Kenny MacAskill: We need to get back out there with our message

MAYBE it was visiting Rome for the first time in many years, or perhaps it was the article a friend had written about a Christian saint which got me thinking of the old-time religion.

As I said to my friend, the daughter of a leading Scottish socialist, there’s a lot to be said for it both theologically and politically.

Never mind that Jimmy Reid said Scottish socialism had more to do with morality than Marxism, or that many of the Red Clydesiders were stalwarts at church or chapel. Wheatley and Kirkwood were both regular worshippers and Campbell Stephen had even been a United Free Minister.

But politically it’s also essential today both in how we campaign and what we campaign for. Of course, in the new world we live in there’s modern media which we need to use. Generations can be defined and detected even by the platforms they use and follow. Interacting with all is essential, whether that’s Facebook, Twitter, TikTok or whatever.

But newspapers still remain important, and having The National as an outlet was one of the gains from the 2014 campaign. It was always perverse that in Scotland not one major newspaper endorsed the cause, let alone a party which so many believed in – and still do.

But although our world has changed with the new media and smartphones, there’s still a need for face-to-face engagement. There’s nothing more infuriating than trying to contact a call centre or resolve an issue online. Talking to someone directly and in the flesh has a lot to be said for it.

For sure, canvassing and old-fashioned door knocking is harder to do with entry phones or folk working all hours. But it’s still the way to engage with people.

That personal touch is what’s needed far more than a soundbite punted out with an algorithm. And aye, it can be hard and sometimes dispiriting. But it’s what is needed and what worked in 2014, and it can be inspiring when a good response is received, and momentum builds.

That along with street stalls, chatting to friends, family and colleagues is what took the message across the country, and we need to go again. The cause has revived and the push for a breakthrough in 2026 has started.

The old-time religion and evangelising for independence are therefore required and it’s up to all of us in our own daily lives, not just the street canvassing teams. But there’s also a need to take the message out more loudly and visibly, which is through marching. Many stalwarts have never stopped trudging the streets but others have put their feet up for a while.

It’s time, though, for us all to get back out there with our message. It lets folk see that our cause is alive and wanted. It gives a boost to those marching and even to those watching, the few Unionist malcontents aside.

It shows we’re back and our cause is strong. Standing down the troops was a mistake and refusing to attend to speak was an insult that some senior figures should have known better to abjure.

But that’s in the past.

The Alba Party will be supporting All Under One Banner as members have been doing throughout 10 long years.

It’s to be hoped that other parties, as well as those in none, will do likewise. It’s time to be out and about for independence. Not just the run-up to 2014 but since, the combined movement has shown what can be done.

But the old-time religion also matters in the political content of our message. In 2014 it was the hope for a better society, where it would be bairns not bombs that would be the priority.

That motivated people to vote, including any who didn’t go to the ballot box on a regular basis and some even not at all.

The registration campaign which preceded the vote was vital. Signing up people to be eligible to mark their cross was essential as well as inspiring. We need to do that again. The Tories made the right to vote harder to achieve and on spurious grounds.

Electoral fraud was never a major issue, it was simply an excuse to try to limit working-class voting. It’s been ever thus down through centuries, but Labour seem scarcely motivated to address it.

We also know that for several reasons, as poverty has increased, through to the increased challenges just to be able to do so, numbers on the electoral roll have declined.

We must never forget that had turnout in deprived and poorer areas matched that in the most affluent then the result would have been different that first time around.

That again is where it’s the old-time religion. What matters to people and motivates them to vote are issues such as health, housing, jobs and public services.

It’s not gimmicks or fads, nor is it blaming migrants or scapegoating minorities. We need to spell out that life can and should be better. That there’s a better future and a way to achieve it.

I’ve argued before that nothing makes that argument more clearly than an energy rich land where half its people are in fuel poverty. But it’s also much more than that.

Our energy bounty should be seeing businesses opening, jobs being created, wealth being shared and public services improving. Yet none of that is happening but it can.

It’s why the old-time religion of a better and fairer society is what’s needed. Only independence allows for that. We need to take that message out and about on the doors and in our communities. It’s time to go again for our cause.

[This article was first published in The National on 07.04.2025]