#indieref

[eggmarmalade]

I am filled with relief and gratitude that Scotland have voted no and that the UK will remain as one. That doesn't mean no change is coming, more powers are going to be given to the Scottish Government, but we remain united in a world with far too many borders and barriers. The turnout numbers for the vote have been astounding, the past 24 hours have been a triumph for democracy.

[eggmarmalade]

So tense about the indieref today. My Scottish flatmate has got me so invested. Britain needs to stay together, or Scotland will end up divided against itself, economically screwed and with more inequality and unemployment than ever.

[bydbach]

Heard about the pro indie rally in Cardiff bay on the 13th? Starts at 2 :)

yeah. my office bunkie showed me a link to it at work today. (unfortunately, i can't go because i'm attending a conference elsewhere.)

but honestly, i am really surprised that the yes-campaign isn’t yet totally running with the crap that’s going down in cardiff and newport with the NATO summit this week. things like building that commemoration berlin wall right through the middle of town and around a bloody NORMAN CASTLE from which the national flags have been taken down to be replaced by NATO flags. now if THAT isn’t a sign of imperial war mongering, then i don’t know what. on top of which wales will be officially represented by — wait for it! — prince charles. so, scotland, you have one job!

[ameliacollective]

Never mind the ton of strong arguments as to why our country needs independence...

Can we all just vote yes anyway just to piss off this guy? IMAGINE. I hope somebody films it.

[ameliacollective]

I feel like the picture you posted holding a the sign about voting yes to independence was pretty unfair in that it implied that if I vote No to independence I'm also voting yes to UKIP which is just not true. People can be against racism, misogyny, homophobia and inequality and still believe that we are better as a united nation. Just felt like I wanted to say that.

The implication is not that voting no means endorsing UKIP but that voting yes is in the direction of eradicating this kind of politics from our country. I believe a vote for yes is a rejection of Westminster politics and everything that comes with it, UKIP haven’t just appeared from nowhere. They’re a manifestation of Westminster and a more overt version of the other parties. As a country our political views are much more left wing leading away from ideals like UKIP and towards a fairer society. Only a Yes vote can completely reject what UKIP are selling.

It’s also not me in the picture, I didn’t make the sign, I simply shared the image.And if you are voting no then I implore you to take a look at some of my reasoning against that and see if there's any information worth looking into that may make you change your mind.http://wearethepoisonedapples.tumblr.com/post/85561370978/dude-i-need-to-vote-in-september-but-genuinely-have-no

[ameliacollective]

Dude I need to vote in September but genuinely have no clue what is happening. Help!

Hey!Well I’m a creative and my boyfriend is a politics graduate so I’m going to combine our knowledge/opinions here. We’re both yes voters.Key Points for Yes:1. Scotland as a voting bloc makes no difference to westminster elections.

The westminster electoral system means that the entire election depends on 80 seats that are identified as ‘key marginals’. These are seats that have history of changing their allegiance or hold very small majorities. This means that every party targets these 80 seats, predominantly in the south and predominantly middle class, as they can rely on their strongholds to return their MPs. This means that Scotland is virtually ignored as a nation since we regularly unanimously return Labour MPs which means the Conservatives ignore us since we will never vote them BUT Labour also ignore us since there’s no fear losing Scotland’s votes.

2. Scotland generally seems to have a more left wing society that isn’t represented south.

The centre right holds virtual hegemony over politics at westminster. Every party follows thatcher’s brand of politics and there isn’t a credible alternative that exists at westminster.

Independent Scotland shows promise of a fairer society, a society that cares about it’s poor and works for it’s people. 

3. The welfare state’s being dismantled and we’re powerless to prevent it.

Privatisation of the NHS, high tuition fees, bedroom tax…

4. "The United Kingdom is the fourth most unequal country in the western world.Despite ten years of Labour growth from 1997-2007, it has been reported that inequality and the gap between rich and poor grew and it’s only worsened under the coalition. http://www.scotsman.com/news/gerry-hassan-the-fourth-most-unequal-country-in-the-world-1-2178654”Being independent allows for a better chance to actually address this since it’s proven that neither labour nor the conservatives intend to address it based on past experience

5. Scotland’s consistently voted one of the most prosperous and economically strong nations in the world so we could easily support ourselves

10 key economic facts that show Scotland will be a wealthy independent nation.

6. Self determination. Would you rather your decisions were made in Edinburgh or London.

7. Defence funding and nuclear weapons are two massive things we fund and don’t need/can invest in childcare and tackling inequality.

8. The Better Together Campaign

The Better Together Campaign is a shambles. It’s a nasty campaign without a leg to stand on. It’s scare tactic after scare tactic. They’ve been caught out in their own lies so many times. If we really are better together then why does so much of their campaign involve deception? They’ve also been pretty sexist and patronising with their latest campaign broadcast.

Key Points for No:

1. Currency - scotland won’t be able to use the pound or won’t be able to have a currency union with britain. This was a main point for the no campaign a while but was later openly admitted to be scare mongering. The UK would lose half a billion every year from no currency union so it’s in their interests to maintain it.

2. Together scotland has more say in the EU and the UK.We don’t have any input into westminster’s decision making and our anti-EU attitude hampers discussion. The UN doesn’t really have much clout in world politics since russia and the US permanently obstruct discussion

3. Access to a bigger economy.Huge economies mean little. China is one of the world’s largest economies and some african nations are catching up. These are all nations that have monstrous levels of inequality that isn’t addressed simply by having a large economy. Fact remains that something like 9 of the top 14 nations in the world for GDP per head are small nations

4. Security in an unsafe world as part of the UK.

Who actually is going to attack scotland? No western democracy has been invaded in half a century.

5. A lot of the questions raised by Better Together are things which they don’t ask of themselves. Fear about pensions, welfare, affordabilty and stuff. It’s equally a problem that’s going to be face the UK but without nukes, our own development of renewables and oil, and a smaller army means we’ll be better placed to address it.

My main advice is research it as much as you can and make up your mind for yourself. The Yes campaign is massively under represented in the media so make sure you do your online research. Check out National Collective for some interesting posts, you can follow them on twitter. I think it shows that we really are talented, creative and determined people. This book http://wingsoverscotland.com/weebluebook/ is excellent and it's all figures from Westminster, opinions of unionist politicians, unionist business men.I’m not expecting it to be 100% smooth sailing, there will be huge changes and there will be issues to overcome but there is nothing more important than this. The people making decisions for Scotland need to be the people who live in and care about Scotland. And I am genuinely excited to see what we can do.Most of these points were Daniel’s as after he sent them over i had very little to add, he’s a great person to ask questions and will be posting about it more than me.http://altjckls.tumblr.com/I hope this has helped! :)