Women

Readers who engage with social media may well have stumbled across a dispute between George Galloway, the new MP for Rochdale, and the left news outlet Novara Media, regarding their release of a clip from a long interview (1 hour 25 mins) that they carried out with him. The full interview can be seen here.

In the course of that interview, which covered a very wide range of subjects, Galloway made several controversial statements, most notably on issues around education and LGBT people, and abortion. The former formed the basis for a Novara clip, watched by over a million people, that they put out a few days before to advertise the full interview. Galloway is angrily claiming that he was selectively edited or “set-up” by Novara, which they deny.

His remarks have been widely condemned by many on the left, but some have vociferously defended him.

Below, Left Horizons publishes a post from a Facebook account that we feel examines the issues in a fair and balanced way. We are clear that we stand in solidarity with LGBT workers, and oppose any further restrictions in the rights of women to get an abortion.

Novara Media, an outlet in both video and written form, was founded during the early years of the Conservative/LibDem coalition, but it became an increasingly important source of news and comment loosely based around the Corbyn left and its aftermath. Its popularity, especially among younger viewers, has grown rapidly over the last few years and has soared since the Israeli attacks and the ongoing genocide, as they battle to counter the lies and distortions of the mainstream media outlets. It now has almost 750,000 subscribers on YouTube!

While Left Horizons recognises the important role Novara plays, its political views and its general outlook and perspectives do not always chime with ours and we by no means fully endorse them. On the other hand, Left Horizons have long been deeply suspicious of the record and character of George Galloway, and oppose his views on a whole range of issues, despite his firm stance on some important questions. We do not support the Workers’ Party of Britain, his latest political project.

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ON GALLOWAY

Since the online spat between Galloway and Novara blew up, some on the left (and some not so clearly defined) have really pushed back in defence of Galloway – condemning what they see as an attack on a leading pro-Palestinian voice and even a great future leader of a socialist alternative. They condemn “splitting the left” or “dividing the anti-genocide struggle” or “dividing the working class with unimportant ‘woke’ issues”.

So who is splitting the left?

Let me be clear, I have been an active supporter of Palestine for many years, especially since the attack on Gaza in 2008. For most of that time I was also active in a campaign against “pink-washing” the Israeli regime, ie using its ‘relatively’ more liberal laws regarding homosexuality to excuse their savagery against the people of Palestine and demonising Muslims, or Arabs as uniformly reactionary bigots.

I am fully aware that many in Palestine, and many of their supporters in Britain, have views on homosexuality that I find distasteful. But I would never make my support for Palestine, let alone my opposition to the genocide in Gaza, dependent or conditional on their support or otherwise of LGBT rights. That would be monstrous. And in any case, the Israeli military have killed far more LGBT people in Palestine than Hamas could ever hope to match. I will march against genocide without quizzing people on their views on other social issues. FFS – It’s GENOCIDE!!

“Social conservative”

But in this recent interview, if Galloway wanted to build a united movement against the genocide, why did he voluntarily raise the matter, entirely off his own bat, about him NOT being a liberal, being ‘less woke’ than ‘vegetarian’ and ‘trendy’ Jeremy Corbyn, and being a ‘social conservative’? Why did he say that Corbyn would be ok with men in frocks but that he, Galloway, would be less comfortable?

Once GG had raised the subject, Aaron Bastani, the interviewer from Novara, simply asked him to comment on a quote from his own targeted mail-shot to some voters during the recent Rochdale by-election. It read :-

“I believe in family. I’m the father of six children, five of them still at school, and I don’t like some of the things they are teaching our children”

Later in the interview Bastani reads out another excerpt from the same election communication in Rochdale:-

“I believe in men and women. God created everything in pairs, and unlike the mainstream parties, I have no difficulty in defining what a woman is.”

So these were not just purely private matters of conscience, but an active campaigning issue for Galloway just a few weeks ago, in a by election in the middle of a genocide. Galloway happily commented, at length, that he did not think children should be taught that families of homosexuals were “normal or equal to” families with “mum, dad, and kids”. This is chillingly reminiscent of the wording of Thatcher’s Section 28, back in the late 80s. He went on further, proudly and fluently, to condemn “gender ideology” in schools, and trans women having access to women’s toilets, changing rooms etc.

Now, he did make clear that he had voted for gay marriage and an equal age of consent and was proud of having an award from Stonewall for doing so. He said he had worked closely with comrades who were LGBT, including trans people, and that all LGBT people should be treated with “respect” and “affection”.

He placed his views in the context of his Roman Catholic faith, even though he has been divorced at least three times. In his late 60s, he has five school-aged children – some in England and some in Scotland – so much for his “mum, dad, and kids” stable family claim. And let’s not talk about the Catholic church and its record on caring for children!! Or his infamous cat performance on Big Brother.

“London-based plot”?

So why did he choose to raise these issues with voters in Rochdale and during this interview with Novara, a left news platform whose main anchor (not Bastani) is a gay man? And why, having done so, is he acting so outraged at being quoted by that left news platform – one that has been a hugely valuable voice (along with Owen jones) condemning the genocide and building the resistance? Why is he trying to present it as a “London-based” plot against him, which he counterposes to his “working-class” party?

Are LGBT people not workers, too? Do LGBT people not oppose genocide? Who has chosen to divide the working-class and the Palestine solidarity movement, other than Galloway himself?

To the extent that Galloway supports the people of Gaza, I will support him. But I did not support him flirting with Farage and the Brexit Party. I did not support him when he advocated voting Tory in Scotland in some seats to keep out the SNP. I do not support his position on Ukraine, or on Syria, or his opposition to “net-zero” or his position on strict immigration controls.

I do not agree with his desire to reduce the time limit on abortion to 12 weeks.

Galloway is, and always has been, a divisive and damaging figure, and even where his political position is correct, such as when he participated in a journey to break the Gaza blockade, his puffed up ego and self-aggrandisement has often been an obstacle to building a wider movement.