Elect a Local Champion

While my internship at Parliament has sadly come to an end, the timing of my departure allowed me the great privilege of attending the Scottish National Party's spring campaign conference in Aviemore.  The SNP holds a conference for its members twice a year, the annual conference being held in fall and the campaign launch for spring elections being the focus of this meeting in March.  As an election is expected to be called any day now at Westminster (elections are not set, but are assumed to be called at most every 5 years...I know, a bit mad), this conference was an important rallying ground for the party, and I feel so privileged to have been a part of it.  While I have experienced the Parliamentary side of working for the SNP, it was even more interesting to get a chance to see the inner workings of the party as an organization; to see all the 'real', non-politician party members who make up the life blood of the movement and have essentially made the SNP the force it is today in Parliament.  It was an excellent way to complete my internship.

The conference was set up over two days, Saturday and Sunday, and was made up of a series of programs and events.  The main program went on in the large auditorium, as shown in the top photo.  There, members all gathered to vote on resolutions, proposals that individual members put forth as policies or initiatives that they think the party should support and back.  They were all mostly non-controversial, as the goal of the resolutions was to get the party united and supportive of the party as a whole in the upcoming campaigns for election.  There were also speeches by key party leaders, including Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland, and Nicola Sturgeon, the Deputy First Minister: 

 

They, of course, were taking off their Scottish Government hats for the weekend and acting as leaders in the party.  It was amazing to see all these Parliament 'big wigs' everywhere I turned!  I, being the starstruck Parliamentary intern that I am, couldn't help but get excited every time I saw a minister mingling in the exhibit area or around the small town of Aviemore, but then I just had to start realizing that at conference they are just another member with the same goals as everyone else there: independence.  That still didn't stop Ian and I from gawking over the fact that we met Alex Salmond-he actually came up to us and shook our hands!  It could have been because we were staring at him while he was being interviewed on tv, but hey, how cool is that to chat with the First Minister of Scotland?

The conference also offered several fringe events during the lunch and dinner breaks from the main program.  Convenient, because all the events offered free food and drink!  The fringe events were on a variety of topics, and I and the other interns decided to go to one held by Victim Support Scotland.  Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill was a guest speaker, talking about the many challenges of the criminal justice system and its many victims, whether as direct participants or those indirectly effected.  One of my MSPs, Nigel Don, attended the event as well, as he is on the Justice Committee in Parliament.  It actually touched on a lot of subjects Nigel had given me to do research on during my internship.  The event was also another great opportunity to hear what members of different regions and backgrounds had to say on the issue, especially in the presence of Scotlands Justice Minister.

To make the whole weekend even more awesome, the conference was held in the heart of the Scottish Highlands!  Aviemore is a small ski town about a 3 hour drive from Edinburgh, and it was so refreshing to get out and see some more of this beautiful country.  Emily, Ian, and I decided to take a bit of a nature walk on Sunday morning to get some great views of the area (don't worry, we didn't miss anything at conference :).  We reached a gorgeous lookout at the top of the surrounding hillside, and we could even see the conference center down below:

The campaign motto for the SNP this year is 'Elect a Local Champion.'  This of course was the theme of the conference, and with the theme came a new campaign ad, or broadcast, for tv, which was debuted to the members.  In the UK, political broadcasts are very strictly regulated, so parties can only produce two per year.  This means that the finished products end up being quite theatrical, not the normal 30 second candidate-bashing we see in the states.  Here's this year's SNP broadcast:

We, as interns, thought this ad was so cool that we decided to photograph our own tributes to it:

SCOTLAND!

If you watch the broadcast to the very end, you'll notice the shout out (no pun intended) to Westminster.  While this conference was essentially gearing the party up for the Westminster elections, it is a touchy subject for members of the SNP in particular.  It seems silly for a nationalist party to want to get seats in the UK Parliament, as that appears to be buying into the very system the SNP is trying to break away from.  Ultimately, though, it's one of the realities the party must face if it stands any chance of achieving the high goals it has set for Scottish independence.  While the party has no unrealistic goals of gaining a majority in Parliament, if they can increase their influence at Westminster, their work on the ground in Scotland can finally gain some power, and perhaps the voice of the Scottish people can finally be heard. This is the reason I've loved working for the SNP in Parliament for the past 10 weeks, it's a party with goals like none other I've found in the States, and the dedication of its members to the cause makes even an American with no real ties to Scotland want to help them achieve these goals.  Scotland needs champions :)