Scotland’s Greens lead the way in intolerance & misogyny

In an open letter to Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Green Party, @WitchyMcWitch says his failure to call out his supporters’ Trumpian behaviour is souring public discourse

When did it all go so wrong?

The Green Party is supposed to be the party of science. The party of tolerance. The party for left-wing, intelligent people.

And what do we have now? A party that leads with Trumpian mantras of intolerance, which inspires violence and bigotry in their supporters and flag-wavers.

Not for the first time, we see your supporters confirming they are complicit in violence against women who simply want to feel safe.

This is not an isolated incident. Far from it.

And in the same way that a section of GOP Trump supporters felt emboldened to wear their racism with pride, Green Party teenagers feel emboldened to wear their misogynistic intolerance with pride.

The American racists took their cue from Mr Trump, and the intolerant misogynists of Scotland are taking their cue from you.

You had the opportunity, and the duty, to put a stop to this. To tell these, mostly teens, that their behaviour was unacceptable. Not only within your party but in Scotland.

You didn’t.

Last year one of your council candidates said publicly that he would “punch” any woman he saw who didn’t share his beliefs. You were asked at the time to challenge this. To take a stand to let your party members know this behaviour would not be tolerated.

You didn’t.

Constituents have written to you very politely to ask for meetings regarding Government policy that you support. Policy they feel would place them in untenable positions. You replied stating their concerns were not valid and suggesting they were bigots.

You had the opportunity to meet with them to reassure them. You didn’t.

After a now-infamous interview, you seemed to compare women of colour with men, which resulted in reports being made to the police, accusing you of a hate crime. Again, you had the opportunity to clarify and reassure.

You didn’t.

Your supporters, emboldened by you, are becoming increasingly aggressive, again resulting in reports being made to the police.

You have the opportunity to take the heat out of the discussions regarding gender ideology, to bring your party back to a tolerant party where aggressive threats and outright hostility are not acceptable. By standing by, and adding to this hate, you are responsible.

By implicitly encouraging this, you are no better than Trump. And those supporters who feel emboldened by your intolerant, misogynistic rhetoric are no better than the gun-toting, MAGA hat-wearing thugs in the USA.

You must do better, Patrick. You owe it to those impressionable teens, and you owe it to Scotland.