Glasgow East By-Election Autopsy

When you wish upon a star, occasionally your dreams can come true. Equally likely is that it’s a giant fuck-off meteorite destined to wipe all human beings from the planet as it did to the dinosaurs. I made two predictions: one, that the SNP would lose (in spite of the fact I was supporting them) and two, that Solidarity would out-perform the SSP. To gauge my utter wrongness, you have to invent mathematics that go SO far into the negative numbers that mathematicians haven’t even explored those realms yet. Therefore, since my predictions were so hideous, I would like to predict that I’m not having sex this month. Not with anyone else, and certainly not with Beyonce from Destiny’s Child. Hey… if I’m on a ‘being wrong with predictions’ streak, I should at least try and work it into a positive…

Still, my utter shambolic performance in imperfect art of precognition is proof (if any were needed) of there being no such thing as future-sight. So the next time your read Katie the psychic in The Sun (or as I like to think of it “that concentration camp for your brain whose only meagre contribution to world history, culture and politics is what Keeley thinks of the headline they’ve thought up that day”) rip out the page and wipe your ass with it. Or if you’re a guy, use your right hand, and Katie’s face for something useful for once.

But, back to the East Weege By-election. Someone (Raymond) pointed out to me that if the SSP and Solidarity HADN’T split, and therefore if you added both their votes together, they would’ve outpolled the Liberal Democrats. A salient point, and a thought I’ll leave incomplete for obvious reasons. I will, however, quote Yoda, from Star Wars: “Fear is the path of the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.”

Yes, I DID just quote Stars War in relation to the nastiest split in Scottish Politics in the past five years. The big question is ‘Does this represent a feeling for Independence in Glasgow, and Scotland as a whole?’ I don’t think it matters if it represents Independence or not. I believe someone who believes in the Union is not going to vote for the SNP, but that’s a separate thing. What the by-election does is to publicly demonstrate dissatisfaction with the present Westminster regime and demonstrates a public genuinely wanting change. In Scotland, the only force who can viably get that is the SNP. And this bloody nose was broadcast all around the world.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2008/07/25/PH2008072501367.html

http://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2008/07/25/nouvelle-defaite-pour-le-labour-de-gordon-brown_1076984_0.html

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,,24076095-5012749,00.html

And that was me checking only three out of the continents of the world. That’s a lot of people that just received an advertisement for the SNP, as sponsored by the voters of Glasgow East. For me, that’s the biggest thing, to see ourselves as others see us, and that’s as political activists on the world stage. This was the reason that the SRSM was so pissed off at the SSP during the G8 protests at Gleneagles. Then, they traded a chance to push Independence on a World Stage for every forgettable trendy slogan they had. And NOT independence. Maybe Tommy was too busy eating out an activist to attend THAT fucking meeting. We aren’t activists in our own backyards anymore, and we just highlighted Scottish Independence WORLDWIDE. Maybe if we’d done that a couple of years back it might’ve made a difference. If you don’t believe me, check the clustrmap that survived my recent purge. See the worldwide activity. That’s a lot of people around the world. And this is just one crappy blog. This win was witnessed Worldwide. Let me restate that for effect: YOUR WIN, YOUR VOTES, and YOUR ACTIVISM WAS WITNESSED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. And every activist should be proud of that.

But more than that, there were those of us (and I’ll hold my hand up to this one) who needed hope for the hopeless. Some of us jaded cynics were expected the “Ma granda votit wan way so ah wull tae…” mentality. Most of the doe-eyed newbies amongst us refused not to believe. And they were right! For once…

I think also some people feel a wee bit guilty about just being able to provide financial support. Whilst the main thing which won the election was troops on the ground, those leaflets didn’t buy themselves and those lamp-post boards didn’t pay for themselves, so I think those people who gave donations have reason to feel proud.

God… this is turning into another congratu-circle and I swore I wouldn’t involve myself in that kind of thing anymore… Still, a worldwide win is a big thing, so I’m reckoning it’s exempt.

Shut up. I already know that’s double standards…

Anyhoo, I think my only regret is that currently, we don’t have an imposing Goliath figure. We don’t have a Malcolm X or Nelson Mandela, much less a Che Guevara… Most of the brightest sparks are men in grey suits with glasses from Specsavers. It’s a minor gripe, I know. It’s just that I think that somewhere in the woodwork, at this part on our path on the road to Independence, somewhere lurking in the Shadows there is lurking someone who will write their name in Scotland’s history for the rest of time, waiting to make their mark on history with their contribution to Scottish Independence. Ever thought that the person might be YOU? No, this isn’t me talking to myself, but YOU the person reading this blog. Ever wonder if YOU were the thing which this movement was lacking?