{"id":46424,"date":"2019-10-10T08:37:28","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T07:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=46424"},"modified":"2019-10-10T08:37:28","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T07:37:28","slug":"scotlands-declaration-of-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2019\/10\/10\/scotlands-declaration-of-independence\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland’s Declaration of Independence"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story will not resonate much in England, and so I share it here. As the Herald<\/a> newspaper in Scotland has noted:<\/p>\n

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Prominent figures from the arts and academia have piled pressure on Nicola Sturgeon ahead of the SNP conference by publishing their own \u201cdeclaration of independence\u201d.<\/p>\n

The 50 signatories - including actor Brian Cox, author Val McDermid and historian Sir Tom Devine - said staying in the Union meant Scots giving up their right to \u201cdecide their own destiny\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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The 12-point declaration set out the \u201cguiding principles\u201d for a new state, including a written constitution, and the expulsion of the Trident nuclear deterrent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The declaration is as follows:<\/p>\n

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\n

The Declaration of Independence Full Document<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is the sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine the form of government best suited to their needs\u00a0(A Claim of Right for Scotland, 1989)<\/p>\n

Guiding principles for a new and better Scotland<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

- It is the sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine the form of government best suited to their needs, now and in the future. In all political deliberations, decisions and actions their interests should be paramount.<\/p>\n

- Scotland should be an open and democratic society in which no individual is excluded, oppressed or discriminated against on account of their race, colour, faith, origin or place of birth, physical or mental capacity, sex, sexuality, gender or language.<\/p>\n

- Scotland should have a written constitution which clearly lays out the rights of its citizens, the country\u2019s system of government and the relationships that exist between government, its instruments and powers and the rights of individual citizens.<\/p>\n

- Scotland should take its place as an independent country on the world stage, free to join international organisations and alliances for purposes of trade and commerce, and for the protection and care of the planet\u2019s natural environment, without which the human race cannot survive.<\/p>\n

- Scotland should uphold internationally acknowledged values of non-aggression and self-defence, and should refuse to maintain, stock or use, for itself or on behalf of any other power or government, chemical, biological or nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction.<\/p>\n

- There should be clear separation of the powers of the Scottish parliament and government (the executive). The judiciary should be completely independent of government.<\/p>\n

- Independence will provide an opportunity to review and, where necessary, change the systems of both national and local government, in order to make them more accountable to the people and more beneficial to their needs.<\/p>\n

- Ownership of land, property and natural resources should be subject to open and democratic scrutiny. The ability of communities, both rural and urban, to own the land in and on which they exist should be enhanced and extended. There should be total transparency in the way property in Scotland is bought, sold or possessed.<\/p>\n

- Freedom of speech and action, and the freedom to work, create, buy, sell and do business should adhere to principles of environmental and communal sustainability and responsibility. Profit and economic growth should not be pursued at the expense of the wellbeing of the people or their habitat or that of other people or nations.<\/p>\n

- We affirm the values of care, kindness, neighbourliness and generosity of spirit in all our dealings. Such values are the foundation stones of a fair, free and open society where all citizens have the opportunities to lead the best, most fulfilling lives they can.<\/p>\n

- It is our belief that the best option now open to the Scottish people is for Scotland to become an independent country.<\/p>\n

- The alternative is to accept that Scotland\u2019s fate would remain in the hands of others and that the Scottish people would relinquish their right to decide their own destiny.<\/p>\n

Signatories:\u00a0Iain Anderson, broadcaster;\u00a0Peter Arnott, playwright;\u00a0Neal Ascherson, journalist and writer;\u00a0Aly Bain, musician;\u00a0Margaret Bennett, folklorist and singer;\u00a0Robert Black QC, Professor Emeritus of Scots Law;\u00a0Christine Borland, visual artist;\u00a0Stuart Braithwaite, musician;\u00a0Calum Colvin, visual artist;\u00a0Roddy Buchanan, visual artist;\u00a0Stuart Cosgrove, writer and broadcaster;\u00a0Brian Cox, actor;\u00a0Robert Crawford, writer;\u00a0Sir Tom Devine, Professor Emeritus of Scottish History;\u00a0Lari Don, writer;\u00a0Jenni Fagan, writer;\u00a0Rt. Rev. Richard Holloway, writer and broadcaster;\u00a0Robert Hodgens, musician;\u00a0Kathleen Jamie, poet and writer;\u00a0Jamie Jauncey, writer;\u00a0A.L. Kennedy, writer;\u00a0Liz Lochhead, poet, playwright, former Makar;\u00a0Val McDermid, writer;\u00a0Jamie MacDougall, singer and broadcaster;\u00a0Lorraine Mackintosh, actor and singer;\u00a0Dr. Dolina Maclennan, writer and broadcaster;\u00a0Aonghas MacNeacail, poet and broadcaster;\u00a0Dr. Ann Matheson, literary historian;\u00a0Karen Matheson, singer;\u00a0Alexander Moffat, artist;\u00a0Jemma Neville, author;\u00a0Andrew O\u2019Hagan, writer;\u00a0Aidan O\u2019Rourke, musician and composer;\u00a0Don Paterson, poet;\u00a0Karine Polwart, musician and writer;\u00a0Eddi Reader, singer;\u00a0Prof. Alan Riach, poet and academic;\u00a0James Robertson, writer;\u00a0Donald Shaw, musician, composer and producer;\u00a0Ross Sinclair, visual artist;\u00a0Donald Smith, storyteller;\u00a0Elaine C. Smith, actor;\u00a0Alan Spence, writer;\u00a0Will Storrar, minister and academic;\u00a0Gerda Stevenson, writer and actor;\u00a0Sheena Wellington, singer;\u00a0Prof. Gary West, musician and broadcaster;\u00a0Ruth Wishart, journalist and broadcaster.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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CommonWeal added this note:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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James Robertson, one of the originators of the Declaration: \"We recognise that the direction of travel for the UK seems to be in the complete opposite direction from the kind of society that we want to create and live in.\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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I would agree with that. And it is precisely because there are those who still think it possible that a nation can be a force for good that this move is worth noting south of the border as well as north of it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story will not resonate much in England, and so I share it here. As the Herald newspaper in Scotland has noted: Prominent figures from
Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-scotland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}