It defines two crossroads. The first faced National Collective when threatened with court action for doing no more than telling the truth when the press refused to do its job. The second crossroad faces us all on 18 September. We can give in to Project Fear, vote No, and let someone else define Scotland's future. Or, we can vote Yes and recover the power to set our own course. It really is that simple.
It's time for Yes.
Original by Ross Colquhoun, National Collective
We were confused. Nobody in the press seemed to be expressing any concern over Taylor’s background, despite a series of press reports linking Vitol Group, the world’s largest oil trading company, which Taylor serves as CEO, to several ‘scandals’. So we collated a series of stories already in the public domain, and in doing so challenged Better Together over the source of much of their funding.
The reports we raised were serious, and we did not publish them brazenly or without due care. Taylor’s company had been accused of giving $1 million to a Serbian Paramilitary leader, of bribing Saddam Hussein’s government and of tax avoidance, amongst others. All of these stories had been sourced and had been in the public domain for several years. We simply, in response to Taylor’s piece in the Sunday Herald, compiled them and asked Better Together to respond.
Within days, Mr. Taylor’s lawyers sent us legal threats accusing both Michael Gray and myself of defamation. We were informed that they would pursue substantial damages from us personally if we did not remove the article immediately, publish an apology and agree to never to publish the material again.
We took this threat seriously, of course. Ian Taylor is a rich and powerful man and the courts are often a rich man’s playground. Out of fear of provoking further action, we were forced to become silent. We didn’t tell our closest friends and family what was happening. We sought legal advice. We went through the original article with a fine tooth comb to check if, in fact, there was any basis in the claim of defamation. We couldn’t find any. So a week later we held a press conference at Nelson Mandela Square in Glasgow to announce that not only would we not be backing down and removing the article, we would be investigating every avenue of their business for further evidence of ‘dodgy deals’.
National Collective was now on the mainstream media’s radar.
This year we have a question that will define our generation. We can be the Scotland who chose to grasp the opportunity to create a better society, or the Scotland who put fear before hope.
Scotland’s Referendum is a fork in the road, it’s about the nation we are and the nation we want to be.
Would you rather live in a country that welcomes immigrants or detains them?
Would you rather live in a country with a strong welfare state at the heart of its society or a crumbling welfare state facing privatisation?
Would you rather live in a country that is a positive influence on the international community or a warmongering dwindling empire?
Would you rather live in a country that advocates peace in the international community or stores nuclear weapons in our communities?
Would you rather live in country where we can tackle child poverty head on or where ⅕ children live in poverty?
Would you rather live in a country where you actually get the government that you voted for or one where we are perpetually given governments that don’t reflect our demands?
It really is that simple.
For the first time, Scotland’s future really is in your hands on September 18th 2014. Vote Yes because it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us to build a better Scotland.
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