as our documentary series founders valley foliage africa to meet the founders empowering their continent through digital innovation transformer, work that health and living conditions in their country and inspiring the world with their ideas. counted valley africa started february 13. on v w. the union flag still flies over scotland, but for how much longer struggling with the economic impact of rex it compounded by the energy crisis more and more, scotts are going through a difficult time for many there was only one way out of my talk again or what

independence because with this era, it would be most viewed by the westminster government philosophy on reducing many scott's help for a 2nd referendum on scottish independence. in october 2023, the 1st referendum was held in 2014 and 55 per cent of scots voted to stay in the u . k. heartbroken. it felt like somebody had died. somebody i can't, and thinking about that now gets me upset with the national situation is coming to a head in the background. opposition to independence is also quietly gathering, support the popular population and scotland would not be willing to undergo a period of austerity in order to gain independence. ah,

we're in for, for a small town about 100 kilometers north of edinburgh. it's far removed from the politics of westminster. sandra macpherson is out shopping. she's heading for a social supermarket set up 3 years ago. the concept is to sell expired or rejected goods to the socially disadvantaged at lower prices. sandra's marriage collapsed during the coven 19 pandemic. now she's a single parent and retraining as a beautician. she needs to save money wherever she can at just because everything else is going on. all the bells of the at the even, and that your normal supermarket there should make an ice in peace and shall juice . so this place is definitely an ideal for people like me now

as the months have gone on, i've been using it more regularly now and definitely noticed a big savings in my shopping bells. right. if you are to know are people in need are eligible for a membership card and can do their shopping. here we've seen an increase, quite considerable increase and the by, if people signing up in becoming a member, we've got a law of in work pull 40 am now, which is a situation that you would never have thought a you would, you would even hold that terminology called and work over a, you know, it shouldn't be such a thing. last each kid was at cash or carter, i thought, here, but you were to 90 please. ah, the 1st crisis was bricks. it which 62 percent of voters in scotland opposed. then

came the pandemic and the war in ukraine. the resulting rise and energy prices has hit scott's harder than other western europeans. costs here are twice as high as in the euro's own shops and for, for our closing down one by one. with the national health service also in crisis winter threatened to be precarious for many people. ah, they can be pretty speedy. so yeah, i like every time i boil the coastline, i'm just thinking how much, how much, how many pennies is that when it e? oh, good joseph and noah. sandra's 2 sons have to make sacrifices to their games console eats up electricity. but sandra doesn't want to economize on that just yet

. for now, the electric light in the room stays off. they can manage with daylight. the seam of the shell, or the shower is actually more skating, though i find myself nice in you know that, that you've had 5 minutes, you're clean, you can get the shower. i, we can't afford for the whole water is running. whether in rural, for fha or big cities like glasgow, many scots are going through tough times. the gap between rich and poor is widening in the crisis as can be seen all over the inner city.

neil mac, i is also feeling the crunch and blames politicians and westminster in his opinion . the devolved scottish government is not completely sovereign and is kept dependent on the u. k. government and many financial matters o, b, i me, neil is rehearsing some songs with his friend, henry riley. westminster system is, is an affordable. it can be changed from within. so it needs to be smashed up. scotlands, a great country is a great society, but people need to be in power. so that basically what we've done as a say, a sale, say this mission statement of hostem, regular marches, marsh mobilizations for independence every year until independence is one. so that's the, that's the task. well, they're about to perform and glasgow city center deal. they're scraping a living as busters the way the la with these. i

neil mikka is divorced with 2 children and has to pay maintenance. he's looking for a job, any kind of job until he finds one he hopes to make ends meet, singing traditional folk songs about scottish heroes. he also runs a pro independence organisation all under one banner. the next big demonstration he has organized is the day after to morrow. he checks the news online and sees one conservative newspaper headline, edinburgh to be plagued by extreme nationalist march demanding an end to london rule. that is pretty sure, i mean i'm the founder of the organization. i do have my name to those positions with my name on the paperwork a and the authorities always try and you know, if you had an expedient to try and and who pray? sean uses all of you like everything was wrong. anything is your fault.

ah ah, yeah. with scottish 1st minister nicholas sturgeon and her scottish national party, the s and p have announced a 2nd referendum on scottish independence on october 19th, 2023. at the time of filming a judgment from the u. k, supreme court was pending on whether a 2nd referendum could be held without the british governments consent. i should we ask the english supreme court, basically the court of the british state, which is not going to come down in our favor. why we ask a name and given them not, however why we given them the phone makes no sense. we have given a number that they have, in fact mandates to the a 70 government 8th and in scotland the people are solved and we have already said

we weren't ready for them. we've given the legal mandate for that. so nobody should stand in the way of that, but westminster should de blocker as such, but neither should the weiss government allow them to look at. it's just ridiculous, ah, ah, what is caused the crisis? is that the ongoing financial dependence on westminster in so many matters? or has the scottish government been mis spending funds? ah, we travel to stonehaven a little farther north ob scotlands east coast. ah,

alan sutherland, who retired over a year ago as opposed to the scottish governments plans for a new referendum. as a former i t manager, he advised companies and sold software worldwide. he's earned himself a comfortable nest egg for his retirement, which he can now enjoy with his german wife. hey geena, at ish, they don't have to worry much about the cost of living. i mean, argue against the pin is the independence that has been proposed on to build up to on the activities of this and p to get here are no was school needs independence is, is got to work. oh, good to be successful. guerria and the home proved they can do that. besides gardening, alan has taken up a new hobby describing himself as a scott and a brit. he's actively organizing protests against plans for scottish independence. there's time for a quick coffee before he returns to his computer. his wife supports him and his

activities. my job doesn't depend on me. keep him. oh, shop of god voice. always assume for all number of years. i know her get to in front of people in put to proceed. people are now a pensioner. alan has considerable influence on current debate from his desk. actually, he may be under the radar, but he is very effective. ah, we head back to florida. home of many supporters of scottish independence. sandra is one of them. they feel they've been hung out to dry by the government in westminster and impression exacerbated by the current crisis. so that was she, her we started marching, i think with probably 201718. so yes, since since day sandra follows the all under one banner movement on facebook and

reads about the margin edinburgh we followed them and looked for north occasions of where the next marches couldn't be held. but 1st, it's time to look at the gas meter. once a month sandra reads the meter and enters the result in an app. she hopes that economizing on a heating will reduce her monthly bills and people are hoping to make the choice whether the can eat or heat their homes. basically they're hoping to make a choice, and in my case, they say i have going children, so i have to make sure that they eat still. my priority is to make sure that they

are fed and then for the heat, we'll just just put more layers to stay warm in the house. you when they have to be a we are but the same thing you there young don't. you shouldn't have to be worrying about things like that. bells, energy prices and things. i'm credit, i'm calling less money one day before the pro independence march. neil is packing the van in glasgow with his fellow protesters. bruno and lynn are also members of all under one banner. ah. need to do. i'll take another one. they need a p, a system sound equipment and

a mobile stage. all of it has to be set up in edinburgh. tomorrow morning before the pandemic neal managed to mobilize up to 200000 people for one demonstration. but the cove at 19 restrictions on large events were a huge obstacle for his marches. it's difficult to get the estimate, maybe 5 to 10000 people. if we get our, if that happens to model, it will be, i deal a very good turner because where there's not going to be good, but it, scotland, and that evolution isn't, is going to be one in the sunshine. so yeah, let's say neil and his team say scotland has always been poorer than the south of the u. k. they blamed the government in westminster for a lack of financial support.

the tory party of keeping the money for the rich people. the rich get rich and the poor get poorer, and i serve you same make poverty yesterday. we're 2nd be in skin it up. so a 2nd tie of the been skin up here. scotland as rich in our search for you. we hunt, we help you all more than you can. jo bush wins water. at course we have the oil to they tell us that the assets off the scottish coast have been exploited by british companies for decades with practically nothing left over for the scots in the u. k. a. the methods that scotland subsidized by england. but if you look at the statistics, it's a scotland subsidizing with this the other way around. so it's a colonial situation. it's a potus ethical situation. and so why, why should we be supporting a, the people of england and the union,

which doesn't say of the people of scotland makes no sense. the case off after packing the van neil has a look online as always, have you go, the debate is coming to a had there to neil has his eye on one particular website. scotland matters, an influential body run by pro unionists who opposed scottish independent contradictions. scotland matters because for these people scored and doesn't matter, they like to make the weapons against the tenants that it's all about. it's all nicholas in this plan. that's all her heart quest to get it done. but they forget that we've elected her and we believe this in numerous times and given democratic monday. so the trying, you know, circumvent and there are for independence as the people that are in it. but obviously not all people. the scotland matters website is alan sutherlands work . he's noticed how support for independence has been increasing and recent polls

started. so a month is almost 4 years ago. vote for the pre k parties is gone then. so radio was to try and get beyond the bubble of people as a core would be 3 or $400000.00 that really was going on. and in some we involved. so the whole thing was this for informing people of the to say the arguments. allen designs campaigns for social media, cartoons, and means to caricature the broken promises of 1st minister nicholas sturgeon, such as failing to deliver on climate targets got constant is to draw of some social media sites like euclidean and voice, a uniquely his independence. moved to scores in the below of good social media. facebook occurs, so we use, we send the image is to all these facebook pages. and the, the,

the sheila before the last, the scottish parliament election, allan launched a poster campaign showing the titanic failures of the 1st minister. slogans were plastered all over constituencies where the s and p 's majority looked precarious. education policy failures were also lampooned. after all, the condition of schools is also a matter for the regional government, not london. we are unemployed in a few of the seats. it was a title voting compared to war against s and p a because they're gonna, they will come by the civil war. this is a monday for the referendum, which is what it did. so what we did was to say material sin the screwed up, scorch education then a chest. the oldest of all person. not using them will do a volvo vote for anybody. or indeed, the long governing s n p was unable to regain its absolute majority and can now

only govern in co operation with the green party allen as thinking of new ways of keeping scotland and the united kingdom. the next day sandra sets off on a 2 hour drive to the capital with noah and joseph. they want to join the pro independence march hm. at the end, but to de moines. he excited sandra tells us that the bus connection is not very good. so they're driving, she's put around 50 euro's worth of fuel in the tank. a small fortune for her. i budgeted money for pick jail for to day because of known about this march for quite a while. and i am,

it's our 1st one since 2019 so we're m, we're really looking forward to getting back at it. what we will you be chanting? what did we one plan to we went dead. oh yea ah . back in stonehaven allen and the beginner are also on their way. but to a different event, the geena arish tells us that they no longer have contact with some of their friends and neighbors just like breaks it. the question of independence is

incredibly divisive. as is towards anything else, in my opinion, it's become really important where you stand woman, steve's set minded sites and thought there was a time in germany when it was important to know whether people were catholic or protestant for by those times they're over now. thank goodness shortland, so that's that month. but in scotland now a days when you meet a new person move and i know it's hard or even if you know them well, people want to know on which side are you on? this stuff that i gave they are meeting fellow campaigners from scotland matters. all of them are against to leaving the u. k. on johnston terrace, edinburgh. the march is about to start. neil is handing out the banners for people

to hold up during his all under one banner march. with the way, let's get a this isn't what we forecast. so here a the, the force is with we never wanted to read before a judge to stand. but we were teaching her by england to we went, but yeah, yes, i

the procession starts at 1 o'clock and heads down the royal mile and central edinburgh to the scottish parliament building at hollywood. ah neil documents at all for the social media account of his all under one banner movement. this is good reaches all across the globe and it shows as goldens awakening. and we're going to when neil estimates that there are about $7000.00 marchers. undeterred by rail strikes and traffic jams, they've traveled from all parts of scotland. ah, these gentlemen are attending a family celebration at the clathy hotel behind them. they won't be joining the

march. ah, i'm not the support of independence. i believe we're both of you that you like to take them while you button it because of the support. what up of the us like rachel, would probably 300 year up merging of the bottle of sun that's been successful with a highly successful vision and the like getting them in the west, the water. ah. instead of talking to each other, people stick to their own camps. in stonehaven allen sutherland and hygienists meet their allies and the venerable unionist club. as though and 50, they joined barney crockett, labor politician, and former mayor of aberdeen and mark openshaw. allen's partner at scotland matters and they all know that support for independence has been growing over the years.

current polls indicate that a slim majority would now vote yes to scottish independence. and the stay present. the people in scotland are unchangeable, nor fair for sand and immovably yes. and it's if you put them as the we need to be get not wouldn't be try convincing outside of the people that are already. yeah, that's chemically opposed. i separation. yes. so the group will need to find convincing arguments to disprove those of the pro independence movement, such as the claim that only british firms and not the scottish population profit from scottish energy resources. it's not as simple as just boating. yes, it wasn't just scotlands oil, scotland was part of the u. k. it's the entire u. case oil. if, if there was separation from the u. k, in my view of their wood and there was still a lot of revenue to be had from oil. when, when the energy there would have to be a huge negotiation and if you think how much trouble it was to sort out breaks it.

um, yeah, that, that sort of a negotiation would be massive. so they hoped to convince undecided voters with their arguments and presentations. newsletters and on social media. i think where i come in is trying to port the gulf between the, the harsh realities of my speaking a vote, our population is age and quicker than the rest of the u. k. and this puts an enormous, again, additional stream on public funding. so it is almost inconceivable to come up with a feasible plan or a feasible plan doesn't entail enormous sacrifice in the early decades of independence in scotland. it's never the case. they know they can't sell it. if they say it's going to be hard. so they have to say, well, not want beyond, that will be very easy. this will have to just be based on a motion and ignore the figures. although be fine.

there are also questions regarding a hard border with england and the currency who has got it right ah, after getting stuck in traffic, sandra and her children just make it as the march draws to a close. it's an expensive family outing, but she says it's all been worth while. ah, me says that we are ned and hopefully other people with bad t no day. and fingers crossed the school by next year. we got everything. 6 ah,

while the tail end of the demo is still marching, musicians, neil and henry set up in the tent next to the stage. they're glad of the chance to perform their songs. traditional piece is about scottish freedom fighters as relevant as ever for them. finally, they're getting to play to a larger audience. oh boy, what. we are off his way. a big one with a big one today. so a wee bit nervous, but not very much. i just want to take the one of the vin. oh oh gosh. so the day is a success for nationalists. but shortly afterwards, the supreme court rules that the scottish government cannot hold a referendum without the consent of the british parliament. the s n p has declared that the next u. k. general election will be a de facto referendum for scottish voters, but it will not be held until 2024. when you can sleep, i said to me with

hon. ah, ah, farmers in the pudding job region have 2 opposite problems. groundwater levels that are far too low for groundwater that's far too high. increasing salt levels in the soil. good trim, forming be the solution. what we are doing in i already exist, been to line the water we have been getting out of them is a part of the livelihood of these farmers in 30 minutes on d w. oh ah

ah ah, this is d w. news coming to you live from berlin. germany is poised to get the green light to send its battle tanks to ukraine, its decision to send the leper to tags. com says the us now appears ready to send its abrams tanks to also coming up from the changing front lines of the war and ukraine. objects.