The local elections will be challenging for Alba but are equally a great opportunity for a still fledgling party. The mainstream media blackout imposed in May, will likely continue but the party’s growing in membership and its activist base will be campaigning hard around the country.
Organisation and structure missing for the Scottish Parliament elections is now being established and as Alba strengthens its often at the expense of others and especially the SNP. Others though from all parties and none are rallying. The manifesto will be not just local but national.
For a push for independence and now has never been more required. Many who doubted the need last May or thought that action would be taken by others have been sadly disillusioned. Not only is time of the essence but a radical prospectus is required to motivate a country, where more and more people are being ground down relentlessly. The scale of harm and suffering being imposed makes even Thatcher seem benign.
The damage being done to Scotland’s economy and society is immense. Its a kleptocracy in charge with no shame and little compunction. The harm being done is incalculable and the long term threat immeasurable. Even the NHS once viewed as sacrosanct is being hollowed out. This Tory Government’s also changing civic society and ensuring that if they are ever defeated, which looks unlikely at present, then the ability of an incoming administration to exercise radical change will be stymied.
Meanwhile, the undermining of the Scottish Parliament as a bulwark to those threats continues unabated. As opposition to Brexit was ignored and a hard Brexit imposed, the threat to our democratic structures grows. The rhetoric spouted by the SNP has vanished into thin air and the consequences are felt by business and individuals across the land.
Now that’s compounded by threats to our health and wellbeing. Coronavirus in all its variants is continuing to threaten and will keep doing so as long as 4.7 billion people in the developing world remain unvaccinated, not simply awaiting a booster jag. The UK and USA have been complicit in that with their actions, as the former has been with its failure to address travel restrictions. Yet calls for a Four Nation approach are met with the same contempt and disdain as requests for a S30 order.
So the principal call will be for a galvanisation.