THE landmark Yes Challenge has been hailed as a crucial tool in the campaign to secure Scottish independence by one of the movement’s top commentators.
Paul Kavanagh, aka the Wee Ginger Dug, encouraged Scots to sign up as the initiative soared towards its target of 5000 signatories, with more than 3500 people registered as of Sunday.
The Yes challenge, launched by The National and Believe in Scotland, encourages people to nominate an undecided voter to receive a free National subscription for 12 weeks. It is hoped 2000 people will participate in the challenge.
Kavanagh explained why he’s backing the initiative, and countered Unionist complaints about it being launched during the pandemic.
“Even though we’ve now had consistent support for independence in the polls for over a year, we can’t take support for Yes for granted,” the National columnist explained. “We can’t stop making the arguments for independence. Because the more people that we can get over to our side, the more convincing our victory is going to be.
“Fundamentally we have to get opponents of independence to accept it – and the more people that we can convert to the cause of independence the more convincing the victory will be, both to the British government and also to the international community.
“It’s really important that we don’t stop the work of trying to persuade people to support independence, so I think it’s a really, really valuable initiative because it focuses on what our core task is going to be.”
SIGN THE YES CHALLENGE PLEDGE NOW
Kavanagh detailed why the challenge resonates with his background in the Yes movement.
“I’ve supported [independence] since I was a kid,” he said. “Mostly because of my Uncle Shug – Shug was always a big independence supporter, ever since I can remember he was nipping my head about why Scotland needs to be independent.
“That was why I asked him on the stage at the event in George Square because he was the person that made me an independence supporter. That’s the important thing that we need to remember because we do live in a country where the media is overwhelmingly anti-independence.
“What converts people is one-on-one conversations with people that you have relationships with, in my case it was my uncle. That’s how we build the case for independence – it’s having hundreds of thousands of those one-on-one conversations with people that we already know.
“That’s why this initiative helps to further that process, and that’s why it’s valuable. It gives talking points that you can bring up with people and information that you can back up the things you’re talking about with. It’s also a good way of initiating the conversations, all ‘here I’ve got you a free subscription to the newspaper.’”
READ MORE: The National launches the Yes Challenge – let’s convince undecided voters to back independence
Kavanagh also explained why Unionist anger about the initiative is misguided.
“They’re scared, their case is crumbling and they can’t accept it,” he said.
“Just because we’re in a pandemic it doesn’t mean that we can’t talk to people, and that’s what this initiative is, it’s about talking to people.
“It has absolutely zero risk in terms of Covid transmission. The Scottish Government has to focus on the pandemic but that doesn’t mean that the rest of us have to stop talking about other things that interest us. It’s a perfectly safe way of campaigning. It’s about having conversations with people.”
READ MORE: Yes Challenge could ‘really benefit’ push for indy by building on US strategies
The Yes Challenge has been backed by several high-profile figures, including actor Alan Cumming and musician Eddi Reader.
It was also officially endorsed by the SNP over the weekend.
To get involved in the biggest independence campaign since 2014, visit yeschallenge.scot today and sign the pledge. Let’s win indyref2!
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