Representatives of the pro-Palestinian group that disrupted Toronto’s Pride parade on Sunday denounce the presence at the event of major banks and companies with economic interests in Israel. Pride Toronto is open to talks, but the gap between the parties is considerable.
The group called the Coalition Against Pinkwashing [Coalition contre le maquillage en rose, traduction libre]also deplored on Monday that the event had moved away from its more protest-oriented origins.
Pride is no longer for us
said Jaycee Meneen, an indigenous activist.
It is for those who have money and can be taken advantage of.
Many claims
Late Sunday afternoon, those protesters blocked the march, prompting organizers to shut down the event. Police say they had asked them not to intervene if protesters disrupted the march, a request they complied with.
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The Coalition Against Pinkwashing denounces major banks, but also companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft.
Photo : Radio-Canada
The Coalition has six main demands. It calls on Pride Toronto to: divest from institutions that invest in arms manufacturers or support apartheid and the Israeli occupation in any way
.
The group wants the organization to cut all ties with institutions and organizations that support Israel, banning them from the parade, community spaces and all Pride-related festivities.
Layla Salman, another activist, is from southern Lebanon, where she still has family. Not only were companies complicit in genocide and banks like Scotia, TD and Royal Bank allowed to march, but they were allowed to march in front of many of us.
she denounces.
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Layla Salman is outraged that Pride Toronto is partnering with companies that have a vested interest in Israel’s war.
Photo : Radio-Canada
This not only demonstrates Pride Toronto’s disregard for human lives in Palestine and Lebanon, but also how much of a sham it has become, a vehicle for corporate advertising and “pink makeup.”
Other claims concern the exploitation of natural resources on traditional indigenous territories, as well as in Sudan, Palestine and the Congo; Anti-Palestinian racism at Pride Toronto
and the presence of police around Pride events.
This latest request recalls the group’s demands Black Lives Matterwhich had interrupted the parade in 2016.
Pride in 2024
Pride Toronto director Kojo Modeste says corporate sponsorships make up more than 80 per cent of the budget.
Pride in 1971 was possible without sponsors, but today’s Pride cannot be.
He assures that his organization carefully examines the companies’ offers to ensure, in particular, that they are on the same wavelength with regard to the LGBTQ2+ community. in the workplace, but also outside, 365 days a year
.
We look at it from a global perspective; we don’t take into account just one aspect of things.
he explains. Sometimes there have to be difficult conversations with these potential partners and even refusals to involve them in the event.
It is about having economic benefits from the event for the artists in the community and the businesses on Church Street.
On a more personal note, he points out that as a black gay man from Africa, he is aware that brothers in Africa and the Caribbean do not have the same privileges as he does.
Protesting is ingrained in me. I also want to celebrate the privilege I have to be able to be myself.
Mr. Modeste has committed to meeting within a month with the Coalition Against Pinkwashingalong with the Pride Toronto Board of Directors and Seniors Council. But, he adds, we will discuss in the spirit of moving forward, not returning to Pride in 1971.
With information from CBC’s Dale Manucdoc
