When I first saw it I was tempted to respond to Mr Hamilton but on reflection decided not to. I am not claiming I was prescient to foresee either the response he received or the results of the 2010 election more likely it was my natural reticence to get involved in the sharp end of politics. And yet...
Perhaps I was turned off by the mention of an overtly 'militia' style organisation, I could not see myself taking an active part in what could lead to violent struggle or, maybe, that he was borrowing a concept from another place, another time. And yet...
Watching the comments come in gave both hope and despair, why when there are so many intelligent, rational and cogent arguments and clever, passionate and reasonable people for independence do we just sit and blog/tweet/facebook our way to an ineffectual cyber oblivion? Unfortunately some of the comments and it seems responses seem to have misinterpreted the call to the extent it scares Ian (and myself). And yet...
And yet … I cannot seem to get the idea out of my head. So if not minutemen then what?.
A potential answer came from an unexpected source. In a book about the story of why St. Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland was a reminder of something so obvious, so ubiquitous that we had completely missed it...
“...for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”
A call to Charms
Cometh the hour, cometh the man? (and woman) … or hundred? … or hundred thousand? We were originally only looking to start a protest group called 'the one hundred', 100 scots to join in passive protests leading up to the holyrood elections, and beyond if necessary. The first will be in June 2010 in relation to the 'Prime Ministerial' debate debacle.
Originally we only needed a (reliable) 100 but now we want to see onehundreds all over Scotland and beyond, viz;
theHolyroodHundred
100 committed independence MSPs, also theLondonHundred.
theMediaHundred
100 committed independence Journalists ( oh happy day!!!), also theSportingHundred, theEntertainmentHundred
theFaslaneHunded
100 permanently encamped protesters outside faslane till the WMDs are removed
the[your group here]Hundred
100 whatever wherevers
etc. etc. etc..
And so if you are like minded to DO not facebook, to BE not blog, to ACHIEVE not tweet, join us at facebook, blogger or twitter...er...
...alternatively e-mail theonehundred@live.co.uk.
Andrew Boner.
"...not for glory, nor riches, nor honours."
