KEVIN WILLIAMSON RESIGNS FROM SCOTTISH SOCIALIST PARTY

Kevin Williamson, writer, journalist and publisher and the Scottish Socialist Voice's regular 'Rebel Ink' columnist has resigned from the Scottish Socialist Party.

Kev's resignation letter is available here. Among other things Williamson is unhappy that the SSP has failed to put Independence at the front of their campaigning, in his letter he writes:

"The abandonment of the struggle for Scottish Independence since the tokenistic Calton Hill Declaration of 9th October 2004 – which led so many people up a hill and then left them there - has been central to the party’s stagnation and decline over the last two years.

The Holyrood election of 3rd May 2007 is shaping up to be a tactical voting referendum on Scottish Independence. But because the SSP’s pro-Independence majority have been dragged backwards by an unrepresentative minority in the centre of the party who have refused to fight for Independence, the SNP are now poised electorally to reap any upsurge in support for Scottish Independence.

Scottish Independence is the fissure line in Scottish politics now. The British establishment realise this even if the two leading SSP factions don’t. The Blair government is seriously worried about the reality of an SNP-led administration holding a democratic referendum on Scottish Independence.

The British government’s constant war-mongering abroad, their slavish tail-ending of the Bush regime’s so-called War on Terror; the resultant crushing of civil liberties, human rights, and increased surveillance of the population; their desire to inflict a new generation of both nuclear weapons and nuclear powered reactors on resistant Scots – all of these things are fuelling a desire among Scots that it is time we democratically removed ourselves from the British state.

But the SSP is in a state of political paralysis and is playing no part in the process. Those of us in the SSP who are passionate about Scottish freedom no longer even bother trying to take the party with us on. The red, white and blue brakes are on. Like many others I have chosen to participate in the single issue campaign for a referendum that is currently organised by the grassroots Independence First campaign. Working together with activists of other parties has been liberating and effective."

He also says his politics have moved on:

"My politics have evolved over the years. I’ve moved a long way from the Brit left sects within the SSP who remain stuck in a Trotskyite cul-de-sac somewhere between Brigadoon and Never-Never-Land. I have growing political differences with the United Left faction, with the Solidarity group around Tommy Sherdian, and with the SSP as it currently stands.

Over time I’ve found myself re-evaluating the accepted Marxist doctrines and basic tenets of socialism - moving further and further away from the centralism and economic determinism of orthodox Marxism. Socialism for me is primarily about support for the ongoing processes whereby democracy is deepened, strengthened and extended, rather than overthrown, and where all the existing structures of power are decentralised.

The socialistic ideas that appeal to me are based more upon libertarian or co-operative socialism than the centralised form of state socialism that failed so spectacularly in Russia. In this respect I’m at odds with both major factional groupings.

Scottish Independence is a democratic principle for me, it is about the decentralisation of power, about freedom and justice, rather than an opportunist leftist tactic. These are the principles behind my support for a democratic referendum to be held on Scottish Independence and for the break up of the war-mongering British state."

His loss to the SSP will be a major blow, his column was well liked both within and outside the SSP and he was always noted for his extremely strong support for independence.

His weblog is available here

SOVEREIGNTY LIES WITH SCOTTISH PEOPLE? - NOT ACCORDING TO UK GOVERNMENT OR SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT

ANSWERS ‘NOT ACCEPTABLE’ - INDEPENDENCE FIRST

INDEPENDENCE FIRST, the referendum campaign recently wrote to both the UK Government and the Scottish Parliament demanding a democratic referendum for the people of Scotland on independence.

The Scottish Parliament replied: “The Scotland Act 1998 sets out the statutory framework for the Scottish devolution settlement. Schedule 5 to the Act defines matters which are reserved to the United Kingdom Parliament.”

“The devolution settlement and constitutional matters generally are reserved matters under the Act. The Government of the United Kingdom is responsible therefore for considering any fundamental changes to the existing devolution framework in Scotland.”

Joe Middleton Press Officer of Independence First commented: “In other words, we’re passing the buck to our colleagues down south! However it does not matter what the UK Labour Government put into their devolved parliament bill, the Scottish people have an absolute right to self determination under international law.”

The Scottish Office in London replied “It is worth noting that in the UK political system the UK parliament is sovereign and it is for Parliament to decide whether or not to hold a referendum on any particular issue - and what the terms of any referendum should be.”

Mr Middleton commented ”This is simply not accurate, in England Parliament is sovereign, but in Scotland the people are sovereign. These answers are not acceptable. Obviously both the UK Government and Scottish Parliament are deliberately ignoring Scotland’s rights to democracy under international law.”

SHERIDAN'S SOLIDARITY AIMS FOR INDEPENDENCE

TOMMY Sheridan's new political party will be pro-independence, will be called "Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement" and will be launched on Sunday, it was confirmed last night. Some of the groups making up the new party had been reluctant to back Scottish independence, but Mr Sheridan has now got his way and it will be one of the central tenets of the party's policy platform.

Mr Sheridan said last week that he was seeking an "amicable divorce" from the Scottish Socialist Party, which he had helped to found. He and his allies have been publicly at war with opponents in the SSP since he won a £200,000 defamation action against the News of the World over allegations about his private life.

Rosemary Byrne, MSP for South of Scotland, said: "This is not a party just for ex-SSP members: it is a new movement that is open to all who share our vision of an independent, socialist republic in Scotland."

However, the "amicable divorce" may prove hard to achieve.

Mr Sheridan, Ms Byrne and the other four SSP MSPs paid into a central fund to cover staff costs. But now that Mr Sheridan and Ms Byrne have left the SSP, a gap will need to be filled, otherwise researchers and officials are in danger of losing their jobs. The new party is currently negotiating with the SSP over the issues of party donations, staff and the ownership of the SSP's base in Glasgow.

A spokesman for the new party said: "Our main concern is for the staff, who are employed collectively, so they may not be comfortable working for one or others of the MSPs. "But discussions are ongoing and we're trying to do it in as amicable a manner as possible."

He added: "We don't want to be fighting the SSP, we want to be fighting Tony Blair."

Solidarity members would elect an interim steering group at a conference in November.

This will include Mr Sheridan and Ms Byrne, as well as two members from the eight regions. There will also be two members from both the Socialist Workers Party and the Committee for a Workers' International.

SNP SLAYS RIVALS IN BUSINESS BATTLE

SCOTTISH National Party leaders claimed they were winning the business argument last night after a panel of top, politically neutral, entrepreneurs gave their backing to SNP plans for Scotland.

The entrepreneurs were taking part in a Dragon's Den-type event for the Festival of Politics. They listened to pitches from representatives of all the main parties and then voted for the party they thought would provide the best business environment for investment.

To the surprise of the politicians involved, there was no disagreement on the panel and every entrepreneur backed the SNP's Jim Mather, claiming he had provided the best vision for a business-friendly Scotland.

The entrepreneurs - Tony Singh, the founder of the Oloroso and Roti restaurants, Amanda Boyle, co-founder of Caledonia Contracts, Rachel Elnaugh, star of the BBC's Dragon's Den, and Chris Gorman, mentor on Channel 4's Make Me a Million programme - liked the SNP's vision for a low-business tax economy, using oil revenues to invest for the future.

Mr Mather said afterwards the panel decision showed that the SNP's arguments were starting to resonate across the business community. He said: "This is an argument we have rehearsed many times and taken it to the boardrooms of Scotland. People are engaging with it."

Mr Mather's pitch to the entrepreneurs was based on the premise that the current business environment was not working for Scotland and that independence would provide the freedom for the country to emerge as a thriving small economy on its own.

He promised low business taxes and the investment of Scotland's oil revenues to provide a stable financial base for the future.

Mr Mather told the entrepreneurs: "The more autonomy you have, the more competitive you become, the stronger your economy."

Mr Singh, like all the other entrepreneurs, said he was "apolitical", but had been won over by Mr Mather's pitch. He told Mr Mather: "You would help Scots as people, you would create a better infrastructure."

The result was a blow to Christine May for Labour, Murdo Fraser for the Conservatives, the Greens' Shiona Baird and Jamie Stone for the Liberal Democrats, none of whom managed to persuade the "dragons" that their party would help business.

SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY PICK UP £50K FROM CAPITAL DONOR

A wealthy Edinburgh women  woman has handed the SNP one of its biggest donations since parties were required to register cash gifts. Figures published by the Electoral Commission show Caroline Lawrie gave the SNP £50,000 in June this year, following an earlier gift of £1500 two months earlier.

An SNP spokesman would only say Ms Lawrie was a long-standing party supporter. Apart from a couple of bequests, it is the biggest donation to the SNP since 2001, when political parties were first required to register all donations over £5000 made to party headquarters.

Ms Lawrie is recorded as having made three previous donations to the party - two of £10,000 and one of £5000 - in 2003 and 2004.

An SNP spokesman said the donation was most welcome, adding: "Unlike the other parties, the SNP's campaign for the Scottish elections and to return Alex Salmond as First Minister will not be bank-rolled by dodgy loans and donations. The money will come from local businesses, individuals, members and supporters who want to see a better Scotland."

CELTIC LEAGUE HAIL VICTORY OVER SCOTLAND SHIRTS

Scotland's national football kit has had the word Alba, Gaelic for Scotland, added to it for the first time. It follows a long-running campaign by Gaels and the Association of Tartan Army Clubs to recognise the language.

The new shirt, which carries Alba on the back, will be worn at Scotland's opening Euro 2008 qualifier against the Faroe Islands on 2 September.

Colin Banks, Scottish Football Association marketing manager, said: "This was added in response to numerous requests from our fans, including the Association of Tartan Army Clubs.

"It is done in recognition of Scotland's Gaelic heritage and we believe we are the first Scotland national team in any sport to make this gesture."

Raymond Bell, a member of the Alba branch of the Celtic League  welcomed the decision. "This is something I  have been personally campaigning for for ten years!" said Mr Bell

He added "It just goes to show that you should never give up with a campaign."

INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT UNITED BEHIND OUR CAMPAIGN CLAIM INDEPENDENCE FIRST

Scottish Enterprise Party the Latest to Express Support

Independence First, the referendum campaign have announced that the Scottish Enterprise Party are the latest organisation to provide a message of support.

Press Officer Joe Middleton commented: “The SEP's support means that we now have a full set of pro-independence organisations supporting our campaign.

Alan McCombes, Tommy Sheridan MSP and Carolyn Leckie MSP, Lloyd Quinan and Kevin Williamson from the Scottish Socialist party have all given strong individual messages of support for our campaign.

The SNP’s Sandra Whyte MSP, Mike Russell, Bill Wilson and Stewart Maxwell MSP have all indicated their support.

The Scottish Green Party have expressed official support for the campaign, as have the Scottish Enterprise Party, the Free Scotland Party the Communist Party of Scotland, The Celtic League and the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement.

The Scottish Independence Convention, whose meetings IF representatives attend, is also officially backing our pro-democracy march and rally on the 30th of September.”

He added “In short then every single Scottish independence supporting party and pro-independence political organisation have backed our strategy of pushing for a democratic referendum by the people, here in Scotland.

The Scottish independence movement as a whole is united around our campaign and we hope to show this at our march at the end of next month.”

http://www.independence1st.com

NEW CALL FOR CORNISH ASSEMBLY NOW!

North Cornwall District Councillors have backed a call for a directly elected Cornish Assembly. At the meeting of the full council on 10 July, councillors supported a motion calling for a Cornish Assembly with full regional and strategic powers.

Additionally the councillors have called for the establishment of a Cornish Development Agency to give direction to the regeneration of the local economy. Councillors said: "We call on central government to recognise the high level of support in Cornwall for a Cornish Assembly, to put democracy first and to organise a referendum for setting up of such a body."

Chair of the Council, Collin Brewer, said: "This is a different issue to the current debate about the structure of local government in Cornwall. We were reassured by recent statements of Ruth Kelly MP, Secretary of State for the Department of Local Government and Communities on behalf of Government saying that it would not force a unitary structure on local government in two-tier counties such as Cornwall.

"This reinforces the view previously expressed by our members at a recent policy day where the consensus was that NCDC should actively support and explore increased opportunities for joint working and improving value for money in service delivery, rather than any wholesale structural change to local government in Cornwall.

The backing of North Cornwall District Council highlights the growing demand in Cornwall for a directly elected Assembly, since the Cornish Assembly campaign declaration, supported by over 50,000 people was presented to the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, in 2001.

TOMMY SHERIDAN - INNOCENT - WINS 200K FROM NEWS INTERNATIONAL

Tommy Sheridan was yesterday spectacularly vindicated in his libel action against the News of the World. Sheridan was awarded £200,000 in damages from the paper. Outside the court Mr Sheridan told the assembled crowd:

"On behalf of my wife and I, can I first of all thank my two sisters and John Aberdein, from Orkney, for being the best amateur legal team in the world.

"We have over the last five weeks taken on one of the biggest organisations on the planet, with the biggest amount of resources to pay for the most expensive legal team, to throw nothing but muck against me, my wife and my family.

"Well, brothers and sisters, what today’s verdict proves is that working-class people, when they listen to the arguments, can differentiate the truth from the muck.

"The working-class people on the jury who have found in our favour have done a service to the people of Scotland and have delivered a message to the standard of journalism that the News of the World represents.

"They are liars and we have proved that they are liars.

"I could never have conducted this case without the loyalty and support of my wife, my mother, my father, my sisters, my family and thousands upon thousands of working-class people in Scotland who want me to get out of this court and start fighting for the things that matter most.

"Against poverty and inequality in Scotland, and against war and against nuclear weapons.

"Those are the things that matter most, brothers and sisters, and I assure you we will retire for a few days to spend some quality time with our 14-month-old daughter, whom we have had to be apart from for most of the last five weeks, and that’s been the largest and most difficult thing to countenance.

"We’ll spend some time, quality time, with our daughter Gabrielle over the next few days but then I guarantee you, the people of Scotland who believe in their hearts in justice, who believe in their hearts in fighting poverty and inequality and who believe in their hearts in the need to fight against war, I’ll be back on the streets calling for the Israeli troops to stop killing innocent people in Lebanon, calling for the scrapping of nuclear weapons and to call for an independent socialist Scotland.

"I want to finish, brothers and sisters, by saying one thing. Gretna have made it into Europe for the first time in their lives, but what we have done in the last five weeks is the equivalent of Gretna taking on Real Madrid in the Bernabeu and beating them on penalties, that’s what we’ve done."

It has also been reported that Sheridan will challenge Colin Fox in October for the leadership of the Scottish Socialist Party.

INDEPENDENCE IN UK IS POSSIBLE CLAIMS RITCHIE

In an article in the Scotsman new Convention convenor Ritchie writes:

"The UK would, of course, survive Scottish (and English) independence. As we all know, the UK came about in 1603 with the Union of the Crowns. Scotland and England were united (peacefully) by one monarch but remained separate and independent states in the United Kingdom of Great Britain. It was a social union. Only when political union came about more than a century later, to the consternation of the unenfranchised Scottish people, did the present trouble with being British begin."

Read Article

The Scottish Independence Convention have advised that they have moved to a new website:

http://www.scottishindependenceconvention.com

SAVE THE WORLD - BY GETTING MURDOCH SAYS SCOTS AUTHOR

R. Eric Swanepoel the author of 'Saving the World and Being Happy' has told a meeting of Scottish independence activists that the newspaper proprietor Rupert Murdoch is a 'massive threat' to democracy throughout the world.

Mr Swanepoel addressed an Edinburgh branch meeting of Independence First, the referendum campaign www.independence1st.com and called for an immediate boycott of the Scottish Sun newspaper.

He said "the press in Britain is largely owned by a right-wing asylum-seeker-bashing, hypocritical, foreign-based, war-mongering, tax-dodging, non-UK citizen."

He added "the government eagerly barks and wags its tail at the behest of a fundamentalist war-mongering bigot, whose only interests are those of the world's super-rich."

"It's time to hit him where it hurts, in his pocket, by putting the Sun in the bucket where it belongs! The Suns adverts like to pretend that 'we love it' but I hate it and I'm not alone. Join this boycott and help bring freedom back to the world's press."

Learn more about the campaign here: http://hometown.aol.co.uk/rericswan/essay.html

52% BACK INDEPENDENCE FOR WALES

WELSH voters are pleased with the new powers handed to the National Assembly - but more than half want it to be a stepping stone to independence, a poll by a Welsh Newspaper has revealed.

Seven years after the establishment of the Assembly, 70 per cent of Welsh people say they are happy with the new law-making powers signed off last week.

But 52 per cent of those polled think it is time to break from the Union - suggesting the new powers are viewed as a stop-gap with full independence the real goal. In the poll, a quarter were unhappy with the Government of Wales Act with five per cent unsure. Forty-six per cent were against Welsh independence and two per cent said they did not know.

The Act, passed last week after opposition Lords backed down, gives the Assembly the power to draw up its own laws for the first time - provided Westminster agrees first. A Scottish-style Parliament could be created after a referendum, which will happen if two-thirds of AMs and a majority of MPs want one.

After having the powers explained to them, a large majority of those polled say it was the right move. But more than half still said they wanted independence altogether.

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones said: "It is much higher than any figure we've had in the past. It does show a more general trend towards people becoming more confident about themselves. Whether people actually support everything that independence stands for I don't know, but I do think people are more prepared to consider making decisions for themselves. What is fairly obvious is there is much greater support for moving the Assembly forward.

"If you ask people whether they are happy with the performance of the Assembly Government they'd say no, but they also don't want to go back to the days of pre-devolution. It's, 'Let's make it work, let's make it stronger.'"

A total of 420 respondents were interviewed on the telephone on behalf of Wales on Sunday.

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