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Galloway chosen for his politics not race Report Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2005
http://www.blink.org.uk/pdescription.asp?key=7081&grp=66&cat=228
Galloway chosen for his politics not race
Anti-war candidate George Galloway inspired all communities on his way to victory, says Ruhul Tarafder.
May 5th was a historic day for the residents of Bethnal Green and Bow, a seat belonging to the Labour Party for the past 65 years.
Local people decided that Oona King, their MP since 1997, should pay the price of her support for the Iraq war and loyalty to Tony Blair.
They spectacularly dumped her in favour of anti-war candidate George Galloway, of the Respect party. Although winning by just 800 votes, the scale of the ex-Labour politician's victory was impressive.
backbone Expelled from Labour over his stance on Iraq, and standing for a relatively unknown political party with fledgling resources amidst high-profile media stories about his personal life, Galloway overturned a 10,000 majority in one of Labour's safest seats.
There is little doubt this result was largely due to the political mobilisation of the large Bangladeshi community of Tower Hamlets, which forms the backbone of Britain's single largest Muslim population (36.4%).
Traditionally loyal to Labour and central to Oona King's previous two overwhelming victories, Bethnal's Bengalis were so outraged by her uncritical public support for the war on Iraq.
They felt betrayed by a Labour government and decided, as a whole community, to sack King and Labour as their parliamentary representatives in favour of a man and a party that symbolised the anti-war movement.
message In all my years of political campaigning and community activism as a Bangladeshi activist from Tower Hamlets, I am yet to see a better example of black community empowerment than this.
On May 5th, the Bangladeshi community sent a clear message to the establishment who run our political system.
We want are politicians who serve the interests of the communities who elect them rather than manage communities on behalf of the government.
Being "black" does not give you the legitimacy to represent black communities; such a mandate only comes from dealing with the issues that affect black communities.
As someone involved in the Galloway campaign, the most striking aspect of the weeks and days leading up to May 5th was that this was a real and deeply rooted community effort.
Yes it was predominantly the Bangladeshi community who supported Galloway, but the Somali community played its part as well as many white voters who were anti-war and left-wing felt that Galloway represented 'old' or 'real' Labour rather than a New Labour stooge like Oona King.
Galloway managed to inspire all sections and age groups of the Bengali community. He visited the Mosqueand the community centres, canvassed the estates and shops.
He even journeyed as far as Bangladesh itself to win the endorsement of the political groups. Meetings held by elders, youths and womens groups took place from very early on.
It was clear that the whole community was united in its opposition to Oona King and what her policies stood for.
I was particularly struck by how he mobilised the Tower Hamlets youth vote - for the first time, they saw somebody who they felt represented their concerns.
Article continues >> http://www.blink.org.uk/pdescription.asp?key=7081&grp=66&cat=228
Also from the same weekly OneWorld newsletter:
CATERPILLAR-PERKINS EMPLOYEES LEARN THE FACTS (FILM) ----------------------------------------------------
(11 may 2005) Bulldozers made by Caterpillar are used by Israeli
forces to destroy Palestinian settlements. As this short film shows,
many employees of a subsidiary company in Manchester were unaware of
the connection until protesters gathered at the factory gate. http://uk.oneworld.net/link/gotoarticle/addhit/111142/2009/25340
Leigh