THE 2014 INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT – inventive, hopeful & HUGE
Yes, No did win 55-45, but the ‘civic and joyous’ and crucially – huge – grassroots support for independence gave Westminster a serious fright. Filling the streets with people and colour, regardless of the weather, marches snaked along streets across the country. Campaigners manned countless stalls and knocked on countless doors. Organising their own material, meetings and events and totally dominating social media, the Yes campaign’s DIY ethic took the polls from way down in the 20s to, incredibly, leading with just days to go.
Size matters when faced with an opposing campaign that has all the rich and powerful friends. No Thanks had more than double the money to spend (mostly from rich donors from outwith Scotland, and much of it spent on carefully targeting voters).
They had the Great British broadcasting corporation. The tv and the radio. The presenters and the reporters. And the newspapers helpfully framing the debate – effectively choosing what people were hearing about from day to day, from who. Deciding what stayed in the news and what never made it in the first place.
The journalist/Better Together collusion. The amplified, revered, voice of UK big business. The elephantine Westminster machinery… It was vital the Yes campaign demonstrated its relevance. And all it had to achieve this was its people. All we had was us.
Again, to reiterate, because it needs reiterated, – thanks to the nature of ownership of the Scottish press, not a single national daily newspaper was in favour of a Yes vote!
“Perhaps the most arresting fact about the Scottish referendum is this: that there is no newspaper – local, regional or national, English or Scottish – which supports independence except the Sunday Herald. The Scots who will vote yes have been almost without representation in the media.” – George Monbiot.
To pass 50% with just days to go – against that backdrop – was a truly remarkable achievement by all those who brought something to the independence movement and when 1,617,989 people voted Yes it changed Scottish politics for good. Especially for the Unionist parties. Decisively locked out of power for the first time, Unionist politicians seem almost resigned to powerlessness and are reduced to bitter, reactionary, griping from the side. They know they’re not ging to be in charge anymore without a fight.
Notable successes: Dundee (57%), Glasgow (biggest city), North Lanarkshire, North Ayrshire, Motherwell, Inverclyde, Inverness, Leith, Paisley, West Dunbartonshire, Western Isles
Notable failures: Borders, Dumfries & Galloway, Edinburgh, Orkney, Shetland.
The ‘grassroots’ was just people organising themselves locally, taking action themselves. Thousands of people joining in and playing their part, big or small. For our tiny part, we thought some t-shirts would be a good way for people to show their support so… we started making them. We didn’t ask. Then people running various Yes Hubs got in touch with large orders and it took off.
It wasn’t rigidly orchestrated from above. In fact, nobody was controlling it and the Yes campaign quickly became the largest, most sustained and coherent challenge to Westminster arrogance the UK has seen for a long time. Some Unionists were so put out by it they made up their own fake grassroot organisations.
What energetic support ‘on the streets’ the No campaign did genuinely have – from groups like the, anti-Catholic, Orange Order or the, holocaust denier led, ‘a Force for Good’ – Better Together understandably baulked at promoting. Though neither did they distance themselves and they must’ve been glad of a friendly media not making an issue of it. Never confronting, never seeking a condemnation of the far-right or bigoted elements of their support, which never came.
Yes, No won but the No vote hasn’t gone well in the years since. The need for independence has only grown as has, in a general, gentle, trend, its poll numbers. It would be vital (and fun) to rebuild the, now slightly splintered, fractious and perhaps a bit jaded, Yes movement when the time comes. The cause is still worth the effort. Despite Westminster’s attempts at putting the issue to bed, around half of the country is still Yes and, if you look at the demographics, it’s very likely that, sooner or later, it’ll be a lot more than half the country. Scotland is still going to win its independence.
Some grassroots-made content:
Watch: the short videos ‘Nationalism‘ by Alan Bissett and ‘Scottish nationalism’ by Robin McAlpine for a good description of the Independence Movement
The inspiring Lesley Riddoch tries to ‘Imagine a better Scotland‘. She also has a podcast
Watch all the superb ‘Phantom Power‘ films. Like this one on the Faroe Islands
Watch IndependenceLive and Broadcasting Scotland’s diverse programming and coverage
Watch ‘Scotonomics‘ for great economics analysis and discussion
Watch our own AyeTV channel featuring videos like ‘Independence – THE MOVIE – The Economists‘
Listen to the massive collection of ‘Scottish Independence Podcast‘ …podcasts, from Michael Greenwell and Andrew Tickell
Read the blogs you like and, maybe, the ones you don’t. (Or maybe it’s vice-versa)
See over 4,000 photos from two years of the Yes campaign in ‘Documenting Yes’ (including those below)
Get involved
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