MARK
George and the dragons
In his election victory and his remarkable performance before a US Senate sub-committee, George Galloway has given expression to the anger of millions opposed to the Iraq war, says Mark Brown.
t may have looked. on paper. like a case of Daniel in
the lion’s den. However. as the accuser was .\'orm
Coleman. a rabid Republican neo-con ‘Iickspittle‘ ((c) George Galloway). and the accused was Galloway. the left-wing. anti-war Respect coalition's newly— elected MP for Bethnal Green and Bow. the hearing oi the ITS Senate Permanent Sub-committee on Investigations looked more like the political equivalent oI~ sending Muhammad Ali into the ring with a toddler.
(‘oleman's reheated allegations about Galloway’s supposed profiting from the Iraqi oil-I'or—I‘ood programme came suspiciously soon alter the socialist politician had spectacularly del‘eated Blair loyalist ()ona King in east London. I nearly laughed myseII hoarse when the American senator invited the MP to testify before the sub-committee.
Did (‘oleman know anything about Galloway"? Was he prepared for this robust Scotsman who has walked otit ol‘ court with substantial libel damages from the Daily 'Ii’lt'grupli. the Christian Science Monitor and Robert Maxwell‘s Mirror. among others'.’ Did he truly expect to unsettle the veteran political tighter whose response to expulsion from the Labour Party was to forge a new radical I'orce in British politics and capture one of Labour‘s sal'est seats'.’
At the Senate. Galloway exposed (‘oleman's ‘evidence' as a tissue of innuendos and hall-baked attempts to establish guilt by association. The near unanimous verdict of the British mass media. hardly the former Glasgow MRs greatest I‘ans. was that (‘oleman was left looking shell-shocked and speechless. having failed to lay a glove on Galloway. liven Jeremy Paxman. whose ludicrous interview with Galloway on election night (‘are you proud ol‘ having got rid of one ol‘ the very I‘ew black women in parliament‘.”l was possibly an all-time career low point. appeared to acknowledge that the Respect MP had taken the Washington hearing by storm.
No-one. except perhaps the hapless (‘oleman. should have been in the least surprised. Galloway. who describes himself. quite correctly. as the ‘most scrutiniscd' politician in Britain. has withstood a barrage of slurs in his political career.
In addition to the trumped tip Iraqi oil charges. he has laced the threat of assault by. in his words. the ‘white
van men' who read The Sun. alter the Murdoch paper
called him a ‘traitor‘ over his opposition to the Iraq war.
The right-wing has also long indulged in the slander that Galloway supported Saddam Hussein. This because of his ‘saIute‘. in Baghdad. to the ‘courage‘ and
‘indel'atigability” ol' the Iraqi people. The entire slander
rested upon the fact that Galloway had addressed
10 THE LIST 7'. Ma, I; ,.II‘ WISE;
‘EVEN PAXMAN ACKNOWLEDGED GALLOWAY HAD TAKEN THE SENATE HEARING BY ST ORM'
Saddam as ‘Sir’. Yet had not Tony Benn used similar I'ormalities when he interviewed Saddam in his honourable last-ditch cl'l‘ort to avoid war'.’
Indeed. as Galloway pointed out. he met Saddam twice. exactly the same number of times Donald RtlltlsIL‘ItI. now I'S Secretary oI' State I‘or Del‘ense. met him. The dil‘l'erence was that Galloway didn’t meet him to sell him arms. In Iact. the MP was protesting outside the Iraqi embassy in London at a time when the Ba'athist dictatorship was still a client and ally of the IS and Britain.
It isn‘t only the British media and political establishment who have had Galloway in their sights. Hollywood actor .Iohn Malkovich. a long-established supporter ol‘ the State ol‘ Israel. declared that he would like to ‘shoot‘ both Galloway and award— winning journalist Robert Fisk: both are noted critics ol Israeli persecution of the Palestinian people. It only all Galloway's detractors came from the assembled ranks oI British conservatism (both 'I’ory' and Blairitel. .r\mcrican Republicanism and Zionism. There are. sadly. those on the leI‘t who have turned on Galloway because oI‘ his well known pcrsonal opposition to abortion or. worse. his distaste Ior Scottish nationalism and. even insinuations about his sex lite and his liliestyle.
I have known Galloway for many years. and I‘ought alongside him in many campaigns. l‘rom the Mariam Appeal I‘or Iraqi children made sick by I'S/British radioactive weapons (and sicker by \\'ashington- inspired sanctions) to the rights oI' asylum seekers here in Scotland. I have my political dil‘l‘erences with him (particularly on the issue at abortion). but I defer to no- one in my admiration ol’ his consistent struggle I'or social justice. and his determination to give voice to the rage ol‘ millions against I'S/British imperialism. George. I salute your courage and indelatigabilityI
MY FAVOURITE i
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RICHARD DEMARCO, ARTIST & ACADEMIC
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