Believe in Scotland (BiS) has proposed a Scottish Citizens’ Convention. And why not?
It wouldn’t be the first time either here in Scotland or in other small nations, that civic society took up the reins to forge national change.
Scotland, Ireland, Iceland: we’ve already got form!
In Scotland, The Campaign for a Scottish Assembly was launched in 1980, a year after the failed 1979 referendum. The Scottish Constitutional Convention was established in 1989, superseding the role of the Campaign for a Scottish Assembly, having built on the progress in the interim.
The path to devolution | Scottish Parliament WebsiteScottish Parliamenthttps://www.parliament.scot › about › the-path-to-devol...
Winnie Ewing’s spine tingling words “the Scottish Parliament adjourned on the 25th day of March, in the year 1707, is here-by reconvened” finally rang out in 1999. That was almost a twenty year programme of civic and public participation. Selfishly I don’t think I’ve got twenty years, but neither does Scotland. Not with a resurgent Labour government convinced that Independence is off the agenda, giving it free rein to lie about Scotland being at the heart of (U.K.) government.
What we will have will be nothing more than Ian Murray, Governor General, a fig leaf of accountability as they rob us blind of remaining and developing assets so urgently required to prop up Britain.
A Britain lacking in infrastructures across the sectors, lacking in people to do the work.
A Britain where Labour’s political choice ensures children remain in poverty.
A Britain where ‘change’ will become a bye word for a whittling away of public services.
Where high end services with profit potential will be hived off via soft focus privatisation as the public is expected to be grateful for appointments made available and pot holes filled.
So is Ireland: too wee, too poor, too stupid to find a route to political change? I don’t think so. The Convention on the Constitution was established in Ireland in 2012 to discuss proposed Amendments to the Constitution of Ireland. Widely known as the Constitutional Convention, it met for the first time in December 2012 and sat until 31 March 2014. It had 100 members: a chairman; 29 members of the Irish Parliament, four representatives of Northern Ireland’s political parties and 66 citizens of Ireland, randomly selected.
Convention on the ConstitutionCitizens Informationhttps://www.citizensinformation.ie › constitutional-conv...
The Convention was mandated to consider eight specified issues, pre determined, but also selected two ‘others’ to discuss. In turn, the government was not obliged to proceed with any amendment proposals. However, it did commit to respond formally to every recommendation and then debate them.
Most of us will be familiar with at least one outcome, and a stunning one at that: a referendum in May 2015 actually amended the Constitution of Ireland, permitting ‘marriage to be contracted by two persons without distinction as to their sex’. Wow! Some change!
Too wee? Too feart? No way! Political and civic engagement ensured change and progress! Result!
Iceland: what’s not to love about Iceland with their Pots and Pan revolution!
Following the 2008 financial collapse and the deep economic recession that followed, there was a far reaching crisis of trust in public finances and financial institutions. But the crisis in Iceland was not just financial and economic. Oh no! The people of Iceland judged that their politicians and political institutions had failed them. So when the politicians failed, the people took action. They came out and rose up, with widespread protests in the streets of Reykjavík, in the winter of 2008-2009. And they came armed with... Pots and Pans!
Pots and Pans Revolution | Icelandic historyBritannicahttps://www.britannica.com › event › Pots-and-Pans-Rev...
The clamour was only the start. Action followed. The government was ousted from power, along with the governors of the Central Bank and the Financial Surveillance Authority. Result!
Some start! In 2010 the National Forum was then set up in the aftermath of the financial / political crisis of 2008. All adult Icelanders had an equal chance of being chosen to sit and make their voices heard on the Forum, with 950 representatives chosen at random from the national register. At the end of its tenure, the Forum concluded that Iceland needed a new constitution, and national ownership of natural resources! Result!
But even that wasn’t enough! To finish the process a Constitutional Council was established in 2011, outwith the political arena to ensure it could not be accused of being biased to right or left. The Constitutional Council paid regard to the earlier work of the Forum, established an interactive website as part of its engagement with the population, drafted a new constitution and approved it unanimously—no objections, no abstentions. No other constituent assembly has ever managed that.
Four months, not four years, not four decades…four months! There were no splits, no factions . Just open, transparent, accountable working for the whole country watching. 2008 the crisis, 2011 the new constitution! Result!
And the Constitution? Well, it’s preamble isn’t radical, isn’t extreme, but something the majority of us want too!
'We, the people of Iceland, wish to create a just society with equal opportunities for everyone.’
Constitution of IcelandWikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Constitution_of_Iceland
The people of Iceland, Ireland, Denmark, Norway… and who else… wanted a just society?
We did, we do. Scotland still does. How do we get there? Convene a Convention? Why not?
In the coming months Edinwfi hope to bring you comments, insights and updates on Believe in Scotland and The Convention. So why not make a point of catching up with us?
We’ll be here!
Selma Rahman
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