Political parties are never coming to save us, we can actively resist in our everyday lives

~ Paul Haw ~

Even though well-meaning comrades have been trying to encourage me to vote, for tomorrow’s Scottish Parliament election I can no longer partake in the farce that is casting a ballot in a so-called liberal democracy.

I was not brought up or educated in Scotland, but I feel settled here, I do not think I would want to live anywhere else now. There is so much to love about this country: the peace and serenity of the Isle of Iona, the long, sandy beaches of Ayrshire and the fact that in June you can see the sun on the horizon long after midnight; yet, I am not blind to the fact that Scotland has rapidly become a much more difficult place to live in.

Our wages are crap, our housing is rapidly becoming unaffordable, and people are struggling to purchase basic foodstuffs to be able to survive. What are the SNP’s answers to these problems after they have spent 19 years doing nothing to allay them? £10,000 of “government support” for first-time homebuyers with mortgage costs and price caps on basic groceries. One of the greatest Scottish tragedies is that in the space of 45 years, we have gone from being a country where the majority live in social housing to a country where only about a quarter of people do today.

I want a world without property ownership but until we get that world, I want social housing not public money pumped into the Ponzi scheme that is the Scottish housing market.

The price caps sound decent enough in theory, but the Internal Market Act passed by Westminster, heavily regulates the price of groceries across the UK. The SNP acknowledge this in their manifesto and sheepishly beg for the UK government not to block it when they know that is the most likely outcome. It is an outrage that the SNP want to use the hunger of Scots to settle constitutional grievances. What would even be the point of independence if people as cynical as John Swinney were running the show?

What are the Scottish Labour Party’s answers? Transphobic dog whistles in the queerest parts of Glasgow and vague promises of tax cuts. We all know that Labour have not been on the side of the Working Class for an exceedingly long time, but Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, is the most opportunistic character in politics. He was all for transgender rights until it became politically inconvenient, why would I as a gay man want to support a charlatan happy to throw my trans siblings under the bus to gain a few votes?

What are Reform UK’s answers? Tax cuts, fascism and a leader in Lord Malcolm Offord who boasts about owning six houses and just as many boats. I suppose we could squat those homes after the Revolution, though. Reform UK exists to distract the working class with culture wars about refugees and benefit claimants whilst still extracting every ounce of our wealth and labour until we die. The Tories promise much the same and the Liberal Democrats are the harbingers of the austerity that has brought us to the brink of fascism. If they had any decency, they would disband themselves in shame.

The Scottish Greens love to tell us how they got rent controls in Scotland and how they scrapped peak fares on ScotRail. What they neglect to mention is the rent controls have so many exemptions and caveats that they’re essentially worthless and that those in Strathclyde who are elderly or disabled are the ones paying for the fare cut with our concession discount slashed twice in the space of 18 months leaving us with fare increases of over 150% compared to 2023 – so much for “making the rich pay their fair share” as Ross Greer likes to tell us.

Political parties are never coming to save us. Look at the milquetoast reactions of the Democrats to Americans being shot by police in broad daylight. Look at the abject failure of governments of all shades to stop the Israeli ethnostate committing genocide in Gaza. Look at the withdrawn young working-class people in de-industrialised communities, who do not see any hope that things will be better in our atomised world.

This neoliberal hell is not normal. If you go to the booth on 7 May, spoil your ballot . Talk to your neighbours, get to know your community and find people to organise with. Feed people. Educate people. Be Kind. The Revolution is not just about burning palaces to the ground and putting the heads of tyrants on spikes, it is also about actively resisting in everything you do and every interaction you have. We are the arbiters of our own future, and we do not need any gods nor any masters.

Image: Jennifer Patrie CC-BY-SA 2.0