Wednesday 1 October 2014

Indy rising - vowing assertiveness

 



A little re-shaping of the message and
what do do about the messenger
The term 'mission creep' just took on a double meaning in the twisted propaganda stakes.

While a pious US/UK, already responsible for historic mass murder and carnage in Iraq, executes its further messianic deliverance, their past exchequer of death Gordon Brown urges a petition for David Cameron to deliver those 'promised new powers' for Scotland.

If irony's long dead in war politics, chutzpah just expired laughing over the indy issue.

The SNP may make useful capital of Brown's grandstanding. But the Yes movement at large should not be diverted by Westminster's spurious 'vow' politics. It was a cynical bribe peddled in desperate panic. This is just the posturing continued. Why indulge that establishment narrative?

And don't forget how a compliant media helped elevate the late-cobbled 'vow' into 'The Vow'.

A vow is a solemn promise, most often made in the spirit of honouring a trust, securing a bond, affirming love. Why give this sordid gesture the same moral space?
 
Even if those 'powers' are ultimately granted they can never substitute for meaningful, transitional instruments, rights that need to be taken and used to pursue real forms of radical independence.

From the 'noble interventionist' selling of more bombing to the hyped Westminster package, we're forever courted by establishment 'solutions' and 'mediations'. And with perpetual war comes the relentless task of hegemonic persuasion, setting the parameters of debate, keeping the 'options' narrowly defined, holding the public in a state of fear and compliance. 

If these past days have been painful for Yes people, they should also be a time for useful reflection and sharper thinking beyond the sham 'devo debate', giving new impetus to define, construct and hold to our own more confident narratives, rather than remain stifled by theirs. We might even take a little vow of assertiveness on that.


                 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

John, I'd love to use some of your material for the book I'm creating on the Independence Referendum - http://ANationDecides.com/ but can't find a way to contact you. Please contact me at mark@ilinedesign.com.

John Hilley said...

Thanks, Mark. The book looks interesting. Will drop you a line.