IT HAS been confirmed that journalist Melanie Reid is no longer on the board of directors for Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery, amid pressure for her to be dismissed.
Comments made by the former columnist were recently unearthed by Art Workers for Palestine Scotland.
An open letter was sent to Fruitmarket by the campaign group who are urging directors to rethink their funding processes and to remove certain board members who don’t align with Fruitmarket’s public values.
The letter has now been signed by over 400 people and was initially read out at a Fruitmarket event last month.
Art Workers for Palestine Scotland are a collective of artists and cultural workers who campaign for Scottish creative spaces to re-evaluate how their processes may be complicit in the current genocide in Gaza.
They have previously urged institutions such as the Glasgow Film Theatre to end ties with Israeli-linked companies, and succeeded in prompting them to cease sales of Coca Cola at the venue.
Last month, they sent an open letter to Fruitmarket Gallery, located on Edinburgh’s Market Street.
The letter brought to light previous comments made by Melanie Reid, who was a columnist at The Times for 14 years.
She had said: “I have a considerable admiration for the Israeli way of doing things. They want something, they get it.
“They perceive someone as their deadly enemy, they kill them. They get hit, they hit back. They just act. No messing. No scruples. Not even a shrug and a denial, just a rather magnificent refusal to debate anything.”
This week, more comments were unearthed, in which she describes transgender-inclusive language as “idiocy”.
Art Workers for Palestine Scotland released a statement saying: “We emphasise strongly to Fruitmarket that Reid’s views are antithetical to the stated aims, ethos and ‘values’ of your organisation.
“Comments made by rich and powerful people in newspapers such as The Times, stirring up racism, islamophobia and transphobia, have real world effects that contribute to violent attacks on scapegoated and marginalised members of our communities – including those whom Fruitmarket supposedly welcomes.”
Fruitmarket have since confirmed that Reid is no longer on their board,and her name has been removed from their list of voluntary directors online.
Art Workers for Palestine Scotland said today: “Melanie Reid’s removal from the board of Fruitmarket demonstrates the power of cultural audiences and cultural workers to effect change in our sector, and to collectively assert our power for Palestinian liberation and trans liberation.
“There should be no space for genocide or transphobia in the arts.
“We recognise that Reid’s position on the board is symptomatic of a wider situation across the Scottish Arts, where boards are dominated by bourgeois reactionaries fundamentally opposed to any project to do with liberation.
“While Reid’s dismissal from the board is welcome, we also ask Fruitmarket to remove Nick Thomas from their board, who also sits on the board of Baillie Gifford, an Edinburgh based investment company complicit in the genocide of Palestinians.
“We are also waiting for Fruitmarket to respond to the other demands of our open letter, especially around joining the cultural boycott of Israel and implementing a BDS policy.
“So far, over 400 artists and audience members have signed our open letter.”
Melanie Reid has been contacted for comment.
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