The panel: Tom Brown, Charlie Jeffery, Hamish Macdonell and Henry McLeish - chaired by Ruth Wishart.
We setup #beyonddevolution feed in case any floating tweeters in the audience -as a quick way of aggregating any comments or quotes that stick out.
Some good quotes to set tone:
'The status Quo is not an option' - Hamish Macdonell
'Biggest challenge over next 10 years in Scotland - is for scots
to go through deep attitude change' - Tom Brown
'80-20% inequality and constitutional questions are 2 main
issues over next 10 yrs' and
we scots have more memories than dreams - Henry McLeish
There were a few interesting 'oil' and 'why can't we be allowed
to be Norway' questions and some great sharp but intelligent rants
from the floor re: focus of discussion being about politicians-club
stuff rather than about 'young' 'unemployment' 'self-harm' and
lacking in ideas and inspiration for the future - which McLeish
agreed with.
But 'the remainder was disappointing; other options than
nationalism and colonialism were crying out to be explored - but
this didn't really happen', was Fiona's take on the discussion.
I was about to get up on my feet to blab about a
'Dreamday Scotland' experiment idea which I suggested 5
years ago when they invited me to talk to a parliament &
social policy gathering (re: young men and self-harm) -
before they embark on a referendum. Once we realised
that no action was forthcoming - a bunch of us went ahead
and piloted 4 dreamdays in over 1 year in 2006 with a wide
variety of folks here in edinburgh anyway to try it out on a
small scale.
And also mention some ideas from these folks about meeting in
gap between the two big conversations that are happening in
Scotland right now:
1. post-institutional grassroots - bottom up:
Q. what can we do for ourselves?
- relationship focus - us & land
- transformational questions
2. institutional - top down:
Q. what can we do for them, the people?
- relationship focus - us & england/UK
- constitution questions
Depending on which conversation you join in - you could be
forgiven for thinking we are living in two completely different
countries. The latter conversation seems to have no future
vision but that of polar opposites: independance versus the
status quo. The former across cities all over Uk & Ireland
- is more noisy and chaotic but buzzing with life, energy and
action - with hope; ie. many different futures possible.
Test this yourself- join in both and spot the difference in your
backyard.
Conclusion - Both conversations are needed (and need to connect)
if Scotland is to have a brave new future - unfortunately, this
discussion was very much of the 'institutional' variety and
therefore very skewed, producing highly attenuated conversation
- devoid of space for dreams or visions or grassroots stories or
the authentic voice (indeed the only one who spoke with
verve - was ridiculed as being 'loud' by the panel - what chance
would anyone from local estates, alternative groups, the poorest,
the alien, the artist - have to speak from their post-institutional
grassroots zone here at this book festival discussion - let alone
shape it?
At the end - these politicians and academics were left with
-silence- the silence of the missing other.
I left with these words in my head:
politics is too important to be left to politicians
politics is using power together to create the world we want -
in Scotland that means both sides of the St. Andrews fault -
institutional and grassroots need each other to achieve this.
AN IDEA Revisited - Dreamday Scotland
All kinds of Dreamdays and dream suppers other ideas are tools
that could help bring folks around tables of food to talk their
dreams and ideas - to imagine what a new Scotland would look
like- and then joint action to fund and help some of these
happen. In every locality; from oilrigs to kids schoolrooms,
studios to political chambers, highland B&Bs to airport terminals,
nurseries to estate shopping centres..
Culminating in One Big dreamday - for a whole variety of media
to collect all these and beam these dreams and stories and action
- that paints a new picture of Scotland that not one group could
ever imagine on its own. We have already done pilots of these -
with surprising action springing from these: it 'works' - it is possible!!
can we do it?
