We must take to the streets and raise our voices for the world

The National

17 hours ago

More than 70 medics killed in 50 days. Entire health systems levelled. Children maimed, entire families erased and infrastructure bombed into dust, the illegal detention of medics and individuals, the torturing of these Palestinians and murder at the hands of the IDF when collecting food, the land grab in the West Bank!
These are not unfortunate by-products of war – they are part of a deliberate and systematic campaign to destroy a people's ability to survive. And our government stands idly by, shielding Israel diplomatically and supplying weapons – including F-35 components – used to carry out this destruction.
The UK High Court has now refused, in a legally weak decision, to halt arms exports, effectively greenlighting continued sales while Palestinians are slaughtered. And while brave UN officials speak out, Labour and Tory front benches compete in cowardice, too spineless to condemn crimes against humanity when they fear political fallout.
Even the right to speak about Palestine is under attack. The proscription of Palestinian movements, the labelling of all resistance as terrorism, the censorship and threats faced by those who speak out – all form part of a growing war on free expression and dissent in the UK. The 100+ BBC journalists who have criticised the BBC for its spineless reporting on the Gaza Genocide speaks volumes
The Arab world offers handwringing and silence. The US under Trump, and formerly Biden, has aided and encouraged Israel's brutality. But the Scottish people must speak with moral clarity.
We say this clearly: You do not govern in our name.
Scotland did not vote for the arming of an apartheid state. Scotland did not consent to being complicit in genocide. We demand an end to all arms exports to Israel, an end to diplomatic protection, and a public reckoning for those who have allowed this mass killing to continue unchallenged and that includes UK politicians!
If Westminster will not act, then Scotland must. We must raise our voices, take to the streets and tell the world – we are not with them. Not now. Not ever.
Enough. Not in our name.
Peter Macari
Aberdeen
I AM glad that Stan Grodynski took the time to read and even re-read my recent long letter on the subject of the many policy promises made by and sadly broken by our SNP Scottish Government.
In the minds of the public, these broken promises are often more relevant than the constant further promises of improvement, after 18 years in government, and the almost endless list of 'free' stuff which dominate the SNP's PR output these days.
Stan has even invented a new political language – 'seemingly misleading, from reference to factual sources' is a phrase I have certainly never heard before.
I do, however, agree with Stan that with Alex Salmond's passing, Scotland lost a powerful voice that his successors, both in the SNP and Alba parties, as well as in the wider independence movement, have struggled to emulate.
I was initially attracted to Stan's suggestion that the SNP should separate the roles of first minister from 'someone else to step up and take the lead in campaigning for independence'.
However, that says quite a lot about the ability of the current first minister and his apparent failure to lead the party as well as the Parliament.
A reasonable person might expect the SNP's deputy leader to then lead the independence campaign but I suspect that more than 90% of the Scottish electorate, and even a fair number of SNP members, have no idea who that person actually is.
I have to admire Stan's considerable efforts to defend both the SNP and the Scottish Government – especially as he is not even a member of the party. His volume of correspondence in this letters page as well as that of several other well-known newspapers is to his credit. It is a shame that the SNP and its considerable army of politicians, well-paid special advisers and spin doctors fail to do the same.
The SNP have until May 2026 (appropriately, nine months) to conceive, gestate and produce a strategy which they can then ask the electorate to vote on. That strategy must include a viable route to independence. If the manifesto for 2026 to 2031 is restricted to a list of past achievements, vague promises of vast pots of independence jam tomorrow and better management of devolution, many potential SNP supporters will be asking: just what is the point – and who can blame them.
PS. The SNP's current deputy leader is Keith Brown MSP. He has been in that post since June 8, 2018 – seven long years!
John Baird
Largs
THE recent deliberations asked of the Supreme Court by the SNP were narrowly focused on the jurisdictional extent of the Scotland Act so far as relates to the power of the Scottish Government to hold a referendum.
More to the point is that question so far as relates to the Treaty of Union. The Treaty of Union predates the Scotland Act.
Scotland's jurisdiction outwith the ambit of the Scotland Act was not touched on and therefore remains. That would include the powers to hold a referendum.
Calum I Duncan
via email