FORMER first minister Nicola Sturgeon, author Val McDermid, and actor Kate Dickie have signed an open letter to MSPs calling on them to tackle the rise of far-right racism and misogyny.
Nadia El-Nakla, wife of former first minister Humza Yousaf, is also a signatory on the letter sent to parliamentarians in Holyrood by campaign group Women Against the Far Right Scotland.
It has been backed by more than 600 women and organisations in total, including TV presenter and columnist Jean Johansson, human rights campaigner Dr Pinar Aksu, and former SNP MSP Kaukab Stewart.
Trade union figures Roz Foyer, general secretary of the STUC, Liz McGachey, PCS Scottish executive co-convenor, and Dr Cecile Menard, UCU Scotland vice president, have also backed the call.
The letter points to several incidents that have taken place over the Scottish Parliament’s summer recess, including a hijab wearing woman of colour being attacked in Glasgow, mosques being attacked, and doxxing and harassment of women involved in anti-racism campaigning.
It also notes the case of Quroum Beg, a Glasgow dad-of-two who was targeted with misinformation by the far-right agitator Tommy Robinson. Beg recently launched a crowdfunder to take Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley Lennon, to court for defamation.
The letter also highlighted attacks on black and Asian taxi drivers and food delivery workers, the racial harassment and intimidation of staff working on the front line with charities, as well as those working with migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
The rallies led by the far-right where attendees have made Nazi salutes and violence has broken out were also addressed in the letter.
“These incidents are just the tip of the iceberg, there are many issues that go unreported and do not garner media attention,” the letter reads. “We say enough is enough.
“These incidents have not happened in a vacuum and neither has the rise of the far-right. This has been enabled through years of too many politicians and commentators scapegoating migrants and asylum seekers for every problem in society.
“Far-right and neo-Nazi groups have been emboldened, and now feel they have the permission to spread disinformation, hate, and racism.
“They exploit important issues including violence against women and girls and poverty, weaponising peoples’ fears and anger to spread their hateful ideology.
“And they are being enabled by some within the Scottish political landscape.”
The letter then asks MSPs returning to parliament to “take on the responsibility of tackling the far right”.
“You must take responsibility to ensure that you and all in your party do not engage in or enable the spread of disinformation,” it adds.
“You must take the standards of public office seriously to be worthy of being an elected politician.”
It goes on to urge MSPs to call out far-right groups and condemn the incitement of violence against people of colour, Muslims, migrants and asylum seekers, and to be “clear and strong” in the language that far right groups are “weaponising and exploiting” violence against women and girls.
It asks politicians to publicly pledge to expel any party members who may support or speak far right rallies or “night patrols” and not to engage in “dehumanising and incendiary language” in relation to migrants, asylum seekers and communities of colour which “further embolden far-right actors”.
Earlier this year, Reform UK were condemned for not taking any action against a councillor who spoke at a far-right rally in Glasgow.
Audrey Dempsey, a councillor in Springburn who quit Scottish Labour amid a row over “racist” comments and then defected to Nigel Farage’s party, is reported to have spoken at the Unite the Clans rally in July in Glasgow Green. She appeared on a speakers list ahead of the event alongside members of the neo-Nazi Homeland Party and Patriotic Alternative.
Reform UK's deputy Scotland leader Thomas Kerr has been criticised for repeatedly describing immigrants as "strangers" in Holyrood and outside of it.
The letter also calls on the Scottish Government to launch an “emergency response” which centres “more effective and accountable policing of the far right with a zero tolerance policy”, coupled with clear methods to fight disinformation.
Investment in violence against women support services and the “prioritisation of prevention activities to tackle violence against women and girls”.
It also asks ministers to deliver “a more meaningful and faster-paced response to tackling poverty through methods such as the implementation of the minimum income guarantee for all”.
It notes that this commitment was first made by this government in 2021, when Sturgeon was first minister.
The petition is available online here.
