Puritanical politics are putting Scotland's rich arts sector at risk, writes Herald columnist Marissa MacWhirter

A blurry video of three people speaking to two hi-vis clad Police Scotland officers, published on June 26, is where the Art Workers for Palestine Scotland Instagram page lost me.

“This is evidence that they are directly complicit in the premeditated brutalisation and criminalisation of our community,” the account wrote in the description, referring to three board members of Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) and demanding their resignations. “We demand justice for this planned and violent attack, and for charges to be immediately dropped.”

The Instagram page, which has no named administrators, was referring to a circus that unfolded at the CCA on June 24. It involved a planned takeover of the arts institution that would see a programme of events “centred on resistance, learning, and artistic solidarity with Palestine” replace whatever the CCA had planned for that week, in response to the organisation's refusal to endorse PACBI (the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel).

In theory, it would have been an incredible opportunity to get people involved and spread hope and solidarity for the victims of genocide through creation and learning. However, the CCA Board, foolishly, decided that resisting the resistance with the help of police officers would be the best way to discourage the protest. A 63-year-old woman ended up requiring surgery after she was knocked down, she says, by police. She was arrested and later charged. Tensions reached a fever pitch, and the Art Workers for Palestine Scotland (AWFPS) page went wild. The CCA took nearly two........

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