A little blog with a few writers supporting an Independent Scotland
It’s time to cowboy-up, put on your superhero costume and go vote! Remember: Apathy is the Enemy.
Goodluck to SNP and Plaid Cymru today. Best wishes fae @defiaye
I’ll be covering the results over on Twitter @defiaye and (for the first time ever) on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Defiaye-1737488263146966/
They’ll be summary here on the blog, in the morning, as well once all the results are in xx
Last week I was curious about the abuse that yes campaigner / pro-indy people received in our free and democratic country. So I asked the Twitterworld to DM me or @ me their stories so that we could openly look at it head on.
Nothing could prepare me for the volume (50+ stories within a few hours) or the nature of some of the stories ranging from vehicle damage to physical assaults.
MSM media never covers these stories because they disrupt the narrative of evil cybernats. But these stories are not from the internet – they are from the real world.
Whilst attending a Gaelic band gig in the Highlands, a gentleman suffering from spondylitis was wearing a Yes T-shirt. He was lured into a situation by younger men claiming to all be Yes supporters. Once they had him they assaulted him by punching him from behind.
“I wore my Yes t-shirt and was enjoying myself in the crowd when two lads tapped on my shoulder. They said “hey are you yes?” to which I replied that I was. They replied “Good, we are too”. I shook their hands and we had a smile between us all. They had had a few drinks and were much younger than me so I was chuffed they reached out. I turned around and less than 30 seconds later I felt a punch in the middle of my back. A third guy was standing there with his girlfriend and he shouted at me aggressively “I’m voting NO”. I just replied “Good for you in a dismissive tone but waited the rest of the evening for the rest of the attack. It never materialised but my wife was very upset as I have ankylosing spondylitis (arthritis in my spine)”
This was not the only physical assault merely an example of ten I received within hours of making the request.
“I took a punch from 2 unionist thugs” – became common in my DM box. Independence Supporter being physically assaulted outside and, in one case, at someone’s own house.
In another story “A son & a friend were told to leave Edinburgh Castle esplanade for having a Yes Saltire as it was “political”
Even in public locations a Saltire was viewed as being inappropriate…in Scotland, it’s point of origin.
A lot of the stories involved serious damage to vehicles from slashed tyres to really grim (downright disgusting)-
“My car was smeared with dog s**te”
However some car incidents were far more sinister and potentially dangerous to life.
“I had a couple of yobs draw up beside my car at lights and slam their driver’s side door into my passenger door a couple of times shouting ‘Nazi’s’ before they drove off. Quite scary at the time”
And what’s worse most of the stories were not from the past. Most were from more recent events for people supporting independence parties;
“wife’s motor was scratched outside the SNP hub in Bathgate”
“wiper and wing mirror smashed and sides and bonnet keyed”
People’s houses also had bricks and rocks thrown at their homes.
“Was in the sitting room and the next thing a big thud. A stone cracked the window”
Although cars were the heaviest causalities – slashed tyres, dented bonnets, ripped off number plates, smashed windows, broken window screen wipers and key slashes – they are swiftly followed by physical assaults and vandalism to properties.
The victims of these crimes responded to different degrees. Some responded by removing their pro-indy materials or party stickers to save themselves from future abuse . Other people decided to put even more stickers or posters up and became even more resolute in their opinions.
I was the former. In my street my bin was set on fire and pushed over my front door so I took everything down to avoid more abuse however it did solidify my vote which would be forever pro-indy.
People have seen their banners and placards go missing and some people have suffered abuse and damage to properties over long periods of times (particular with vehicle sabotage) running into months.
I asked a few people; If you had known what would happen – would you do it again? And most of them said something akin to “Hell Yeah!” which was good to hear but it should not be like this – people having to risk their wellbeing.
Another consistency was that the Police did not seem to do much about it (I asked people who had been the victims of the most serious crimes). Few people reported the abuse as crimes, but the ones that did felt that nothing was really done.
People should be able to express their views in a democratic country without fear from or actual physical assault and damage to properties. It is one thing to have abuse over Twitter, a completely different story to have it at your front door.
It is very difficult on Twitter to fully express how I, personally, feel about the entire tax credit issue. My cold attitude towards the woman who wept on TV “I voted Conservative for my kids” has led to criticism that I, myself, are in some way inhumane and compassionless. Did I back down? Fold? Apologise? Did I Hell.
And let me express this in its full non-140 character limit form – I will NEVER apologise for feeling angry that someone voted Conservative for ‘their’ kids by throwing OTHER peoples’ kids and disabled/sick people under the bus.
If that makes me a bad person – I am a 100% ok with that. My soul (core or nature – whichever words you want to use) will continue without so much as a flicker of the type of corruption that plagues the UK emanating from the House of Commons.
Conservatives have murdered thousands of disabled people[1] and destroyed the independent living fund[2]. They are now going after the Work Related Activity benefits[3] and the PIP itself is already a degrading[4] unfair and disgusting process for people to be submitted to (with one woman with Crohns disease told to work in a nappy and their own staff admitting they are forced to lie and trick claimants[5]).
I have friends that are now dead in (have died in the past 2 years). And they died for NOTHING but the greed of others. So if this ‘apathy of society’ has become my ‘Red Line’ then so be it.
I also don’t feel the excuse of ‘I didn’t know’ is actually valid anymore.
Even if you managed to miss every single article, news report, protest and campaign groups from all over Scotland indeed in your own town – nearly EVERY newspaper has reported that a Coroner Mary Hassell (who will most likely now be subjected to Project Smear) put down the DWP as a major factor in the ‘cause of death’ on someone’s (Mr A’s) death certificate[6].
And that’s just the recent one. There are archives FULL of articles from all over the media world[7].
So whilst I am against MSM coverage in general and believe the BBC is nothing more than a propaganda mouthpiece for Westminster – they are actually not entirely responsible for the ‘black-out’ of breaches of BASIC Human Rights.
The UK is under UN investigation for Human Rights abuses of the disabled. That has not magically appeared overnight (although is long overdue)[8]
An unpopular side-theory is that we, the people, are part of the problem. The ‘black out’ on social cleansing (whether you are poor, on tax credits or disabled or sick) is also coming from ourselves.
Many times our twitter account has been told “You’re very depressing today” and as many times we have politely paraphrased the sentence “I do NOT care if it depresses you – this is REALITY”.
The quickest (although slightly inaccurate) way of demonstrating this theory within your own life is to go onto Twitter. Send out 2 tweets. One of those tweets should be insanely happy (if you can slide a unicorn into it – you get double points) and cheerful. The other tweet – the hard cold reality of life in the UK, preferably something that outrages you and that you think the entire world should sit up and take notice of.
My own experiences over the past five years (and you’ll see this on Facebook or any social media) is that people will favourite, retweet or ‘Like’ the happy one.
Because the current working Theories are:–
Theory 1. I didn’t Retweet you (and yes – I have asked) because it depresses ME (take a moment to admire that excuse because it is very similar to theory 2)
Theory 2. I don’t care because it does not affect ME.
So if I’m criticising the reaction to working tax credits cuts – does that mean I agree with said cuts?
My argument is that if we, the UK, had STOPPED the UK Government from coming for the most SEVERELY disabled people in society (by erasing the ILF: Independent Living Fund), or stopped them from murdering thousands of sick / disabled people through the DWP & ATOs-soon-to-be-Maximus, if we had stopped them from attacking our communities over the last FIVE YEARS – then they would have not been able to come after people on working tax credits.
A very hard thing to tweet in 140 characters- If people fought even HALF as hard for disabled people as they fought for Tax Credits – UK would have NEVER reached this stage in 1st place.
I am not defeatist either. I do not accept “What’s done is done”. As long as there is Time – what was done can be undone. We cannot resurrect the dead or rewrite the past (no matter how hard the UK Government tries) but we can stop this from continuing. But in order to stop it – we must ALL start discussing it. If we cannot open up a dialogue involving everyone – then how can we challenge Westminster?
And Yes. I am aware the internet and twittersphere is saturated with paraphrases of this original poem (by Pastor Martin Niemöller):-
Into poems such as:-
These poems are relevant.
Make no mistake here. This is social cleansing and the UK Government is attacking its own people.
So if you get angry or I get angry about the current UK political system and go ‘off on one’ online or in the real-world – GOOD. We should all be angry and be able to express ourselves within the realms of free speech.
And no – I will not apologise about my ‘ inhumane and compassionless’ ‘cold attitude’. Because I would rather hold my ground on this issue than compromise my heart.
—————————————————
[1] http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2015/10/05/will-david-cameron-explain-the-dwp-deaths-to-the-conservative-conference/
[2] http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/disabled-man-lost-half-care-6370509
[3] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33347511
[4] http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/atos-victims-call-immediate-halt-3171692
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/01/shadow-state-dehumanising-degrading-treatment-disabled
[5] https://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/what-you-need-to-know-about-atos-assessments/
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/nurse-makes-heartfelt-apology-after-1340838
[6] http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/coroners-ground-breaking-verdict-suicide-was-triggered-by-fit-for-work-test/
[7] http://bravemany.com/archive-1/ (Archive #1 is now online from the original blog – in reality it is number is 31). We have #62 archives to date although the topics are sectioned into different aspects. Archive 31 (or #1 on bravemany) is probably the most valid for the current run of articles on bravemany 28/10/15)
[8] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/un-to-investigate-uk-over-human-rights-abuses-against-disabled-people-caused-by-welfare-reform-10478536.html