A ROW has broken out between the Scottish Greens and Pride march organisers over support for Palestine.
Greens in Glasgow are calling on supporters to join them in a pro-Palestine section in the annual Pride parade.
The Glasgow Green Party and the Rainbow Greens said they have decided not to march in a "Green Bloc" during processions organised by Glasgow’s Pride Limited at the event on Saturday.
Instead, they will take part in a "No Pride in Genocide: Radical Bloc" to show solidarity with people of Palestine.
The group said it has concerns over reports some of the event organisers’ corporate sponsors may have interests and investments that the Greens state “make them complicit in the State of Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people, as well as sponsors who are accelerating the climate crisis”.
The Pride organisers said the Greens were pulling attention away from the event's original aims towards a separate agenda.
In an email chain published by the Greens, Glasgow Pride said they had passed an email asking for details of their corporate sponsors on to Police Scotland.
Ellie Gomersall, Glasgow Green’s committee member and LGBT+ activist, said: “Pride is first and foremost a protest and that must always be remembered even as we rightly celebrate how far our community has come in our fight for liberation.
“As we continue that fight for our human rights we must stand in solidarity with all those across the world who are fighting for theirs.
“There is no conflict between standing for a free Palestine and celebrating our queer identities – for Glasgow’s Pride Ltd. to imply this is disappointing and offensive.
“The Scottish Greens will always fight for LGBTQ+ people but that will not stop us from standing with Palestine or fighting the climate crisis. Pride should be about liberation for all, not a celebration of corporations putting a rainbow in their logo.”
In a reply to the Greens, which the party published, Glasgow’s Pride Ltd stated it stands with those in 65 countries and territories where “our community can be jailed or even sentenced to death and killed for being who they are". It said Palestine was one of these places.
Glasgow’s Pride said it: “Stands with European Convention of Human Rights as this is what has provided our community with the freedoms which we can enjoy here in Scotland.
“We also do not condone any form of war or contravention of the ECHR be this the Palestine-Israel conflict, which began in 1948, the current ongoing wars involving Russia, Ukraine and Chechnya, or any form of harassment or violence to our community which can be seen in Scotland by the increase in hate crime reporting.”
It added: “Any attempt to hijack or disrupt the events will be seen as being against the LGBTQIA+ community and attempted pinkwashing by distracting attention away from the challenges faced by our community.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article