This is a posting from exactly a year ago although the photo I used was from the days of the referendum. I was reminiscing that it was good to be back in the City square speaking once more to people who at that time were still trying to come to terms with the result of the referendum. I remember that day well because it was the day after we had been in the Square collecting for the food bank and like yesterday when we collected in the Murrygate , it was bloody cold.
it was also the weekend before we confronted Jim Murphy in Ardler.
I had heard that he was coming to Dundee on Monday but couldn’t find out when and where he was to be appearing.
As it happened we found out on the Monday Morning and the team hurriedly got some posters together and wrote various messages on them to welcome Murphy to Dundee.
We had a score to settle with him and we were on a mission. The only poster material we had to hand was the signs you see on the Yes Bus in the photo., So we wrote various massages on the back of them. Messages concerning Murphys roll in the Iraq war and how he came to Dundee during the referendum and lied to the Pensioners of Dundee.
On that day when he came to Dundee during the referendum we were at our usual station in the square handing our referendum material and talking to people about the referendum when the Murphy bandwagon rolled in and there was a spontaneous demonstration against Murphy and because we were there with our referendum materials people were coming to our stall and taking posters and demonstrating at the circus that was the Murphy mob.
However it was us who were vilified in the unionist press the following day.
That is all a long story and I wrote about at the time, but that was the background to our decision to demonstrate against Murphy, that Monday.
Again the story of that day has been written about,and the video we took at the time of Murphy going around pre chosen houses talking to conformed labour supporters was viewed 31,000 times in the first three hours of us putting it up and before the dark forces of the Unionist establishment took it down. That in itself is another story along with the harassment we received on social media and various other incidents which necessitated the involvement of the police.
So another day in the battle to move towards independence . Interesting times then and still interesting times ahead, if only the SNP would get their act together and put forward a proper road Map to independence instead of blowing hot and cold on what is after all the very propose of their existence.
Yes we did not have a very good experience with labour during the referendum and the election to Westminster that followed but that is in the past and Labour have been punished by the Scottish people for the disgraceful way they acted.
There is yet an opportunity for them to redeem some semblance of respectability in the eyes of the Scottish people and that is to embrace independence. Form a new Labour Party of Scotland and break away from their London masters.
The SNP and Nicola Sturgeon can play their part in this by extending the olive branch , by imploring the Labour party in Scotland to get on board and join us on our journey as we claim our inalienable right to decide our own destiny , our right to make our own mistakes and to benefit from our bountiful assets.
It is time to think out of the box
Our road.
17 January 2015
Well folks , we had another food bank collection today this time in the city square in Dundee. it was great to be back in the Square. The plan was to have the dragon there but the old girl had a problem with her water works. ( problem seem familiar to some ) so she had to stay at home for a bit of R and R and Jamie was working to get her back on the road.
We had one of the smaller buses there instead. It felt like being back home, being in the Square and we had visits from a lot of old friends some I hadn’t seen since we were on the streets during the referendum campaign. So some good chats today. We also had a visit from Jim McGovern, who stayed for a wee chat, nice to see a politician stop by for a chat, even although he is from the opposition. Funny thing though, there will be a few Dundonians going home and saying that when they were “doon the toon the day” they saw a labour politician asking how the food bank collection and on-going campaigning was going but didn’t notice any SNP politicians about . Ah well I suppose that’s politics today.
I asked Jim if he would like a photo with me in front of the stall but he gracefully declined saying that he remembers getting his fingers burned the last time he posed with me beside the Dragon during the campaign when I surreptitiously produced a YES poster in front of the two of us. The other thing that might have put him off was the message on our banners that proclaims. YES TEAM SCOTLANDS DRAGON FOR INDEPENDENCE FOOD BANK COLLECTION MADE NECCESSARY BACAUSE OF WESTMINSTER POLICIES.
Spoke to a Labour activist who is at the heart of their political campaign who conformed that Jim Murphy is coming to Dundee on Monday but even though I pressed him he would not reveal either the time or the place. It is strange that Murphy is saying in the press that he wants to talk to yes supporters and here is me offering my services only to discover that his whereabouts on Monday are top secret. Well if anyone knows where he is to be and when, can they let me know , just so we can give him a good Dundee welcome as there are a few questions I would like to ask him regarding the nonsense he was spouting the last time he visited Dundee.
So a good day for the food bank collection in conjunction with “Taught By Mohamed Charity” and good to see friends from the campaign but bloody freezing. Time for a quiet pint I think.
Another wee step in our road to independence.
This is our journey
Bob Costello 