This week we want to put the spotlight on a grassroots group making an impact in political and social movements, with the aim to present an interactive, progressive, independent vision in the months ahead.
Ungagged printed out leaflets giving information to East Dunbartonshire residents on Jo Swinson’s record as an MP over the years prior to the 2019 General Election.
5,000 leaflets were delivered across the community and after the election, which SNP MP Amy Callaghan memorably won, the group were reported to the police.
“The LibDems thought what we were doing was against the law, but it wasn’t. The police came to our door, but no action was taken. It just made us aware that people were taking notice," says Ungagged founding member and previous Scottish Socialist Party communication officer, Neil Scott.
Evidently making an impact, the group carried on championing multiple campaigns building on previous efforts such as raising money for a food bank in Glasgow in 2016 that ran out of food.
They started an 8000-sticker campaign after a pub owner was attacked over being trans and organised an open letter to raise public support for two pensioners arrested at Faslane, as well as sent letters to the activists in jail for personal support.
Ungagged has an editorial team comprising of seven volunteers and a Discord channel with more than 40 active members supporting these efforts with their time and most of the materials produced are also paid for by volunteers.
As well as materials, the team produces a podcast and articles “featuring news, views and blether, plus kick-ass music to get you moving, poetry, fiction and art".
Neil Scott has lived in Bearsden for 20 years. He and several of the founding members are previous left group executive members with experience in campaigning and producing materials, and since 2016, have been doing it under the Ungagged banner.
Members are previous SNP, Green, Labour, and SSP members, as well as members never having been a political party member, simply left and pro-independent. They are completely non-political in their party support.
The group are asking for donations for future campaigns focusing on the positive, democratic, left visionary messages for independence. A PayPal is currently live and a Crowdfunder is being set up to ensure the group can create bigger and better materials for voters across the country.
Scott says: “We want to create interactive materials rather than papers. We know they need to be punchy and easy, with QR codes and things like that.”
Ungagged describes itself as a platform where “we may not always agree with each other, but we all respect each other’s right to speak, and to be heard".
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Scott said: “Who knows what the political landscape is going to look like in Scotland after independence? What we do know is it is going to be left of centre as that is where the electorate is now.
“We are happy to be independence allies to set out a vision to win independence first, then focus on the rest.”
This piece is an extract from The National Grassroots newsletter, which is emailed out at 11am every Thursday with a round-up of the week's top stories and exclusive interviews from the independence movement.
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