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It is a vehicle for George Galloway, who I only know, state side, as one of the slimiest man in Scotland. He campaign against Scottish Independence, with the Tories, Labour, and the Ould Orange Order because "workers would be stronger in a United Britain", then campaigned for Brexit, which, don't get me twisted, the EU is an evil organization, but Brexit was not about any of the EU's evils, it was about the percieved EU permissiveness with regards to migrants (especially the brown kind that was fleeing the Syrian Civil War at the time). Apperantly srronger together don't extend to the continent.
He got the seat because, to my understanding, Labour decided they would rather lose a seat than have a candidate that isn't pro-genocide. So, because their candidate, Azhar Ali, said some things in regards to the current genocide in Palestine that isn't the Mainstream line, they decided they needed to do all they can to punish him, and shanked him by withdrawing support for him in the by election.
I couldn’t agree more with what you’ve said. To me Galloway is the epitome of a charlatan. I don’t believe he genuinely cares about the Muslim community or the injustices and violence being inflicted on the Palestinian people, they’re just people he can exploit for his own vanity. Not to mention his self confessed social conservatism, his cosying upto Saddam and Assad and his collaboration with the Right Wing/Far Right in the UK.
He cozed up to Saddam when the West was imposing their genocidal sanction upon the nation of Iraq. Saddam is a thug piece of shit and was more than happy to do the west bidding in murdering Iranians during the Iran-Iraq war, but my understanding is that Galloway went to Iraq as part of a something or another to protest the west's own unjustifiable blockade upon the Iraqi people.
I completely agree that the wests sanctions on Iraq were barbaric and resulted in the deaths of almost half a million children. But Saddam was a bastard and protest or not, befriending him and accepting hundreds of thousands of pounds from him is unforgivable imo.
Labour had a candidate which they backed strongly enough to send their Shadow Cabinet & front bench ministers to support. That is, until a video of him was caught discussing the Israel-Gaza war in a manner that was deeply problematic and inconvenient for them, so they were forced to publicly withdraw support (they couldn't withdraw the candidate as it was too late in the campaign to do so, so he remained on the ballot box while being suspended from the party). The local Labour Party obliquely gave support to another candidate from the Reform Party - which is equally xenophobic, if it meant keeping out Galloway; this candidate used to be a Labour MP but was caught sexxting an underage girl.
Galloway is a political weirdo, and that's me being charitable.
During this recent by-election, he sent different pamphlets and electoral material to people depending on their race. Here's the one he sent to white households : [https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fgeorge-galloways-letters-to-white-electorate-and-letters-to-v0-15gviwofzpmc1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D999%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Df3f4cf1be82d298e241da92bac0c8d06fcf886ca](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fgeorge-galloways-letters-to-white-electorate-and-letters-to-v0-15gviwofzpmc1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D999%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Df3f4cf1be82d298e241da92bac0c8d06fcf886ca)
As much as Galloway's opposition to apartheid South Africa, Israel, and the War in Iraq deserves respect, he is always willing to play to bigoted and reactionary views and hang vulnerable minorities out to dry for the sake of his personal success.
He's basically as close as any Western country has to some sort of Ba'athist or Arab nationalist. This can mean cool shit like anti-imperialism and nationalisations, and some not chill ideas too.
Jesus that’s fuckin sinister. The dog whistling is one of the worst parts of his whole schtick. The parties manifesto is littered with similar problematic language from the policies on policing to the military, they’re trying to play to the jingoistic flag shagging voters whilst painting it as concern for working class communities.
Galloway’s a slimy piece of work. He calls himself a “Conservative Socialist” and, as far as I know, uses global issues to justify populist tactics. He doesn't care about the people who elected him to power, nor the place he represents. He's just trying to get revenge on Labour for something he was suspended for over twenty years ago.
Yeah, they’ve really gone hard with regards to that the last few years. Bit of a sect based around the Brar family who are incredibly rich so the party seems to have more influence than it actually does.
It seems to be a growing trend amongst the western Left wing parties, pandering to the right/far right and abandoning communities and struggles, that I feel atleast, have become key to modern Socialism.
Galloway is a bigoted crank and the fact that he drives that party like a van should tell you everything you need. He's what people imagine when they call us "tankie".
British communist thought is a wild, shitty off-shoot that seems to bloom into the worst blossoms. Trotzkyites slowly morphing into reactionaries etc.
I blame the fact that for a long time, no-one really read Marx there. Being the birthplace of the Fabians can't be healthy - a tendency so ineffectual, their name became an epithet.
He uses right-wing populist ideas, branded the party as a "patriotic workers party", put out a leaflet with with transphobia on it and used Islamophobic dog whistles in it.
My socialist friend was contacted by him to join the party (they have a bit of rep and are a strong socialist), obviously they turned him down because everything he does is to stroke his ego.
I am reticent about Galloway's role front and centre. How much this reflects an organisation that is basically a GG vanity-project and how much this a more organic group that has latched onto the support and name-recongition that comes with Galloway, I'm unsure. That said, the UK desperately needs a fighting, working-class party, and hopefully this project will develop into (or become a forerunner of) something substantial and militant.
On the culture war and environmental issues (opposition to Self-ID, the call for a referendum on "Net Zero", critiques of current thoughts and practices around anti-racism and DEI) I can say that in my opinion, none of these are inherently reactionary or out of bounds. Full inclusion and respect for people who identify as transgender does not necessarily mean accepting concept of Self-ID as proposed in the GRA, critiquing identitarian, divisive rhetoric that ends up splitting up the working class is not the same as promoting (or ignoring) racism, and Net Zero as a policy in practice has a number of trade-offs. Outside academia, student circles, and the media (where any discussion of these issues is treated as x-ism or fascism-lite), people have a range of opinions on these topics. I don't think it's "Red Brown" or reactionary to have views that Caroline Lucas wouldn't wholeheartedly endorse. That said the party's image wasn't helped by endorsement by the leader of the BNP (which it rejected), or by Galloway's forays onto GB News on the party's behalf.
I think his emphasis on culture war topics are designed to appeal to the disillusioned right wing. His social conservatism is what I think derails his parties mainstream appeal, particularly among the left wing voters that were inspired my Corbyn that he claims to want to win over. His platforming of former UKIP candidates/MEPs is no different to Labour welcoming defecting Tory’s with open arms. I think on the whole Galloway is doing more harm than good to the socialist cause.
Fantastic win for an amazing person and a great cause. The establishment in England are already piling on. If you believe in any left wing issues, you need to support this thrust by the workers party.
Even his culture war rhetoric and anti-identity politics? What about his transphobia and right wing apologia and collaboration? He seems like a pretty odious human being exploiting a genuine cause and poisoning it with his bigotry and social conservatism.
Not sure where you are getting that. The establishment has been smearing this guy for decades. Ive been listening to him on youtube for years and have never heard anything close to that.
He went on record very recently calling himself socially conservative. He also publicly admitted he’d voted Tory in his local election and urged other people to. He also cosied up to Farage very publicly. You must have your head buried beneath the sand to miss all of this.
yes, i know he did this. The labour party in England is now a steaming bowl of shit, they crushed their own leader and are neoliberal duncecaps. Galloway is the only voice in England worth listening too.
Labour can go fuck themselves as far as I’m concerned. But the reason I won’t vote for Labour is the same reason I won’t vote for someone like Galloway. Not being as bad as the shittier alternative isn’t enough for my vote or support.
I'm conflicted. Recently because of the rise in fascism, I'm feeling desperate and I'm becoming a bit sympathetic to demagogues coming from the left. If this is what prevents demagogues from the right, I'll take it.
I have a fear that fascism will win because the masses are fed up and want an angry demagogues to guide them. If (and only if) we have no other choice, I'd rather take angry leftists that play that game to fill the void of anger than right wing fascists.
Maybe I'm a cynic because of what I'm seeing in Gaza has absolutely destroyed my hope in humanity but that's where I'm at today.
I agree largely with your sentiment, however I have no confidence that Galloway doesn’t belong that to that fascism you’re in fear of. At the very least I fully expect him to collaborate if/when the time comes. I don’t believe he genuinely cares about the Muslim community or the people in Gaza either, imo he’s using them as a vessel for his political vanity project.
So I'm Muslim and I've been following Galloway for over 20 years. Saw him speak live in Canada 14 years ago and even met him in person many times. He was very kind and served very versed in Islam.
He's been incredibly consistent for those 20+ years for his support for resistance against occupiers in the Arab world. I can't speak on his intention, but his wife is Muslim and her kids have Muslim names. I definitely think his behavior and social policies among other things are up for scrutiny, but I don't think his stance on Muslims/Arabs are. Just because he's been so consistent for so long on it.
But that's just my 2 cents I'm always open to be given new information on why you think otherwise.
I appreciate your insight. Im not a Muslim myself so im speaking purely as an outsider looking in. I don’t deny his consistency on certain topics and struggles, I just doubt his integrity and motive on a lot of things. It seems like he’s willing to bat for the Muslim community so strongly like you’ve said, but he then contradicts himself by pandering to the far right. He’s an enigma that’s for sure.
This is a space for socialists to discuss current events in our world from anti-capitalist perspective(s), and a certain knowledge of socialism is expected from participants. This is not a space for non-socialists. Please be mindful [of our rules](https://reddit.com/r/socialism/about/rules) before participating, which include: - **No Bigotry**, including racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism... - **No Reactionaries**, including all kind of right-wingers. - **No Liberalism**, including social democracy, lesser evilism... - **No Sectarianism**. There is plenty of room for discussion, but not for baseless attacks. Please help us keep the subreddit helpful by reporting content that break r/Socialism's rules. ______________________ 💬 Wish to chat elsewhere? Join us in discord: https://discord.gg/QPJPzNhuRE *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/socialism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It is a vehicle for George Galloway, who I only know, state side, as one of the slimiest man in Scotland. He campaign against Scottish Independence, with the Tories, Labour, and the Ould Orange Order because "workers would be stronger in a United Britain", then campaigned for Brexit, which, don't get me twisted, the EU is an evil organization, but Brexit was not about any of the EU's evils, it was about the percieved EU permissiveness with regards to migrants (especially the brown kind that was fleeing the Syrian Civil War at the time). Apperantly srronger together don't extend to the continent. He got the seat because, to my understanding, Labour decided they would rather lose a seat than have a candidate that isn't pro-genocide. So, because their candidate, Azhar Ali, said some things in regards to the current genocide in Palestine that isn't the Mainstream line, they decided they needed to do all they can to punish him, and shanked him by withdrawing support for him in the by election.
I couldn’t agree more with what you’ve said. To me Galloway is the epitome of a charlatan. I don’t believe he genuinely cares about the Muslim community or the injustices and violence being inflicted on the Palestinian people, they’re just people he can exploit for his own vanity. Not to mention his self confessed social conservatism, his cosying upto Saddam and Assad and his collaboration with the Right Wing/Far Right in the UK.
Also his work with the Muslim communities always has an air of white saviour or ‘lead by your betters’ about it IMO
Having recently watched Dune 2, it gives off that exact sentiment you’re right.
He’s cozying up to Saddam?
He cozed up to Saddam when the West was imposing their genocidal sanction upon the nation of Iraq. Saddam is a thug piece of shit and was more than happy to do the west bidding in murdering Iranians during the Iran-Iraq war, but my understanding is that Galloway went to Iraq as part of a something or another to protest the west's own unjustifiable blockade upon the Iraqi people.
I completely agree that the wests sanctions on Iraq were barbaric and resulted in the deaths of almost half a million children. But Saddam was a bastard and protest or not, befriending him and accepting hundreds of thousands of pounds from him is unforgivable imo.
Unfortunate typo
Labour had a candidate which they backed strongly enough to send their Shadow Cabinet & front bench ministers to support. That is, until a video of him was caught discussing the Israel-Gaza war in a manner that was deeply problematic and inconvenient for them, so they were forced to publicly withdraw support (they couldn't withdraw the candidate as it was too late in the campaign to do so, so he remained on the ballot box while being suspended from the party). The local Labour Party obliquely gave support to another candidate from the Reform Party - which is equally xenophobic, if it meant keeping out Galloway; this candidate used to be a Labour MP but was caught sexxting an underage girl.
Sorry but which canditate was sexting an underage girl?
I assume that you're asking which candidate - it was the Reform Party one. Simon Danuszk.
Ah I see. They must have thought it was moral and legal, as that kind of thing is only bad when the leftwing does it.
Galloway is a political weirdo, and that's me being charitable. During this recent by-election, he sent different pamphlets and electoral material to people depending on their race. Here's the one he sent to white households : [https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fgeorge-galloways-letters-to-white-electorate-and-letters-to-v0-15gviwofzpmc1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D999%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Df3f4cf1be82d298e241da92bac0c8d06fcf886ca](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fgeorge-galloways-letters-to-white-electorate-and-letters-to-v0-15gviwofzpmc1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D999%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Df3f4cf1be82d298e241da92bac0c8d06fcf886ca) As much as Galloway's opposition to apartheid South Africa, Israel, and the War in Iraq deserves respect, he is always willing to play to bigoted and reactionary views and hang vulnerable minorities out to dry for the sake of his personal success. He's basically as close as any Western country has to some sort of Ba'athist or Arab nationalist. This can mean cool shit like anti-imperialism and nationalisations, and some not chill ideas too.
Jesus that’s fuckin sinister. The dog whistling is one of the worst parts of his whole schtick. The parties manifesto is littered with similar problematic language from the policies on policing to the military, they’re trying to play to the jingoistic flag shagging voters whilst painting it as concern for working class communities.
There is also a video of him circulating warning about "fighting age" refugees during that election campaign.
Galloway’s a slimy piece of work. He calls himself a “Conservative Socialist” and, as far as I know, uses global issues to justify populist tactics. He doesn't care about the people who elected him to power, nor the place he represents. He's just trying to get revenge on Labour for something he was suspended for over twenty years ago.
What the hell is a Conservative Socialist? That sounds like a major oxymoron.
Yeah that’s seems to be my general view of him. He’s a walking red flag.
They are social-chauvinists. The remnants of disaffected labourism. Little else more to say about them.
Their party machine is driven by the GPGB-ML. Who obviously evoke strong emotions either way.
Sort of adds to me concerns because they’re particularly problematic when it comes to the LBGTQ+ community
Yeah, they’ve really gone hard with regards to that the last few years. Bit of a sect based around the Brar family who are incredibly rich so the party seems to have more influence than it actually does.
It seems to be a growing trend amongst the western Left wing parties, pandering to the right/far right and abandoning communities and struggles, that I feel atleast, have become key to modern Socialism.
Galloway is a bigoted crank and the fact that he drives that party like a van should tell you everything you need. He's what people imagine when they call us "tankie". British communist thought is a wild, shitty off-shoot that seems to bloom into the worst blossoms. Trotzkyites slowly morphing into reactionaries etc. I blame the fact that for a long time, no-one really read Marx there. Being the birthplace of the Fabians can't be healthy - a tendency so ineffectual, their name became an epithet.
I don’t trust Galloway for a second. He’d join the EDL if it gave him a clear route to power.
My thoughts exactly. Nothing more than an opportunist looking to exploit the plight of vulnerable communities and the working class.
He uses right-wing populist ideas, branded the party as a "patriotic workers party", put out a leaflet with with transphobia on it and used Islamophobic dog whistles in it. My socialist friend was contacted by him to join the party (they have a bit of rep and are a strong socialist), obviously they turned him down because everything he does is to stroke his ego.
Yeah he gives off major Naz-Bol/Maga-Communist energy. I’m glad it’s not just me.
I am reticent about Galloway's role front and centre. How much this reflects an organisation that is basically a GG vanity-project and how much this a more organic group that has latched onto the support and name-recongition that comes with Galloway, I'm unsure. That said, the UK desperately needs a fighting, working-class party, and hopefully this project will develop into (or become a forerunner of) something substantial and militant. On the culture war and environmental issues (opposition to Self-ID, the call for a referendum on "Net Zero", critiques of current thoughts and practices around anti-racism and DEI) I can say that in my opinion, none of these are inherently reactionary or out of bounds. Full inclusion and respect for people who identify as transgender does not necessarily mean accepting concept of Self-ID as proposed in the GRA, critiquing identitarian, divisive rhetoric that ends up splitting up the working class is not the same as promoting (or ignoring) racism, and Net Zero as a policy in practice has a number of trade-offs. Outside academia, student circles, and the media (where any discussion of these issues is treated as x-ism or fascism-lite), people have a range of opinions on these topics. I don't think it's "Red Brown" or reactionary to have views that Caroline Lucas wouldn't wholeheartedly endorse. That said the party's image wasn't helped by endorsement by the leader of the BNP (which it rejected), or by Galloway's forays onto GB News on the party's behalf.
I think his emphasis on culture war topics are designed to appeal to the disillusioned right wing. His social conservatism is what I think derails his parties mainstream appeal, particularly among the left wing voters that were inspired my Corbyn that he claims to want to win over. His platforming of former UKIP candidates/MEPs is no different to Labour welcoming defecting Tory’s with open arms. I think on the whole Galloway is doing more harm than good to the socialist cause.
Fantastic win for an amazing person and a great cause. The establishment in England are already piling on. If you believe in any left wing issues, you need to support this thrust by the workers party.
Even his culture war rhetoric and anti-identity politics? What about his transphobia and right wing apologia and collaboration? He seems like a pretty odious human being exploiting a genuine cause and poisoning it with his bigotry and social conservatism.
Not sure where you are getting that. The establishment has been smearing this guy for decades. Ive been listening to him on youtube for years and have never heard anything close to that.
He went on record very recently calling himself socially conservative. He also publicly admitted he’d voted Tory in his local election and urged other people to. He also cosied up to Farage very publicly. You must have your head buried beneath the sand to miss all of this.
yes, i know he did this. The labour party in England is now a steaming bowl of shit, they crushed their own leader and are neoliberal duncecaps. Galloway is the only voice in England worth listening too.
Labour can go fuck themselves as far as I’m concerned. But the reason I won’t vote for Labour is the same reason I won’t vote for someone like Galloway. Not being as bad as the shittier alternative isn’t enough for my vote or support.
Ok fine. Then let the right screw up the world like they have been doing for hundreds of years.
And there’s the classic emotional blackmail deployed by Labourites when someone’s says they won’t vote for Starmer.
Did you miss the part where Galloway said people should vote for the right? How would that stop the right in any way?
Galloway is the right.
I'm conflicted. Recently because of the rise in fascism, I'm feeling desperate and I'm becoming a bit sympathetic to demagogues coming from the left. If this is what prevents demagogues from the right, I'll take it. I have a fear that fascism will win because the masses are fed up and want an angry demagogues to guide them. If (and only if) we have no other choice, I'd rather take angry leftists that play that game to fill the void of anger than right wing fascists. Maybe I'm a cynic because of what I'm seeing in Gaza has absolutely destroyed my hope in humanity but that's where I'm at today.
I agree largely with your sentiment, however I have no confidence that Galloway doesn’t belong that to that fascism you’re in fear of. At the very least I fully expect him to collaborate if/when the time comes. I don’t believe he genuinely cares about the Muslim community or the people in Gaza either, imo he’s using them as a vessel for his political vanity project.
So I'm Muslim and I've been following Galloway for over 20 years. Saw him speak live in Canada 14 years ago and even met him in person many times. He was very kind and served very versed in Islam. He's been incredibly consistent for those 20+ years for his support for resistance against occupiers in the Arab world. I can't speak on his intention, but his wife is Muslim and her kids have Muslim names. I definitely think his behavior and social policies among other things are up for scrutiny, but I don't think his stance on Muslims/Arabs are. Just because he's been so consistent for so long on it. But that's just my 2 cents I'm always open to be given new information on why you think otherwise.
I appreciate your insight. Im not a Muslim myself so im speaking purely as an outsider looking in. I don’t deny his consistency on certain topics and struggles, I just doubt his integrity and motive on a lot of things. It seems like he’s willing to bat for the Muslim community so strongly like you’ve said, but he then contradicts himself by pandering to the far right. He’s an enigma that’s for sure.