{"id":15991,"date":"2015-06-01T19:07:49","date_gmt":"2015-06-01T19:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=15991"},"modified":"2021-02-08T19:21:50","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T19:21:50","slug":"support-the-struggle-for-meaningful-self-determination-in-a-scottish-democratic-and-secular-republic-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/01\/support-the-struggle-for-meaningful-self-determination-in-a-scottish-democratic-and-secular-republic-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Support the struggle for meaningful self-determination in a Scottish Democratic and Secular Republic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <acronym title=\"Republican Communist Network\">RCN<\/acronym> has developed an Immediate Programme for the Movement for Scottish Self-Determination. In no way is this comprehensive. Both as whole, and as individual policies, such a programme needs to be augmented by discussion and debates with others, who can bring their own experiences to bear. These would fit very well into <acronym title=\"Respect, Independence, Socialism and Environmentalism\">RISE<\/acronym>\u2019s Seven Policy Themes, already the subject of discussion at the <acronym title=\"Respect, Independence, Socialism and Environmentalism\">RISE<\/acronym> pre-conference plenaries held throughout Scotland.<\/p>\n<p>Our programme reflects the <acronym title=\"Republican Communist Network\">RCN<\/acronym>\u2019s campaigning experience. We have already raised elements of this within the Radical Independence Campaign, in relation to the wider campaigns <acronym title=\"Radical Independence Campaign\">RIC<\/acronym> has been involved in. We offer this programme in the same spirit to <acronym title=\"Respect, Independence, Socialism and Environmentalism\">RISE<\/acronym>. We also welcome comments on our blog (see back cover).<\/p>\n<h3>Democracy<\/h3>\n<p>While the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> currently only supports the ending of Westminster control over law making in Scotland, and continues to support the wider <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> and the British monarchy, we call for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The break-up of the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> and opposition to the Crown Powers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>The Constitution<\/h3>\n<p>While the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> government says they will enter into negotiations with the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> government, alongside <acronym title=\"Members of the Scottish Parliament\">MSPs<\/acronym> from the Scottish unionist parties, about a constitutional framework for Scotland, we call for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No secret negotiations with the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> state over Scottish self-determination<\/li>\n<li>The election of a Scottish Constituent Assembly to decide its own constitution and relationships with other states<\/li>\n<li>A Scottish Democratic, Social and Secular Republic<\/li>\n<li>A Single Chamber Assembly elected by proportional representation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Local democracy<\/h3>\n<p>The <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> has no proposals to increase local democracy. We call for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The maximum autonomy of Local Authorities, supported by nationally provided resources to ensure equality of service provision<\/li>\n<li>Support for increased communal ownership of land and economic facilities to encourage diversified local development<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>International<\/h3>\n<p>While the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> wants to remain part of <acronym title=\"North Atlantic Treaty Organization\">NATO<\/acronym> and the current unreformed <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym>, we call for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The ending Scottish participation in the British Military High Command<\/li>\n<li>A Break with <acronym title=\"North Atlantic Treaty Organization\">NATO<\/acronym><\/li>\n<li>The closure of Faslane and other nuclear military facilities in Scotland<\/li>\n<li>The return of all Scottish armed forces deployed outside Scotland<\/li>\n<li>The ending of the bureaucratic, bankers and corporate <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym> and the creation of a new democratic federal Europe with entrenched workers\u2019 rights<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Economy<\/h3>\n<p>The <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> calls for lower taxation on corporate business and the retention sterling. We call for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The end the City of London\u2019s control over finance in Scotland<\/li>\n<li>No public liability for private banks<\/li>\n<li>For the creation of a publicly owned bank, with deposits guaranteed<\/li>\n<li>For the provision of banking and Credit Union facilities in publicly owned Post Offices<\/li>\n<li>The Crown Estates to be transferred to public ownership<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Workers\u2019 rights<\/h3>\n<p>While the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> currently call for the abolition of the \u2018bedroom tax\u2019 and a minimum wage tied to the cost of living index, we need to go well beyond this. We call for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The scrapping the Anti-Trade Union Laws \u2013 Workers in all workplaces to have the right to organise, negotiate and have elected representatives on workplace councils<\/li>\n<li>Public welfare provision on the grounds of need<\/li>\n<li>The right to appropriate housing built to proper building standards<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Migrant worker and asylum seeker rights<\/h3>\n<p>Whilst the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> has a better record than the unionist parties, Labour included, in wanting migrant workers in Scotland, their vision is based on meeting business labour requirements and increasing the tax intake to finance an ageing population, not meeting migrant workers and asylum seekers needs. We call for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The end of the criminalization of migrant workers and asylum seekers<\/li>\n<li>The speedy processing of asylum seekers<\/li>\n<li>The closure of Dungavel detention centre<\/li>\n<li>The right of asylum seekers to work<\/li>\n<li>Rapid naturalization procedures for all those wishing to become a citizen of Scotland<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Education<\/h3>\n<p>While the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> remains committed to no fees for university education, we call for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Free educational provision from Nursery to Higher levels<\/li>\n<li>For complete separation between the state and religion<\/li>\n<li>Support for secular education, no state backing for religious schools<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Women\u2019s rights<\/h3>\n<p>While the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> calls for improved nursery provision, we call for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Guaranteed free nursery provision for all those who require it<\/li>\n<li>Equal pay through upward assimilation<\/li>\n<li>Support for a Woman\u2019s Right to Choose<\/li>\n<li>Public provision of Women\u2019s Refuges and Rape Crisis Centres on the grounds of need<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Energy<\/h3>\n<p>The <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> commitment to green energy is good but the policies to achieve this, under a capitalist framework, won\u2019t deliver. We call for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An integrated public provision of energy<\/li>\n<li>Scrap the subsidies and tax breaks for private energy suppliers<\/li>\n<li>For public research and experimental projects to help moved towards less environmentally damaging energy provision<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The RCN has developed an Immediate Programme for the Movement for Scottish Self-Determination. In no way is this comprehensive. Both as whole, and as individual policies, such a programme needs to be augmented by discussion and debates with others, who can bring their own experiences to bear. These would fit very well into RISE\u2019s Seven&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8792],"tags":[264],"class_list":["post-15991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issue-24","tag-author-rcn"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"views":1387,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15991"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16000,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15991\/revisions\/16000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}