
A global, right-wing petition site, set up by an anti-LGBT Spanish lawyer, is campaigning in Scotland to “protect” statues in Glasgow’s George Square and persuade Tesco to reverse its decision to open its Stornoway store “on the Sabbath”.
CitizenGO, was set up in 2013 to defend “life, family and freedom across the world” by Ignacio Arsuaga, whose conservative Catholic organisation, HazteOir, has similar aims. It claims to be formed by more than 18 million “active citizens stopping radical lobbies from imposing their agenda on society”.
It says it is funded by “small online donations” made by thousands of people. But a 2021 report by the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights found it also had funding from wealthy EU and Russian individuals including some of its own board members.
The campaigning organisation says it is working from “a Christian perspective” with an aim of offering “all citizens and organizations a tool to participate in the improvement of our society”. But serious concerns have been raised about its “anti-rights” stance, particularly on LGBT and gender issues and reproductive rights.
As well as Arsuaga, its board members include Brian Brown, the American activist and co-founder of the National Organisation for Marriage and president of the World Congress of Families, which opposes abortion, same-sex marriage, birth control and divorce. Previous speakers at its annual gatherings include hard-right leaders Viktor Orbán from Hungary and Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy premier and transport minister.

Others include Luca Volontè, the founder of Novae Terrae, an Italian foundation that lobbies against abortion, assisted suicide, same-sex marriage and secularism. In 2021 the Italian Christian politician was convicted of accepting bribes from Azerbaijan. He has denied wrongdoing.
CitizenGO are also campaigning in Scotland, launching two petitions last month.
Petitions on local issues
The first petition, titled ‘Stand for Stornoway’s sacred Sabbath: keep Tesco closed on Sundays’ calls on the supermarket chain to reverse its decision to open on a Sunday, when Christian tradition dictates shops on the island of Lewis remain closed. The decision has attracted some local opposition with an earlier petition set-up by local Alasdair MacLeod in October.
The CitizenGO petition, created by its staff, was posted on 13 December last year and has been signed by 8,955 so far. CitizenGO does not publish the names or locations of signatories.
The petition alleges that the decision to open “not only disregards the local culture but also reflects a broader trend of eroding Christian customs across Scotland” adding, “accepting cultural erasure inevitably leads to its decline”. It calls on signatories to “stand with us to preserve Stornoway’s Sabbath” claiming “these customs are at the heart of our community and culture”.
Another CitizenGO petition opposes Glasgow City Council’s decision to remove statues from George Square. The council claims this is part of a planned refurbishment of the public square and says it intends for all the statues to return.
However the petition repeats suspicions raised that this is “cover” for the local authority to permanently remove statues of military figures such as Colin Campbell, who led the British army against the so-called Indian mutiny of 1857 – a rebellion against the British East India Company which saw hundreds of thousands of casualties.
It would be useful if they could spell out who is initiating their campaigns – local people or CitizenGo staff – and publish detailed accounts.
Tom Brake, Unlock Democracy
A council working group looking at the city’s slavery and colonial legacy also identified a statue of John Moore,who is linked to the slave trade, having suppressed the 1796 slave revolt on the Caribbean island of St Lucia.
The CitizenGO petition accuses Glasgow City Council of “cancel culture” and says its plans involve a “deliberate agenda of cultural erasure”. The text states: “Removing such statues sets an alarming precedent. Judging historical figures solely by modern standards ignores the realities of their time. Such statues are not endorsements of perfection but reflections of history. Removing them risks cultural amnesia, leaving a blank canvas vulnerable to manipulation.”
SNP councillor Graham Campbell, who led the working group, insisted the council has “formal processes to consult the public on these historical issues through the proper channels”.
He added: “Anyone funded by right-wing US resources doesn’t count as legitimate community engagement partners,” and claimed he would not “be entertaining any input from any such ‘anti-woke’ lobbyists”.
Other petitions on the UK version of the petition site – which operates globally – call for “woke gender indoctrination” to be “kept out” of the Scouts. Others aim to “stop the UN’s push to decriminalize pedophilia” or prevent Labour’s ‘conversion therapy’ ban, which it says will “harm children, criminalise parents and place restrictions on talking and praying”.
A previous petition from last January called on then-First Minister Humza Yousaf to reconsider the proposed ban on conversion therapy.
The majority are posted by CitizenGO staff. One on the Spanish version of the site is posted by founder Ignacio Arsuaga. But others have been posted by conservative campaign groups including anti-abortion charity the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, or the Family Education Trust, which campaigns against transgender rights.

Tom Brake, of Unlock Democracy, stressed that he was in favour of campaigning. But he claimed the site could “benefit from more transparency and clarity”. While basic financial statements are made public, its accounts are not as the organisation is no longer registered in the UK.
“It would be useful if they could spell out who is initiating their campaigns – local people or CitizenGo staff – and publish detailed accounts,” he said. “This is best practice amongst campaign organisations.”
Critics warned that though many of the petitions posed as “local issues” they were in fact being used to garner support for CitizenGO’s wider agenda.
Scottish Greens spokesperson for equality Maggie Chapman MSP told The Ferret that the organisation seemed to be “willingly exploiting people’s day to day concerns in their local communities.”
“They are using local and relatively harmless ‘wedge issues’ to open the door to some very cynical and bad faith political actors,” she added, claiming that the CitizenGO’s ideology was “extreme” and “far-right”.
Liz Thomson, Scotland advocacy manager for Amnesty UK, said that it was time to “lift the veil on groups who seek to divide and conquer, and remind people that democracy itself is at risk, as well as the wonderful diverse space that Scotland is”.
She added: “Groups trying to roll back and undermine human rights are on the rise world-wide and can count on huge funding flows. They often focus on issues linked to the rights of women and minority groups and build alliances across regions to increase their impact and campaign at all levels – from the International to the local.”
The Ferret contacted CitizenGO for comment. Caroline Farrow, global campaigns manager, referred The Ferret to the organisation’s website which “details our core values and is also where our financial statements can be found”.
Get all our latest updates with the Ferret Underground, our free newsletter. Sign up for free stories every week, an invite to our exclusive Facebook group, and a monthly behind-the-scenes newsletter.
Cover image thanks to Tomas Sereda
•This story was updated on 17/01/25 to correct the claim that this is the first time CitizenGO has campaigned on Scottish topics.