Thousands attend to hear of diversity, power and vision of Yes

And if there was a prize for positivity, yesterday’s relaunch of the Scottish Independence Convention would have fought off all the other contenders.

Speaker after speaker at a packed St Luke’s in Glasgow spoke of the diversity, power and vision of the wider Yes movement, to applause which grew in rapture as the day wore on.

The enthusiasm was such that as the event reached its climax with a speech by former First Minister Alex Salmond, the crowd rose as one before he had spoken a single word.

Earlier Lesley Riddoch had been applauded when she ended her speech with a confident “We’ll get there”.

Common Weal’s Robin McAlpine praised Yes’ “amazing grassroots movement”, which he contrasted with a No campaign entering a new phrase of “backwards Britain, with Enid Blyton writing the scripts and Benny Hill doing the PR”.

Salmond ended his speech by affirming that if the Yes movement was capable of harnessing the spirit of 2014, it would be unstoppable.

In many ways yesterday’s event, which took place as thousands gathered at Glasgow Green to mark the second anniversary of the 2014 referendum, was a feelgood festival.

Independence Convention chair Elaine C Smith was in top comic form as she introduced the speakers.

The comedy collective Witserface had the crowd laughing, although a row blew up later over complaints of homophobic language directed at Ruth Davidson. Many in the audience had not heard the comments in the quickfire rap.

Alan Bissett’s “Moira” monologue and Eddi Reader’s three-song set, which ended with her Fairground Attraction hit Perfect, and comedians Haggis McSporran and Janey Godley were popular highlights.

But there was a serious intent behind the fun ... how could it have been otherwise with the prospect of a second independence referendum at the forefront of minds in the wake of the Brexit vote.

Speakers, notably Freeman and Salmond, were at pains to point out that the UK vote to leave Europe was not in itself the reason for a second independence referendum, but represented a material change in UK position which made it necessary.

McAlpine listed the Yes movement’s to-do list as consisting of three objectives: First to celebrate the “incredible movement”, while recognising it had not been incredible enough to win; secondly to devise a plan which was persuasive enough to win next time; and thirdly to make sure the case for independence was sound enough to instil confidence in voters.

It was the steps needed to convince No voters to change their minds which formed the central plank of many speeches.

Green MSP Ross Greer said his party had launched From No to Yes to allow recent converts to independence share their stories.

SNP MP and party depute leader candidate Tommy Sheppard said the debate hard largely split into broadly left support for independence and broadly right opposition.

The current position is one of listening and persuading he said. “Be of good heart,” he said. “I have no doubt another independence referendum is coming and next time we will win.” One of the most emotional and powerful speeches came from National columnist and women for independence founder member Carolyn Leckie.

She spoke of the bravery of those who risked prosecution over debt incurred by non-payment of the poll tax when they registered to vote in 2014.

“People who were impoverished saw beyond the food banks and benefit sanctions,” she said. “They saw there was a chance of change.

“We have a chance in Scotland to build a country where there is a shame in being selfish; where we actually aspire to be kind and to care.”

Alex Salmond referred to a queue of people he came across in the run up to the referendum in Dundee. He was told, upon asking, that it was for the right to vote, which they had not done since the poll tax protests.

That, he said, as well as a powerful performance of the song Come All Ye by Pumez at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, were the two moments he realised the strength of the Yes campaign.

Earlier last week Salmond had predicted the next referendum would take place in 2018. Before then, he said the Yes movement needed to be “detailed but not definitive”.

“We have to build once again a coalition which will take us to victory. If we capture the spirit of that queue on a sunny day in Dundee and of Pumeza’s performance whether the next referendum is in two years or whenever, this movement will be unstoppable,’’ he said to a standing ovation.The next step for the Scottish Independence Constitution is a conference next year to look at ideas for various key planks of the arguments for independence.