Captain Galloway suppresses Mutiny!

OH DEAR! Trouble at t'sea. Swashbuckling Cap'n George Galloway has had to put down a mutiny in the crew, who heard he planned to sail off again without them. He has threatened to make them walk the plank after suspending two of the troublemakers from the yardarm.

Well, suspending them anyway.

The Bradford West MP, first elected to parliament for Labour as Glasgow Hillhead  MP, later becoming MP for Bethnal Green and Bow as head of his own Respect party, returned to Glasgow for the 2011 Scottish elections, before winning his present seat in March last year. Now he is reported to be considering standing for Mayor of London.
 
The councillors, who were elected to Bradford council last May following Galloway's byelection victory that year, say he should resign as MP if he is serious about running for mayor of London. They may quit Respect and work as independents if necessary.

Galloway's response on Tuesday to their criticism was to suspend two councillors for disloyalty and accuse all five of "conspiring to seize executive power".
Galloway spoke about his mayoral ambitions in a media interview, saying he had a good chance against Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone. The Bradford councillors complain they were given no warning of his plans.

 "It's a slap in the face for the people of Bradford," said Ishtiaq Ahmed, a mental health worker who represents the Manningham ward.  He claimed Galloway spent too little time in the city. "People are always asking me: where's George? This weekend I had more than 20 calls from constituents asking me why George is talking about London and not Bradford. As councillors we have only had one strategic meeting with him in the past year... I'm always reading on his Twitter feed about his appearances in Westminster, his Edinburgh Fringe show, his tour in Scotland – it sometimes feels as though he goes everywhere but Bradford."
 http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/aug/13/george-galloway-bradford-west-mayor-london?CMP=twt_fd


Galloway says he is in the constituency almost every week, running a regular MP's surgery, and he can point to his recently taking up the defence of Bradford's media museum. But this does not answer concern that his sights are set elsewhere.

Alyas Karmani, a veteran youth worker who is leader of the Respect group in Bradford's City Hall, said: "If he really wants to be mayor of London, the campaigning starts now, and I don't see how he can be a good MP at the same time. In the meantime, he's still got two more years here [until the 2015 general election] and he should be here. We want him to be more visible in Bradford. George does make himself available here, but whether it's at the level we want is debatable."
Ahmed said: "Mr Galloway can't do both. If he says he is committed to Bradford then Bradford should be his priority. If he wants to run for London, he should think about stepping down as MP."

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/aug/13/george-galloway-bradford-west-mayor-london?CMP=twt_fd

Galloway insists that he is no worse than any other MP, and asks how much time Ed Milliband spends in Doncaster. But the people who voted for him in Bradford thought he would be better than just any old MP. And with all due Respect, he does not carry the same burden of responsibility as the leader of the Labour Party.

What is most striking is the Respect MP's response to criticism:

When the Guardian contacted McKay on Tuesday morning for a response to the councillors' united criticism, Galloway suspended Ahmed and Shabbir from the Respect party. In an email Galloway accused the five councillors of attempting a power grab.
"Two of your sources for this latest attack... are already in the process of disciplinary action for factional disloyalty. They are jumping from your low bridge before they are pushed. It is a documented fact that for months now all five councillors have been conspiring to seize executive power in the Bradford party, so their motivation is more than a little suspect," he wrote.

He added: "There is high tension between the MP and them that's true. The MP's frustration with them is shared by many party members, and many of their constituents. Two of them are already facing disciplinary action and so I cannot comment on their cases meantime. All five, then unknown, were elected in the wake of my election victory. Does anyone doubt that they would never have been elected but for that? For months now they have been making concerted attempts to take control of the Bradford party, which I have strongly resisted."

I don't know any of these councillors. But I do know that when I visited Bradford some years ago there was already some discontent and frustration among people who would otherwise have been Labour supporters. One of the people I spoke to then was indeed a Labour councillor. I can well imagine that such people might have seen Galloway's candidature as the chance to make a change in local politics as well voting for someone whose anti-war stand and support for international causes they admired. Looking at the councillors with whom Galloway has fallen out, they seem like genuine community activists rather than just careerists out for themselves.

Would anyone only out for self-advancement have taken their chance on joining Respect?   For Galloway to jeer that they would never have been elected without his victory, shows his ego and contempt for the ordinary supporters without whom he would have stood no chance of getting in. But people who saw Galloway as a rebel standing up to New Labour leaders and US senators are now seeing how he treats anyone who rebels against himself. And if the reports are accurate, we are also seeing a political party in which the Leader can suspend people from membership, just like that. Ed Miliband must look on with envy at such powers!

I can remember when George Galloway was under fire for spending more time in the Big Brother House than in the Commons speaking up for his Bethnal Green and Bow constituents' interests. I remember seeing embarrassed SWP members trying to defend him, knowing that though they were at that time in Respect, Galloway had not been concerned in the slightest with what his fellow-members thought. Evidently some of the Respect members in Bradford have got more bottle.

I also keep seeing names prominent in the People's Assembly or this Left Unity effort, of people I remember telling us what a great leader George Galloway was and exhorting us to drop whatever else we were in and join Respect. Some put too much faith in leaders, and some are easily led.

Help get Panahi and Osanloo Out, Keep George Galloway Out, Out, Out !

IRANIAN film maker Jafar Panahi will receive yet another, rather special award next month, albeit in his absence. The Societe des Realisateurs de Films (SRF) is to award its Carrosse d'Or (or Golden Coach), to Panahi. The film rewards film-makers for their courage and independence of thought.

Panahi has been jailed for six years in Iran, and banned from film-making for twenty years, for allegedly making propaganda against the regime. He attended mourning for people killed during demonstrations over the last elections.

His 2005 film Offside, about a female football fan who disguised herself as a boy to try and see Iran play at home, and was arrested at the stadium, will be screened at Cannes on 12 May. Some of us have been fortunate enough to see the film in Britain thanks to Hands Off the Iranian People (HOPI), and to the director who authorised its screening for benefits.

Based on a true incident, the comedy pokes fun at outmoded attitudes and restrictions on women, but gives an exuberant and affectionate picture of the Iranian people. The day after it is shown at Cannes there will be a press conference to raise awareness of Panahi's situation. In this country left-wing MP John McDonnell has launched a campaign for Panahi's freedom, and that of all Iranian political prisoners.

Meanwhile another Iranian prisoner was honoured in his absence this month, when Len McCluskey, general secretary of my union, Unite, conferred honorary membership on Tehran bus drivers' union leader Mansour Osanloo. The Iranian trade unionist has been held in prison for some years, and subject to ill-treatment and an attempt on his life. He is reported seriously ill in hospital.

Len McCLuskey said: “Mansour Osanloo is an inspiration to us. Like his union, ours also includes bus drivers, and it is a pleasure to in some small way recognise the incredible work he has done for his members and for the cause of free trade unions across the globe. We will not stand-by as workers, their representatives and families face physical attack, imprisonment and even murder by some of world’s most repressive regimes”.

“We are delighted to make him an honorary member of the UK’s largest trade union. We only wish we could do it face to face and must continue to organise globally to ensure that one day soon we can.”

Bro.McCluskey made the presentation at a meeting of the executive board of the International Transport workers Federation(ITF) in London. Like Unite, Mansour Osanloo’s union, the Vahed Syndicate of Tehran bus drivers, is an ITF member, and the organisation has campaigned for his release.

http://www.itfglobal.org/press-area/index.cfm/pressdetail/5875
http://www.itfglobal.org/press-area/index.cfm/pressdetail/5875

Some Iraniau trade unionists have their doubts about Osanloo's political perspectives[, and we may wary about international trade union federations, but it is not easy to pick and choose friends or discuss policy when you are trapped in a prison hospital bed. I am sure no trade unionist, socialist or democrat will side with the Iranian regime and its incarceration of this trade unionist - whom I am now entitled to call Bro.Osanloo.

HOPI of course is for Iranian working people and their rights - against the Islamicist regime, and against sanctions and the threat of war by Western imperialism. In common with Iranian socialists, some of them in exile, we must reject the idea that if you are against imperialist interference and aggression you must surrender your own rights, and support any regime, however corrupt and reactionary.

There are Western liberals who selectively criticise lack of freedom in some countries to justify our own rulers imposing their will by war on the peoples. But there are also people here who claim to be internationalists and socialists, yet seem to regard any regime as good enough for less "advanced" nations, so long as it can be labelled "anti-imperialist". When they not only support these regimes and calumny their opponents, but appear to do so for gain, it does little for the reputation and standing of the Left, either among the workers here or those struggling for their rights in the oppressed nations.

With that in mind, I have added my name to this letter, along with some Iranian and other socialists:

On May 5th, George Galloway will be standing for election to Holyrood. The former Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow and Labour MP for Glasgow Kelvin is heading the George Galloway (Respect) – Coalition Against Cuts list. He has the backing of Solidarity, the Socialist Workers Party and the Socialist Party in Scotland. On his election website, Galloway pledges to “oppose every cut to schools, hospitals and public services” and “fight for a parliament with the powers to tax the rich bankers and big business to help pay for jobs and decent public services.” It sounds fine, but there is no way those on the left can extend any level of support for George Galloway.

Galloway is a supporter of the Islamic Republic of Iran. When questioned at a recent public meeting, Galloway denied ever supporting President Ahmadinejad and even offered £1000 to anyone who could prove his support. However, while interviewing the Iranian President on his Press TV show, The Real Deal, last August Galloway stated that he requires “police protection in London from the Iranian opposition because of my support for your election campaign. I mention this so you know where I’m coming from.”

In fact, while Iran's 2009 election is widely accepted to have been rigged, Galloway has stated in his Daily Record blog that the electoral count “was awesome” and the million+ protesters took to the streets because “too MANY people were allowed to vote” (his emphasis). The Iranian regime incarcerates, tortures and executes political opponents, including leftists, trades unionists and leaders of the radical students' movement. It does the same to those found guilty of “war against god”, a charge levelled at political dissidents. Confessions are extracted under torture and duress and at times broadcast on state TV channels, including Press TV.

Those found guilty of adultery and homosexuality can face the death penalty. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani (called “the so-called stoning case” by Galloway on Press TV) was sentenced to death by stoning in a court speaking a language she didn't speak herself. George Galloway denies that homosexuality is punishable by death in Iran. On The Wright Show, Galloway stated that “the papers seem to imply that you get executed in Iran for being gay. That’s not true.” He then inferred that the boyfriend of gay Iranian asylum seeker, Mehdi Kazemi, had been executed for “sex crimes” against young boys and not for being gay.

It's unsurprising that Galloway publicly supports the Islamic Republic. He is an employee of Press TV, the Iranian state propaganda channel. While serving as a MP, Galloway was forced to declare his earnings from Press TV, which ranged from between £5000 and £20,000 for his various shows.

As pro-democracy protests engulf Syria, it's worth remembering that Galloway has previously heaped praise upon the Syrian regime and authoritarian ruler, Bashar al-Assad. Addressing Damascus University in late 2005, Galloway said: “For me he is the last Arab ruler, and Syria is the last Arab country. It is the fortress of the remaining dignity of the Arabs”. Galloway has expressed approval for other dictators too, once describing Parkistan's General Musharraf as “upright sort”. Far from a consistent democrat, after the 1999 coup brought Musharraf to power, Galloway told The Mail on Sunday that “Only the armed forces can really be counted on to hold such a country together... Democracy is a means, not an end in itself and it has a bad name on the streets of Karachi and Lahore.”

Galloway's Christian beliefs have influenced his views on abortion and stem cell research. He doesn't believe in evolution. In The Independent on Sunday in 2004 Galloway said "I'm strongly against abortion. I believe life begins at conception, and therefore unborn babies have rights. I think abortion is immoral". He was absent from all votes on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (which included attempts to reduce the abortion time limit in the UK). His notable absenteeism extends to many LGBT issues and euthanasia.


Then again, Galloway always had fairly lamentable levels of parliamentary participation. As a Respect MP, Galloway only participated in 98 out of 1288 votes. In 2006, he claimed more expenses than any other backbench MP in parliament. Galloway's egoism has always been astounding. While most socialists consider it standard for workers' representatives to be elected on a workers' wage (not an impoverishing amount, but the salary of a skilled worker), Galloway has declared he couldn't possibly live on “three workers' wages”. And what else other than pure vanity can have driven an appearance on Big Brother, which discredited whole sections of the left?

Finally, it's worth remembering that Respect's own councillors in Tower Hamlets have voted through cuts to public services. We call on socialists to offer no support for Galloway's election campaign.


For more on HOPI and struggles in Iran see:
http://hopoi.org/

If you but will it, it's still a dream

The ghosts of Labour conferences past.

AS Labour Party delegates returned to work this week and speculation continues about the party's leadership, I wonder if anyone remembered that yesterday was an anniversary? On October 2, 1983 it was reported that the 'Dream ticket', Neil Kinnock and Roy Hattersley had won the Labour Party leadership.

Kinnock, supposedly the "soft left", succeeded Michael Foot, who had been regarded as the Party's lovable left-wing conscience, when it had one, taking his socialism and nuclear disarmament seriously, and had become a despised hate figure for the jingo Thatcherite press consequently.

With 71 per cent of the vote, given a clear majority by unions, constituency parties and the parliamentary party, Kinnock was joined by Roy Hattersley as deputy. Then a right-winger, or "moderate" as the papers called it, Hattersley has stood out as cuddly Old Labour in the last decade as New Labour moved so much further to the right. He became Kinnock's deputy in 1983 because an unexpected shift in support from the unions helped him defeat left-wing contender Michael Meacher.

With Kinnock sorting out the Left and clearing ideas like unilateral nuclear disarmament out of the way, while Hattersley's chubby visage reassured the middle class, the partnership was presented as the "dream ticket" that would win Labour the next general election.
And a dream it proved.

But the reason I thought I'd look back on 1983 was hearing disgruntled Labour members complain resolutions about the last straw finishing support for Blair's leadership, his government's backing for Israel's Lebanon war, had been kept off the party conference agenda.

Even though conferences have been more stage-managed under New Labour, it has happened before though by different means.

In 1982, following Israel's invasion of Lebanon and the massacres at Sabra and Chatila, the hold of Labour's Zionist Lobby was seriously shaken as sympathy shifted to the Palestinian cause. The National Executive continued to pledge its faith in Israeli Labour under Shimon Peres, but among rank-and-file activists, left-wing councilors and trade unionists it was different.

Already two years before Dundee city council had led the way in twinning with Nablus, while in London, Ken Livingstone's stand would help him win selection for the Brent East constituency and undying emnity from the Zionists on the Board of Deputies. Lambeth council leader Ted Knight was linked with Livingstone on the paper Labour Herald whose cartoonist depicted Menachem Begin in Nazi uniform after the Sabra and Chatila massacres. Both council leaders were in the Labour Committee on Palestine, though as Livingstone concentrated on the Greater London Council it was Knight who was really active in this.

Unfortunately the pro-Palestinian Left in the Labour Party was bitterly divided,. Some people may have been in it for what they could get, and inclined to compete. Other elements were more interested in attacking their own side and the Palestinian leadership's compromises, and upholding their sectarian purity (even while feeding smears to the capitalist press) than consolidating the gains that had been made in the movement against the Zionists.

That Labour's top men had not changed was seen at the Socialist International in 1983. Issam Sartawi, a leading member of the PLO who had spoken alongside Israeli dissidents like Matti Peled and Uri Avnery at meetings in Paris and London (the latter of which I helped organise and steward) wanted to address the delegates in Lisbon. Leading figures like Austria's Bruno Kreisky were in favour, but Shimon Peres opposed, and so did the delegates from the British Labour Party. In the end it was agreed that Sartawi should be allowed to speak, but on the morning he was to do so he was assassinated in his hotel lobby.

Later that year, as Labour prepared for its annual conference, Norwood Constituency Labour Party, Ted Knight's local party, was intending to move a resolution supporting the Palestinians. But its delegates were persuaded that its resolution was too contentious, and that there was more chance of success for a resolution being submitted by Dundee on the same issue. Not wishing to be awkward or sectarian, Norwood agreed to withdraw its motion. Only to find the next day that Dundee's motion had also been withdrawn!

I only heard about this word of mouth at the time, and I have not been able to check the details yet. Perhaps if I got the story wrong or have not remembered it correctly some comrade can put me right about this? Because somehow I seem to remember hearing the name of the person who acted as "fixer" behind the scenes, but it can't be right because nowadays he is widely admired as a heroic, defiant and uncompromising champion of the Palestinian and Arab cause.

What was reported was George Galloway's surprise appearance and conciliatory speech, distancing himself from the extreme left, at the conference fringe meeting held by the Labour Friends of Israel.

Perhaps it was but a small part of the effort made to secure the "dream ticket". for what that was to prove worth. Some union leaders and Labourites had already decided in 1982 that the left was "divisive" and should be got rid of. Then as Socialist Worker put it, "With the left on the run, the terrible defeat in the general election of 1983 saw the triumph of the 'dream ticket' of Neil Kinnock and Roy Hattersley. The party leaders now began a long process of swinging the party rightwards towards 'Thatcherism with a human face'. Any policy that carried a whiff of socialism was ditched".

'How Labour's right wing has been challenged in past
This article should be read after: Can the left reclaim the Labour Party? '
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=5148

Allowing for retrospective simplification, and accepting the above as largely true, how does it square with the kind of populist "alternative" the SWP has swung its hopes behind, in Respect and George Galloway?

Ironically, it was Galloway himself who revived the "dream ticket" idea a couple of years ago, appealing to Tommy Sheridan to forget the Scottish Socialist Party and join him, in, of all places, the Mail on Sunday:`Tommy and I would be a great double act, a dream ticket and people would vote for us. I am certain that together we could set the cat among the pigeons"
(Mail on Sunday, 5/12/ 2004, see Socialist Unity comment
http://www.socialistunitynetwork.co.uk/statement.htm

Flushed with his successful libel action against the News of the World, Sheridan has set up his own Solidarity party, declaring the SSP dead, and the SWP supported him. But Sheridan's triumph may prove short-lived, as the NoW fights to get its money back, and more stuff comes to light. I'd say look before you leap on to anybody's bandwagon, and be wary of anybody who tries to sell you a dream ticket. .