Why Socialists Should Support George Galloway’s Candidature in the Rochdale By-Election

There is one and only one issue – Labour’s Silence on Genocide in Gaza and the Attack on Rafah

Whatever else you can say about George Galloway he is not without controversy. Politically he has a long record of forming alliances and then falling out with his partners – whether it is the SWP in Respect or the Stalinist Communists Party of Great Britain - Marxist Leninist in his Workers Party.

I say ‘his’ because the Workers Party revolves around George. It is very much his baby and it is highly unlikely that the membership would overrule him on any major issue or indeed have the means to do so.

🚨Twitter deleted the post, so reposting to expose Israeli army crimes!

Last video of kids martyrs of Husouna family massacre
They fled from Gaza to Rafah in search of safety, escaping shelling
Israeli army killed them inside their tent along with all family members last night ! pic.twitter.com/hlW7qWqFJx

— Nour Naim| نور نعيم (@NourNaim88) February 13, 2024

This is what war criminals Keir Starmer & Peter Kyle Support

George is politically eclectic. He is a brilliant speaker, an old-fashioned orator in an age when the leader of the Labour Party freezes like a rabbit caught in a car’s headlights whenever anyone gets to challenge him as Audrey White did when Starmer ventured into Liverpool.

George is not someone that socialists find easy to support. He is anti-abortion for a start and dismissive of issues of sexual orientation and sexual oppression -  all of which he  puts into a basket called ‘wokery’. There is a distinct impression that he panders to some very basic prejudices such as homophobia and transphobia in the belief th at if you ignore these issues then you will get basic workers’ unity.

Likewise George’s attitude to race which is most evidenced in his failure to oppose the Tories scapegoating of asylum seekers. George disgracefully attacked the SNP for having supported demonstrators in Glasgow who freed two refugees who were seized by the Home Office’s Border Unit.

He was also vehemently pro-Brexit and was quite prepared to support a racist like Nigel Farage. Indeed he tried to become a candidate in the European elections for the Brexit Party.

He even formed an alliance in Scotland with Tories and that he even shared a platform with David Clews, a member of the Patriotic Alternative.

Deserted!

So what are his pluses?

George has been a consistent anti-imperialist and was expelled from the Labour Party as an MP for opposing the Iraq War. When summoned to Congress to address allegations regarding oil sanctions he turned in a fine and memorable performance.

On the issue of Palestine George also has a good record. There was a time when he supported the two-state solution. I know because I debated the issue with him at my old college St Mary’s in Strawberry Hill, Twickenham. But as he later admitted I was right and he was wrong on this.

So I understand why it is that many people refuse to support Galloway because of his de facto alliance with racists and reactionaries.

Letter in the Scottish National from anti-racist campaigner Mark Brown

However the by-election in Rochdale is not about Galloway but what he stands for on the one key issue in Britain and indeed the world.  US and British imperialism’s support for the genocide in Gaza. All other issues pale by comparison. The lives of thousands of Palestinians hang in the balance at this moment and Galloway’s disgraceful opportunism over refugees, Brexit and Farage are minor by comparison.

Galloway and only Galloway is able to win this election. If Galloway wins the election it won’t be his previous positions that are highlighted in Britain against the racist imperialists Sunak and Starmer but his position on an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

This is the key dividing line in British politics. It is the most crucial issue that we face today. It would be utter sectarianism for anyone on the left to ignore this. We cannot choose who our representatives are sometimes. Galloway’s victory will be a victory for the Palestinians. What he thinks about Brexit or refugees is frankly irrelevant at this time.

A defeat for Starmer’s candidate, Azhar Ali is now certain now that the Labour Party has withdrawn its support for him, allegedly over his ‘anti-Semitic’ comments about Israel having been forewarned of the October attacks but in reality because of the realisation that he was going to lose.

We need Galloway’s victory to make it crystal clear to that apology for a human being, the robotic Keir Starmer that support for genocide is unacceptable.

GENOCIDE IN GAZA IS THE ONLY ISSUE IN THE ROCHDALE BY-ELECTION

Open Letter to SNP MPs – Why do you join hands with the bigots of the DUP in support of Israel, the world’s most racist state?

SNP MPs sign John Mann's EDM defining support for the Palestinians as 'anti-Semitism'

The SNP's new flag

When I first went youth hostelling in the Scottish Highlands I got talking to a man in my dorm who was wearing a kilt.  I asked him if he was a supporter of the Scottish National Party.  ‘Och no’ he replied.  ‘They’re a bunch of Tartan Tories.’  I mention this because today the SNP tries to give the impression that it is a progressive, left-wing nationalist party, which is opposed to all things Tory.  In 2015 it attacked the Labour Party in the General Election and the execrable Blairite leader of Scottish Labour, Jim Murphy, as ‘red Tories’. 

Angus Robertson, the defeated leader of the SNP in London, was a strong supporter of Israel and the new IHRA

You would therefore expect a party that represents what, in their eyes, is an oppressed nation, the Scottish, to sympathise with and support the Palestinians.  It’s a no brainer.  Just as Sinn Fein, the Irish nationalist party which represents the Catholics of Northern Ireland, have always supported the Palestinians and opposed Zionism. 

Hungary's Admiral Horthy with Hitler.  Horthy presided over the deportation of 437,000 Jews to Auschwitz in 1944.  Viktor Orban, Hungary's Prime Minister a strong supporter of the IHRA and Israel, is leading the campaign to rehabilitate Horthy as a nationalist symbol of Hungary's fascist past

As Ronald Storrs, the first Military Governor of Jerusalem wrote in his autobiography, Orientations, ‘‘A Jewish State will be for England a little, loyal Ulster in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism.’

Alex Salmond managed to combine verbal support for the Palestinians with backing Zionist Apartheid - a consummate bourgeois politician

It is therefore curious that the SNP gives every appearance, apart from the odd photo opportunity, of signing up to support Zionism and the Israeli state one hundred per cent.  In January John Mann MP, a rent a mouth thuggish Blairite who is fiercely hostile to Corbyn put down an Early Day Motion in support of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism. 

Wes Streeting another anti-Corbyn Labour MP who just loves the IHRA definition of 'anti-semitism'

The IHRA definition of anti-Semitism consists of over 420 words and has a deliberately ambiguous and deceptive introduction which relies on 11 ‘examples’ of what anti-Semitism might be.   There is of course a very simple definition drawn up by a Fellow of Oxford University and a Jewish academic, Dr Brian Klug.  It is 21 words, doesn't mention Israel.

‘antisemitism is a form of hostility to Jews as Jews, where Jews are perceived as something other than what they are.’ 

The only problem with Klug's definition is that it doesn't mention Israel!

Another signatory to Mann's EDM is the Chair of Labour Friends of Israel, expenses champion Joan Ryan.  She made it clear at the General Election that she prefers Theresa May to Corbyn

Despite calling itself a ‘non-legal’ definition the IHRA is increasingly being used to shut down anti-Zionist and anti-Israel Apartheid events, to ban speakers and to infringe on free speech.

There are two very excellent analyses of the IHRA and its deficiencies by Hugh Tomlinson QC and by former Court of Appeal Judge Sir Stephen Sedley, who is himself Jewish.  Sedley wrote an article Defining Anti-Semitism in May’s London Review of Books on the IHRA.  It is well worth reading.  Sedley’s opening paragraph sums up our criticisms very well:

Ruth Smeeth the Blairite MP who disrupted the Chakrabarti press conference last year, portraying herself as a victim of 'anti-semitism'

Shorn of philosophical and political refinements, anti-Semitism is hostility towards Jews as Jews. Where it manifests itself in discriminatory acts or inflammatory speech it is generally illegal, lying beyond the bounds of freedom of speech and of action. By contrast, criticism (and equally defence) of Israel or of Zionism is not only generally lawful: it is affirmatively protected by law. Endeavours to conflate the two by characterising everything other than anodyne criticism of Israel as anti-Semitic are not new. What is new is the adoption by the UK government (and the Labour Party) of a definition of anti-Semitism which endorses the conflation

It is therefore bizarre that the SNP, which purports to be a progressive party should be allying itself with the DUP, the most bigoted, racist, homophobic and chauvinist party in the House of Commons.  Of the 59  MPs who signed John Mann’s January 2017 EDM, 10 were from the SNP and 5 from the DUP.  They included Angus Robertson, who sat on the Home Affairs Select Committee which originally endorsed the IHRA last October and Alex Salmond, who has made a career speaking out of both sides of his mouth.

Arlene Foster - the SNP's new Loyalist friend - hates gays, abortion and Catholics but just loves Israel and Zionism

John Mann reissued another EDM on 21^st June in support of the IHRA.  It has already garnered 5 signatures .  Apart from Mann himself and uber Blairite Wes Streeting, there is Jim Shannon of the DUP and Christopher Stephens of the SNP. 

A short sample of Joan Ryan's expenses list

There have been repeated attempts to prosecute Scottish Palestine solidarity activists for the crime of racially aggravated hate.  In April 2010 5 activists were cleared by Sheriff James Scott [Activists who heckled Israeli quartet cleared of racism charge] who said on that occasion:

"If persons on a march designed to protest against and publicise alleged crimes committed by a state and its army are afraid to name that state for fear of being charged with racially aggravated behaviour, that would render worthless their Article 10 rights," he said

In August 2016 an Aberdeen Palestine solidarity supporter, Alister Coutts, was prosecuted for shouting ‘Viva Palestina’.  All the cases so far have led to acquittals but there is another case which is pending.  In Scotland, which has its own legal system, justice is a devolved matter.  It is the SNP who are in essence presiding over this legal witch hunt of Palestine supporters.

It would seem that when you scratch the SNP what you find is the old Tartan Tories.  Perhaps that is why in the last election, Scottish voters decided to vote for the genuine article in 13 constituencies?

Below is an open letter I wrote to the SNP MPs.

Tony Greenstein

John Mann haranguing Ken Livingstone last year for telling the truth that the Nazis supported Zionism up and until they started deporting Jews in 1941

Dear Member of Parliament,

In January 2017, John Mann put down an Early Day Motion in support of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of 'anti-semitism.  Today he is touting for signatures to a new EDM supporting the IHRA. I am asking you, as a Jewish supporter of the Palestinians not to sign it and I hope that Christopher Stephens will withdraw his signature.

Out of the 59 signatures who signed last time around, 10 of them were from the SNP.  Another 5 were from those dedicated opponents of racism, the Democratic Unionist Party.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought that the SNP today considers itself a progressive if not left nationalist party as opposed to the Tartan Tories of old?  Why then are you getting into bed with the bigots of the DUP and Blairite MPs like John Mann, Wes Streeting, Ruth Smeeth, Stephen Twigg, and of course the saintly Keith Vaz?  To say nothing of Joan Ryan, Blairite Chair of Labour Friends of Israel who holds the record for claiming parliamentary expenses and Louise Ellman, the Zionist MP who defended the Israeli military’s incarceration and beating of Palestinian children. 

John Mann is a non-Jewish MP who does very well out of 'anti-Semitism'.  Strangely enough he never raises his voice about any other forms of racism.  Perhaps it’s not as profitable. 

The IHRA definition of 'anti-Semitism' is a mere 420+ words.  It gives 11 examples of 'anti-Semitism', 7 of which relate to Israel, not Jews.  Israel is a state.  You can't be racist against a state.  The fact that a state calls itself Jewish doesn’t make it racist to criticise it anymore than it was racist to criticise Apartheid South Africa which called itself ‘Christian’.

States based on religion disappeared from Europe with the French Revolution over 200 years ago.  In its place the idea of separation of state from religion took root.  Israel is a throwback to medieval times.  As a colonial settler state it is the world’s most racist state. 

There is a very simple definition drawn up by a Fellow of Oxford University and a Jewish academic, Dr Brian Klug.  It is 21 words, doesn't mention Israel and is clear and simple.

‘antisemitism is a form of hostility to Jews as Jews, where Jews are perceived as something other than what they are.’

If you are genuinely opposed to anti-Semitism, the kind that fascists and holocaust deniers propagate, then you will understand that conflating anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism is immensely helpful to those who really do hate Jews, because it enables them to hide behind supporters of the Palestinians and opponents of Israeli Apartheid.  Equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism confuses people as to what anti-Semitism actually is.  It is the ‘boy cried wolf’ syndrome.  Shout ‘anti-Semitism’ everytime Israel is criticised and eventually people will be unable to discern genuine examples of anti-Semitism.

The IHRA is an alliance of 31 governments including the racist governments of Poland and Hungary.  Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban is a strong supporter of both Israel and the IHRA definition. He is also a well known racist.  Today’s Times of Israel contains an article Jewish groups critical of Hungarian praise for Hitler ally.  Orban is currently trying to rehabilitate the war-time leader of Hungary, Admiral Horthy, who not only allied himself with Hitler throughout the war, but presided over the deportation to Auschwitz of some 437,000 Hungarian Jews.

Anti-Semites supporting Zionism is nothing new because both believe that the place of Jews is in Palestine, not the countries where they live.  That is why Orban supports the IHRA.  If you are genuinely opposed to anti-Semitism you will join the University College Union whose Conference has just come out in opposition to the IHRA and Caroline Lucas, who signed Mann’s original EDM.  She has changed her mind and now rejects this bogus definition of anti-Semitism.

Kind regards

Tony Greenstein

See my articles on Comment is Free Stop conflating anti-Zionism and anti-semitism

The seamy side of solidarity

General Election 2017 – 7 Weeks Ago this Blog was alone in predicting a hung parliament - Strong and Stable is no more!

As Labour defies all the pundits Brighton Kemptown is gained with a 10,000 majority

The Pundits predicted the largest Tory majority since 1983 if not before.  Labour’s Right, the Zionists and Progress, did their best to distance themselves from Jeremy Corbyn. 

7 weeks ago when the polls predicted a massive Tory majority I stood out and said Labour could win and that a hung parliament was most likely

five days ago, this blog was alone in suggesting a Labour victory despite the polls showing an increasing Tory majority

 Jeremy Corbyn has surprised the pundits and talking heads with a stunning result.  In Brighton Kemptown where I live and campaign Labour’s Lloyd Russell-Moyle overturned a Tory majority of 690 and achieved an absolutely amazing majority of nearly 10,000.

Results like Canterbury, which Labour hasn’t held since 1918, are even more fantastic.

The interview of the night was with John Woodcock, who had said at the beginning of the election campaign that under no circumstances could he support Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister.  Tonight he was speechless.

Expenses champion Joan Ryan, Labour Friends of Israel Chair, demonstrated that her first loyalty was to Israel not the Labour Party

Less than a week ago, the Blairite Chair of Labour Friends of Israel, Joan Ryan MP, had demonstrated her loyalty to Labour by stating that  Theresa May was guaranteed to win a majority.  Ryan’s only claim to fame in Parliament, apart from backing Apartheid Israel is having won a hard fought campaign in 2007 to claim the most expenses of any MP.  Unfortunately she was the runner up in 2008.   When booted out by her constituents in 2010 she spent time doctoring and deleting any mention of expenses from her Wikipedia entry.

The vilest tabloid campaign rebounded

Vile and viler - the Tory tabloids were so bad that only a complete idiot would be taken in

Peter Kyle, the allegedly Labour MP for Hove was clear throughout his campaign that people should vote for him despite Jeremy Corbyn.

This result is above all a defeat for the Labour Right and Tom Watson et al. It is a major defeat for the Labour Right which pursued a policy of austerity lite.  Liz Kendall, Blair and uncle Tom Cobley believed Labour should cowtow to the ‘aspiring’ middle class.

Peter Kyle, the Progress MP for Hove, was another Israel supporter who tried to stab Jeremy Corbyn in the back

What is remarkable about this victory and it is a victory is that in the wake of the vilest attack by the gutter Tory press, Corbyn came out enhanced.  Why?

There is no doubt that in being bold and radical Corbyn appealed to working class people, not least in the North.  Despite the predictions of the pundits Corbyn appealed to maybe 50% of UKIP voters and in some constituencies even more.  The other major factor was the appeal to young and student voters.  There is no doubt that the youth vote came out overwhelmingly for Corbyn.  The stale and jaundiced campaign of ‘strong and stable’ Theresa May backfired spectacularly.  This night was the revenge of the youth.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle gains Brighton Kemptown with a nearly 10,000 majority

Only this blog predicted, 7 weeks ago that a hung parliament.  I wrote:

‘It was Harold Wilson who said that a week is a long time in politics.  Seven weeks is a political eternity.  Theresa May has taken a gamble that her 21% lead will hold.  It is a gamble that she may yet come to regret.

There is only one direction that her lead can go and that is down.  Once her lead falls then a snowball effect can take over.  What is essential is that Labour marks out the key areas on which it is going to base its appeal.  The danger is that Corbyn is going to continue with his ‘strategy’ of appeasing the Right and appealing to all good men and women.  If so that will be a recipe for disaster.

No election is guaranteed to be without its surprises.  Theresa May is a cautious conservative.  She is literally the product of her background, a conservative vicar’s daughter.  Reactionary, parochial and small-minded, she is a bigot for all seasons.  What doesn’t help is that she is both wooden and unoriginal.  The danger is that Corbyn tries to emulate her.

The key question is whether or not Corbyn can rise to the occasion.  Over the past 18 months his performance has been little short of dire.  There is point in pretending otherwise.  The question is whether he will rise to the occasion as he showed glimpses of doing during the leadership election last summer.’

Five days ago I repeated this message. 

‘It would be a mistake for people to be over confident at the fact that the Tories made major slip-ups over things like the Dementia Tax, taking food of children’s tables etc.  It is clear that the Tories and the Mainstream Media (BBC et al.) are going hell for leather over the question of Corbyn’s devotion to the State, be it Ireland, Terrorism or  Trident.

The essence of what I wrote was correct.   The Tory lead has shrunk.  My fears that Corbyn might backtrack have not come to pass in the economic sphere.  Labour’s manifesto was unexpectedly radical.  But in one particular area, the State and Security, Corbyn has retreated from all the things be has believed in in the past.’

What the Left must not do is to appease or capitulate to the Right.  On the contrary we should be extending what was a radical manifesto to raise things like workers control of industry, diversification of the arms industry into useful production.  On housing we should be even more explicit.  Rent controls, not right to evict tenants on whim.  Indeed the end of private landlordism should be on the agenda.

The other thing that the Corbyn left must do is to capture the Labour Party machine.  Ian McNicol and the apparatchiks must be given their marching orders.  No longer must relics of Blairites tear up the democracy of the Labour Party.  Fake leftists like Anne Black should be removed from the National Executive.  The bogus ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign must be ended.  This idea that we beat ourselves up over a mythical ‘Jewish’ vote (itself an anti-Semitic concept) because Labour must not be seen to oppose the racist, apartheid State of Israel must end.  All the suspensions must also be ended forthwith.  Ken Livingstone, Jackie Walker, Mel Melvin (the Womens Officer of Brighton Kemptown), Riad al Taher and of course myself should be reinstated immediately  and if the representatives of the Israeli state in the Labour Party, the Jeremy Newmarks of the Jewish Labour Movement, don’t like it then they should depart.

What we also saw tonight was the utter failure of the Liberal-Democrats to make any impression despite their position on Brexit.  I would suggest that their failure was not to get traction over Europe but the memory of their broken promises and treachery as part of the coalition with the Tories.  This was symbolised in the defeat of Nick Clegg and the near defeat of Tim Farron, their current leader, who won his own Westmorland seat by only 777 votes.

If the SNP hadn’t make the stupid decision to campaign for a second referendum, ignoring the clear result two years ago, then they would not have suffered the heavy defeat, over 1/3 of their seats in Scotland.  If the SNP hadn’t lost about 10 seats to the Tories, then a Labour government would have been much more likely.

However although Theresa May may be able to cobble together a government with the support of the racist sectarians of the Democratic Unionist Party, a fitting representative of the worst of Northern Ireland politics, her own position is untenable.  Any government that the Tories form will be inherently unstable.  Another General Election is likely within a year.  Theresa May is not likely to last very long.  Jeremy Corbyn’s position is now almost unassailable.  The whole question of Brexit is up for grabs.  Despite the humiliating defeat of the Lib-Dems, a hard Brexit is now dead.

Unfortunately I didn’t put any money on my bets 7 weeks ago.  I left it to the beginning of this week.  However it will provide a good meal out and some spare change!

Tony Greenstein 

A Scottish Scandal – The Sale and Breakup of Carbisdale Castle

The Negligence of Holyrood and the SNP at the Destruction of a Jewel of the Highlands

Carbisdale Castle in all its glory

Me outside Carbisdale with the forests behind me - date unknown

Picture I took of the Railway bridge connecting Invershin station and Culraine - date unknown

A picture I took of the gallery - date unknown

Picture I took of the main entrance to the castle - date unknown

Secondary entrance to castle

The winding path to the castle

 

CESARE LAPINI

This isn't the normal type of political post that I write but it is political.   It is how a wonderful national asset in the Scottish Highlands, which produced an income for the communities around it from the tourists it attracted, was asset stripped by the Scottish Youth Hostel Association whilst the Scottish government looked on, or rather didn't look on.

Pasqualle's Andromeda

I fell in love with the beauty of the Highlands at the age of 14 on a youth hostelling trip.  I went back there repeatedly.  The Highlands are the most beautiful and unspoilt part, not only of Britain, but Europe too.  In particular I was fascinated with Carbisdale Castle, the most unique youth hostel I’ve ever stayed in.  Built for the Duchess of Sutherland by her estranged family by marriage, it is situated in Sutherland and can be seen for miles around.

the lower gallery

I probably stayed there at least 10 times.  It is situated in the most glorious part of the Highlands, on the banks of the Kyle of Sutherland.  It is served by two railway stations, at Culraine and across the bridge at Invershin.  Trains run or used to run about 3 times a day.

It is fair to say that the castle was almost a part of my life as I would hitch-hike from Liverpool and then Brighton to Scotland and and stay without fail in the castle, about 50 miles north of Inverness and about 5 km north of Bonar Bridge.  The last time I stayed in it was with my daughter in 2003.

This year, not having been back to the Highlands for a decade, we decided to rent a cottage a couple of miles north of the castle.   When I inquired about the castle, the owner of the cottage told me that it was a scandal what had happened.  The castle had been closed for about 5 years because of the need for repairs and instead of raising the money, the Scottish Youth Hostel Association had decided to sell the castle off, which they finally managed to do this year for less than a million pounds.  Less than a family home in London.

Jacob's Dream

What was so wonderful about the castle, apart from the grounds and the fabulous interior, was a  gallery in which fabulous marble statues were situated, with gorgeous paintings on the wall.  The vandals of the SYHA sold these off first in order to raise money.  Scotland has its own government which at the time in question was controlled by the Scottish National Party.  What the hell were the SNP doing during this process?  The Scottish government should have used its powers to preserve the castle intact, if necessary passing legislation to this effect.  It should have ensured that the £6 million necessary to repair the castle was forthcoming and a unique and irreplaceable national heritage was preserved for future generations of Scots.  Instead they paid homage to the free market and allowed the vandalism of capitalism to take full effect.  The paintings and sculptures were sold off for double what it was thought they were worth, £1m, more than the castle itself and now some property company has bought it in order to turn it into a private residence for some playboy.

Pasquale Romanelli

For all the talk of red Tories, the SNP are no better than the Red Tories they oppose.  The Labour opposition at Holyrood is of course no better.  It failed to raise the issue and one suspects they knew nothing of it either. 

I post therefore some pictures I took during my stays there and information I gathered from brochures as well as other pictures from amongst other sites Sothebys!

PUTTO READING, IN A LANDSCAPE

A brochure that used to be issued describing the castle can be seen here and the statues and art can be seen here

Below is a video of the surrounding area, which consists of the most beautiful forests and country.

Hotel owner complains about lack of action over Carbisdale Castle closure

Some Features and facts

• The castle has 365 windows, one for each day of the year.
• The clock-tower only has clocks on three sides. The side facing Sutherland does not have a clock.
• There is a secret door below the Great Staircase which could be opened by rotating one of the statues. This mechanism is not in use anymore.
• The castle is said to have several ghosts. It has been investigated by paranormal experts with varying results. The appearances include a lady in white, fallen soldiers of the Battle of Carbisdale and the sounds of a piper. The Ghost of the Castles GardenerThe Hooded Gardener is said to roam the grounds looking for his lost daughter, he often haunts girls that are the same age as his own daughter (15); he has been seen dressed in black with a black hood with only part of his face shown.
• The Castle has a large collection of art with some pieces dating back to the year 1680.
• There are 19 Italian marble statues in the Lower Gallery of amazing beauty, dating back to around 1857.
• Every May, Erskine Stewart's Melville Schools, a private school, had a school trip there. During this time, bagpipes were played at 7 in the morning as an alarm.

Cupid in Repose

Open Letter to SNP Members of Parliament – Don’t Be Fooled by False Accusations of anti-Semitism

John Mann MP, Zionist Chair of Parliament’s ‘anti-Semitism’ Sub-Committee Joins the Signatories

Gary Spedding - the Walter Mitty Character who drafts SNP EDMs

 

Another self-seeking publicist and narcissist -   the Blue Labour MP 'rent a gob' John Mann 

  

Dear Member of Parliament,

I wrote to most of you at the weekend in response to the signing of EDM 652 by predominantly SNP MPs (28/33).  I also enclosed a link to a blog article entitled ‘Zionism in anAnti-Racist Guise - SNP falls for the oldest Zionist trick in the book - AttackPalestinians, Shout ‘anti-Semitism’ 

Being anti-Semitic is no obstacle to being a supporter of Israel and Zionism

I note that it has now garnered an extra 9 signatures -  mainly the more reactionary Labour MPs (John Mann in particular) as well as a stray from Plaid Cymru and the UUP, who clearly thought her friends in the SDLP needed the company of Protestant supremacism.

The EDM, although deceptively worded, clearly has a Zionist pedigree.  My objections, as a longstanding Jewish anti-Zionist, to the motion  were five fold:

John Mann's racist friend - former New Labour MP Phil Woollas who ran an openly racist campaign but was deselected by the High Court

1.             It affirmed that ‘anti-Semitism has no place in campaigns of solidarity with Palestinians’ thereby assuming that it ever has had such a place.

2.             It cites as a reliable source the statistics of the Community Security Trust, an overtly right-wing Zionist organisation, which supplied false information to the Home Office to secure the deportation of Raed Salah, a Palestinian leader in Israel.  The Upper Tribunal threw the case out when it was revealed that this information had been forged.  There is good reason to believe that the anti-Semitic incidents that the CST records are similarly suspect.

Robert Zile MEP, Latvian LNNK - another anti-Semitic friend of Israel - likes to march with the veterans of the Latvian Waffen SS every March

3.             It refers to ‘armed violence’ between Israel and Gaza whereas in reality there was what the noted Israeli author, Ilan Pappe described as ‘incremental genocide’.  2,200 Palestinians were killed, including 551 children, whereas approximately 70 Israelis died of whom 90% were soldiers.

Zionist Federation vice-chair Jonathan Hoffman demonstrates alongside Roberta Moore of the neo-Nazi Jewish Defence League

4.             It calls for members ‘to make clear the distinction between the Jewish community…’ and ends there.  Presumably this illiterate motion means the Jewish community and the actions of Israel.  I agree but it is somewhat unfortunate that the Israeli government repeatedly claims that it acts on behalf of all Jews, inside and outside Israel and that the Zionist Board of Deputies of British Jews goes out of its way to associate the British Jewish community with the actions of Israel.  Is it any surprise that some people take the claims of Zionists seriously?

John Mann MP did his best to stop Jeremy Corbyn MP being elected and used the racist Daily Express - which in the 30s ran a campaign against admitting Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany - to further his campaign

5.             The issue is not ‘anti-Semitism’ but the virulent racism of the Israeli state.  The issuing of a book Torat HeMelech by Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira which advocated killing non-Jewish children and infants, as they would grow up to hate Jews.  The precise argument Himmler gave to senior SS officers in October 1943 as a justification for killing Jewish children.  No prosecution of Shapira ever took place and when he was temporarily detained by Police for one day hundreds of rabbis protested against this.  The examples of Israeli racism, such as barring Arabs from Jewish towns, forbidding the right of Israeli Palestinians to rent ‘Jewish’ homes are numerous.

The Zionist CST sees its job as excluding left-wing Jews from communal meetings

What I didn’t realise was that the EDM had been drawn up, not by the initial signatories to the motion but by a Gary Spedding, who claims to be part of the Palestine solidarity movement but who is widely derided by activists for his self-seeking publicity seeking.   I and others have been bombarded by him with comments for most of this week. 

Smug, reactionary, not very bright but 'concerned' about 'anti-Semitism'

Mr Spedding informed me that ‘Your opinion of me matters very little. My performance is judged on how threatened the Israel advocacy groups feel by the work I do and I can tell you that they're terrified. Absolutely terrified.’

Well he certainly terrifies his few remaining friends and he should terrify you!  He is an extreme example of narcissism.  A Walter Mitty character. 

Spedding, has made it clear that, in his opinion, I ‘choose to remain blind to the anti-semitism that blights our movement.’ I have asked Spedding repeatedly what exactly this blight consists of.  His silence has been deafening.  When there were anti-Semites hanging around the Palestine solidarity movement, Gilad Atzmon and Paul Eisen in particular, it was Jewish anti-Zionists who rooted them out.  Gary Spedding was nowhere to be seen.  In his arrogance, Mr Spedding thinks he knows more about anti-Semitism than Jews who work within the Palestine solidarity movement

I would therefore ask you to remove your signature from this overtly Zionist inspired EDM.  It constitutes a direct attack on Palestine solidarity work in this country.  It serves no purpose whatsoever and it is not surprising that the high priest of false accusations of anti-Semitism, John Mann MP, has become a signatory.  You should also think very carefully before signing anything by Gary Spedding again.  Anti-Semitism is repeatedly used by the Zionist movement and the Israeli government as a weapon against their detractors.  Today it is the European Union for labelling goods made in the West Bank.  Yesterday it was President Obama.  Two weeks ago the Palestinian people were blamed for forcing the holocaust upon Hitler.

This wild use of the term anti-Semitism simply lets the real anti-Semites off the hook.  Like the boy who cried wolf, it immunises people to anti-Semitism when it does occur and drains the term of all meaning.

I hadn’t realised when I wrote to you that one activist had even gone so far as to set up a Spedding Solidarity Movement page!  Please don’t be taken in by this charlatan again. 

Yours sincerely,

Tony Greenstein

It would be unkind not to make a particular mention of John Mann MP, since he too loves publicity - good or bad.

As Chair of the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on 'Anti-Semitism' John Mann MP, despite not being Jewish, considers himself an expert.  The anti-Semitism that concerns him is that which is connected with opposition to Israel - like Boycotts, Sanctions and Disinvestment.

So when the Universities Colleage Union decided to boycott Israeli Universities for their involvement in research for the Israeli military, training its officers and running programmes specifically designed to meet its needs, as well as institutes of security and the like, John Mann MP and the corrupt Dennis MacShane MP swung into action.

When an action for racial discrimination was brought by Anthony Julius of Mishcon de Reya, an ardent Zionist solicitor, against UCU for racial discrimination (the argument being that Zionism is an inherent part of being Jewish and therefore to be anti-Zionist is to be anti-Jewish and therefore racist) John Mann MP was more than willing, with Dennis MacShane, to give evidence.  The  Tribunal case - Fraser v UCU was comprehensively lost and the Tribunal had this to say about the two MPs:

"We did not derive assistance from the two Members of Parliament who appeared before us. Both gave glib evidence, appearing supremely confident of the rightness of their positions. For Dr MacShane, it seemed that all answers lay in the MacPherson Report (the effect of which he appeared to misunderstand). Mr Mann could manage without even that assistance. He told us that the leaders of the Respondents were at fault for the way in which they conducted debates but did not enlighten us as to what they were doing wrong or what they should be doing differently. He did not claim ever to have witnessed any Congress or other UCU meeting. And when it came to anti-Semitism in the context of debate about the Middle East, he announced, “It’s clear to me where the line is …” but unfortunately eschewed the opportunity to locate it for us. Both parliamentarians clearly enjoyed making speeches. Neither seemed at ease with the idea of being required to answer a question not to his liking."