There is one and only one issue – Labour’s Silence on Genocide in Gaza and the Attack on Rafah
Whatever
else you can say about George Galloway he is not without controversy. Politically
he has a long record of forming alliances and then falling out with his
partners – whether it is the SWP
in Respect or the Stalinist Communists Party of Great Britain - Marxist
Leninist in his Workers Party.
I say ‘his’
because the Workers Party revolves around George. It is very much his baby and
it is highly unlikely that the membership would overrule him on any major issue
or indeed have the means to do so.
🚨Twitter deleted the post, so reposting to expose Israeli army crimes!
— Nour Naim| نور نعيم (@NourNaim88) February 13, 2024
Last video of kids martyrs of Husouna family massacre
They fled from Gaza to Rafah in search of safety, escaping shelling
Israeli army killed them inside their tent along with all family members last night ! pic.twitter.com/hlW7qWqFJx
This is what war criminals Keir Starmer & Peter Kyle Support
George is
politically eclectic. He is a brilliant speaker, an old-fashioned orator in an
age when the leader of the Labour Party freezes like a rabbit
caught in a car’s headlights whenever anyone gets to challenge him as Audrey
White did when Starmer ventured into Liverpool.
George is not
someone that socialists find easy to support. He is anti-abortion for a start and
dismissive of issues of sexual orientation and sexual oppression - all of which he puts into a basket called ‘wokery’. There is
a distinct impression that he panders to some very basic prejudices such as
homophobia and transphobia in the belief th at if you ignore these issues then
you will get basic workers’ unity.
Likewise George’s
attitude to race which is most evidenced in his failure to oppose the Tories
scapegoating of asylum seekers. George disgracefully
attacked the SNP for having supported demonstrators in Glasgow who
freed two refugees who were seized by the Home Office’s Border Unit.
He was also
vehemently pro-Brexit and was quite prepared to support a racist like Nigel
Farage. Indeed he tried to
become a candidate in the European elections for the Brexit Party.
He even formed
an alliance in Scotland with Tories and that he even shared a platform with David
Clews, a member of the Patriotic Alternative.
Deserted!
So what are
his pluses?
George has
been a consistent anti-imperialist and was expelled from the Labour Party as an
MP for opposing the Iraq War. When summoned to Congress to address allegations
regarding oil sanctions he turned in a fine and memorable
performance.
On the
issue of Palestine George also has a good record. There was a time when he supported
the two-state solution. I know because I debated the issue with him at my old
college St Mary’s in Strawberry Hill, Twickenham. But as he later admitted I
was right and he was wrong on this.
So I
understand why it is that many people refuse to support Galloway because of his
de facto alliance with racists and
reactionaries.
Letter in the Scottish National from anti-racist campaigner Mark Brown
However the
by-election in Rochdale is not about Galloway but what he stands for on the one
key issue in Britain and indeed the world.
US and British imperialism’s support for the genocide in Gaza. All other
issues pale by comparison. The lives of thousands of Palestinians hang in the
balance at this moment and Galloway’s disgraceful opportunism over refugees,
Brexit and Farage are minor by comparison.
Galloway
and only Galloway is able to win this election. If Galloway wins the election
it won’t be his previous positions that are highlighted in Britain against the
racist imperialists Sunak and Starmer but his position on an immediate
ceasefire in Gaza.
This is the
key dividing line in British politics. It is the most crucial issue that we
face today. It would be utter sectarianism for anyone on the left to ignore
this. We cannot choose who our representatives are sometimes. Galloway’s
victory will be a victory for the Palestinians. What he thinks about Brexit or
refugees is frankly irrelevant at this time.
A defeat
for Starmer’s candidate, Azhar Ali is now certain now that the Labour Party has
withdrawn its
support for him, allegedly over his ‘anti-Semitic’ comments about Israel having
been forewarned of the October attacks but in reality because of the
realisation that he was going to lose.
We need Galloway’s
victory to make it crystal clear to that apology for a human being, the robotic
Keir Starmer that support for genocide is unacceptable.
GENOCIDE IN
GAZA IS THE ONLY ISSUE IN THE ROCHDALE BY-ELECTION