physics

Radical Independence Campaign

Radical Independence Campaign is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Radical Independence Campaign rather than just read about it. In short: The Radical Independence Campaign (RIC) is an organisation which advocates for Scotland to become a republic, independent of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2012 in the run-up to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, in which it played a significant campaigning role.

Key takeaways

Radical Independence Campaign belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Radical Independence Campaign to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Radical Independence Campaign from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Radical Independence Campaign (RIC) is an organisation which advocates for Scotland to become a republic, independent of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2012 in the run-up to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, in which it played a significant campaigning role.

Mission

RIC stands for the following:

For a democratic, secular, socially just and environmentally sustainable Scottish republic. Action based on the sovereignty of the people not the UK Crown, leading to the setting up of a Constituent Assembly. Action to establish universal health care, education, housing, income, pensions and trade union rights; and to win land reform and challenge environmental degradation. Equality and opposition to discrimination on grounds of sex, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion/belief, disability or age. Solidarity with the struggles for workers’ rights, democracy and self-determination, based on internationalism from below. Support for Scotland’s artistic and cultural revival in all its languages.

History

2012–2014 During the 2012–2014 Scottish independence campaign, RIC emerged from the Radical Independence Conference 2012 that was attended by almost 900 people. During the run-up to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, RIC conducted a voter registration drive. This contributed to the unprecedented high voter registration of 84.59%.

RIC has also conducted non-violent direct action protests. An example of this which was prominent in the media is when right-wing UKIP leader Nigel Farage was unable to promote his views due to RIC supporters disrupting an Edinburgh election meeting. In November 2013, RIC hosted the Radical Independence Conference 2013, which brought over 1,000 delegates to Glasgow to hear a left-wing vision for independence. Speakers included Scottish Green co-convenor Patrick Harvie, Yes Scotland chairman Dennis Canavan, human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar, Scottish Socialist spokesman Colin Fox, actor David Hayman and youth activist Cat Boyd. In November 2013, George Kerevan commented on the conference, saying: "RIC is the wild card in next year’s referendum. If the anti-austerity left can convince Scotland’s young people that independence means genuine change, all political bets are off." RIC commenced a strategy that targeted economically disadvantaged areas of Scotland in late February 2014, with organisers explaining that mainstream politics were not relevant to the residents of these areas. To launch the action, RIC members distributed flyers and posters in social housing schemes that read: "Britain is for the rich, Scotland can be ours". RIC organiser Jonathon Shafi said to the Sunday Herald newspaper on 23 February 2014 that he had encountered three-to-one support for an independent Scotland and stated:

Change is in the air. We are on the verge of a wider awakening. Corporate Britain is sewn up for the rich. Most people know they are the butt of Tory Britain's 'we're all in it together' joke. It will not take much to galvanise that frustration into a clear understanding of just how bad Britain has been. Whilst the 2014 Scottish independence referendum did not lead to independence, the independence cause proved popular among the working-class. This was demonstrated by the Scottish Labour Party losing forty of their forty-one Scottish seats to the SNP in the 2015 United Kingdom general election.

2014–2021 In June 2014, the Sunday Herald reported that "informal" discussions had taken place between figures in the Radical Independence Campaign and the Scottish Socialist Party with regards to creating a new left-wing party in the wake of the independence referendum. These discussions led to the RISE political party which stood unsuccessfully in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election and which has now dissolved.

2021 onwards In early 2021, it was announced that RIC had disbanded as a national body, but that 'some local groups may still choose to operate under the RIC name'. This opened up a new era in RIC's history, by giving an impetus to those local groups to renew the campaign as a whole.

In late April 2021 it was reported that the group was "alive" and preparing for a potential second Scottish independence referendum. Hustings were organised in the run-up to the May 2021 Scottish Parliament election. An online Radical Independence Conference was held in June 2021, offering workshops on planning acts of civil disobedience to pressure the UK Government. During the UN COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, on 6 November, RIC organised the independence bloc of the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice march, which was the city's largest protest in nearly two decades. The group organised under the slogan "It’s Scotland’s oil, keep it in the soil". RIC also used COP26 as an opportunity to network with self-determination activists from other stateless nations which were excluded from the official UN conference. In November 2021, the group announced that it sought to intensify its international links. This includes the Scottish diaspora globally, other nations in Britain and Ireland, and further afield. For example, RIC has proposed an All-Island International group, which it would be a part of alongside other pro-independence organisations in Wales, Cornwall and the north of England, as well as groups promoting Irish unification. RIC member Jack Ferguson said to The National newspaper on 7 November 2021 that:

RIC sees international links as vital so that we can offer our support to people struggling around the world, but also so that Scotland can call on global help when demanding our own right to self-determination from Westminster. We’re also seeking to build links with the Scottish diaspora globally, encouraging them to support the independence struggle here [in Scotland]. We want to come together in alliance with all those throughout these islands who see breaking up the British state as the way to achieve major social progress, and work together to end the undemocratic rule of Westminster.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Radical Independence Campaign

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Radical Independence Campaign claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Radical Independence Campaign before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Radical Independence Campaign ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Radical Independence Campaign

In research: Radical Independence Campaign appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Radical Independence Campaign in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Radical Independence Campaign is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2012 establishments in Scotland, 2012 in British politics, 2014 Scottish independence referendum, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Radical Independence Campaign outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Radical Independence Campaign in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Radical Independence Campaign means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Radical Independence Campaign out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Radical Independence Campaign in simple terms?

Why does Radical Independence Campaign matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Radical Independence Campaign?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Radical Independence Campaign.