ROSE Video Explainers
You can find the latest ROSE video explainers here or on our YouTube Channel which you can find at this link
National Sovereignty for Scotland
National sovereignty in its full sense – the economic and political freedom to run your country as you democratically choose – has been put firmly back in its box, at least as far as the capitalist elites that run the governments of the British Isles are concerned.
Faced with this context members of Radical Options for Scotland and Europe (ROSE) met in May to consider how we might contribute to putting Scotland in a radical trajectory. Go to our homepage to read.
Scotland Facing Further Grim Austerity
The STUC’s general secretary Roz Foyer has made a new call on the Scottish government to ‘urgently reform council tax.’
Local trade unionists led by the Trades Union Council argued that the council should adopt a “no cuts” policy to challenge the Scottish government after 15 years of shrinking settlements to councils.
Green Free Ports and “Levelling Up” DON’T Solve Scotland’s Problems
January saw the announcement of Scotland’s two ‘Green Free Ports’, on the Forth and Cromarty Firth, and ten Levelling Up awards stretching across Scotland from Fair Isle in the north to Dumfries in the South.
Nonetheless, the question needs to be asked: will these awards really do anything to address the grotesque levels of uneven economic development in Scotland and across Britain – inequalities worse than those in any other country in Europe?
Westminster Bill threatens our right to strike
The government’s fast-tracked proposed Trade Union bill is still working its way through Westminster and its final details are not yet known. The UK already has some of the most restrictive anti-trade union laws in the world but it is clear that its new proposals are both impractical and very concerning.
Stephanie Martin on SSE Energy Price-Hikes and Wyndford Residents’ Ongoing Fight
At a ROSE meeting, Stephanie Martin spoke on SSE energy price hikes and deteriorating service and the Wyndford Residents Union ongoing fight against them.
Matt Kerr (CWU) On Government Attitude on State-Aid vs. Corporate-Aid
At a ROSE meeting, Matt Kerr (CWU) spoke on how the government works hard to get exceptions to state-aid rules for corporations and never provides state aid to help working people.
Joe Cullinane (Cllr) On How North Ayrshire Council Built Up Local Wealth
At a ROSE meeting, Joe Cullinane (Cllr) spoke on how community wealth building helped create community wealth in North Ayrshire following decades of Thatcherism and austerity.
Carole Mochan On What The Scottish Parliament Could Do
At a ROSE meeting, Carole Mochan spoke on what the Scottish Parliament could achieve.
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Helen McFarlane (Unite EC) Spells Out Principles For a Post-Brexit Government
At a ROSE meeting, Helen McFarlane (Unite EC) spoke on the Trade Union Congress’s levelling up paper that describes principles that any post-Brexit government should follow.
Chair Phil McGarry speaks on rail strikes
In June 2022, ROSE held a meeting entitled “Scotland’s Future and Johnson’s centralising right-wing agenda” chaired by Phil McGarry, political officer for RMT Scotland. Building on a point, he talks about the real losses for the railway networks and how taxpayers may cover those costs. He also speaks on the amazing outswell of support from many in the trade union movement.
Scotland Should Demand These STOLEN Powers Back
In this video we discuss how in 1998, the Scottish people secured a parliament that had powers to provide financial help to struggling firms, and if necessary, to take them into public ownership and even to develop quite new areas of production. We also talk about how these powers were first taken away by the EU and are now being stolen by the Conservatives.
How Councils Can Build Community Wealth
We speak about how the North Ayrshire council has been bringing services previously contracted out to big private companies back under council control – so that jobs are provided for local people and supplies sourced locally. From school meals to care for older citizens to electric power used to heat housing and hospitals.
Boris Johnson is Centralizing Power NOW
In this video, we discuss how the Johnson government has been making moves to halt community wealth building and public sector development and plans to leave local councils with little enough finance and harshly limited powers.
Community Wealth Building
In this short video, we explain how Mary Barbour lead the fight for improved conditions, construction of cheap council houses and washhouses for women and children and what we can take going forward from her example.
Scotland’s Parliament Needs More Power
In this video, we explain how Scotland needs control over economic and industrial policy, powers that have just been stolen by Boris Johnson. We explore the history of these powers and how they continue to be centralized by Westminster despite the Scottish parliament needing these powers. We call for greater financial borrowing powers and economic policy powers over state aid and tendering for public contracts.
Closures
In this video we explain the ‘radical options’ that ROSE is campaigning for today and why you should join us and get your trade union branch or trades union council to affiliate along with the trade unions and trades councils that are already involved. In this video we explore why we need to fight for our rights, for a parliament capable of protecting us, for certainties of a life of dignity and respect and for our right to determine our economic future because if we don’t; who will?
A Defence of Community Wealth Building
In this video we explore how Johnson’s Westminster government is enforcing the new rules across Scottish, Welsh and the English regions. We talk about how local trades union councils and local communities need to be speaking out now – as should their elected representatives. We say that we need is local democracy that can provide services for the people – not profit for speculators and that we need an entire generation of Mary Barbour’s to rise up and fight for it.
Public Ownership
In this video, we express our support for the STUC’s People’s Recovery programme that calls for public ownership of utilities. We talk about how our Scottish Parliament needs these powers of economic intervention. We call on the current Scottish government to defend basic services from exploitation by big business and demand that the Westminster government amend the terms of the Single Market Act to regain these powers for use in Scotland.
Progressive Federalism
In this short video, we explain what the concept behind progressive federalism is.