Respect in Scotland?

[faceless]

I want Scots to have Respect, says Galloway
www.scotsman.com

CONTROVERSIAL MP George Galloway has suggested his Respect party could become active in Scotland, reversing a previous pact with Solidarity not to fight seats here. The former Glasgow Labour MP, expelled in 2003 for his comments in the lead up to the Iraq war, told an audience at Edinburgh's Usher Hall that Respect could help re-unite the Scottish left after Solidarity and the Scottish Socialists lost all their seats in last month's elections.

He said: "Nature abhors a vacuum and a political vacuum most of all. I think we will come north of the Border now. I think there are many activists from Solidarity and the SSP who have seen the disaster of their own making but don't want to give up the fight and could look to a unity coalition like ours to pull them together."

SSP leader Colin Fox dismissed Mr Galloway's comments. He said: "George threatens to come to Scotland every year. I don't think anyone in the SSP would touch Respect with a bargepole."

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George threatens to come to Scotland every year? What's that Fox on about? I smell a hint of slightly soiled underwear...

[major.tom]

It may be nit-picking, but I find even subtle omissions irksome.

[nekokate]

[luke]

you see this kinda thing all the time major, it can be a lot worse than that though - but its good to bring these things up with the journalists, point it out, as by these little things they can obfuscate the reality and frame things in a certain way that leads to the reader seeing things in a certain way.

sometimes they can be changed later on, there was something a while back on the bbc site that was a great example of hiding the truth - when it was pointed out to the journalist he found out someone in the process of getting it online had changed it, just a little word here and there can make such a massive difference

a decent media would have explained what those 'comments' were, but kates also right, it could just be lazy journalism. i find it fascinating the media and how it works ... guardians of power is a great book for anyone interested http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guardians-Power-Myth-Liberal-Media/dp/0745324827 , also of course chomsky, but guardians of power deals with the uk media

i think it would be a good idea for respect to cover scotland, the left got wiped out in the last election - its so fragmented now, if respect could unify the left then it would be a good move

you should have a word faceless, become a respect candiate

[faceless]

[luke]

[Mandy]

[luke]

[Mandy]

The present system only allows the real-big-time criminals to get to the top. The ones who have the contributions from the military-industrial complex behind them to buy-off or intimidate the media & everyone-else around them.

[faceless]

Galloway looks to forge a new Scottish alliance
DOUGLAS FRASER, Scottish Political Editor
June 23 2007
www.theherald.co.uk

George Galloway wants to expand his Respect party into Scotland in an alliance with Scotland's split left-wing factions. The former Labour MP for Glasgow Kelvin, who now represents the London seat of Bethnal Green and Bow for Respect, has ruled himself out of contesting a Scottish seat again.But he has ended a pact with Tommy Sheridan, leader of the Solidarity Party in Scotland, which meant Respect did not extend its organisation or election challenge north of the Border.

When the Scottish Socialist Party split last year, with one part becoming Solidarity, Mr Galloway backed Mr Sheridan's faction against the remaining Scottish Socialist Party led by Colin Fox. However, with four SSP MSPs before the election and Mr Sheridan having the support of one other MSP, both groupings did badly on May 3 and returned no MSPs, with only two councillors. That is seen as an opportunity for Mr Galloway to move back into Scottish politics, with a bid to draw together the different strands. He is as well known as Mr Sheridan through his high-profile appearances on Celebrity Big Brother and in taking on US senators over the Iraq war.

He intends to stand in the London-wide constituency for the European Parliament at the next elections in 2009. He may also stand for the Westminster Parliament in another constituency where Muslims are strongly against Labour's stance on the Iraq war. A source close to the Respect leader said yesterday the Respect-Solidarity pact not to compete with each other "expired with the election". "George wants to see realignment on the left, including all the defeated elements on the left. This is not a definitive decision. It's more of an ambition."

Earlier this month, Mr Galloway told a party meeting: "There are many activists from Solidarity and the SSP who have seen the disaster of their own making but don't want to give up the fight and could look to a unity coalition like ours to pull them together." Mr Galloway disagrees with the two main left-wing Scottish parties in opposing independence, but he has agreed with Mr Sheridan to back an independence referendum, and that they can campaign on either side of that debate.

The Solidarity leader said: "Since the election, I've had a couple of chats with George. He was happy that at least Solidarity established itself as the principal left force, and that if he was discussing stronger relations with anyone, it would be with Solidarity." Mr Sheridan said he expected the name Solidarity to remain under a stronger form of alliance, and the most likely outcome was for the parties to agree terms for fighting the European and Westminster elections together.

Mr Galloway expects the SSP to be reluctant to join, and Mr Sheridan maintains some former SSP comrades committed "cardinal sins", but he hopes others could join a renewed left alliance. Colin Fox, convener of the SSP, ridiculed the proposal, saying Respect is based on George Galloway's "divisive" leadership, with Socialist Workers Party organisation and with its electoral base in Muslim communities, yet with none of those factors likely to work in its favour in Scotland. "Unity on the left is probably ruled out for a wee while, but it doesn't stop left-wing groups getting together in a broad coalition to campaign on issues," said the former Lothian MSP.

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[faceless]

Will SSP see through Galloway?
14 June, 2007
by Stan Crooke
www.workersliberty.org

“Over the past three years, the SSP has been supportive of George Galloway in his battles with Blair and the New Labour hierarchy over the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq… Despite our disagreements, the SSP supported George’s moves to form a broad, leftwing, anti-war party in England after his expulsion from New Labour in 2003,” explained an article in Scottish Socialist Voice (paper of the SSP – Scottish Socialist Party) in December 2004.

When Galloway was elected to Parliament in 2005 the Voice hailed his victory: “George Galloway’s stunning victory in Bethnal Green and Bow… was the biggest electoral victory for the left in England in quite some time.” This straightforward equation of “victory for Galloway” with “victory for the left” was followed by “an article collated from coverage in Socialist Resistance”, which promised that a “combination of electoral activity and mass campaigning will help Respect grow to replace Labour as the party of the working class.”

But even when the SSP and the Voice was applauding Galloway and Respect, it also criticised them, with increasing intensity, for seeking to interfere in the internal affairs of the SSP, and in Scotland in general. The 2004 Voice article referred to the SSP’s “differences with George” on various issues such as independence for Scotland, abortion, and a worker’s wage for a workers’ MP. The SSP’s support for Respect was “based on a clear recognition that there is already a united socialist party in Scotland.”

In its statement issued the same month the SSP “angrily condemned George Galloway for coming to the aid of New Labour with a threat to split the left vote in Scotland”, after Galloway had suggested that Tommy Sheridan might stand as a Respect candidate in the 2007 Holyrood elections. “Unfortunately,” the statement continued, “it appears that George is prepared to cynically exploit the short term difficulties faced by the SSP to further his own parliamentary ambitions.”

2005 saw an exchange of letters in the pages of the Voice, as Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) members – who, at that time, were still members of the SSP – sought to counterpose Respect’s results in the General Election to the alleged failings of the SSP. Other SSP members wrote in to the Voice to challenge the SWP’s glorification of Respect.

By June 2006, when Galloway publicly rallied to Sheridan’s defence in the SSP faction fight, the SSP’s message for Galloway was that he should butt out of the SSP and Scottish affairs. The current issue of the Voice is even more critical of Galloway. Now he is defined as “the voluble MP” who is “well known for his bitter hostility for independence”, and who has proposed that Respect set up a “North British task force” to consider organising in Scotland.

“This latest London initiative”, the findings of which “will no doubt be shared with those North British subjects studied when the time is right”, was opposed by “less colonially-minded comrades” in Respect. The latter argued that such an initiative could add to divisions on the Scottish left, and also divide the English left. (The “less colonially minded comrades” in question were supporters of Socialist Resistance – who support Respect in England and Wales and the SSP in Scotland, although in Scotland itself their members are split between the SSP and the SWP-Sheridan “Solidarity” bloc.)

At first sight, such an approach might appear to make sense. Assist and support Respect in England. Welcome the electoral successes of Galloway and Respect in 2005 and 2006. But, at the same time, point out some of the political differences between the SSP and Galloway/Respect, and the limitations of Respect. Become more sharply critical of Galloway as he prepares the ground for Respect to extend itself to Scotland. In fact, this approach never made any sense, and makes even less sense now.

Galloway was — and is — not someone whose politics differed from those of the SSP merely on this or that particular issue. Whatever criticisms one might have of the SSP’s policies, Galloway stands for a completely different kind of politics. Galloway is the man who congratulated Saddam Hussein for his courage, strength and indefatigability, who has said that Syria is “lucky” to have Bashar al-Assad as its president, and who has described Pakistani military dictator General Musharraf as “an upright sort” who should be “given a chance to put Pakistan’s house in order.” Galloway is a Stalinist who has described the collapse of the Soviet Union as “the saddest day” of his life. And so on and so on and so on...

Any socialist who “assists and supports” any political initiative by Galloway has lost their political bearings. The idea that electoral success for “George” could ever, under any circumstances, amount to an “electoral victory for the left” can be surpassed for sheer absurdity only by the claim that Respect could become the party of the working class. The extension of Respect to Scotland is condemned in the pages of the Voice as something which would reinforce divisions on the Scottish left. But the very creation of Respect in England destroyed such left unity as existed in England (and Wales) at that time (in the Socialist Alliance) in order to form a bloc with the Islamists of the Muslim Association of Britain (although the latter are technically not an affiliate of Respect).

Respect is not something which has been “broad” until it began to turn its attention to Scotland. From the outset, Respect was a product of the SWP’s political calculations, controlled by the SWP, and uncritical of its public figurehead (Galloway). If Respect extends to Scotland and disrupts the left here, then this will be only because Respect has been a narrow and divisive force from the outset — including at the very time when the SSP was proud to “assist and support” its development, and was applauding its electoral successes.

Respect is not good for England but bad for Scotland. It’s bad — full stop.

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Not exactly glowing support is it?! haha

For some reason I doubt massively that Galloway described Scotland as 'North Britain', unless it was with a huge dose of humour...