The Malta Gay Rights Movement (MGRM) is becoming an absurd and useless organisation and its committee members are so bored and free from any work or burden that they now want to pick up a fight against Israel. Apparently, MGRM is now being run by unemployed hippies and after having fulfilled its mission of changing Malta’s laws and culture towards the LGBT minority, it is now a bit lost looking for new causes to preserve its existence.
Without any solid cause to fight for, MGRM has been reduced to a Labour prop for government-sponsored events.
And before the youth at MGRM comes out to preach to me about its virtues, mate, just keep in mind, I have been attending MGRM Gay Pride demonstrations at a time when these demonstrations had more heterosexual attendees present than members of the MGRM itself. When MGRM back then was led by Sandro Mangion, most members of the LGBT community were very fearful of coming out in public, and people like Sandro were considered very courageous heroes. Nowadays, there is nothing progressive in attending Labour-government sponsored events with a rainbow flag – on the contrary, I think it’s ridiculous and at best pinkwashing – at worst, an opportunistic deception.
So, before MGRM accuses Isreal of pinkwashing, it should really look itself in the mirror. Maybe, and as well, MGRM should point out that Israel is the only place in the Middle East where one can hold a gay parade and not get killed – I assume that this is relevant to MGRM’s charter and mission. The absurdity in MGRM’s statement is incredible. They are now and in fact, signing off press statements with communist loonies such as “?minijietna” that hold a pro-Russia and anti-NATO position.
Pathetic. Antisemitism is still a very strong sentiment on the left so much so, that unemployed gay hippies will be more than willing to sign off press statements with homophobic-communist octogenarians who actively support Russia – one of the most homophobic and authoritarian states in the world.
MGRM has no business in issuing PRs on Israel and Palestine. What MGRM should focus on, instead, is the fight for civil rights in Malta, a fight that is being pinkwashed by the government with the help of MGRM itself. MGRM is conducting one of the biggest pink-washing exercises in Maltese political history by holding Europride in Malta and allowing the government to exploit it to promote Malta as a country with civil liberties. Malta is run by an authoritarian and criminal government that is preventing justice for a murdered journalist, has presented in Parliament one of the worst laws on free speech in our history, and has passed a law that criminalised abortions for women. Yet, MGRM is concerned about Israel.
I have many strong words I’d like to share, but I’ll try and remain diplomatic. You can’t accuse others of pinkwashing if you are pinkwashing for a criminal government yourself. And there is nothing progressive about holding rainbow flags at government-subsidized events that are part of the government’s extensive propaganda campaigns.
Europride in Malta is an obscene celebration as it is being used in support of a government that is cajoling to big criminals, denying women abortions, and fighting a war against the press. However, the reality is that some individuals at MGRM are being paid their salaries thanks to government funding, and these individuals will feel compelled to go along with pinkwashing our criminal government.
And it’s very sad and tragic to see MGRM developing into an ally of a criminal government out of petty opportunistic reasons, after all these years. This is a case where the government has literally bought an NGO. Maybe, MGRM should look take a good look at the past and acknowledge that it achieved its rights thanks to the support of many sections of society who reached out to it in support – such as women, for example, who were some of the biggest advocates for the LGBT community when gay men were too fearful to stand on their own. Now MGRM gives its back to women to celebrate its own rights, selfishly, and obscenely with a criminal government.
Israel should be the least of MGRM’s concerns. Maybe the Europride should not even take place under these grim circumstances, and this is the conversation that we need to be having – not the issue of Israel and Palestine.
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