Why a Movement of One?

The Movement for the Independence of the North of England (MINE), was created by me, it belongs to me, therefore it is mine. It’s not something you can join. It’s a movement of one. Surely that’s simple enough.

So why a movement of one?

Silly question, really. Why not? Why involve other people? Why bother to debate your ideas? Why depend upon the plod of discursive argument, reasoned persuasion or the bureaucracy of policy making when you can just say and think whatever you like? Why hassle with the burdensome monotony of meetings and Minutes, Committees and Boards, even Chairs and tables when you can forego all administrative niceties in favour of crude generalizations and half-baked ideas? Why debate when you can determine? Why negotiate when you can dictate? Why propose when you can presuppose, compromise when you can criticise, bow down when you can bowl over, take turns when you can trump everyone?

Because in a movement of one, rather than be a part of something, something can be a part of you. It doesn’t have to be you. It doesn’t need to be all consuming. It doesn’t require wholesale commitment or unwavering belief. Most importantly, it doesn’t promote binary thinking or engage in patronising polemics to scare the anaesthetised masses. There is no sense of an oppositional movement: the only thing you can really oppose is everything else. But you can also support everything else too when the need, inclination or justification arises. In a movement of one you are free to cherry pick ideas from anywhere and everywhere, create your own ideas out of nowhere, think everything, say nothing, assist, resist, propose, oppose, agree, retract, change your mind, let your heart rule your head and even, on occasions, talk sense.

In a Movement of one you are free to use your imagination, to think the impossible, to create your own dream and live it out to the full; to play judge, juror and God at one and the same time. You can be serious and solemn when the need arises; be statesmanlike and stateswoman like when the urge to cross dress can be resisted no longer; be decisive, strong, a good listener, or a coward depending upon your whim. You can get up late and sleep through meetings that you never arranged in the first place. You can save time on policy writing as you don’t need to have any policies or you can pen a tome extrapolating the virtues of everything, everyone, and everywhere you have ever thought, agreed with or been to. You can forego any internal election process as there is no-one to vote for but you and no-one to cast their vote, again, other than you. Or you can take to the hustings and persuade yourself you are right and worthy of your unwavering support and adoration. You can promote yourself on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, become an influencer, show off your narcissistic, egotistical crusade to followers, friends and contacts you will never meet or you can hide your movement away in the hermetically sealed confines of your own home or corner of your imagination and never let it see the light of day. But whichever you choose, YOU CHOOSE.

I am a Northerner and I am proud of my culture and heritage. But I have more in common with the independence seeker from Scotland, the committed believer in devolution for Wales or Cornwall, the fiercely passionate Catalan or Occitan misplaced in Spain or France than I do with anyone from the North who believes our cap in hand, centralized, London centred politics is anything more than an excuse for real democracy. In a movement of one, my allies can become the free thinkers, the idealists, the resistors, the demonstrators, the remonstrators, in short, anyone with a cause. And there is the added advantage that I can disagree with many of their policies and ideals while understanding and empathising with their aims. MINE is as much about independence, autonomy, the right to participate and decide, the search for a genuine democratic process as it is about Northerness or any other crusade. In MINE, Independence precedes North, England is last and it all begins with Movement. We need to move from where we are to get to somewhere else. This movement of one is a suggestion, a provocation, an invitation and a point of departure. It is not a finished work and it can never be finished. It cannot achieve aims it doesn’t realistically hold and if the ideas it effuses ever come to pass, it will have long become something else by then. Despite that, this Movement of one is pointless without participation, self indulgent without co-operation, non-existent without collaboration and devoid of sense without the sentiment and involvement of others.

As such, anyone is free to join me in this quest without signing up to a mailing list or adding their signature to a petition. There is no party to join, no membership fees to pay, no charter to sign up to, no code of conduct to uphold. You can add your voice without reducing your bank balance, participate without committing to anything, agree, disagree or remain undecided.

Mine is a vehicle for ideas, a whimsical, serious, political smorgasbord. If it starts a revolution then hallelujah. If it causes revulsion then so much the better. If it stokes interest it is worth the engagement. If it amuses it may also be insightful. If it provokes then so much the better. If it’s laughable, laugh. If it offers alternatives then it is clearly welcome. It should be like a trip to the fun fair in the heady realms of a frivolous, delirious imagination.

Our current political system, to quote the catchphrases of our incumbent political leaders, is “broken”, “not fit for purpose”, and we “deserve better”. Alternatives to date struggle to gather momentum, seldom change the status quo and at best, get co-opted into the failed mainstream system. Mine is a new way to think about politics and a new way to participate in the process. I await any and all input with baited breath. In the meantime, I’m off down the pub for a pint to participate in the arena of real politics.

After thought (or after the pub thought): It’s easier to move one than it is to move many. If one moves others may follow.