The Wholesome Photo of the Month Thu May 09, 2024 11:01 | Anti-Empire
In 3 War Years Russia Will Have Spent $3... Thu May 09, 2024 02:17 | Anti-Empire
UK Sending Missiles to Be Fired Into Rus... Tue May 07, 2024 14:17 | Marko Marjanović
US Gives Weapons to Taiwan for Free, The... Fri May 03, 2024 03:55 | Anti-Empire
Russia Has 17 Percent More Defense Jobs ... Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:56 | Marko Marjanović Anti-Empire >>
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Julian Assange is finally free ! Tue Jun 25, 2024 21:11 | indy
Stand With Palestine: Workplace Day of Action on Naksa Day Thu May 30, 2024 21:55 | indy
It is Chemtrails Month and Time to Visit this Topic Thu May 30, 2024 00:01 | indy
Hamburg 14.05. "Rote" Flora Reoccupied By Internationalists Wed May 15, 2024 15:49 | Internationalist left
Eddie Hobbs Breaks the Silence Exposing the Hidden Agenda Behind the WHO Treaty Sat May 11, 2024 22:41 | indy Human Rights in Ireland >>
News Round-Up Wed Jul 31, 2024 01:30 | Richard Eldred A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Biden Proposes Sweeping Supreme Court Reforms as He Attacks ?Extreme? Judges Tue Jul 30, 2024 19:00 | Will Jones Joe Biden has proposed sweeping reforms to the U.S. Supreme Court accusing it of making "dangerous and extreme decisions" and losing the public?s trust.
The post Biden Proposes Sweeping Supreme Court Reforms as He Attacks “Extreme” Judges appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Reeves Scraps Winter Fuel Payments for 10 Million Pensioners to Fund Public Sector Wage Rise Tue Jul 30, 2024 17:00 | Will Jones Rachel Reeves is to scrap winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners and ditch a cap on social care costs to fund a public sector wage rise, it has been announced.
The post Reeves Scraps Winter Fuel Payments for 10 Million Pensioners to Fund Public Sector Wage Rise appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
A Summary of Why the Czech Republic Vaccine Data are So Devastating to the ?Safe and Effective? Narr... Tue Jul 30, 2024 15:00 | Will Jones The Czech Republic record-level vaccine data are devastating to the "safe and effective" narrative, says Steve Kirsch, as he provides a new overview that explains why.
The post A Summary of Why the Czech Republic Vaccine Data are So Devastating to the “Safe and Effective” Narrative appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Keir Starmer?s Anti-Israel Policies Are Now No Different to Jeremy Corbyn?s Tue Jul 30, 2024 13:00 | Will Jones Unlike Jeremy Corbyn, Keir Starmer has never described Hezbollah as his friends. But other than that, when it comes to Israel there is now little of consequence to differentiate them, says Stephen Pollard.
The post Keir Starmer’s Anti-Israel Policies Are Now No Different to Jeremy Corbyn’s appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Netanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en
Will Israel succeed in attacking Lebanon and pushing the United States to nuke I... Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:40 | en
Will Netanyahu launch tactical nuclear bombs (sic) against Hezbollah, with US su... Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:09 | en
Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en Voltaire Network >>
|
Lets talk about RESPECT. The future for the left - or a coalition with Reactionaries?
national |
rights, freedoms and repression |
opinion/analysis
Wednesday August 04, 2004 18:13 by Conor - SAucd
In the Past few months, The British SWP/IST has taken the unprecedented step of rejecting Secularism
In the Past few months, The British SWP/IST has taken the unprecedented step of rejecting its core Secular Revolutionary Socialist principals, and traded them off for electoral success by entering a coalition with religious reactionaries. In a Move that even the revisionist/opportunist NewLabour would find a step too far to the right, the SWP has decided to set up the “respect coalition” with the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB)
Billed as a “mass, left alternative to New Labour” Respect made some gains in the local by-elections in Britain recently. Although reasonably impressive in electoral terms, the gains are at the expense of a clear move to the right. Far from beating Blair by revolutionary means, the SWP are entering his game on his terms.
As the SWP would see it, RESPECT is the revolutionary thorn in Blair’s side. After 10 Years of New Labour, they decided against the multitude of Socialist and progressive alliances available, and instead decided on a coalition with a group who see homosexuality as a “sexual perversion”.
The MAB identifies unambiguously with the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is a moderate, reformist, Islamic party, which builds its upfront public profile around welfare and religious education. It is no surprise that it should use writers like Pilger, Fisk and Ritter to give itself a plausible public face. Its basic politics are, however, the same as those of the shriller fundamentalists: the overthrow of secularism, democracy and women’s rights, and the introduction of a state run under Islamic law.
An article in its “Inspire” freesheet explains a little of what the MAB understand by an Islamic state. In their ideal state, a person who “chooses not to embrace Islam” may have the right to be a citizen, but only if they “express loyalty to the state and recognise its legitimacy so that he or she does not engage in any activity that may be construed as threatening to its order”. Even then that person’s citizenship is “qualified”, “and such qualification is only lifted when the concerned person embraces Islam”. Lenin would be proud.
At the front of the RESPECT charge for reformist-capitalist-parliamentary victory is former Labour member and long time charlatan, MP George Galloway. Not one to Shy away from the pro Saddam rhetoric, and a fan of violent Iraqi insurgents who are “giving them [the American Occupiers] a bloody good hiding all over the country”, Galloway has long been a discrediting force to be reckoned with on the left. His relationship with Saddam is just one part of this mans singular brutality – his critique of the Green party descended to the intellectual depths of "I don't call them the Greens - I call them the Whites - if you look at their list [of candidates] you see middle class whites”.
In 1994 he visited his old friend in Baghdad and said “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability"
When not discussing the aesthetic qualities of red top busses, or eating Quality Street chocolates with Saddam, George can be heard trumpeting on about how much he admired Stalin “I think the disappearance of the Soviet Union is the biggest catastrophe of my life” a gift to the Right, if ever there was one.
No-one doubts the problems faced on a daily basis by Muslims and other Minority groups in Britain, but the role the left should play in such matters should not extend into embracing a reactionary group, their policies, politics, and eventually their partnership in a political Coalition. The MAB are a reactionary group. The left should not consider it an ally.
Who would think that the SWP would loose the Revolutionary AND the Socialist tag in one, quick year. In RESPECT, the IST/SWP have paired off with the MAB, a former journalist for the most reactionary of papers, and "gorgeous" George.
Do the Irish IST/SWP support the move to the right & RESPECT? Or will they finally outthink their financial masters in Britain? The answers are unknown, because the Irish SWP has been strangely quiet in explaining themselves. I hope they will now.
http://www.mabonline.info/english/
http://www.respectcoalition.org/
http://www.istendency.net/
http://www.swp.org.uk/
http://www.swp.ie/
|
View Full Comment Text
save preference
Comments (27 of 27)