Last March, George Galloway went to Bangladesh to drum up support for his Tower Hamlets parliamentary campaign. While there, he gave a revealing interview in the University of Dhaka to Mohammad Basirul Haq Sinha, in which he boasted of the alliance between the left and radical Islamism:

‘M.B.H.S.: You often call for uniting Muslim and progressive forces globally. How far is it possible under current situation?

‘Galloway: Not only do I think it's possible but I think it is vitally necessary and I think it is happening already. It is possible because the progressive movement around the world and the Muslims have the same enemies. Their enemies are the Zionist occupation, American occupation, British occupation of poor countries mainly Muslim countries. They have the same interest in opposing savage capitalist globalization which is intent upon homogenizing the entire world turning us basically into factory chickens which can be forced fed the American diet of everything from food to Coca-Cola to movies and TV culture. And whose only role in life is to consume
the things produced endlessly by the multinational corporations. And the progressive organizations & movements agree on that with the Muslims. Otherwise we believe that we should all have to speak as Texan and eat McDonalds and be ruled by Bush and Blair. So on the very grave big issues of the day — issues of war, occupation, justice, opposition to globalization-the Muslims and the progressives are on the same side.

‘But they now do have some other differences and they are nonetheless important. These are the very big issues that divide progressive organizations and Muslims. But they are fewer than people imagine and the more they want work together as I am doing and have been for many years with Muslims organizations and sincere as well as devout Muslims the fewer the differences are and the less the gap there seems to be. It’s necessary because if we to use in English colloquialism: “If we don't hang together we will all hang separately”. Our enemies are very powerful and they are currently ruling the world and if we don't stop them they will finish both of us and they will be the new tyrants, new emperors of the world for a very long time to come if we don't stop them. So it's necessary to unite these two great forces.’

So there you have it straight from the horse’s mouth. The SWP-led anti-war left explicitly allies itself with the most anti-progressive, anti-western and totalitarian movements on the planet which have declared war on the free world and which aim to defeat every progressive value — democracy, liberty, pluralism — that there is. Thus Galloway does not celebrate the nascent freedom movement that emerged in Lebanon’s ‘Cedar Revolution’; instead, he supports the terror regime and its army that oppress the Lebanese:

‘And I include in the worldwide anti-war movement the absolutely epic magnificent demonstration in Beirut yesterday (8 March, 2005) called by Hizb’ullah and supported by the Arab Nationalist parties from the Sunni minority in Lebanon in which more than a million people marched to tell Israel, France and America to get out of Lebanon to stop trying to occupy Lebanon and to stand by Syria in it's hour of need as a country being threatened openly by the United States with invasion and occupation the same kind of treatment that Iraq suffered. So I think the anti-war movement was given a terrific boost in Beirut on that day. And I think that we should not fail to learn the lesson of that.’

In addition, Galloway does not merely ally himself with the enemies of this country:

‘

we stand up for the Muslims under attack by Bush and Blair’

but makes clear that he is the Member of Parliament for Bangladesh:

‘M.B.H.S: Would you take on the issues affective the people of Bangladesh such as: (a) Arsenic poisoning (b) India's water piracy on Bangladesh* (c) Wages of workers?

‘Galloway: Yes. I intend to be the champion not only of Bangladeshi people living in England but also the Bangladesh herself in the world and that means being a campaigner and I am a good campaigner, Masha'Allah. God gave me a good voice and good heart and I am still younger than Tony Blair. Insha'Allah a lot of life is left in me and I want to place it at the disposal of the Bangladeshis in London and abroad. The BNP, Awami League, Jamaat-E-Islami, Jatiya Party, the alternative parties all the political parties were on the same platform along with me and supported my campaign for election in the Tower Hamlet'.

So the Jamaat e Islami supported him, eh?

After the 2003 arrest in Rawalpindi of al Qaeda’s third in command Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, Christian Science Monitor reported that the arrest exposed a link between Jamaat e Islami and al Qaeda:

'...senior officials here are starting to admit that they are finding growing links between the Jamaat and Al Qaeda terrorists on the run. "All of the activists and terrorists who have been apprehended in recent months have had links to the Jamaat-e-Islami, whether we have arrested them in Lahore or here or Karachi...." says Pakistan's Interior Minister Makhdoom Faisel Saleh Hayat. "They have been harboring them"."...The Jamaat has never condemned 9/11, and denies that Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization. This is a group that believes 9/11 was carried out by Jews in America," says Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani author on terror issues. "The really scary thing is that this is also the most moderate Islamic party in Pakistan." ‘

The really scary thing is that this is now what passes for ‘progressive’ politics in Britain.

Posted by melanie at June 3, 2005