FOLLOWING the First Minister’s announcement pledging to hold indyref2 in October 2023, Dumfries and Galloway Indy Hub has launched a crowdfunder to help keep their van “on the road” and to continue to distribute honest information about Scotland’s natural wealth.
The Indy Hub van has been supported financially since 2019 by members of local Yes groups, by “It’s time Scotland”, and by the Scottish Independence Foundation.
Ian Waugh, the Indy Hub van’s lead driver, said: “Prior to Covid-19 curtailing campaigning, we supported Yes groups across Dumfries and Galloway, including at stalls at the Wigtown Book Festival together with Machars for Yes, and Yes Wigtownshire; with Yes Moffat in the High Street and with Yes Annandale in Lockerbie – as well as delivering campaign materials and banners to groups and individuals from Langholm to Stranraer”.
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Waugh is also a member of Dumfries and Galloway Pensioners for Independence, and has joined them at their stall at the Saturday markets in Dumfries town centre and at pop-up exhibitions in Gretna, Langholm and Thornhill, as well as entertainment/information events at local community groups.
“It’s now time to get ourselves back out meeting people so we can let folk ask questions, and give them access to honest information about Scotland’s natural wealth,” said Waugh.
“Only with access to such information will folk be able to make an informed choice. As things stand, much of the mainstream media seems full of the ‘doom and gloom’ that suggests that Scotland, uniquely – and despite it’s great wealth of natural resources and educated workforce – is somehow deemed unable to function as an independent state in our own right.”
Alice Howdle, an English Scot living in Kirkmahoe, voted No in 2014 – and is now not only a Yes voter, but is active with Dumfries and Galloway Pensioners for Independence.
When asked why the change, Howdle said: “I was 40% Yes, 60% No prior to the 2014 vote. Had there been a middle way, I’d have voted for that but, in the end, I voted No.
“Then came all the broken ‘Better Together’ promises [which] made me realise that independence is the only way for Scotland to thrive. As part of the UK, our voices will never be heard and our aspirations will never be achieved.”
When asked why, if folk like Alice have changed from No to Yes, the polls seem stuck around the 50% mark, Waugh replied: “The only folk I know who’ve gone from Yes to No have done so because they see re-joining the EU as ‘not really independence’.
“Well, I have to say that our relationship with Westminster is proving, on an almost daily basis, to be one where we’re on the receiving end of dictatorial decisions and ruinous policy decisions in which we have no say at all.
“As an EU member, if and when that transpires, we’d have much more say and, unlike in Westminster, our opinion would be respected and accepted as a valued contribution to any debate”
The crowdfunder offers a reward for those donating £20 or more and can be found at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/dumfriesgalloway-indy-hub---the-final-countdown
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