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Patrick harvie endorses zara kitson for scottish greens co convenor
Zara Kitson is a Scottish political activist who is a member of the Scottish Green Party. She was co-convener of the Glasgow branch of the Greens. She has previously stood as a Scottish Green Party candidate at elections for council, UK Parliament and the Scottish Parliament. She is an executive assistant at LGBT Youth Scotland. She is on the executive of Women for Independence.
Contents
- Patrick harvie endorses zara kitson for scottish greens co convenor
- Elect zara kitson as dunfermline s green msp
- Early life
- Equality work
- Political activist
- Scottish Green Party
- References
Elect zara kitson as dunfermline s green msp
Early life
Kitson comes from a mining family near Stirling, She attended the University of Glasgow, graduating in 2007 with an MA in Public Policy.
Equality work
She is an executive assistant at the charity LGBT Youth Scotland.
In November 2014, she was one of the public figures who participated in a campaign run by the Humanist Society Scotland to change the way that Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP) Education are taught in Scotland.
Political activist
Kitson was an organiser of So Say Scotland, a group aiming for a citizens' assembly, inspired by constitutional innovation in Iceland. The approach to decisions to be taken by citizens directly instead of petitioning politicians.
During the Scotland's independence referendum, Kitson was a member of the political organisation National Collective, which described itself as open and non-party group of artists and creatives. She was the leading organiser of the “Yestival” concert tour.
She is on the executive of Women for Independence.
She launched her own small business, Dream Graft, which offered support to firms and communities that were facing change.
Scottish Green Party
She joined the Scottish Greens in 2012. She was selected as a green party candidate in the 2012 Stirling Council election, and polled fourth out of eight candidates, in a three-member ward.
In February 2015 she was announced as a candidate for the Glasgow North East in the 2015 UK general election. She acknowledged that first past the post didn't suit the Greens. It was the first time the greens had put forward candidates in every Glasgow seat at a General Election. During the election campaign she took part in the BBC’s Generation 2015 project.
Kitson was outspoken when it emerged that the Greens would be excluded from TV debates in the runup to the elections, based on Ofcom's interpretation.
In October 2015, Kitson announced that she would stand for the female co-convener position in the Green party. With Kitson standing against the incumbent Maggie Chapman, the election was the first serious competition for the post in the history of the Scottish Greens. Kitson secured the backing of both Green MSPs Patrick Harvie and Alison Johnstone. Kitson's challenge was seen off by Chapman who was re-elected as co-convener, after a monthlong ballot of the party's 9,000 members.
Kitson was second behind Patrick Harvie on the Green's regional list for Glasgow in the Scottish Parliament election, 2016. She was not elected.