On the 12th of May 1999 those of us elected to that Parliament were invited to be sworn in as Members of the Scottish Parliament, to become one of the 129 MSPs elected to represent Scotland.
It was not the proudest day of my life. A sense of perspective and proportion is required when reflecting on such important life events. The birth of my daughter Gabrielle on 30th May 2005 trumps everything.
My marriage to Gail on Saturday June 17th 2000 was epic.
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Listening to Prime Minister John Major humiliatingly announce the scrapping of Thatcher’s poll tax because it was ‘unfair’ and ‘uncollectable’ on March 21st 1991 was extremely satisfying given the three years of my life I had devoted to challenging it.
Being informed in the early hours of Friday morning 8th May, 1992 that I had been elected to serve the people of Pollok on Glasgow City Council was very uplifting. Especially as I was at that time confined to a prison cell in Edinburgh’s Saughton Jail serving a six month sentence for refusing to obey a court order that attempted to prevent me interfering in a poll tax warrant sale against a lone parent from Greenock.
So although it was a proud night/early morning exactly 20 years ago today on 7th May 1999 when it was announced that I had been elected via the more proportional List system to represent the City of Glasgow in the Scottish Parliament it was a proud moment among many others in the charmed life I have been very fortunate to live.
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There was an incredible buzz of excitement within the political party I then led. The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) had only been formed less than a year earlier in late 1998. When I was elected to Glasgow City Council from my prison cell I was elected on behalf of Scottish Militant Labour (SML). In 1995 I was re-elected to my Council seat again as an SML Councillor. Through a long and difficult process of trying to unite various left socialist groups the SSP was formed and I was elected its Convenor. The success in securing election to represent Glasgow in 1999 was built on a decade of anti-poll tax activity and opposition to Tory cuts to local services. My political party allegiance has been to Solidarity since late 2006 https://solidarity.scot/.
The excitement of being elected to the new Scottish Parliament was undermined in the immediate days that followed. Through the post I learned that the swearing in ceremony for the Parliament would take place on the 12th of May and the procedure was explained as follows:
“Under the terms of the Scotland Act 1998, Sections 84(1) and 84(2), a person who is returned as a member of the Scottish Parliament cannot take part in parliamentary proceedings until he or she has taken the oath of allegiance or made a solemn affirmation”.
"I (Member's Name), do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, Her Heirs and Successors, according to Law."
It was 1999. We were on the cusp of a new century dawning. Yet here were instructions for a new, supposedly modern, Parliament that required swearing an oath of allegiance to an out-dated and completely undemocratic Monarch before you could take your seat! I was raging. I resolved to refuse to take that oath. It would be a lie, a sham. I owe no allegiance to an unelected Crown. My allegiance is to the people who elected me and the citizens of Scotland as a whole.
In Westminster refusal to swear the oath of allegiance bars you from taking up your seat. Sinn Fein MPs refuse to do so. However they are not compelled to face re-election within a 3 month period of refusal to swear the oath. In the Scottish Parliament you have only 3 months after election to swear that oath before you are forced to face a by-election.
The morning of 12th May 1999 began well. We were meeting in the Church of Scotland Assembly building as the Scottish Parliament was not yet built. Winnie Ewing of the SNP was the oldest Member to be elected on the 6th of May 1999 and she was accorded the great honour of re-convening the Scottish Parliament for the first time in 292 years.
Opening the session, the 79-year-old said, with pride and aplomb:
"I want to start with the words that I have always wanted either to say or to hear someone else say — the Scottish Parliament, which adjourned on March 25, 1707, is hereby reconvened."
That great start then went downhill when our modern Parliament of 1999 got lost in pathetically archaic tradition and practice with the oath swearing ceremony. Some before me recorded their dissent before swearing to serve the Queen, her Heirs and Successors. Some said they crossed their fingers behind their backs in a symbol of defiance. That wasn’t good enough for me.
Taking inspiration from the brave protest of the black Olympic athletes and medal winners, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who raised their gloved fists in solidarity with their Black Panther brothers and sisters during the medal awarding ceremony in 1968 I decided to raise my fist and issue a short statement of protest:
“Before making the affirmation, I would like to declare that as a democratically elected socialist, my vision for Scotland is of a democratic socialist republic, where the supreme sovereignty lies with the people of Scotland, not with an unelected monarch. I therefore make this affirmation under protest”.
Predictably that evening’s news bulletins and the next day’s tabloid headlines were full of condemnation for my ‘disrespect’ shown to ‘our’ Monarch. I was beneath contempt according to some of the arse-licking Royalists who pollute the media with their pathetic fawning and bowing over an institution which is well past its sell by date. I couldn’t care less how much they attacked me. I resented being compelled to lie in public and that out-dated oath is indeed a symbol of the severe limitations which hamper the Scottish Parliament and define its inability to actually challenge the obscene wealth inequalities, land ownership and power imbalance which scars our country.
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It is absolutely fitting that the 20th anniversary of the re-convening of the Scottish Parliament should coincide with the huge march for independence which brought Glasgow to a standstill for hours on Saturday. Anything upwards from 100,000 to 150,000 assembled to walk a three mile route to express their support for a fully independent country.
On a pro-rata basis that represents well in excess of a million marchers in London yet the mainstream media coverage of the event was woeful and dishonest. Those who hoped the re-convening of the Scottish Parliament and devolving certain powers to it would kill off the demand for independence have been exposed as dreamers.
The re-convened Scottish Parliament is 20 years old this week but it will soon become a proper Parliament that can legislate the removal of nuclear weapons from our shores not just the permitted height of hedges in our housing estates.
A real independent Parliament of Scotland will change nothing on day one yet it will inherit the powers to change everything as soon as it is born. It will no longer be restricted by the withering Westminster limitations which stunt our visions and crush our hopes. We will be free to reach for the stars and raise the standard and quality of life for everyone who chooses to live within our boundaries. And the oath we swear will be to serve the sovereign people in our new nation of citizens not subjects.
Views and opinions, expressed in the article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
