A MASSIVE day of campaigning for independence will be held in Scotland – thanks to a major fundraising success.
Grassroots pro-independence group Believe In Scotland will launch the day of action to coincide with lockdown ending.
Its crowdfunder, now in its final week, saw the first £50,000 of public donations matched by business donors.
That total of £100,000 is still set to rise, with two donors promising to match the next £5000 in donations when they come in.
The cash will be spent on a day of action supported by The National as media partner, and we’ll be printing a special edition with a pull-out containing all 24 articles published in Believe In Scotland’s recent Open Minds series on independence.
Believe In Scotland have sought the support of the National Yes Network in co-ordinating the ambitious event.
There will be street stalls, coffee mornings, open days at local Yes hubs and a mass leaflet drop.
READ MORE: Scottish independence-backing firms to double £50k raised in Yes campaign
Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp (above), founder of Believe in Scotland, said: “We need to have a referendum during this term of the Scottish Parliament and we need to start planning now to regain the momentum and raise Yes support before the referendum is called.
“Lockdown means we can’t yet name a date but within a few weeks of lockdown ending we want to hit the streets and make up for lost time. Dozens of Yes groups have already expressed support for the idea, but we want to get more than 100 onboard and so we will seek agreement from the National Yes Network’s committee to act as our partners in making this huge push work.
“The National is on board and that gives us great content to distribute as well as the campaign materials every local Yes group will receive from the Believe in Scotland fundraiser.
“Including all our 24 Open Minds articles in a special edition supplement that activists can hand out will help persuade a lot of people to consider moving to support for independence.”
National editor Callum Baird praised the day as a “fantastic opportunity” to make the case for a Yes vote.
He said: “As Scotland’s only pro-independence newspaper, we’re extremely pleased to be getting behind Believe In Scotland’s plans for a day of action.
“As we’ve seen, our readers and subscribers know the Yes movement can’t afford to be complacent.
“With the Scottish public handing Holyrood a mandate for indyref2, we need to be busy building up the case and infrastructure to win that vote.
READ MORE: Independence campaigners consider plans to march in London to demand indyref2
“Our front page today, on newsstands across Scotland, shows to the more and more Scots seeing the need to leave the Union that there’s a network out there waiting to welcome them to the fold.
“Make sure you don’t miss our special edition on the big day supporting this cause!
Believe In Scotland is calling for Yes groups and activists to get in touch to share their ideas.
Suggestions so far include a co-ordinated social media campaign, with zoom training sessions for activists, and a major youth vote activation initiative.
You can join the conversation and submit your ideas via the 21,000-strong Believe In Scotland Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/believeinscotland.org
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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