Planet and PEOPLE

Burns’s Scotland was ‘bought and sold for English gold’. Today, England itself is bought and sold, but the gold these days is Russian, Chinese and above all, American. And Scotland’s ‘resources’ are simply part of the deal.

Dark money has been flooding into London, and Westminster (on both sides of the House of Commons) seems to be quite blatant and unrepentant these days about it. (The less said about the ‘Lords’ the better). The UK has even been described as the most corrupt country in the world¹. Whether that’s so or not, it is certainly one of the most hypocritical.

But dark money actually gets everywhere – although here in Scotland, its much more discreet². Of course, we don’t talk about such things – we want to believe in Scotland. However it makes it hard to raise such matters publicly because unless you experience it first hand, the truth is hard to believe. The sad truth is that Scotland too is run entirely for the benefit of private profit, at public expense.

We are all so distracted by the polarisation over independence, or transgenderism, or whatever, that we fail to see that the Scottish government too lied to us about Covid and its response. And with 5G, public utilities, ‘rewilding’, ‘smart’ cities, and no doubt much else besides, Scotland’s policies have mirrored those of Westminster – and those of the World Economic Forum that somehow just appear in various countries that never voted for them. Power supposedly devolved turns out to be power actually retained – by those who fund all ‘sides’ and actually call the tune. The culture of bullying and entitlement, so visible with UK government ministers, runs right through the public service, and that includes in Scotland too.

If you ask an awkward question, no-one is able to reply. If you are not condemned as a ‘conspiracy theorist’ (whatever that is), you’ll get silence, or deflection, or prevarication: nothing is confirmed or denied. No responsibility is accepted for anything. And nothing is ever, ever allowed to stand in the way of corporate profits.

In my experience, taking complaints about public utilities to the relevant industry regulators has proved pointless, as none of them seem to be independent of the industries they are supposed to regulate. Cases escalated to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman have been dismissed out of hand without explanation. Political parties, even the Scottish Government itself, are apparently afraid of the international corporations and their oligarch owners.

After more than three years, I and others continue to suffer abuse by the Highland Council, but whatever we say or do, it continues regardless. We are simply walked over, and there is silence from councillors, MSPs, the Ombudsman. The police say there’s nothing they can do to help. Recently I tried to find a lawyer to take legal action to end this, but not a single lawyer in Scotland it appears will take on such a case.

As this affects our human rights, I have tried to raise this with a variety of bodies including the Law Society and the Human Rights Commission. I am still awaiting a reply.

Well, sadly, it seems we are just expected to put up with oppression and say nothing – that’s just how it is. It reminds me of the expression ‘suck it up, losers’, we heard so much from the Brexiteers after that referendum. For oligarchs and corporations there is no such thing as the public interest. Everything, us included, is seen as mere resources to be exploited for private profit. People should be aware that however smooth the velvet glove, there’s an iron fist inside.

So much for ‘independence’. We may not be too wee, too poor, or too stupid, but our politicians and public servants do seem to be too cowed, servile and afraid to stand up for planet and people against this culture of international criminality. I do not claim that our politicians and public servants are as corrupt as Westminster: we are not important enough. Here it is surely more ‘project fear’, rather than inducement. It reminds me somewhat of the famous Milgram experiment in the US in 1963, where ‘teachers’ were instructed to give electric shocks to ‘students’ who gave wrong answers to questions.

So my first proposal is an Act of the Holyrood Parliament that re-establishes the fundamental principle that all (incorporations as well as real persons) are equal before the law in Scotland; that the people of Scotland are sovereign, and that the needs of planet and people always take precedence over private profit. This needs to be enforceable against the wealthiest and most powerful, so free legal representation must be made available to all of us to enable us to hold the wealthy and powerful, including authorities of all kinds, to account.

More ideas next time.

1https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/roberto-saviano-britain-corrupt-mafia-hay-festival-a7054851.html

2https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/think-tanks-scotland-northern-ireland-who-funds-you/?_kx=iPzYTdBRQMKXJhkqls9PqjXS_Mt3DanV5ufqAAmzjjQ%3D.YjCYwm

(I share these links just to illustrate general points, not to criticise any particular organisation).