The Green Brigade And A Problem With The Truth

So, according to some The Green Brigade have been involved in another “controversial incident” this weekend.

The nature of the controversy?

A banner at the match on Sunday, calling Scotland a “police state” and saying that this state of affairs has been brought to us by the SNP.

I voted for that party at the last Scottish parliament election, as did a lot of other Celtic supporters, and I can say without equivocation that a lot of people have a problem with what the Green Brigade did for just one reason; they told the pure and simple truth and the truth occassionally hurts.

I’m not a single issue voter, so I didn’t consider the criminal justice side of the SNP manifesto in isolation. I voted for them in spite of those proposals, but be under no illusions about what I thought of the proposals themselves.

I think large parts of the SNP’s criminal justice agenda are dangerous – and I make no apology for using that word.

But governments of every stripe do stuff that makes me question the people involved.

Both Labour and the Tories passed draconian anti-terror legislation and free speech is under attack in various bills going through the Commons right now.

This doesn’t let the SNP off the hook.

If this is what their vision of Scotland will look like they can keep it.

I don’t disagree with everything in their criminal justice platform, by the way.

I think the idea of centralising policing with Police Scotland might yet prove to be a good one, for example, in certain circumstances.

I understand the concerns some people have, but this might not be a bad thing overall.

For one thing (and this is a subject I’m researching thoroughly for a writing project) a centralised police force would be hugely helpful in a natural disaster or high-level act of terrorism; it would cut about five layers of bureaucracy out of the mix and make organising assistance to the affected area a much easier process.

But the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act criminalises political expression, and that is a step too far for any government to make. On top of that, they’ve discussed abolishing jury trials in certain cases and, most worryingly, they’ve said they want to revisit their dropped proposal for a change in the law that would abolish the need for corroboration in certain criminal cases … which will be an outright scandal and something that may very well influence how I intend to vote in 2016.

Does that make modern Scotland a police state?

What, a centralised police force, prosecuting people for their politics, no right to a jury, mandatory sentencing, stop and search and a place where people can be convicted on hearsay and no supporting evidence?

I’d say so, wouldn’t you?

At the very least, we’re one of the most authoritarian nations in Western Europe, and that’s a goddamned outrage.

And as some of this legislation specifically affects football fans, then the Green Brigade are doing us all a big favour in trying to open this debate up to a wider audience.

As usual, a lot of people are focussed on who is sending the message rather than on what the message is.

This is being labelled a “controversial” act, as if what’s happened to the Scottish justice system somehow isn’t, which is a frankly ridiculous assertion and one everyone should be challenging, and what never ceases to amaze me is how little support the Green Brigade gets from a lot of people in our country, people who should be on the side of the angels here.

These guys, and the FAC team, have been fighting this battle largely alone, in spite of the tremendous implications for all of us which are contained in the Offensive Behaviour at Football act and other aspects of the SNP’s justice agenda.

Where the Hell is the rest of liberal Scotland here?

The Green Brigade has tried to raise these issues in a dozen different ways, and they’ve exposed the hypocrisy at the heart of the OBAF bill again and again.

But some people don’t like the message and others don’t like the messenger.

Some just don’t think we should be criticising the SNP for anything they do.

I don’t care for any of those opinions or those who hold them.

If the Green Brigade is guilty of one thing it’s this; they tell it like it is.

They speak the truth.

And a lot of people will continue to have a serious problem with that.

Tough.

These bhoys are doing a job a lot of other people ought to be doing.