Democratic Left Scotland recently received a letter from one of our supporters (please see below). It includes the suggestion is that DLS act as a facilitator of key debates in the run-up to the 2026 election.
It would be good to have your thoughts? DLS brings together people from different parts of the left and progressive campaigns. We attempt to conduct discussion in a respectful fashion, but we are not neutral facilitators.
Individually and collectively we hold strong views. Issues of capacity would also need to be taken into account.
However, are there aspects of what Erik suggests that can be employed in the New Year?
Please let us know your thoughts (click here to contact) and hopefully we can find an approach that allows us to move things forward.
Crucial debates on complex issues - hearing peoples' voices
Concerned about the many complex issues that are foreseen around the proposals on Assisted Dying legislation being presented to both the Westminster and Holyrood parliaments, Dundee Pensioners’ Forum resolved to promote a city wide discussion.
Supported by the School of Business at Dundee University, that discussion took place on 5th December.
Invitations to participate brought a wide range of interested parties to the event which was led by a presentation from Prof. Anne Kerr of the University of Glasgow. Anne Kerr is the Professor of Science and Technology Studies in Glasgow and was the chair of the recent Nuffield Bio Ethics Committee Citizen’s Jury which had just produced their report on Assisted Dying.
Following her presentation there followed over an hour’s discussion in which the invited guests gently and respectfully shared their hopes and fears about the legislation currently beginning its journey at Westminster.
When these views are collated they will be sent to every MSP before they debate a largely similar proposal which the Scottish Parliament plan to debate in the spring of 2025.
Hopefully these views will inform some of that debate.
As a supporter of the Democratic Left it struck me that as a process this kind of gathering to discuss an important topic from a range of perspectives, might contribute hugely to democratic debate in Scotland. Could it be a role that the Democratic Left might perform within the Scottish body politic?
The evidence from the Dundee Pensioners’ debate, and from the English Citizen’s Jury, is that if people are invited to a forum on an issue they perceive to be important, what follows, in a discussion conducted in a spirit of listening to a variety of voices and opinions, is a creative and informative event.
Afterwards, mulling over the Dundee event, I was reminded of ‘The Peoples’ Parliament’ in Jamaica in 1983 and 84. I was there, sort of on loan from the Church of Scotland for 3 years in the turmoil in downtown Kingston, at the time of the so-called ‘Bogus Election’.
Breaking a promise not to call an election until the voters’ roll, which was hopelessly out of date, was revised, the right wing Prime Minister Edward Seaga called an election at very short notice while the leader of the left wing opposition Michael Manley was out of the country in Europe. These were the days before mobile phones and there was hardly enough time for Manley to return to Jamaica before the election day. The Peoples’ National Party, led by Michael Manley decided to boycott the election and instead set up what they called The Peoples’ Parliament, which for the intervening years until a proper fresh election with an updated voters’ roll was called, moved around Jamaica to discuss monthly whatever were the issues before the ‘official’ parliament. Whenever the Peoples’ Parliament met in Kingston, the National Arena was packed out and the alternative voice of the opposition was kept before the people. The Peoples’ Parliament had no legal power but it had the influential power of the people’s voice.
The promotion of genuine political debate, I would suggest, inspires ordinary men and women when they believe their voice will be listened to. Perhaps a number of Citizens’ Jury type events could be organised before the Scottish elections in 2026. Assisted Dying, winter fuel costs, matters about the judiciary and the role of juries, to name just a couple of subjects important to large sections of the population would seem to me to lend themselves to the kind of event this month in Dundee.
Reverend Erik Cramb, Dundee, December 2024