[Debate] FW: Tariq Ali, "Born Again! George Galloway Stuns Labor, Shakes Up Britain"

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Getting a thinking hat on would be certainly more urgent than
regroupment.  And thanks to Rob for a report!

On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 7:00 AM, LFC Scally <lfcscally at hotmail.com> wrote:
> I don't think regroupment is happening I just think the SWP were late in
> recognising what was going on in Bradford (although not as late as sum lol)
> and certainly the result will mean that the Left has to get its thinking hat
> on.
>
> Peter
>
>> From: robhoveman at yahoo.co.uk
>> Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2012 20:57:43 +0100
>> To: debate-list at fahamu.org
>> Subject: Re: [Debate] FW: Tariq Ali, "Born Again! George Galloway Stuns
>> Labor, Shakes Up Britain"
>
>>
>> The SWP offered their support to the campaign and to my knowledge three
>> members in the Bradford area did some activity. I personally didn't see
>> anyone from Leeds SWP. On election day a Socialist Worker journalist and a
>> central committee member turned up around noon for a few hours. There may
>> have been one or two other members involved marginally but I can't, in all
>> honesty, say that the SWP made much contribution to the election. In a
>> subsequent article they have suggested the Bradford result should help build
>> TUSC (the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition).
>>
>> On 31 Mar 2012, at 13:04, Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Interesting that SWP members were involved in the Galloway campaign.
>> > Regroupment already underway before it becomes public?
>> >
>> > On Sat, Mar 31, 2012 at 7:53 AM, LFC Scally <lfcscally at hotmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> ________________________________
>> >> From: lfcscally at hotmail.com
>> >> To: m_redmond at btinternet.com
>> >>
>> >> Subject: RE: [Debate] Tariq Ali, "Born Again! George Galloway Stuns
>> >> Labor,
>> >> Shakes Up Britain"
>> >> Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2012 11:53:17 +0000
>> >>
>> >> The two reports from SW below seem very celebratory to me and, Rob H,
>> >> will
>> >> be able to confirm, I heard that SWP comrades from Bradford and Leeds
>> >> did
>> >> help out during the election?
>> >> http://www.socialistworker.org.uk/art.php?id=28019
>> >> http://www.socialistworker.org.uk/art.php?id=28021
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Peter
>> >>
>> >> ________________________________
>> >> Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2012 12:39:05 +0100
>> >> From: m_redmond at btinternet.com
>> >> To: debate-list at fahamu.org
>> >>
>> >> Subject: Re: [Debate] Tariq Ali, "Born Again! George Galloway Stuns
>> >> Labor,
>> >> Shakes Up Britain"
>> >>
>> >> I don't think the SWP specifically are celebrating. I think they lost a
>> >> lot
>> >> of money and assets through the whole Respect business and a large
>> >> section
>> >> of the SWP did not want anything to do with Respect from the word go.
>> >> It was
>> >> quite divisive. Just what I've heard over the years. No real evidence
>> >> and I
>> >> might be wrong.
>> >> Megan.
>> >>
>> >> ===============================================================
>> >> I Support Hackney Community Law Centre. Legal Action for the Community!
>> >> http://www.hclc.org.uk/
>> >>
>> >> Become a Friend of Hackney Community Law Centre on Facebook
>> >> Follow on Twitter: @FriendsofHCLC
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> ________________________________
>> >> From: Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages at gmail.com>
>> >> To: Debate is a listserve that attempts to promote information and
>> >> analyses
>> >> of interest to the independent left in South and Southern Africa
>> >> <debate-list at fahamu.org>
>> >> Sent: Saturday, 31 March 2012, 12:23
>> >> Subject: Re: [Debate] Tariq Ali, "Born Again! George Galloway Stuns
>> >> Labor,
>> >> Shakes Up Britain"
>> >>
>> >> I just think it's rather humorous that George Galloway is now
>> >> apparently a hero of (former and current) Trotskyists again. Winning
>> >> does make a lot of difference. If they are all angling to get on the
>> >> Galloway bandwagon, though, their foreign policy will likely improve,
>> >> so I'm not complaining.
>> >>
>> >> On Sat, Mar 31, 2012 at 7:06 AM, m_redmond at btinternet.com
>> >> <m_redmond at btinternet.com> wrote:
>> >>> George Galloway doesn't cynically try to woo white voters like the
>> >>> leaders
>> >>> of Lab/Lib/Con do by saying racist things or promising to be tough on
>> >>> immigration and pull up the drawbridge of little britain and that is
>> >>> also
>> >>> a
>> >>> hopeful sign, for the economic times we are in are perfectly suited to
>> >>> doing
>> >>> just that.
>> >>>
>> >>> I do watch and read Press TV, just as I watch and read various US
>> >>> broadcasts. I don't support the death penalty in either country.
>> >>> Megan.
>> >>>
>> >>> ===============================================================
>> >>> I Support Hackney Community Law Centre. Legal Action for the
>> >>> Community!
>> >>> http://www.hclc.org.uk/
>> >>>
>> >>> Become a Friend of Hackney Community Law Centre on Facebook
>> >>> Follow on Twitter: @FriendsofHCLC
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> ________________________________
>> >>> From: Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages at gmail.com>
>> >>> To: Debate is a listserve that attempts to promote information and
>> >>> analyses
>> >>> of interest to the independent left in South and Southern Africa
>> >>> <debate-list at fahamu.org>
>> >>> Sent: Saturday, 31 March 2012, 11:32
>> >>>
>> >>> Subject: Re: [Debate] Tariq Ali, "Born Again! George Galloway Stuns
>> >>> Labor,
>> >>> Shakes Up Britain"
>> >>>
>> >>> It sure will be. George Galloway is the first MP in the UK who had a
>> >>> regular show on Iran's public TV Press TV:
>> >>> <http://www.presstv.ir/section/3510524.html>.
>> >>>
>> >>> On Sat, Mar 31, 2012 at 6:04 AM, m_redmond at btinternet.com
>> >>> <m_redmond at btinternet.com> wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> ===============================================================
>> >>>> I Support Hackney Community Law Centre. Legal Action for the
>> >>>> Community!
>> >>>> http://www.hclc.org.uk/
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Become a Friend of Hackney Community Law Centre on Facebook
>> >>>> Follow on Twitter: @FriendsofHCLC
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> ________________________________
>> >>>> From: "grinker at mweb.co.za" <grinker at mweb.co.za>
>> >>>> To: "critical.montages at gmail.com" <critical.montages at gmail.com>;
>> >>>> "debate-list at fahamu.org" <debate-list at fahamu.org>
>> >>>> Sent: Saturday, 31 March 2012, 10:28
>> >>>> Subject: Re: [Debate] Tariq Ali, "Born Again! George Galloway Stuns
>> >>>> Labor,
>> >>>> Shakes Up Britain"
>> >>>>
>> >>>> What makes me optimistic about this result is that it seems Galloway
>> >>>> won
>> >>>> both white working class and Muslim votes. It wasn't just an anti-war
>> >>>> thing.
>> >>>> Listening to (not enough) interviews on the radio, he connected with
>> >>>> white
>> >>>> working-class people in a way that no other party, mainstream or
>> >>>> otherwise,
>> >>>> did. It was heartening that people united in their vote and did not
>> >>>> splinter
>> >>>> into Galloway - BNP/UKIP.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> I admit some ignorance. Living in the South-East, the media treat
>> >>>> anywhere
>> >>>> north of Watford as far-flung and the news of regions in the UK is
>> >>>> scarce
>> >>>> and as full of stereotypes as any other, doesn't delve into the
>> >>>> complexities.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Anyway, it will be interesting having him in the house in the run up
>> >>>> to
>> >>>> bombing Iran.
>> >>>> Megan.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Very alternative view from Brendan O'Neill. No doubt this will drive
>> >>>> some
>> >>>> to
>> >>>> the usual frothing his views provoke but I reckon this is an
>> >>>> important
>> >>>> issue
>> >>>> for further debate.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> ***
>> >>>>
>> >>>> George Galloway's victory confirms the demise of the radical Left,
>> >>>> not
>> >>>> its
>> >>>> resurgence
>> >>>>
>> >>>> By Brendan O'Neill Politics Last updated: March 30th, 2012
>> >>>> Comment on this Comment on this article
>> >>>> George Galloway has described his victory in Bradford West as
>> >>>> "sensational"
>> >>>> and even as a "Bradford Spring". It was certainly sensational, but
>> >>>> not
>> >>>> for
>> >>>> the reasons Galloway and his Left-wing cheerleaders believe. This
>> >>>> stunning
>> >>>> by-election turnaround was less a revolutionary-style "spring" and
>> >>>> more
>> >>>> an
>> >>>> expression of the rot at the heart of mainstream British politics.
>> >>>> Traditional politics is now so bereft of meaning and substance, so
>> >>>> lacking
>> >>>> in moral purchase, that voters are willing to vote for a
>> >>>> helicoptered-in,
>> >>>> ideas-lite maverick rather than any of the parties that have been
>> >>>> around
>> >>>> for
>> >>>> eons. This was less a vote for Galloway than it was a two-fingered
>> >>>> salute
>> >>>> to
>> >>>> the political class.
>> >>>> Galloway and his dwindling online fanclub would have us believe that
>> >>>> this
>> >>>> was a vote for a clear, Left-wing, anti-war agenda. It wasn't. It was
>> >>>> not
>> >>>> any political virtues on the part of Galloway that won him the
>> >>>> election
>> >>>> but
>> >>>> rather the absence of virtue, and of vision, amongst today's
>> >>>> mainstream
>> >>>> parties, particularly Labour. Galloway is merely a beneficiary of the
>> >>>> decay
>> >>>> of politics as we knew it, which means that, far from representing a
>> >>>> surge
>> >>>> in radical Left-wing sentiment, his victory isn't that different to
>> >>>> when
>> >>>> a
>> >>>> member of the BNP wins a seat on a local council or some UKIP suit
>> >>>> gets
>> >>>> sent
>> >>>> to Brussels. In all these cases, the vote tends to be less a positive
>> >>>> endorsement of any clear-eyed political agenda than simply a "screw
>> >>>> you"
>> >>>> to
>> >>>> the three big parties which once claimed to represent the political
>> >>>> spectrum.
>> >>>> Indeed, Galloway's victory points to the further denigration of
>> >>>> radical
>> >>>> Left-wing politics rather than its meaningful revival. It shows how
>> >>>> far
>> >>>> the
>> >>>> radical Left has been "Islamicised", where, having utterly abandoned
>> >>>> the
>> >>>> allegedly feckless and thick working classes, the radical Left has
>> >>>> become
>> >>>> increasingly reliant upon alienated Muslim communities for support.
>> >>>> From
>> >>>> the
>> >>>> anti-war movement to Ken Livingstone to Galloway, as all the big
>> >>>> players
>> >>>> on
>> >>>> the modern Left have drifted away from their traditional constituency
>> >>>> –
>> >>>> the
>> >>>> working class – so they have ended up "speaking for" Muslims. It is a
>> >>>> rather
>> >>>> sad, somewhat unholy marriage of convenience, where Muslims who are
>> >>>> not
>> >>>> represented by the political mainstream feel flattered by the
>> >>>> attentions
>> >>>> of
>> >>>> old Leftists, while old leftists who feel (and are) unloved by the
>> >>>> masses
>> >>>> exploit the alienation of Muslim communities in order to cultivate
>> >>>> new
>> >>>> constituencies for themselves.
>> >>>> Galloway's victory also shows how unsubstantial and apolitical
>> >>>> anti-war
>> >>>> sentiment is these days. Galloway sought support, and seems to have
>> >>>> won
>> >>>> it,
>> >>>> largely on the basis of his opposition to "illegal, bloody, costly
>> >>>> foreign
>> >>>> wars". Yet this was not any old-fashioned, positive anti-war
>> >>>> sentiment,
>> >>>> driven by firm convictions about the rights of foreign peoples, so
>> >>>> much
>> >>>> as
>> >>>> it was yet another expression of suspicion of "Them" who rule over
>> >>>> us.
>> >>>> Today, being anti-war is really just another way of being
>> >>>> anti-politics,
>> >>>> another way of expressing your belief that all politicians are liars,
>> >>>> that
>> >>>> they never listen to us, and that they're rotten, oil-grabbing
>> >>>> bastards.
>> >>>> Galloway's surge to victory on a tidal wave of anti-party feeling and
>> >>>> anti-war sentiment shows how far the anti-war outlook has been
>> >>>> emptied of
>> >>>> principle and meaning, and is now just another mechanism for say
>> >>>> "meh" to
>> >>>> the political class.
>> >>>> But probably the most worrying thing about Galloway's victory is that
>> >>>> it
>> >>>> confirms the further splintering of Britain into "identities", where
>> >>>> people
>> >>>> no longer conceive of themselves as belonging to a class or a
>> >>>> political
>> >>>> set
>> >>>> but rather to a fixed, culturally determined "identity". Muslims vote
>> >>>> one
>> >>>> way, the white working classes vote another, and so on. What is
>> >>>> remotely
>> >>>> positive about the demise of an old politics that was at least based
>> >>>> on
>> >>>> the
>> >>>> idea of shared interests and its replacement by a new politics based
>> >>>> on
>> >>>> shared cultural characteristics? In going for "the Muslim vote", just
>> >>>> as
>> >>>> Livingstone recently did in a speech at North London Central Mosque,
>> >>>> Galloway actually further exposed the dearth of principle on the
>> >>>> modern
>> >>>> Left.
>> >>>> Where once the Left saw it as its mission to unite people who had
>> >>>> more in
>> >>>> common than they thought they did (remember "workers of the world
>> >>>> unite"?),
>> >>>> now it happily feeds off community disintegration and even
>> >>>> segregation
>> >>>> for
>> >>>> short-term political gain. If it helps to get them into power, it
>> >>>> seems
>> >>>> radical Leftists don't have a problem with the political
>> >>>> ghettoisation of
>> >>>> certain communities in Britain, or with the further tearing-apart of
>> >>>> man
>> >>>> from fellow man that is at the heart of identity politics.
>> >>>> ________________________________
>> >>>> From: critical.montages at gmail.com
>> >>>> Sent: 2012/03/31 01:36:54 AM
>> >>>> To: debate-list at fahamu.org
>> >>>> Cc:
>> >>>> Subject: RE: [Debate] Tariq Ali, "Born Again! George Galloway Stuns
>> >>>> Labor,Shakes Up Britain"
>> >>>> ________________________________
>> >>>> It's good that George Galloway won, which shows that there is
>> >>>> aconstituency
>> >>>> for a pro-labor, pro-immigrant, & anti-war party, butdoesn't Tariq
>> >>>> Ali
>> >>>> sound
>> >>>> too excited? After all, few on the Left areas good public speakers as
>> >>>> Galloway. . . .WEEKEND EDITION MAR 30-APR 01, 2012Galloway: “The most
>> >>>> sensational victory in British political history.”Anti-war pro-jobs
>> >>>> message
>> >>>> wins sensational 36% swing from Labour toRespect in Bradford
>> >>>> by-electionBorn
>> >>>> Again! George Galloway Stuns Labor, Shakes Up Britainby TARIQ
>> >>>> ALILondonGeorge Galloway’s stunning electoral triumph in the
>> >>>> Bradfordby-election on Thursday 29th March has shaken the petrified
>> >>>> world
>> >>>> ofEnglish politics. It was unexpected and for that reason the
>> >>>> Respectcampaign was treated by much of the media (Helen Pidd of The
>> >>>> Guardianan honorable exception) as a loony fringe show. The BBC
>> >>>> toady,
>> >>>> ashamelessly partisan compeer on a local TV election show, who tried
>> >>>> tomock
>> >>>> and insult Galloway should be made to eat his excremental words.The
>> >>>> Bradford
>> >>>> seat, a Labour fiefdom since 1973, was considered safeand the Labour
>> >>>> Leader,
>> >>>> Ed Miliband, had been planning a celebratoryvisit to the city till
>> >>>> the
>> >>>> news
>> >>>> seeped through at 2 am. He is now onceagain focused on his own
>> >>>> future.
>> >>>> Labour has paid the price for itsfailure to act as an Opposition,
>> >>>> imagining
>> >>>> that all they had to do waswait and the prize would come their way.
>> >>>> Scottish
>> >>>> politics should haveforced a rethink. Perhaps the latest development
>> >>>> in
>> >>>> English politicsnow will, though I doubt it. Galloway has effectively
>> >>>> urinated on allthree parties. The Lib-Dems and Tories explaining
>> >>>> their
>> >>>> decline by thefact that too many people voted!Thousands of young
>> >>>> people
>> >>>> infected with apathy, contempt, despair anda disgust with mainstream
>> >>>> politics were dynamised by the Respectcampaign. Galloway is tireless
>> >>>> on
>> >>>> these occasions. Nobody else in thepolitical fields comes even close
>> >>>> to
>> >>>> competing with him. Not simplybecause he is an effective orator
>> >>>> though
>> >>>> this
>> >>>> skill should not beunderestimated. It comes almost as a shock these
>> >>>> days
>> >>>> to
>> >>>> a generationused to the bland untruths that are mouthed every day by
>> >>>> governmentand opposition politicians. It was the political content of
>> >>>> thecampaign that galvanized the youth: Respect campaigners and
>> >>>> theircandidate stressed the disasters of Iraq and
>> >>>> Afghanistan.Galloway
>> >>>> demanded that Blair be tried as a war criminal, that Britishtroops be
>> >>>> withdrawn from Afghanistan without further delay. Helambasted the
>> >>>> Government
>> >>>> and the Labour Party for the ‘austeritymeasures’ targeting the less
>> >>>> well
>> >>>> off, the poor, the infirm and thenew privatizations of education,
>> >>>> health
>> >>>> and
>> >>>> the post office. It wasall this that gave him a majority of
>> >>>> 10,000.How
>> >>>> did
>> >>>> we get here? Following the collapse of communism in 1991,Edmund
>> >>>> Burke’s
>> >>>> notion that “in all societies, consisting of differentclasses,
>> >>>> certain
>> >>>> classes must necessarily be uppermost” and that “theapostles of
>> >>>> equality
>> >>>> only change and pervert the natural order ofthings”, became the
>> >>>> common-sense
>> >>>> wisdom of the age. Money corruptedpolitics, big money corrupted
>> >>>> absolutely.
>> >>>> Throughout the heartlands ofcapital we witnessed the emergence of
>> >>>> effective
>> >>>> coalitions: as ever,the Republicans and Democrats in the United
>> >>>> States;
>> >>>> New
>> >>>> Labour andTories in the vassal state of Britain; Socialists and
>> >>>> Conservatives inFrance; the German coalitions of one variety or
>> >>>> another
>> >>>> with
>> >>>> theGreen’s differentiating themselves largely as ultra-Atlanticists,
>> >>>> theScandinavian centre-right and centre-left with few
>> >>>> differences,competing
>> >>>> in cravenness before the Empire.In virtually each case the
>> >>>> two/three-party
>> >>>> system morphed into aneffective national government. A new market
>> >>>> extremism
>> >>>> came into play.The entry of capital in the most hallowed domains of
>> >>>> social
>> >>>> provisionwas regarded as a necessary “reform”. Private finance
>> >>>> initiatives
>> >>>> thatpunished the public sector became the norm and countries (such
>> >>>> asFrance
>> >>>> and Germany) that were seen as not proceeding fast enough inthe
>> >>>> direction
>> >>>> of
>> >>>> the neo-liberal paradise were regularly denounced inthe Economist and
>> >>>> the
>> >>>> Financial Times.To question this turn, to defend the public sector,
>> >>>> to
>> >>>> argue
>> >>>> in favourof state ownership of utilities, to challenge the fire sale
>> >>>> of
>> >>>> publichousing, was to be regarded as a dinosaur.British politics has
>> >>>> been
>> >>>> governed by the consensus established byMrs. Thatcher during the
>> >>>> locust
>> >>>> decades of the 80’s and 90’s. Once NewLabour accepted the basic
>> >>>> tenets of
>> >>>> Thatcherism (their model was theNew Democrats embrace of Reaganism).
>> >>>> These
>> >>>> were the roots of theextreme centre that encompasses both centre-left
>> >>>> and
>> >>>> centre-rightexercises power, promoting austerity measures that
>> >>>> privilege
>> >>>> thewealthy and backing wars and occupations abroad. President Obama
>> >>>> isfar
>> >>>> from isolated within the euro-American political sphere. Newmovements
>> >>>> are
>> >>>> now springing up at home, challenging politicalorthodoxies without
>> >>>> offering
>> >>>> one of their own. Little more than ascream for help.Respect is
>> >>>> different.
>> >>>> It
>> >>>> puts forward a left social-democraticprogramme that challenges the
>> >>>> status
>> >>>> quo and is loud in itscondemnation of imperial misdeeds. In other
>> >>>> words
>> >>>> it
>> >>>> is not frightenedby politics. Its triumph in Bradford should force
>> >>>> some
>> >>>> to
>> >>>> rethinktheir passivity and others to realise that there are ways in
>> >>>> which
>> >>>> theOccupiers of yesteryear can help break the political impasse.TARIQ
>> >>>> ALI’s
>> >>>> latest book “The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, WarAbroad’ was
>> >>>> published
>> >>>> by Verso.-- Yoshie
>> >>>> Furuhashi_______________________________________________Debate-list
>> >>>> mailing
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> listDebate-list at fahamu.orghttp://lists.fahamu.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/debate-list
>> >>>>
>> >>>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> --
>> >>> Yoshie Furuhashi
>> >>> <http://mrzine.org/>
>> >>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
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>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Yoshie Furuhashi
>> >> <http://mrzine.org/>
>> >> _______________________________________________
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>> >>
>> >>
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>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Yoshie Furuhashi
>> > <http://mrzine.org/>
>> > _______________________________________________
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-- 
Yoshie Furuhashi
<http://mrzine.org/>