2008 will be the year of intercultural dialogue.
2007 would appear entirely void of symbolic significance - oh, except that it marks 40 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality, in the UK.
In light of this, it seems rather fitting that one of my main tasks at the FYEG office last week was to draft and edit a letter to the Croatian prime minister, in the aftermath of the Zagreb Pride march, some weeks ago. The letter in full has been published here, and the European Green Party have also issued a press release about it on their website.
Zagreb is the most recent in a string of incidents related to Gay Pride events in Eastern and South Eastern Europe over the past few months. Marches have taken place in Moscow, Warsaw, Riga, Zagreb, etc - all with varying degrees of counter-demonstration and reactions of varying hostility. None, however, have been entirely without violence, abuse. This coupled with the implicit nods from the gouvernment who refuse to actually call the attacks hate crimes is a worrying state of affairs, especially in countries that are now full EU members.
My "boss" Judith Verweijen, office coordinator of FYEG has attended a number of marches in areas such as these, and I'd recommend a look at her blog if you're interested in a good description of the kind of climate that accompanies such events, it's quite an eye-opening evaluation, detailling, for instance, how protestors were often escorted out of the city after the march for fear "releasing" them back into the public way would inevitably endanger their lives.
At this stage, very early stage of acceptance, it is not a question of sexual preference, it is first and foremost a fundamentally political issue. Rights are rights, and oppression is oppression, whomsoever is directly concerned and targeted, because where it exists, it touches everything, it is pervasive of all areas of life, and it dictates & sets a very distinct tone and climate. This is why solidarity is so important, whether with minorities, women, the handicapped, under-priveleged, any particular race or religion... it's not fighting someone else's fight, it's fighting your own because making a stand against discrimination is an action in its own right and has far wider implications than any one small segment of society's battle. As the final part of our letter stresses in no uncertain terms...
We sincerely hope that you share our profound conviction that there can be no freedom where people, especially those belonging to vulnerable minorities, exist in conditions of injustice, intolerance and fear... Therefore, we urge you, Mr. Prime Minister, and the Croatian government to firmly and publicly condemn the homophobic attacks at and after Zagreb PRIDE and to urgently take the necessary measures to promote the full respect of the inalienable European values of equality, non discrimination, and freedom of expression throughout Croatian society.
And its such an important point for the Greens especially because it hangs on all those core issues, equality, freedom, civil liberties, dignity, respect - and it's about shifting paradigms and changing mindsets and if anyone is aware of how important and how feasible that is, it's the Greens, because being so progressive is what sets them apart from all the other political "families".
It's true. In glorious Western Europe we do now have widepsread tolerance framed in law, and many other nations are following suit. But complacency is enemy number one, and you can still detect little things that
aren't right. Like Chris Moyles using "Gay" as an insult, to 5 million listeners at 7AM in the morning. And nobody is more aware of these little things, than the people who are most entitled to feel aggrieved by them - the gay demographic.
Philip Hensher of The Independent writes: "It used to be commonplace to read newspaper articles extolling the virtues of the gay best friend for the girl about town who wants to choose some new cushions. Now that
it has dawned on even the most slow-witted of lady columnists how very offensive that is, its been replaced by articles asking what there is for gay people to complain about how they've got everything they ever asked for."
Clearly these columnists (I'll leave aside the misogynistic overtones) have never been to a Gay Pride March in the Balkans. Sometimes it is an honest lack of knowledge about how immense the disparity is between countries when it comes to same-sex policy.
Or sometimes it's just a new, perhaps even more malevolent kind of homophobia. Like the perfectly vile Alain Soral, who is definitely top 5 on my hit list at the moment, asking one gay man what his problem was because "You would love to think that there's opposition, but the truth is - nobody has a problem with you anymore" and calling it a "faux debat" (false debate). Not only is it flagrantly untrue, it's obscenely offensive. WHO IS HE to say it, anyway?!
Some of these MEPs are good at that as well, as in a recent debate on Homophobia at the in Strasbourg, a certain Dutch female MEP rose to give an impassioned tirade against those in the chamber who felt that homophobia shouldn't be discussed about in the European Parliament plenary. "You can be for or against," she said, "But don't tell us we're not allowed to talk about this - do not distort the debate!"
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