Protest as last resort
Our protest centered on the fact that the Scottish Parliament had agreed, in March, to insist on the democratic right to a peaceful protest at the presence in Scotland of the warmongering G8 leaders.
For three months, Jack McConnell [the First Minister] repeatedly refused to implement that decision. He refused to instruct the authorities to present Parliament with details of the protest plan (where it would assemble, march to and rally).
During First Minister's Questions on June 30th, we asked Jack McConnell three times if he would finally uphold the decision of the Parliament. That day was the last sitting day before a two month recess, and he still refused. We felt that we therefore had the right, duty even, to protest. And we did so in a peaceful and largely silent way.
Unprecedented sanctions
A long line of characters has taken part in disruptive protests in recent years - including Tam Dalyell, Alex Salmond, Annabelle Ewing, George Galloway and Mike Watson - and the punishment given was invariably one day's exclusion. On no occasion was a fine handed out.
The Holyrood standing order's only mention of a penalty states that the Presiding Officer may order a maximum two day ban. All the rest of our penalty was made up by our political opponents as they went along.
At Westminster, such a penalty is unheard of. In recent years, protests conducted there received a standard penalty of one day's ban. Full-blown Parliaments like Westminster and the Irish Dail tend to avoid severe punishments, on the grounds they would be seen as undemocratic.
Both sides lose
We are being denied the right to represent the people who voted for us. We are having our wages taken away and our allowances withdrawn which jeopardizes our ability to carry out our political work.
The penalty imposed on us includes a fine of £30,000. Unless it is successfully overturned, we have just four weeks to find £12,000 to cover the wages of our MSPs and, since they pay half back to the party, the wages of party workers.
For the Parliament Standards Committee, the stakes are even higher. Their decision, which it would now appear was taken against the advice of senior civil servants, sets an idiotic precedent. What penalty will they decide to use against future breaches of rule clearly more "severe" than ours?
In addition, it is now apparent that they might have acted ultra vires, beyond their powers. If our court challenge proves this to be the case, the Scottish Parliament will look very foolish indeed.
Public response
There has been widespread disbelief at the sanctions handed down to us.
It is fair to say that not everyone will have supported the direct action. There is often an age gap, with younger people being more likely to be supportive. Yet it is equally fair to say that there has been pretty universal outrage that we were denied any trace of natural justice in the process that took place, and about the severity of the penalty meted out to us.
The vast majority of people in Scotland have sympathy for our position. They feel, as we do, that there has been a stark miscarriage of justice here, that a penalty perhaps should have been imposed but none so draconian as this.
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SarahJane Moll writes:
The day democracy died - or the day it refused to?
Indignation at this decision is being voiced, not only in Scotland but all over the world. 41 Members of the European Parliament pledged their solidarity during the very protests that the MSPs had sought to safeguard. And an online petition, set up shortly afterwards, has gleaned over 1400 signatures and messages of support.
Ironically (a word to be used sparingly!), it seems that the heavier the censorship, the more widespread the publicity. Had the MSPs merely been suspended for a day, most folk would never have heard about it.
And lest we forget: this all began with righteous indignation. It was kindled by growing frustration, not only from the MSPs' but from masses of people across the globe, at leaders who refuse to consider the alternatives. Had peaceful protest not been an option at Gleneagles, the scenes that struck the world's screens could have been far bloodier.
Pictures of the majority of protesters - of all ages, from many backgrounds and nations, joined in harmonious solidarity - went largely unshown. But they were as real as the war in Iraq. Perhaps they were simply too civilised, too reasonable to satisfy the black-and-white caricature so beloved of the mainstream media.
On behalf of those who can't or won't speak up for themselves, it is folk like those protesters who are keeping democracy alive. And it is thanks to folk like Colin Fox, Frances Curran, Rosie Kane and Carolyn Leckie that they can and will. Because somebody has to. Because until there is peace, there can be no silence.
Links
Defend the right to peaceful protest! Online petition in support of the MSPs
SSP begins legal action over ban BBC news report, 14th July 2005
Socialists fight parliament ban Australia's Green Left Weekly, 27th July 2005
Scottish Socialist Voice The SSP's online newspaper (also available in hard copy)
Donations to the Scottish Socialist Appeal Fund can be sent to:
Allison Kane (SSP Party Treasurer), SSP National Office, 70 Stanley Street, Kinning Park, Glasgow, G41 1JB.
Allison can also be contacted on 0141 429 8200 or 0870 752 2505, allison.kane@blueyonder.co.uk
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