A NEW film documenting the diversity of the grassroots independence movement has been created to mark 10 years since the referendum.
Still Yes, produced by filmmaker and independence supporter Charlie Stuart, follows a variety of campaigners who have continued to be active in the grassroots movement since Scots went to the polls to vote on the country’s future in 2014.
From Yes biker Chic Flockhart – who has continued to go out on independence marches – to Jeanette Cannon – who planted trees in a Saltire formation following the No result – the film follows the individual stories of passionate activists and aims to kickstart a debate about how the movement should be utilised.
The film also stars leading Yes campaigner Robin McAlpine, author and journalist Lesley Riddoch, and researcher Mark McGeoghegan, who aim to offer reflections on how politicians failed to engage with the grassroots and how the movement can be further coordinated and energised in the future.
Stuart, who is based in Blanefield just north of Glasgow, said he was keen to avoid politicians when documenting the story of independence supporters.
He said: “I had the intention of going out and finding ordinary people who are involved in the grassroots movement, trying to avoid politicians and decision-makers.
“There was always the thought also about what all this means. We’ve still got an indy movement, but how has that made us any closer to independence, or are we further away?
“I don’t spend every week or month pondering over independence but it is definitely something I became – a bit like many people who campaigned in 2014 – a bit energised by and that hasn’t faded.”
The film also follows Marie White – who moved to Scotland from Czechoslovakia and voted No in 2014, before switching to back independence after Brexit – as she leaves stone paintings with messages of support around her community.
Stuart, who worked on Riddoch's films about Denmark and Estonia, said: “[White] is a stone painter and slate painter which seems to be a very strong thing in the movement, for the reason that I think it’s something that lets people feel they are still doing something.
“They feel frustrated with the way things are and by doing something like stone painting, it’s like therapy.”
The film reflects on the vibrancy of the grassroots but also focuses on how it was “disconnected” from the formal pro-independence movement, with McAlpine suggesting some SNP politicians went “out of their way to send the message they weren’t going to engage with the grassroots”.
“They wanted to signal to the mainstream media that this administration was not a grassroots insurgent, that it was a much more establishment sort of party,” he said in the film.
“It’s done enormous damage to the cause because there’s no communication, no integration, no coordination. So everyone’s pushing in different directions.”
A key point made in the film is that the grassroots is still there but it is dispersed, with not much sign of a coordinated effort to come together in the way seen in 2014.
He said the film stresses that people are still energised but there needs to be a “change in tack” politically to ensure the grassroots are engaged as one.
“Both Lesley and Robin make the point that the grassroots is rudderless at the minute, it’s a bunch of different things happening in a non-coordinated way and a lot of people think the answer to that is there’s going to be some sort of key figure, but they said we don’t want a messiah,” he said.
“Their points are there needs to be some change of tack at the political level to bring on board [the grassroots].
“There’s lots of things happening, people are still energised, but we’re hung up, and it goes back to the politicians to say where we’re going to go from here.”
Still Yes can be viewed on YouTube here.
