CAMPAIGNERS challenged Glasgow’s annual Pride event over the weekend over its sponsorship ties to Israel’s violence against Palestinians.
Hundreds of No Pride in Genocide (NPIG) activists gathered in Kelvingrove Park on Saturday, where the annual Pride march began, forming a “radical bloc” to demand that the event reject companies directly profiting from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Among the event’s sponsors is US financing giant JP Morgan, which holds $22 million (£16.4m) in shares in Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems, as well as $600m (£447m) in Israeli sovereign war bonds.
Last year, NIPG mobilised a similar bloc within the 2024 Pride march, with their numbers making up nearly half the total procession.
Despite pressure over the past year, the group say that Glasgow’s Pride organisers have refused to engage directly with them.
NPIG accuse organisers of enabling “pinkwashing” — a term used to describe promoting LGBTQ+ inclusivity to deflect from broader human rights abuses.
Northern Pride in NewcastlePhoto: Neil Terry Photography
LGBT+ activists protested on Saturday against the sponsorship of Glasgow’s annual Pride celebrations by firms linked to Israel.
Hundreds of protesters including members of Glasgow Greens, the Scottish TUC and Glasgow Stop the War formed a Radical Bloc calling out Pride organisers for so-called pink washing through collaborating with companies who simultaneously sponsor the event while “directly profiting from Israel’s illegal occupation and ongoing genocide in Palestine.”
The protest took place as Pride activists staged annual celebrations in towns and cities across Britain, including at Northern Pride in Newcastle, where the banners of trade unions Unite, Unison, Royal College of Midwives and teaching unions NEU and NASUWT were raised.
The Glasgow protesters said sponsors included energy company SSE, chemical firm Merck and multinational finance company, JP Morgan.
‘These partnerships embarrass the LGBTQ+ community at a time when much of the cultural world is rejecting ties to these toxic industries’
‘Pinkwashing’: Just Stop Oil activists from the LGBTQ community sprayed pink paint and blocked the Pride In London Parade by sitting in front of a Coca-Cola truck taking part in the parade, in protest against Pride working with industries linked to the climate crisis and in protest against Coca-Cola, seen as the world’s biggest plastic polluter, Saturday, July 1, 2023. Image by Just Stop Oil.
Just Stop Oil protesters temporarily blocked London’s Pride Parade Saturday afternoon to protest the event accepting sponsorship money from “high-polluting industries.”
Pride faced accusations of “pinkwashing” over its decision to make United Airlines the headline sponsor of this year’s event.
Seven protesters were arrested at 1:30 pm after blocking the road in front of a Coca-Cola truck. Coca-Cola is seen as the world’s biggest plastic polluter.
LGBTQ+ members of Just Stop Oil called on organizers to condemn new oil, gas, and coal licenses and stop allowing the inclusion of floats from these corporations in the parade.
James Skeet, a Just Stop Oil spokesperson, said in a statement:
“Pride was born from protest. It speaks to how far we’ve come as a community, that high-polluting industries and the banks that fund them, now see Pride as a useful vehicle for sanitizing their reputations, waving rainbow flags in one hand whilst accelerating social collapse with the other. It is queer people, and particularly queer people of color in the global south, who are suffering first in this accelerating social breakdown. What would those who instigated the gay liberation movement during the Stonewall riots in 1969, make of the corporatized spectacle Pride has now become?”
“These partnerships embarrass the LGBTQ+ community, at a time when much of the cultural world is rejecting ties to these toxic industries. We call on Pride to remember the spirit in which it was founded and to respect the memory of all those who fought and died to secure the rights we now possess whilst taking the necessary steps to protect our community long into the future.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan speaking before the parade said:
“I agree with protesting in a way that is lawful, safe, and peaceful. I think that Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil are really important pressure groups trying to put power on those who have power and influence.”
“I fully support the right to protest. It’s really important to recognize the joy of democracy is protest.”
“I am somebody who feels quite passionately that we have to tackle the climate emergency. And I feel quite passionately about encouraging people to join the movement to tackle the climate emergency. In my view, protest should be peaceful, lawful, and safe.”
Peter Tatchell, the legendary LGBTQ+ rights campaigner, and prominent member of the Gay Liberation Front and the civil resistance group OutRage! Said:
“I helped organize the first Pride in the UK in 1972 and have attended every Pride London march since then. Pride was always meant to be both a celebration and a protest. From the outset, we stood in solidarity with other struggles for freedom and social justice, against corporate pinkwashing and all forms of exploitation. We saw queer liberation as just one aspect of a wider liberation movement.”
“Climate destruction is destroying communities, jobs, homes and lives across the world, especially in poorer countries. Fossil fuels are endangering the survival of humanity – including LGBTQ+ people. Our community must not collude with environment, species and climate destroying companies.”
[4 twitter threads that twitter is refusing to embed, see Original article ]
Glasgow Pride
