Click pic to go to the Indiegogo fundraiser page, or click here to use PayPal.

All-sources total as of 9am, Tuesday 25 July: £11,640 .

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Most of you have probably seen this by now:

And most of you probably already know what it’s about.

For the last six years, the supporters of independence have been relentlessly abused, smeared and vilified by the Unionist parties and the media. We’ve been called Nazis, bullies, terrorists, fascists, Stalinists, thugs, viruses, racists, human sewers and just about every other slur under the sun. The most innocuous remarks have been blown up into shock-horror hysteria, and on the occasions when there haven’t even been any innocuous remarks they’ve simply been invented.

Perhaps it’s time to fight back.

When we originally ran the Dugdale/Mundell story in May, after Dugdale had blanked an attempt to settle the matter out of court, we asked you to decide what we should do about it – whether we should bring a court case or just let it go, and whether if we pursued it we should use existing Wings funds or do a separate fundraiser

Your response was clear-cut. By an overwhelming 70-30 majority you wanted the case brought, and of the people who wanted it done there was an almost 60-40 majority in favour of a new fundraiser specifically for the case.

So we’ve done it. It’s initially for a small amount to cover the expenses that have been incurred to date in professional legal advice from counsel and filing the case, though more will likely be needed in future if and when it actually gets to court – if for any reason should donations end up exceeding costs, any surplus when the case is over will go into the Wings Fighting Fund.

(We’ve taken it to the Sheriff Court rather than the Court Of Session, so it should be relatively inexpensive – and certainly nowhere remotely near the sort of levels of the Orkney Four’s challenge to Alistair Carmichael.)

If we win, it may set a precedent that makes Unionist politicians and newspapers at least pause for thought the next time they want to demonise independence supporters with outrageous and disgusting falsehoods. But we don’t think we can afford to go on any longer without at least trying.