Calton Hill : A Declaration Of Independence
Calton Hill, Edinburgh, October 9th 2004
The red flag planked in the barrel of the canon that greets you at the top of Calton Hill, Edinburgh, said it all. Here was a declaration of independence that was socialist red, in tooth and claw.
Over 1000 people gathered to sign the Declaration of Calton Hill, written with the assistance of Alasdair Gray and translated into Urdu and Gaelic, which called for a free nation, based on the principles of equality, in which the people are sovereign.
SSP MSP Colin Fox hosted the event and was joined on stage by Ian Hamilton QC, who helped steal back the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey during the 1950s, and Campbell Martin, formerly of the SNP - a party whose leadership was giving it bended knee at Holyrood at the time, arguing the indefensible case for an independent Scotland saddled with a hereditary monarch appointed on earth, we hear, by God himself.
Edwin Morgan, the national poet, whose poem urging MSPs to do their jobs a whole lot better was read out in Holyrood, was on Calton Hill in spirit, having thrown in his lot with the republicans a few days before. Craig and Charlie Reid, aka The Proclaimers, also leant their support, as did Peter Mullen, Jim Kelman, Tony Roper, Iain Banks, Irvine Welsh and Bill Paterson.
Rosie Kane read the Declaration in full, then held up her palm on which were written the words, "Citizen not Subject".
Adam Tomkins, Professor of constitutional law at Glasgow University, delivered a damning indictment of the monarchy, saying it conferred powers on the government "which Parliament has never voted to confer..., powers in respect of which the government cannot be sued in court or judicially reviewed, and powers that Parliament cannot scrutinise."
These powers, he continued, "to ban civil servants from joining trade unions, to control evidence that can be used to lock people up, and to wage war, even a war which according to the Secretary General of the UN is contrary to international law - all of these powers are available to the British government only because of the Crown."
He concluded that a constitutional monarchy is a contradiction in terms.
"You're either a monarchist or you're a democrat. You can't be both."
There was no doubting what the people on Calton Hill were, as actor Tam Dean Burn, dressed as her Maj/Marge Simpson in sky-high blue wig, tartan tights and a Sex Pistols T-shirt, denounced the crowd for not being servile enough.
"I've had to give up my Saturday, which I usually spend at the bookies, and then I found my beloved Glasgow Rangers weren't even playing today."
Tommy Sheridan - who blasted the stage-managed extravaganza at Holyrood, paid for with the public purse - thanked everyone who came out to Calton Hill.
"We can now reveal that thanks to the fantastic response, the intention is to make this an annual event organised by a broad range of organisations and individuals.
"The Calton Hill gathering shows the possibility of a broad based movement for a Scottish Republic."