When we started this column we said that sometimes we would turn it over to to Yes groups. Today we spotlight Yes Annandale in their own words, probably because we couldn’t resist their headline “Being Bruce’s Spider: life in Yes Annandale, est 2013”.
That’s thanks to Ruth Ritchie, who told us: “We have been going since 2013 and we’re not for rolling over any time soon. We never stopped meeting after the black days after September 19, 2014.
“When the odds are 2:1 against you, when the chances are that twice as many people will be against you than for you, it’s easy to give up and keep your opinions to yourself.
“But we don’t do ‘easy’ down here, as may well be shown by the repeated self-harming effects of re-electing David Mundell. Difficulties continue, not least the fact that most people will still dismiss out of hand, anything, literally anything which makes any reference to independence.
“With this in mind, we decided that, in order to enable the discussion of subjects which we know that people are interested in, we must take the threat of independence away. To that end, we have arranged a series of seven public events from March to September, on a variety of topics which we felt would be both relevant and interesting for local people.
She continued: “Advertising for the first, on #KeepScotlandTheBrand in March, was well-received and eagerly promoted in places which would never have given space to anything with a whiff of independence about it. Our second, on the Future of Farming in April, even managed acceptance in the most unlikely of premises.
“Our third will be on the topic of media bias and fake news, and we are trying an on street ‘ball poll’ to entice interest.
“However, our local area is either deeply resigned and depressed by politics and the constitution, or so utterly apathetic that getting anyone to engage is incredibly difficult.
“It is also incredibly difficult to get people out of their fear or comfort zone, even to attend a non-political discussion on topics of great personal concern to them, so we are pleased to have anyone at all turn up at our events, and delighted by the attendance we have seen so far.
“Some might say we should not hide our pro-independence stance, and in an ideal world we would not. But the local situation is far from ideal, so we must lower our flag temporarily, in order to have a chance to talk about the issues most relevant to our area. If we don’t talk to people, we will never, ever succeed, and if taking off our “Yes” gets them to take of their blinkers, that’s a fair trade for now.
“It isn’t an easy path here, but that won’t stop us trying, and trying again. Things are stirring in Bruce’s Annandale and maybe just this once, it won’t be from his grave.”
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