
RESPECT SCOTTISH SOVEREIGNTY
Wecollect.scot supports Direct Democracy (DD) campaigns through two specific actions, referred to as the Respect Scottish Sovereignty (RSS) project.
DD Write: Based on 50 years’ practical experience of how Direct Democracy (DD) and Decentralised Direct Democracy (DDD) can help resolve national and regional issues, wecollect.scot offers resources to help the wider Scottish public communicate with their MSPs and national and local authorities. DD Write actions are based on solid research in Scotland and internationally. DD Write provides sample texts which can be tailored to alert ScotGov, MSPs and others to, for example, proposed referendums - and to solicit their support to a new form of consensual National Governance.
Our priority campaign is to support enactment of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), an international treaty signed by the UK in 1976 but never enacted into domestic law. Earlier this year, both the UN Human Rights Committee and the Scottish Human Rights Commission strongly and publicly criticised this inaction. ICCPR provides for direct Political Rights of all citizens - such as Popular Initiatives and Referendums - and, for the first time, would give real meaning to the term Popular Sovereignty. There is no reason preventing ScotGov from immediately enacting ICCPR into Scottish legislation just as it has recently done with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This campaign could last until the end of the current Parliament.
Our second DD campaign supports the request for a national referendum on the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill (VWJR), currently at Stage 2 in Holyrood. This campaign can be expected to last until Autumn 2024.
The wecollect.scot website supports these actions by providing authoritative information on how DD / DDD works both globally and in Switzerland, the country which has by far the most practical experience. A contact form is available and readers can ask questions about DD / DDD, but wecollect.scot remains primarily a source of information and educational materials.
DD Vote: In the context of RSS, wecollect.scot cooperates with scotlanddecides.org, whose purpose is to provide a secure, encrypted and fully verifiable independent voting platform, and with dearscotland.substack.com, an independence-supporting blog.
ScotlandDecides provides access to the blockchain-based voting application Voatz, a leader in mobile and online voting used in six countries, including the US, but that’s not its only purpose. The platform isn’t just about independence but rather about self-determination. Scotland Decides can organise votes on local issues or a full referendum at any time and for a fraction of the cost of a conventional referendum - and it’s all legally verifiable. In addition to voting, there are a number of other preparatory functions, such as canvassing and a members’ discussion forum on specific proposals, which are more fully described on the Scotland Decides website.
DearScotland publishes topical articles on Scottish self-determination and supports campaign actions of WeCollect and ScotlandDecides.
Through these two lines of action - DD Write and DD Vote - wecollect.scot and scotlanddecides.org are offering the Scottish People, for the first time, real tools to help DD / DDD - a Scottish model of Popular Sovereignty - become reality.
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