<div>And of course it is the Muslim Association of Britain. While the two groups are close, they're not the same. That's the problem writing political analysis with the flu, that and not taking a minute to re-read what you write.  BTW, Lenin, nice piece of yours in MRZine. Good close reading of our wayward son Hitchens. Congrats. </div> <div> </div> <div>Mike Hirsch  </div> <div>On 11/26/05, www.leninology. <a href="http://blogspot.com">blogspot.com</a> <<a href="mailto:leninology@hotmail.com">leninology@hotmail.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">>Doug H and Travis are right. Peter Tatchell is a Labour Party loyalist >first, last and always; any stick to beat the extra-Labour left is fair >play. And if Doug Ireland has a fault--and I like him a lot--it's his >knee-jerk contempt for third party and hard left efforts here at home. I >tend to line up with Ireland on the issues these days, too, but I don't >share his biliousness toward those to my left or his need to Trot bait. The >Socialist Workers Party in Britain may be playing with fire by aligning >with >the Muslim Arab Brotherhood--and that is no given-- but we're not going to >know that by the sort of sideshow exercise that Tatchell orchestrated. > >Mike Hirsch A few corrections needed here: 1) Tatchell was once a Labour Party member, but is now a Green Party member. The Greens have always hated Respect for accruing left-of-Labour votes that they feel should naturally be theirs - they call this "splitting the vote".  Initially it was hoped that the Greens would join the Respect coalition and present the biggest possible challenge to Blairism from the left in the elections: they declined, indicating that they had a long and venerable ideological and electoral tradition.  One of their leaders, Dr Spencer-Fitzgibbon, went on a ruthless red-baiting spree.  On May 5th, they got their answer.  Tatchell, it has to be said, is a controversial figure within the Green Party himself - not all Green leaders agreed with his witch hunt against Yusuf al-Qaradawi, for instance.  Yet, two points follow from this - one, Tatchell has a sectarian party reason for retailing these fabrications about Respect; two, the whole reason Tatchell joined the Greens and argued against Respect was because of his hostility to Muslims, reflected in this latest charade. 2) The MAB is not 'the Muslim Arab Brotherhood' but the Muslim Association of Britain.  Associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, their politics vary depending on the issue, but they are basically an integralist outfit. 3) Respect, contrary to Direland's claims, is not 'allied' with the MAB. The latter organisation did support Respect in some elections and, but it also supported the Greens, the Liberal Democrats and Ken Livingstone. Of course, you're right about Direland's Trot-baiting.  It's never been so aggressively displayed as during this episode, but it has certainly been present as long as I have known him.  It's a real shame, but not an unpredictable one. _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN Search Toolbar now includes Desktop search! <a href="http://toolbar.msn.co.uk/">http://toolbar.msn.co.uk/</a> ___________________________________ <a href="http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk">http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk </a> </blockquote></div> -- ________________________________________ `And these words shall then become Like oppression's thundered doom Ringing through each heart and brain, Heard again -- again -- again-- `Rise like Lions after slumber In unvanquishable number-- Shake your chains to earth like dew Which in sleep had fallen on you-- Ye are many -- they are few.' --------Shelley, "The Mask of Anarchy: Written on the Occasion of the Massacre at Manchester" [1819]