Key speaker Tariq Ali declared: ‘What happened in Scotland over the last two years was, and still is, astounding. So astounding that most people in the rest of the UK do not fully comprehend it…
‘In all my years of political activism I’ve not seen anything on this scale. And it doesn’t feel like we lost’
He criticised mainstream media coverage of the referendum, particularly the BBC, and called for new and alternative media outlets to be established. He urged the campaign to focus next on getting sympathetic representatives into Westminster.
‘Project fear can win once, it can’t win twice,’ he said, predicting a second referendum with a Yes result.
At the close of the event Alan Bissett read The People’s Vow. Read the full People’s Vow on the RIC website.
The BBC produced a short video report of the day: ‘Meeting Scotland’s new radicals’. And RIC are fundraising to produce their own film about the event.
Since the conference the campaign continues to move quickly; this weekend will see the largest protest against Trident at Faslane Naval base in a decade.
In the next issue of Red Pepper magazine RIC organiser Jonathon Shafi writes from behind the scenes to explain practically how the campaign has managed to grow so quickly and what will come next.
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