Scots' final call: can rallying beneath the radar save the day?

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/17/scots-final-call-rallying-political-engagement-votes

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Despite the balloons, stalwart celebrities and chants of "yes we can", the eve-of-poll rally of the Yes Scotland campaign, gathered on Wednesday morning on the steps of Glasgow's concert hall, felt like a subdued affair. Perhaps it was the overcast skies, or the latest polls, three of which overnight had consolidated around a 48/52 victory for the no side in the Scottish independence referendum.

This area at the top of Buchanan Street, beneath the mordant statue of the architect of the Scottish parliament, Donald Dewar, as well as nearby George Square, have become unofficial rallying points for yes supporters over the past few weeks.

There have been Twitter prompted sing-alongs to Dougie McLean's Caledonia love song to Scotland, near permanent street stalls, and even an impromptu ceilidh in the evening sunshine last week.

The yes movement has always been about visibility: it has had to shout louder to be taken seriously by the media and by voters, and it has done so with enthusiasm, conviction and, on occasion, some anger. But can that noise translate to the necessary votes?

While there are plenty within the pro-independence campaign who still trust the palpable momentum of the past fortnight over polling, others contemplate an agonisingly narrow defeat.

Just off Buchanan Street, in Royal Exchange Square, 12 days ago, Jim Murphy was delivering one of his Irn-Bru crate orations. The former Labour Scottish secretary had just re-started his street-corner speaking tour after suspending it for 48 hours following some ugly disruption by yes supporters. This event passed without incident, but there were plenty of media present just in case.

On the way back to the Buchanan Street underground station, however, there was a wish tree. A wish tree, for the uninitiated, allows folk to write down their hopes for the future of Scotland and hang them together for others to read. It had been strung between two saplings, by Aileen Mackay, 21, who had bulk bought some luggage tags and thought the idea might appeal to Thursday's late-night shoppers.

Contemplating the prospect of a no vote had left her in tears the night before. "There will be a sense of mourning for the future we could have had."

In between chats with passers-by, Mackay explained that she had recently graduated and has been campaigning for a yes vote with the National Collective and the Radical Independence Campaign, two of the more youthful grassroots groups to emerge on the yes side. She is one of thousands of younger Scots who have come to political consciousness through this referendum – most noticeably on the yes side – informing themselves and acting beyond the auspices of the official yes campaign.

Small acts of trust such as Mackay's are a huge part of the story of this referendum campaign, which might easily be summed up in the juxtaposition of those two events. Noisy as yes can be, plenty more has been happening beneath the radar.

But, while that political engagement alone is something to take delight in, it's too easy to characterise this referendum debate as the hopey-changers versus the just-grow-up-ers. Many no voters ache for a more optimistic, even idealistic, discussion of Scotland's future within the union, which they feel the Better Together campaign has failed to facilitate.

Likewise, there are those on the yes side who shudder at the movement's lack of intellectual rigour, naivety, introspection and sometimes robotic adherence to received wisdom. The yes side talks a lot about "conversion by conversation". It was the much missed independence veteran Margo MacDonald who observed "if all of us who believe in this persuade just one other person, then we win".

On Wednesday morning, the once cheerful thorn in New Labour's side, Dennis Canavan, now chair of Yes Scotland, increased that challenge a thousand-fold. Making a final plea to win over the undecideds, he said: "There are indications now that 40% of Labour voters are backing yes. If we can pull that up to 50% by tomorrow, then we will win."

But this is a ferocious demand for the remaining hours, even for a campaign that started out two years ago trailing at 27%. Then again, with a potential turnout of 4.29 million a significant chunk of whom will be voting for the first time, it is hard to be absolutely sure about the final result.

On Wednesday, Brian Docherty, chair of the Scottish Police Federation, issued a statement denouncing "exaggerated rhetoric" which implied that Scotland was "on the verge of societal disintegration".

Except, as the nation goes to the polls, it is not irresponsible to observe that the country is divided. Of course it is – what did anyone expect? People feel passionately. Things get heated. But it bears repeating: most of the debate in this referendum has been civic and civil. And this is a conversation that Scotland needs to be having, even if it is uncomfortable.

With that energy coming from the no campaigners as much as the yes advocates now, all that is certain in the final moments of the Scottish referendum campaign is that it cannot be turned off like a tap on 19 September. As Patrick Harvie, the Scottish Green party co-convenor, told Wednesday morning's rally: "Nothing is going to be the same again, whichever way it goes."