2022 is a chance to 'build a better Scotland'
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THE third and final of our new year reflections sees North East Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman outline a 2022 full of potential change for Scotland.
IT has been a momentous year for North East Green MSP Maggie Chapman and she believes 2022 could be a crucial one for Scotland.
Last May saw her elected for the first time as one of the seven regional MSPs for the North East electoral area, the Scottish Greens later going on to make history as they entered government for the first time following a co-operation deal with the SNP.
"Being elected as a Green MSP is a really big thing for me," she said.
"I take the opportunity to represent the North East region very serious and I feel very humbled and privileged by it. The last six months at the Scottish Parliament I've spent a lot of time figuring out how to get things done.
"The last year has shown the absolute need for a different kind of economy and society, ensuring our communities can overcome the many entrenched equalities they face."
Looking back at 2021, Ms Chapman pointed to the creation and roll out of Covid vaccines in Scotland and across the globe as her major stand-out point of the year. She noted that the world wide reach of the vaccines gave her comfort and hope, especially knowing her elderly mother back in her native Zimbabwe had been given the jab and had protection from the virus.
However, as a new year dawns Ms Chapman said both she and the Greens are very much about the future. Fairness, justice and equality remain top of the list for her and her Holyrood colleagues.
"We do need to work hard to create a new sort of Scotland and I've always been motivated by issues of social justice, equality and fairness.
"One of the things we need to address in 2022 is finding a proper and fair transition plan for oil and gas workers. The benefits of the oil and gas industry have been unequal and communities have suffered as a result. We can't afford for this to go on.
"Another real target for 2022 is how we deal with health inequalities across Scotland. These touch families in different ways, for example drugs deaths or racial inequalities.
"We have a chance in 2022 to start building a better Scotland and it's a privilege to be part of that."
Reconnecting politics with the people it's meant to serve is another major priority for the new year for Ms Chapman.
She continued: "One of the biggest challenges we face as a parliament is restoring people's trust in politics, looking at how we work and engage with people.
"Politics should be about people's everyday lives, not once every five years when they're invited to put a cross or a number in a box.
"There is a lack of trust in politic and politicians and we need to reimagine our decision making processes so they participate in rather than something they have done to them. This applies across the board from the smallest communities to the Scottish Parliament and beyond.
"Participatory democracy is one of my passions. I want a Scotland work together and communicate each other; co-operation is one of the characteristics than makes us stronger and makes us human."
Among the high points she'd like to see in 2022, Ms Chapman identified the council elections in May and the opportunity to learn from the experiences of the Covid pandemic.
She said: "I hope to see more Green councillors elected across Scotland.
"We bring a different approach and, as I said previously, we hope to rekindle trust in politics.
"There's also a glimmer of hope that we're learning from the last 18-20 months of the pandemic and recognising the importance of community care and the need to invest in it. People are realising that we function as a society not individuals and this is a platform to create a better society.
"In the climate emergency we are in we need to undertake fundamental change that works for people not vested interests. Storms Arwen and Barra have reinforced this need for communities to work together.
"Hopefully 2022 will be the year we start putting all this into practice."
