Jail Bush and Blair, Galloway says

This video from Britain is called George Galloway’s “Bradford Spring” speech as he wins by-election.

By Roger Bagley in Parliament in London, England:

Galloway: I’m heading army of the alienated

Monday 16 April 2012

A triumphant George Galloway MP arrived at Parliament on Monday and declared himself herald of a great upsurge of discontent over austerity and foreign wars.

“There is an army massing in the north and in the great industrial and post-industrial cities of this country,” warned the victor of last month’s Bradford West by-election.

“It is an army of alienated, disappointed people who feel that this place has let them down.”

Arm-in-arm with his wife Putri Pertiwi, Mr Galloway was flanked by key workers from his Respect party who helped him achieve a stunning 56 per cent of the vote.

In a surprise move, one of Mr Galloway’s formal sponsors for his Commons swearing-in ceremony was Gerry Sutcliffe, Labour MP for the neighbouring constituency of Bradford South.

The other sponsor was Conservative veteran and father of the house Sir Peter Tapsell, who was praised by Mr Galloway for his opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr Galloway announced his intention to raise the Afghan war at the earliest opportunity in the Commons this week.

He warned that the military situation was “disastrous” and “frankly like the Vietnam war in 1968.”

And he pledged to “break up the consensus” embraced by all three major parties on wars abroad and austerity at home.

Mr Galloway previously served as Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, and Labour MP for two Glasgow constituencies before he was expelled from the party.

“Churchill I believe was the only other person who won six elections in two countries in four different constituencies,” he quipped.

He also noted that since his election victory the Bradford Bulls rugby league team had won four consecutive victories.

And he announced that he would be at a local football match on Saturday to cheer on Bradford City against Macclesfield Town.

Mr Galloway denounced the suspension from Labour of Lord Ahmed of Rotherham after reported demands for legal action against US President Barack Obama and former president George W Bush.

“The suspension of Lord Ahmed indicates that new Labour is on some kind of suicide mission as far as Muslim voters are concerned,” he said.

“Bush and Tony Blair should be on trial and they should be locked up for the rest of their natural lives in the same cell.”

George Galloway’s Respect Party has claimed a major scalp in Bradford by ousting the leader of the council. Labour’s Ian Greenwood lost his Little Horton seat, after three re-counts, to Respect’s Alyas Karmani: here.

Last Friday evening a British MP suffered a vicious assault on a London street. George Galloway, a 61-year-old, six-times-elected politician was beaten up for three minutes by a brutal and determined assailant in broad daylight, and was admitted to hospital as a result: here.

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• George Galloway, British Lawmaker, Is Released From Hospital After Attack – New York Times
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• Yet more British nuclear weapons?
• Margaret Bondfield, British pro-peace World War I heroine
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US Republican Coleman corruption investigation

Norm Coleman is a former Republican United States senator.

He has two main claims to fame.

First, he summoned British anti Iraq war member of parliament, George Galloway, to the US senate, falsely accusing him of involvement in the Iraqi oil for food scandal. Galloway then made mincemeat of warmonger Coleman.

This video is called George Galloway Vs The US Senate (Full Video).

Second, after Coleman lost his seat in last year’s elections to his Democratic opponent Al Franken, he turned out to be a sore loser, starting endless procedures.

Now, Coleman gets a third claim to fame. It turns out that he is wanted by the FBI for corruption.

Canadian conservatives against free speech for Afghan war opponent

This video from the USA is called The Oil Factor – Why are we in Afghanistan? O-I-L.

From the Socialist Unity blog in Britain:

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT LOSES THE PLOT

Galloway: ‘This idiotic ban shames Canada ’

Respect MP George Galloway today vowed to use “all means at my disposal” to challenge the decision by Canada ’s pro-war conservative immigration minister, Jason Kenney, to refuse him entry to the country to give a series of speeches.

Galloway is this afternoon exploring with organisers of his speaking tour and with legal advisors avenues to challenge the decision, which he brands “irrational, inexplicable and an affront to Canada’s good name”.

Galloway was not informed of the decision until it had already been given to journalists. The grounds provided by a spokesperson for Mr Kenney for the ban are that Galloway’s opposition to the deployment of Nato troops in Afghanistan make him “inadmissible” to Canada. In fact George Galloway’s concern over the deployment of NATO troops in Afghanistan is consistent with the majority of public opinion in the UK. Indeed, George’s most recent comment on Afghanistan was to the Grimsby and Scunthorpe media group when he pointed out that, “more British soldiers have now died in Afghanistan than in the whole of the disastrous war in and occupation of Iraq. And yet the Taliban are growing in strength and instability is spreading across the border into Pakistan. My heart goes out to the families of all the loved ones who have lost their lives and in particular to the families of Corporals Grahame Stiff and Dean John, the latest soldiers to lose their lives in Afghanistan . The majority of British people, the latest opinion polls show, do not understand why we have sent troops to Afghanistan. I want our troops brought home from Afghanistan now, so no more lives are lost in this pointless and unwinnable war.”

George Galloway finds Canada’s decision outrageous: “This decision, gazetted in Rupert Murdoch’s Sun, is a very sad day for the Canada we have known and loved – a bastion of the freedoms that supporters of the occupation of Afghanistan claim to be defending. This has further vindicated the anti-war movement’s contention that unjust wars abroad will end up consuming the very liberties that make us who we are.

“This may be a rather desperate election ploy by a conservative government reaching the end of line, or by a minister who has not cottoned on to the fact that the George Bush era is over. All right thinking Canadians, whether they agree with me over the wisdom of sending troops to Afghanistan or not, will oppose this outrageous decision.

“On a personal note – for a Scotsman to be barred from Canada is like being told to stay away from the family home. This is not something I’m prepared to accept.”

As so often, the press are misreporting the facts, today’s briefing from the Press Associsation includes the claim that in 2006 Gallowy was prevented from speaking at an anti-war conference in Cairo by the Egyptian government. In fact the President of Egypt personally apologised to George Galloway after he was detained for some hours on arrival in Cairo and the speaking engagement went ahead as planned.

See also here.

Lawyers for British anti-war MP George Galloway are mounting a court challenge to a Canadian government order that prohibits him from entering the country on the grounds he is a “national security” threat and terrorist accomplice: here.

The Canadian government’s claim that George Galloway is a terrorist accomplice is an outrageous, politically-motivated attempt to smear the British anti-war MP and to rob Canadians of their democratic and constitutionally-protected right to hear his views: here.

CANADA’S BAN ON GALLOWAY TO BE CHALLENGED IN COURT: here.

Update September 2010: here.

HUNDREDS of Afghan citizens rallied for an end to the occupation of their country on Sunday after US-led forces killed five civilians in Kunduz Province: here.

I SALUTE the army colonel who took a moral stand and allegedly released data to Human Rights Watch about civilian casualties from NATO’s aerial bombardment in Afghanistan: here.

Details of Barack Obama’s new strategy for the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan make for grim reading: here.

Amy Goodman Detained at the Canadian Border, questioned about speech–see the CBC national news, 6 pm and then online at CBC.ca: here.

Tony Benn, Galloway, Zephaniah, Rovics, etc. on their favourite music

This music video is called Benjamin Zephaniah – Responsible.

From British daily The Morning Star:

Red Folk’s favourite lefties chat about their musical and political highlights of 2007 and ponder the prospects for the year to come.

THE new year is upon us, so this month’s column catches up with some top lefties to hear their thoughts on the music and politics of 2007 and their hopes for 2008.

Tony Benn is rightly recognised as one of the foremost politicians of his generation, but also for his performances with folk singer Roy Bailey.

When asked for his 2007 musical highlight, he not unsurprisingly chooses the Not In Our Name CD, which was reviewed recently in the Morning Star. …

Respect MP George Galloway also has a reputation as a lover of good music.

“I’m still getting out my Dylan CDs,” he confides.

“I’ve been particularly taken by the radio shows that he did, DJing for a satellite radio station.

“I don’t know if these are generally available, I know that some at least were broadcast on BBC, but they are magical, funny, insightful and revealing.

“I’m totally hooked on Bruce Springsteen‘s album Magic and I’ve been playing one of the tracks as a kind of signature on my shows on talkSPORT, it’s Radio Nowhere. …

People’s poet, songwriter, author, musician and peace campaigner Benjamin Zephaniah had his usually busy year in 2007 and took a well-earned break in socialist Cuba over the new year.

Zephaniah had his latest book Teachers Dead published in September and has already been approached by the BBC to write a screenplay to be made into a major programme in the future.

Musically, 2007 saw Zephaniah going back to his roots and listening to a lot of early reggae records by Burning Spear, the Mighty Diamonds and the legendary Lee Perry.

Always eclectic in his musical tastes, Council Estate of Mind by British rapper Skinnyman caught his ear, as well as The Dusty Foot on the Road, an album by Somalian-born rapper K’naan, who is now living in Canada.

With a possible new album in the offing, Zephaniah looks set for an equally busy 2008.

Top US political folk singer-songwriter David Rovics, who is often to be found touring Britain, has a new live album called The Commons, which has just had a British release.

Unusually perhaps for such an accomplished musician, Rovics does not listen to much recorded music. Being based more at home of late while he brings up his daughter Leila, his living room is often full up with friends practising Balkan, Irish and old-time music.

Politically, his highlight of 2007 was the G8 protests in Germany.

He says: “The low point was and is the ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity and the earth being committed daily by the Bush administration and the capitalist world in general.”

His message to Morning Star readers is typically forthright. “Capitalism is omnicidal, socialism is inevitable and failure is unthinkable.”

Related articles

• VIDEO: Tony Benn: ‘I’m not afraid of dying’ (bbc.co.uk)
• Labour veteran Tony Benn as sharp as ever as he reflects on a life in politics (itv.com)
• Stephen Moss on Tony Benn (taxresearch.org.uk)
• Tony Benn: ‘All political careers end in failure. Mine ended earlier than most’ (theguardian.com)
• A Progressive Society? (piersknight.wordpress.com)
• Benjamin Zephaniah – Birmingham Literature Festival (awritersfountain.wordpress.com)

UK: Labour woman quits Blair’s party to join anti war Respect

This video is called George Galloway vs. U.S Senate (5/17/05); about the Iraq war.

From the East London Advertiser in England:

Labour ‘MP hopeful’ quits race to join Galloway’s Respect Party

05 April 2007

By Ted Jeory

A WOMAN in the race to be Labour‘s next candidate to take on rebel MP George Galloway‘s Respect Party in London’s East End has quit the selection process and changed sides.

Johanna Kaschke has defected to Respect after reading the East London Advertiser‘s March 28 edition about the Labour Government trying to change the law to defeat a campaigner in the High Court over public housing.

She went straight to her computer and fired off a resignation letter to Labour, then joined Galloway’s party.

“I find there is a bad atmosphere in the (Labour) party, driving out council tenants and disrespecting leaseholders alike.

“It is totally disgusting that the Labour Party acts against its own members, dismantles the National Health Service, a tendency to stop free health treatment.

“Our local authority has become an oppressive force, forcing residents out of their dwellings by making it too expensive for leaseholders to afford the upkeep or forcing tenants to be with private housing associations.

“The Labour Party has become an oppressive organisation, nothing more to do with the democratic people’s party it once used to be.”

It is a blow to the bitterly-divided local Labour party, whose morale sank in Galloway’s Bethnal Green constituency after he ousted their MP Oona King in the 2005 General Election.

Joanna told the Advertiser: “Labour has been hijacked by a bunch of ultra-conservatives. It’s bad for democracy.”