be distributed. Even where criticism did exist and a call for a “green new deal” was made, the focus was to argue for renewables. Whilst greater use of renewable energy is to be welcomed, it is far from sufficient. As Jason Moore has highlighted energy revolutions of the past have always been additive and substitutive. Market logic plus intervention for renewables will only give us both renewables and fossil fuels. As alternative grow fossil fuels prices will fall and maintain their use alongside. Real decarbonisation of society requires the fuels be left in the ground and their value written off. You cannot build a “green” capitalism. You certainly cannot create it in time. There is too much money invested in fossil fuels – in drilling, in mining, in fracking. The ruling class will never voluntarily give up this wealth, or allow it to be simply voted away. “To survive we must act now” and “couple bleak reality with the utopian impulse” to demand a complete transformation of our society2. An independent Scotland would have relied heavily on fossil fuels – not least to maintain currency reserves and a positive balance of trade. The extraction of North Sea oil will instead continue to prop up the UK’s trade deficit. As part of a larger economy that dependence may now not be brought as clearly to the fore. But that reliance must be exposed, and it must be broken. That will be an expensive and difficult task, but one which we have no choice but to take up – there will be no future for Scotland or the UK if we do nothing. We must create the movement which makes that possible. Too much time has been spent on bourgeois constitutional questions while the rich consolidate their wealth and power, impose austerity and hardship and leave the planet to burn safe that adaptation will be good enough for them. So tonight, drown your sorrows. Take time to regain your energy and when you’re ready come back to join us. The better society that had been pinned on independence doesn’t need a new state. Keep talking to your neighbours and your workmates. We have a world to win and only our own working class self-activity and organisation will secure it. 1. We’ve discussed previously the obfuscation of “good” and “bad” nationalism and the left’s claim that independence has nothing to do with nationalism. In our opinion both yes and no campaigns de facto represent competing nationalisms, whatever their intentions to the contrary. with thanks and solidarity with statement from Edinburgh Anarchist Federation

The detachment of the political class in Britain

The political class our current crop of politicians who are a professional class in their own right now you’d say now have been slowly and slowly detaching themselves from society and understanding social process’s. In this day and age of political think tanks and political advisors is directly linked to the way the political parties have lost their supporter s base the 3 major political parties currently do not have much more than a quarter of a million members and not even a million between them . This in my view has lead to a bigger disconnect with understanding the moves and changes in society. In the past the political class could command a fair bit of respect and in a strange way they still do but now a days after the Mp expenses crisis and then the phone hacking where politicians has lead to a breaking down of trust and confidence in our so called politicians. Of course the move of the political class further and further to the right has played its part where now the so called centre ground is now further to the right than we have ever seen. The political class used to be drawn from small business owners and landlords but now much of our MP’s are former lawyers, solicitors bankers even who have a disconnect clearly with everyday life. This may seem an obvious point but it’s important to understand when we are looking for political representation. We still have a vote and a big emphasis is placed on it when elections come around in the UK. Oh you must use your vote you don’t know how lucky you are kind of thing yet all we are voting for more often than not is who will be our government who screw us over next. Is this much of a choice? Of course not so wherever we can it is important for Marxists to stand in bourgeois elections to provide an alternative and to at least try and reach people who have been taken in by the political class who see them still as our masters. People are becoming more and more disgusted with politicians in the pub every weekend I’m told how much our MP’s are thief’s corrupt and in it just for themselves and in many ways they are. But no politician today goes out their way to confront this image they have themselves created. They almost seem to revel in this thought and image and play off the fact they re dis trusted and have become further detached from the person on the street. The fact that MP’s are so distrusted now is an interesting situation when people have little faith in the establishment as they do right now with low levels of confidence in our police and media establishments too this can be fertile ground for new movements and new thinking. As we have seen the springing up of occupy and the tents movement in a so called new form of democracy where something new and different was tried was a direct out pouring of dis trust of politicians to deal with the crisis we find ourselves in today that’s capitalism in decay as a economic system that can benefit the many. Occupy wanted little if anything to do with politicians and tried to be far more democratic focusing on the banks and the financial institutions in London and around the globe if we’re honest to focus their anger. This was a marked change as many times down the years when there is anger or a protest movement it normally involves lobbying or protesting against the government of the day. The fact that people went and set up camps and tent villages outside major financial districts showed for me a marked change in people’s consciousness and ability to identify where this crisis has come from and where we must focus our energy in highlighting. The recent growth of UKIP is a interesting development again too as they try to pose themselves as anti establishment and down with the common man on the street clearly a image they are going with for now to court a popularize right wing vote fairly successfully taking 25% of a popular vote n the recent county council elections clearly shows they are having a impact and a big one at that. Not wishing to over play the UKIP threat at this stage as there are still opportunities for the left to get its act together it is something we should keep in mind too. But lastly a political class with seemingly no direction or any real ideological base any longer is not only a danger to us but to its own existence I think with no clear out and out leader of a political class the idea of a technocratic government a so called national government used in the past during crisis’s cannot be ruled out either to stabilise the ruling class during times of social unrest.