this is very important 👇
the people yelling "democracy" the loudest are usually the ones that are trying to take away peoples voice.
whether you agree or not, people are allowed an opinion and should have the ability to voice that opinion.
It is profoundly disturbing to watch you and your party advocate for silencing citizens who participated in a lawful democratic process simply because you disagree with the issue being raised.
It is literally your job to listen to citizens, especially when they are using the very democratic processes established by law to have their voices heard.
This is not even about debating the pros and cons of independence. This is about an organized effort by elected officials to silence citizens from participating in a lawful democratic process, and that should concern everyone.
You do not have to support independence to recognize how dangerous that is. Once governments, political actors, and courts begin deciding which citizen-led issues are acceptable to discuss, democratic participation stops being a right and becomes a permission granted by those in power.
Today it is this petition. Tomorrow it could be any issue the political class finds inconvenient.
Citizens do not hold institutional power. Their voice is their power. And when lawful democratic processes are undermined to prevent citizens from even being heard, public trust in democracy itself begins to collapse.