CommonSpace columnist David Carr gives a personal impression of the 2016 Radical Independence Campaign conference
I GOT up at stupid o’clock and bussed over from Glasgow to Edinburgh to attend the 2016 Radical Independence Campaign conference. Arriving at the Assembly Rooms I was greeted by an indy panda.
Pandas were in evidence again – two of the wee darlings – as raffle prize at the registration desk. One representing Tory MP David Mundell, and one for Labour MP Ian Murray – and let’s just ignore the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ sole MP in Scotland, Alistair Carmichael.
I was on stall duty, along with Common Weal activists Rab, Sarah, Ben and Susa. Stalls are one of my favourite parts of any conference. They’re not just for punting books, badges and t-shirts, although, that too. They give a good excuse for a blether. Pleading poverty, I resisted the wonderful political bookstalls and schmoozed with, among others, The Electoral Reform Society, Scottish CND and Scotland Against Criminalising Communities.
Our merch was missing, until eventually Robin McAlpine showed up with the boxes. ‘What am I meant to be talking about today?’ he asked. Aye, right.
Scottish Greens co-convener Maggie Chapman said we must hold our leaders to account using radical forms of democracy.
The plenary session got the conference off to a start. Scottish Greens co-convener Maggie Chapman said we must hold our leaders to account using radical forms of democracy. Rise Holyrood candidate Cat Boyd reminded us that Scotland is not one, big happy family. We must focus on “the missing millions”, she urged. In a moving speech, Deborah Kayembe told us that refugees are seeking “a freedom of the mind”.
But it was SNP veteran Jim Sillars and Common Weal director Robin McAlpine who laid down the theme of the day. Sillars told us that we needed to start campaigning actively for independence. “Soft people do not make hard choices,” he told us. “No more sloppy thinking. We need some intellectual rigour.” And if anyone is capable of that, it is he.
McAlpine stated that he was “in talks” about relaunching the Yes movement. “I am absolutely confident that Christmas 2021 will take place in an independent Scotland,” he said.
And there were also reviews from him – and later from Alan Bissett – of Trainspotting, Sunshine On Leith and Braveheart. (Nobody ever mentions my all time favourite Scottish film – Gregory’s Girl).
Rise Holyrood candidate Cat Boyd reminded us that Scotland is not one, big happy family.
I practised a new activist skill – Twitter. I generally find it stressful to send out pseudo-random, poorly expressed, typo-laden, truncated messages to an audience of strangers – who I always imagine poised with flaming torches and pitchforks.
This time I went for it. I asked around for the hashtag – it was later announced from the stage. I tweeted key messages from the speeches. Those concerned retweeted me. It all seemed to work. Radical Independence Campaign co-founder Jonathon Shafi announced that #ric2016 was trending UK-wide.
I discovered Twitter analytics and I’m somewhat surprised at how many people saw my tweets. I’m getting more convinced that Twitter is a useful activism tool and one that I need to hone my skills in.
I already knew about the really important activist skill of blethering. From my professional life I understood that the main benefit at conferences comes from ‘networking’, a fancy word for just going up to folk and talking to them.
Special thanks to (name drop alert!) Pinar Aksu, Jean Urquhart and Maggie Chapman for some interesting and useful conversation. Jim Sillars in particular impressed with his openness and keenness of mind as we talked about ‘the rise of the robots’.
“Soft people do not make hard choices,” Jim Sillars told us. “No more sloppy thinking. We need some intellectual rigour.”
These ‘soft skills’ do have to be practised – they don’t always come naturally to dour, reticent Scots. But all you have to do is talk to people, just that. They don’t mind. I can’t stress the importance of blether enough. If we can practice in a room of friendly strangers we’ll find it easier to engage with folk on the streets and doorsteps.
The parallel sessions were great. There was a deliberate mixture of more or less participative sessions, to suit those who are happy to speak out and those who would prefer to just listen.
Penny Cole on Scotland’s energy future gave me the chance to speak, impromptu, about my hobby horse – that Scotland can easily generate 300 per cent – 500 per cent of its energy from renewables, export via a Europe and North Africa-wide super grid and contribute to regional carbon reduction.
Afterwards we all went off down the pub for some more networking. People were introduced to people and contact details were exchanged.
The wee indy pandas came, too. They were drinking that Swedish fruit cider. Later that night I followed their bus journey home – by Twitter. Here’s a film.
It was a good day for rekindling the activist spirit. Minds were focused by the announcement of the EU referendum date. The main theme of the conference was ‘We’re getting the band back together – but we need to prepare’. Reactivating the activist network, building on our skills first developed during indyref will be an important part of that. The conference could be the start of something big.
Picture courtesy of David Carr