Why We Mustn’t Give In To Baillie Gifford’s Culture Wars

By Sandy Winterbottom, Parents For Future Scotland

Baillie Gifford’s PR team must be rubbing their hands with glee after pulling-off a nifty exit from the Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) without having to answer a single serious question. Campaigners who speak up for climate justice and human rights have been thrown under the bus while Baillie Gifford are free to slink away and greenwash themselves by sponsoring events where difficult questions will not be asked. 

The very worst of the hate-spew directed at ‘activists’ in the aftermath was Susan Dalgety’s opinion piece in the Scotsman. It was nothing more than a cynical attempt to further the ends of the anti-trans brigade whilst branding climate campaigners as ‘spoilt brats’. Dalgety is at the extreme end of the vilification of climate justice and human-rights campaigners, but the sentiment was largely universal. The loss of EIBF sponsorship was laid squarely at the feet of protestors. Remember though, Baillie Gifford’s slick PR team have had almost a year to plan this stunt and in that time have avoided making even a token effort to divest from companies involved in fossil fuel projects condemned for human rights abuses in East Africa, the Niger Delta and the Amazon. A little would have gone a long way, but clearly divestment was never part of a plan that likely swung into action as soon as The Ferret exposed Baillie Gifford’s fossil-fuel links. 

The singularly most sinister aspect of this whole fiasco is Baillie Gifford’s press-release which cites safety concerns, coercion and the threat of disruption from activists as their principle reason for backing out. More menacing rumours spread word-of-mouth. And it was all rumour. There has not been a single documented incidence of these threats.

Several weeks ago, dozens of divestment campaigners disrupted the Barclays AGM at SEC Armadillo in Glasgow. The most dangerous thing that happened was when people stood up on auditorium’s tippy-up chairs to interrupt the meeting. Barclays has long been a prime target, financing fossil fuel companies to the tune of $235 billion since the Paris Climate Agreement in 2016. Barclays are also estimated to hold around £2 billion in shares and provide £6.1 billion in financial services to companies supplying Israel with weapons. And yet, even this protest was peaceful and respectful. Many of Barclays’ Glasgow HQ staff are on friendly terms with campaigners; they’re not best pleased with their employers either. 

🇵🇸 Protestors outside the Barclays AGM in Glasgow:

“Your profits are covered in Palestinian blood” pic.twitter.com/MHS8c6HZ29

— fraser 🇵🇸 (@AFrazzledScot) May 9, 2024

Divestment campaigners use well-targeted and smart tactics directed at the right people. They are simply not interested in shouting at writers or book festival organisers. Baillie Gifford’s fossil fuel investments are small change compared to most of the banks on our high streets. Last year’s disruption at the EIBF involved no more than a handful of protestors who stood outside the venue with a megaphone for a couple of hours. This year, writers appearing at the festival were politely asked by Fossil Free Books if they might consider withdrawing, making a statement or taking a peaceful creative action. Those that declined were left alone. 

Book festivals are vital for giving voice to writers from many marginalised communities, including those from war zones. But if funding for cultural events has to rely on the benevolence of people that refuse to be held to account, then that’s not an ‘activist’ problem. 

As global temperatures soar, we will need to be wary of falling into culture-war traps and not lose sight of the humanitarian crisis unfolding as our climate breaks down. Recent heatwaves sweeping through India have hit 50 degrees Centigrade – hotter than the inside of a car with the windows closed on a hot summer’s day. You wouldn’t allow a dog to suffer those temperatures and yet now, the number of people exposed to this extreme heat is growing exponentially in all world regions, and the poorest and most vulnerable are always the first to suffer.

Vilifying protestors and fear-mongering to drive division is a dirty tactic, but we are in a dirty war. We can expect that the transition to a sustainable and fair energy economy will be fiercely contested by those still making vast profits from a dying industry. Fossil fuels are in serious danger of becoming stranded assets and there are too many people heavily invested in stopping that from happening. Climate and human rights campaigners are not the enemy, but fear is, and as long as we are all shouting at each other, those profiting from climate catastrophe get to walk away untarnished and unchallenged.