Inside the SIC's open letter to the Yes movement

WHO ARE THEY?

THE Scottish Independence Convention is a coalition of Scotland’s national pro-independence organisations, the pro-independence political parties and, through the membership of regional forums, of Scotland’s local grassroots pro-independence groups.

What will it do?

SIC is just about to launch a fundraiser to start a national campaign organisation. The independence movement is brilliantly alive with a flurry of grassroots activity all over the country. But sometimes we need to come together as one. Co-ordination by a national campaign organisation should be about helping people build on each other’s work, reinforce what others are doing. It is about giving people strategic direction which helps them to focus – together we can do more than we can individually.

READ MORE: Scottish Independence Convention sends open letter to Yes movement

Set the agenda, change the story.

THE work of the grassroots of the independence movement has kept the momentum going but unless we do a better job of setting the national agenda, changing the story we hear in the media and find ways to encourage undecided voters to have another look at the case for independence, we will struggle to make the breakthrough we need.

So how will a campaign organisation do that?

IN the modern world of social media, the way we communicate with people is very often highly visual. The SIC has appointed a leading design company to work with the movement and with undecided voters to come up with a name, a design style and a full set of templates and materials to help us get our visual communications right. It will provide local groups and the national organisation with a toolkit to help us reach voters who don’t stop at street stalls, join marches or read political blogs.

Create a strategy.

Sometimes people might worry that “strategy” means central control. It doesn’t – it means looking at all the possible things we could do and working out which ones are most likely to achieve the outcome you want. This campaign organisation will offer this strategic capacity to the grassroots movement across Scotland.

Be better at communication.

THE independence movement is never going to have the support or sympathy of the mainstream Scottish media. But clever communications tell stories that survive the attacks of our opponents. It is these stories that change how people think. We need to work to build up our own, better stories. We should never be caught without an answer. Rebuttal is not about saying the other side is lying, rebuttal is about telling an alternative story that is stronger and more persuasive. If successfully funded, this campaign organisation will find the best ways to offer rebuttal quickly, clearly and decisively.

Get things done.

YOU don’t win campaigns without people dedicated to winning campaigns. We need people whose responsibility it is to get things done. Our fundraising campaign is about raising the money to have a co-ordinator to do the work to develop strategy; a media officer pushing stories into the mainstream and social media; a researcher making sure we have all the answers we need; a support officer to work closely with local organisations to listen to what they need and support them; an admin officer to get things done. We hope to be able to have a team of five people working every day to make Scotland independent.