Oh Burning Saltire, you have Sparked our Revolution

"People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people."

Hmph. It has always made me sigh. Most people would agree that you can read and re-read that statement and every time think eish, it's powerful, but it will never be possible. First of all, People shouldn't fear their government, of course they shouldn't. It's common knowledge that a government should have no reason to be feared of. What kind of world is it where you fear your government? Your government has a number one priority - your health and welfare, your life and the positive direction that it will, or rather - should take. 

Unfortunately, that's exactly why you fear your government. You will never not fear something that has a power over your life. Essentially, the government controls your life and if you're happy with that, you really need to give yourself a shake. 

Are you ever cold at night or hungry in the morning? Scrounging for gas money or going without electricity? Going to work with no food in you're bag and walking home because the public transport is too expensive? It's not okay and you shouldn't let it become the norm. We live in a nation where the number of billionaires has doubled... alongside the number of food banks. Benefits are cut as train prices rise and wages are lowered as the cost of bread flies high.

Of course, different families have different views, depending on where they sit on the poverty scale. Few will make a passing comment around a lively, mouth-watering dinner table. Some will huff and puff as they walk through the pissing rain. Others will wonder why the politicians have just received a wage bonus while they lie on the floor of a one bedroom flat occupied by a family of three, where the fridge is empty and the shower runs cold. Not going to lie, the latter is me and i'm not okay with it.

There is no light at the end of the poverty tunnel and more and more families are finding themselves here. Single mums and redundant families, teenagers and children. This is happening, right under your nose. It's happening while millions of pounds rot in the bank accounts of the old and the elite, millions of pounds waiting to be returned to a government that will merely pass it onto the next budding politician.

There is only one way forward: we have to fight our social injustice and take a stand against our flawing government.

So how do you get a government to fear you? Or rather, at the least, notice you? You question them and you question them good. You question everything about them. Take their tattered politics and stuff them into the minds of teenagers. Exploit their  weaknesses and their screwed up priorities.  Show the world your manacles and the bruises that they leave on your skin. Let the government know that you are not happy, you are not satisfied with the difficulties that your generation are yet to face. Let them know that you know something has to change. Question why our nation has doubled in billionaires yet doubled in foodbanks.  Gather like-minded people. Start a campaign.  Hold a referendum. Vote yourself out of the system. Start a revolution.

That's exactly what we did. 

With a population of only 5 million in a governed nation of 64 million, Scotland was hardly receiving the financial support that it required, deserved and worked for. Every penny of income whether it be from our oil enriched land or our good old whisky sales would go straight into the union. That money is then spent, apparently equally, over the United Kingdom of Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales. Westminster -commonly known as Westmonster- spends that money from London, the home to our Government and Mr David Cameron, our Prime Minister. During the run up to the referendum, people started to question where our income was spent. 

It should of course be spent on the likes of  schools, hospitals, housing and education. It also wouldn't go a miss to introduce a wage rise and a drop in public transport fares. How about some new council jobs for street cleaning and pipe gutting, or an investment in private and family owned businesses? 

The people of Scotland started to realize that all this time, all our lives, we have been robbed of so much wealth and possibility. People, young people, started to question the basic issue - Why are we governed under the wing of the West Monster? Why is, a powerful, beautiful and rich land like ours, manacled and bled dry of it's own independence? 

We shouldn't have to depend on the crusts that the Union tries to spare us. We can support ourselves with our own income. We shouldn't have to huff and puff because our minority population can't even impact the government votes. We can run our own government. 

We can live in a country where our people make our choices. Where our people spend our money. Where our opinions matter and our life's are treated fairly. Where we are free.

We were presented with this opportunity of independence on a silver platter. Take it, the world said. Decline it, Westminster argued. Those of us who believed in an independent Scotland fought through campaigns and positivity, good humor and canvasing. Those who believed in the Union fought through fear mongering, desperation and lies. Stay with the Union, they said. You will get this and you will get that, you will have more powers, they said. Don't leave us, they said. If you do, you will loose this and you will loose that and you won't be a part of this and you can't have a share of that.

A few days before the referendum of September 18th 2014, updated polls were released. A landslide Yes Vote of 60% was expected. Sky news said so. The BBC said so. Facebook said so. People in the streets said so. Hills have Ayes climbed mountains high and low all over Scotland and left behind them messages of hope and a brighter future. A glowing YES floated off the shore of Largs. Cars and windows and bins and lampposts were plastered with stickers and Saltires. People wore badges and people were talking. People were voting. The biggest turn-out in Scottish history.

And so I happily sauntered into the polling station that day, to play my part and Vote Yes for an Independent Scotland. I wore my badge and ticked my card. I slid my paper into the box and smiled at the gloomy-looking staff behind the desk. I felt confident and proud. 

I woke up the next morning to Radio 1. 

54% of the Scottish Population had voted no. Somehow, we had lost 6% of the Yes voters within a few days. I call bullshit. Within hours, the world was talking. Russia's Vladimir openly speaks of our votes being rigged. News spreads that ballot boxes were tampered with, votes went missing, Yes cards were put in No piles and fire alarms were raised at Counting Warehouses. They start to call the yes voters the 45, as in the 45%. Some are proud of this while most don't believe that we are only the 45%. Suddenly people are talking about their dinner on facebook and the radio goes back to Kim Kardashian. The media tells the world that Scotland has rejected it's independence. 

The streets are quiet and people are dazed. Work is crap and it should have been an off-day.

Later that night, riots break out in Glasgow. Are the Yes voters angry because we lost? No, it's the No voters. It's also the Scottish Defense League. Hard-core No Voters. A Scottish man holds a Saltire high. He takes a light to the flag and he burns it into thin air. He is Scottish and he burns the flag of our land, the flag of our culture, the flag of our people and the flag that held our hope. The flag that will one day be just another symbol of revolution. Flares are fired into crowds and rowdy alcoholics get violent. A young girl is stabbed here, a young girl is threatened there. The Saltire is ripped from her hands. Police horses are caught in the havoc and someone has been shot. If you voted Yes, you were under threat. They got what they wanted yet they throw you to the ground and beat you for believing in Scotland. Someone pulls onto your side of the road, rolls down the window and gives you the finger for wearing a yes badge. A new kind of Segregation is spreading in Scotland. Put away your Saltire, the police say. You cannot wave that here tonight. 

 

If you're reading this and you're American, Russian, South African, whatever you are... imagine for one moment being told that you cannot fly your own flag in your own country.

They thought it would be over but it will never be over. As they say, the dream will never die. If anything, it's more alive than ever. Whether the votes were rigged or not, a mass population of No Voters have already declared they would vote Yes in another referendum. Westminster have already taken back their promises, rendering them as lies. Alex Salmond has resigned as the first minister of Scotland, declaring his signature for no further referendum void and the possibility of another well on the way. 

An age-related vote count was released. 70% of the No Voters were over the age of 65. That means, that the huge majority of yes voters were of the younger generation. The generation that will still be around to feel the impact of the referendum.

Part two of this blog is well on it's way. For now, here's some photo's from the night of the NO result. Take note of the atmosphere of these photographs and compare it to that of the photo's in part two.

George Square Violence - Not my Photo

George Square Violence - Not my Photo

George Square Violence - Not my Photo

George Square Violence - Not my Photo

George Square Violence - Not my Photos