CONGRATULATIONS on the birth of the Sunday National, the voice of Scotland for independent Scots to savour over weekends.

Perhaps it would be apposite to reconsider whether a change of tack would better deliver independence?

We’ve done the referendum thing. Lies were uttered, promises were made and no-one was ever held to account for them. Nonsense was spouted and naturally “conservative” folks became bored and opted for the perceived “safety” of what they knew, rather than wrestle with something new and less certain. A narrow victory for the status quo – SNAFU.

However, this didn’t quell the

desire for independence. As the tissue

of lies and broken promises unravelled, the genie was out of the bottle, and it ain’t going back in for next time, that’s for sure.

Added to this, we now realise the impending certain tribulations from what looks increasingly like a no-deal Brexit fanning the flames of unrest between us and the UK union; the readiness of Westminster to ignore the interests of Scotland, and to retain powers it has no right to under the terms of the Scotland Act pouring more accelerant on the fire.

So, for many, we need to make the break; the question is how to achieve it, how to persuade those who rejected the premise last time and lead them to where we need to be.

What I have just described was me. I voted No last time because there were lots of questions about currency, pensions, the NHS, oil revenues etc which I felt weren’t answered logically and to a high enough standard to satisfy my doubts.

Know what? I was wrong!

What the Common Weal’s well-considered road map to creating our new future as an independent country told me is that desiring and gaining independence and how it is achieved are two different matters, and that what we need to concentrate on is becoming independent first and foremost. All else will be dealt with in time by those we charge to do so on our behalf.

For me the biggest enemy of self-determination is apathy. Many have become disinterested in political matters, having retreated in their minds to only that being important which is in their immediate lives. Anything of a political nature beyond their front door, beyond their immediate community and family, is too tedious and to be avoided.

I now have two key motivations.

First is for my legacy to be to leave the best circumstances I can influence for my children’s future, and their children, to ensure the best prosperity for all Scots going forward. Only by them making their own decisions that affect themselves can this be achieved.

Second is that I possess that which helps shake people out of their apathy, to get them to the polling booth to make the mark that makes the difference. Anger!

I am angry we have been lied to, and promises have been reneged on. I am angry we have been excluded from key decisions about our future direction

and prospects for our children being taken by Westminster with no regard to us. I am angry that our resources have been pillaged and squandered on a succession of Westminster failures. I am angry at how we are being portrayed in Europe and beyond as a xenophobic, insular people not sufficiently confident to meet the world head-on and make our own contribution to the global greater good. I am angry for the future being denied my descendants, my legacy

denied to me.

Most of all I am angry that Scots folk had no say in the original Act of Union 1707, when we were welded to England against their will, despite over 400 years of fiercely fighting for independence, and now we have to go cap in hand to meekly ask for a referendum to redress the iniquity with even nonentities like Jacob Rees-Mogg seemingly in a position to influence denying our fundamental right to self-determination. How humiliated does one have to be to become angry?

Two things occur to me. Let’s not

go cap in hand and “ask” for a referendum. Let’s hold an election

for the Scottish Parliament where candidates are clearly identified as standing on an independence platform

or not, and if a majority for independence is achieved then we arrange that democratically decided independence as a matter of course.

Second, let’s remember during the campaign that 61 colonies have broken away from Westminster rule – none

of them have ever asked to return to

the fold.

Nor would a highly resourced and resourceful Scotland possibly need to.

Note to everyone’s God – please, please deliver our freedom before the Sunday National reaches school age.

Jim Taylor

Edinburgh

FAR too often we have been told in quite a diplomatic tone by some relevant national politicians and senior figures that the Catalans held an “illegal”, and consequently “non-binding” referendum on independence on October 1 2017; the results of which might not be compulsory or valid. Such a beguiling and inaccurate argument proves to be far from the truth.

Those who still give such an overview should be aware that the Catalan President sent – about 30 times – a formal request to the former Spanish President Rajoy to discuss the terms of an agreed referendum on self-determination (a universal right written in the American constitution). The answer was and still is no, the same with the new Socialist President – such an issue is not bound to be discussed since the Spanish constitution regards it as “illegal”.

That is the main reason why the Catalans found it impossible to follow the Scottish path, an agreed referendum on September 18 2014, the results of which are still not clear enough (a few irregularities took place when counting the votes, especially with the postal votes).

The prospects of an indyref2 should be approached from a different perspective (although the Scottish freedom movement was not born from bottom to top, rather the opposite).

Back to indycat, what is left now when dialogue and democracy are devoid of any content? Basically, the head and heart of any strong movement: the people’s voice, the people’s power. Anyone must acknowledge that the Catalan referendum on independence was a stunning success; a masterclass of the universal values of respect, national dignity and above all it expressed a yearning for freedom.

More than two million people of all walks of life passionately experiencing and celebrating such a historical date under the brutal beatings from the Spanish police. The results were loud and clear: Yes to independence; Yes

to the Catalan Republic. However,

in the subsequent weeks and months

more repression took place, resulting

in the Catalan President and four members of his government going

into exile in Brussels. At the same time, nine prominent government representatives were imprisoned without any real reason.

This irrational and unfair Spanish “justice” display was developing in front of the unprecedented and highly disappointing passivity of the European institutions (being rather obsessed with Brexit negotiations).

The PP Spanish Government’s mischievous plan was based on the fatal stabbing of the pro-independence leaders in order to kill the process of independence, but far from that, it

has actually been reinforced and

become more mature, creatively and peacefully resilient.

Sooner or later, hopefully soon, when democracy fails, the unilateral path is the only plausible way to fully implement the values of those good-natured individuals acting properly and accordingly to the people’s mandate.

History is always side by side with the good ones. Catalonia: a historical democratic nation on the verge of

making history.

Marta Vallbona

Glasgow / Barcelona

THE op-ed piece in the New York Times by a disgruntled official within the Trump regime escalates the fight going on between rival factions of the American oligarchy.

Not since Watergate has someone from within the administration sought to bring the president down. The unnamed official basically gave signal that a palace coup is being prepared and it’s only a matter of when not if the defenestration of Trump takes place.

The conspiring of administration officials with members of the intelligence agencies and the military-industrial complex have nothing to do with the broad anger and revulsion millions feel against the vile Trump and his horrendous policies. These include torture of child refugees, gutting social programmes and environmental destruction.

The op-ed explicitly characterises the “opposition” to Trump as being “right-wing”. It praises Trump’s corporate tax-cuts, increased military spending and corporate deregulation as the “bright spots” of his tenure.

The establishment are opposing Trump for not taking a belligerent enough stand against Russia. They also chastise him for putting his own business interests ahead of those of American imperialism.

The op-ed author is trying to prepare the ground for Trump’s removal from office. Or trying to force him to accede to a more aggressive posture against Russia.

The increasingly unhinged Trump sounds and acts more like a mafia boss than a president.

While this was going on, the

executives of Facebook and Twitter

were giving scripted testimony to a US Senate committee. It’s had more than a whiff of McCarthyism. Facebook’s

Sheryl Sandberg even offered users “alternative facts”.

The censorship of social media is being done under the guise of “combatting fake news”. What is actually happening is social media is becoming part of the US national security apparatus. Voices critical of capitalism and war are the real targets of this censorship.

There is nothing on either side of the fight which will be gained by working people.

Alan Hinnrichs

Dundee

THERE’S a chance that today might be a bit like Christmas, or maybe Christmas come early.

You know, what’s inside that special thing? Should I pick it up, and give it a bit of a feel before I dare open it?

If I shoogle it, will it rattle, or when I do open it, will something fall out?

Will I like it? Will it suit me?

Oh, the joys of anticipating the unknown come Sunday morning.

No pressure then Sunday National!

Good luck.

Selma Rahman

Edinburgh