Why I, a Portuguese-born guy living in Scotland support Scottish independence, in 10 very simple, condensed arguments. A thread:
1) I, like the majority of people across the world, was born in an independent country. It is by no means perfect nor the panacea to end all ills, but it is the means by which the people living in a country, born there or not, can truly shape their society in a democratic way.
2) Scotland and England have increasingly different, contradictory ways of perceiving the world, and their place in it. If England has been pulled to the right, through the allure of nostalgia, Scotland has remained to the left and European. They need to follow separate paths.
3) Scotland is rich enough. And no, I'm not talking about the oil. Scotland is rich in its educated populace, in various natural resources, in innovative technologies and enterprises that are helping to change the world of today, and also that of tomorrow.
4) Scotland can lead the world in this green revolution needed to combat climate change. This country on the edge of Europe holds 25% of the capacity for renewable energies of the whole EU. Let's tap into that potential and transition away from the oil, in order to prosper ahead.
5) Scotland is big enough. Not only does it have access to an enormous maritime economic area, it is also a country with a small population, w/ wide expanses of land that can offer sustainable, self-sufficient ways of life. Scotland is big enough for natives and newcomers alike.
6) Scotland deserves a better democracy. For decades, this country has rejected the policies of the Conservative party, only to be outnumbered in Westminster and have those policies forced upon us. We deserve to get the governments we actually elect, accountable to us.
7) There is no future in mutually-assured destruction. There is no role for weapons of mass destruction, in war nor diplomacy. I want a nuclear free Scotland, with no nuclear submarines lurking in the waters only a few miles away from Glasgow, our most populated urban centre.
8) I want the Hostile Environment to get in the sea. Because I know, from my own experience as an immigrant here, that Scotland knows better. This country has seen its people go abroad, for centuries, many times in a forced manner. We welcome the stranger and offer them kindness.
9) Scotland is smart enough. With our tuition-free universities, with the best-performing NHS across these isles, Scotland has the qualities needed to attract the best people and give everyone the skills to lead in their respective fields, and to work at an international level.
10) Scotland is not perfect, and it has many problems. That's precisely why we need independence - because there's civic and political will, here, to tackle those problems, whereas Westminster will only keep adding to them through Brexit / austerity.
Scotland needs independence.
Scotland needs independence.
