George Galloway to vote Tory

December 2024 Forums General discussion George Galloway to vote Tory

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 54 total)
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  • #250550
    ALB
    Keymaster

    There is a n interesting letter in this week’s Weekky Worker from Ian Birchall who was a long-time member and one of the leaders of the SWP and before that IS denouncing Galloway and calling for a vote for the Just Stop Oil candidate in the Rochdale by-election next Thursday:

    “But Roberts goes on to call for a vote for George Galloway. As a former Galloway supporter, I have been saddened to see his political degeneration. At one time an articulate and courageous spokesperson against imperialism and Labour betrayals, Galloway has adopted a ragbag of positions, some of them openly reactionary.
    Roberts does not mention the independent candidacy of Mark Coleman. Yet to me he looks like the only honest candidate in this swamp of corruption. As a supporter of Just Stop Oil, Coleman has gone to jail in pursuit of his principles, despite having serious health problems. He is campaigning against Labour’s betrayals, and especially against the fact that Starmer has now effectively become a climate-change denier.
    Coleman is a clergyman – nobody’s perfect. But I would far sooner have someone guided by his moral principles to attack Labour’s rightward move than a self-proclaimed atheist willing to back Starmer and Islamophobia.
    In my view the revolutionary left should give Coleman full practical support in terms of finance, leafleting, etc. A good vote for Coleman would be a warning shot to Starmer, and an encouragement to all those hoping to build a left alternative to Labour.
    Ian Birchall
    North London”

    https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1479/letters/

    #250551
    Moo
    Participant

    ‘Labour’s betrayals’

    In other words, the Labour Party discovering that wage-slavery cannot be run in the interests of the wage-slaves.

    #250780
    ALB
    Keymaster

    So Galloway won and is now an MP again, for a party that claims to be “socialist” (but is really just state capitalist).

    He is now starting a campaign to stand candidates against Labour in other constituencies at the general election, not so much in the expectation of winning but to take votes from Labour to punish it for its stance on the Gaza War, so mainly in constituencies with sizeable Muslim population.

    There may be a niche for a left-of-Labour party for those dissatisfied with Starmer’s new Party of Business but Galloway has a rival in TUSC who are also seeking to fill this role though TUSC called for workers in Rochdale to vote for Galloway.

    Outside Muslim areas Galloway’s Workers Party have much support. As a party with some degree of electoral support it seems to be a Muslim communitarian party, led by an opportunist with a huge ego.

    #250791
    Lizzie45
    Blocked

    Outside Muslim areas Galloway’s Workers Party have much support.

    I presume you intended to say doesn’t have much support.

    Don’t be quite so sure, bearing in mind your rather poor track record when it comes to making predictions. 🙂

    #250792
    ALB
    Keymaster

    Interesting Freudian slip!

    The first test will come this Thursday in the by-election for the mayor of Lewisham in London. Actually, they might not do too too badly as their candidate has stood twice before, for the People before Profit party, getting 5.7 percent of the vote in 2018.

    https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/john-hamilton-for-lewisham-mayor

    The Muslim population of Lewisham is 6.4 percent compared with 36 percent in Rochdale.

    We’ll see.

    #250793
    ALB
    Keymaster

    I wanted to include a link to the candidate’s election website so as to show the completely reformist platform he is standing on but it won’t reproduce here. I suspect that it might be blocked as he is under police investigation for carrying on a demonstration a placard equating the Star of David and the swastika.

    So if you want to see it you will have to type “johnhamilton.org.uk” into your browser.

    #250799

    John Hamilton’s election page

    Seems to be working fine.

    Interesting mishmash of policies, including abolishing the Mayoralty itself and repudiating the salary. Interesting to watch.

    #250805
    chelmsford
    Participant

    Hamilton wants to see more homes with solar panels. Hamilton is a self-employed heating engineer specializing in the fitting of solar panels. Hmmm.

    Interesting dunghill of policies.

    #250806
    DJP
    Participant

    Photovoltaic and hot-water solar panels are not the same thing, nor installed by the same type of engineers as far as I understand.

    Obviouslly his politics are bad, but I don’t think liking solar panels is the thing we should criticise him for.

    #250807
    ALB
    Keymaster

    Just noticed what this seems to mean:

    “Starmer’s Labour Party is falling apart.
    Any criticism of Israel is labelled “anti-semitic”.
    He is their puppet.”

    I read this as him saying that Starmer is Israel’s puppet. But he can’t mean that, can he?

    Or can he?

    #250808
    ALB
    Keymaster

    This mayoral election in Lewisham is more interesting than at first sight. Hamilton is a former member of Lewisham People Before Profit and is standing for Galloway’s Workers Party. Another former member, who stood for Parliament for them in 2015, Nick Long, is also standing but as an independent. He says he is a member of the Transform Party which is also trying to fill the left-of-Labour niche:

    https://transformpolitics.uk/

    His programme seems essentially the same as Hamilton’s:

    https://www.gofundme.com/f/abolish-lewishams-mayor-stand-with-gaza

    #250810

    Galloway claims to be a Bennite

    “I’m a disciple of the late Mr Benn. We stand for common-sense British social-ism.”

    Re: Hamilton, I’m afraid he thinks Starmer is Israel’s puppet, there are a lot of dangerous ideas swirling around that many ‘leftists’ are carelessly picking up.

    #250811
    ALB
    Keymaster

    What an idiot. He needs to hope that the Daily Mail doesn’t find out and use it as ammunition in the current media witch-hunt against Galloway and his party.

    Incidentally, I wonder if he agrees with this from the WPB website:

    “We defend the achievements of the USSR, China, Cuba etc, not least the debt owed by humanity to the Soviet Union and Red Army in their war of liberation against German fascism. Our finest hour as a nation was when we stood side by side with Soviet Russia and defeated German Nazism.
    (…)
    We shall defend the positive historical legacy of the Soviet Union as well as all those today who struggle for socialism; for an alternative world order.”

    Workers Party – Ten Point Programme

    #250813
    Thomas_More
    Participant

    They all keep rehashing the WW2 drivel. Like both sides in the Ukraine war are doing.
    Preserve capitalism with state capitalism.
    No understanding of real historical processes, and a slap in the face of all the workers who suffered and died under Stalin and Mao.

    #250814
    Lizzie45
    Blocked

    No understanding of real historical processes….

    Same applies to the overwhelming majority of the world’s workers which is why capitalism remains the only and (predictably) final game in town.

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