-Guy Debord, Comments on the Society of the Spectacle.
The flat-out insinuation that one of the leaders of the anti-war movement is a spy will horrify many. It is not, however, as though such a thing is unprecedented - the trade union movement, for instance, has harboured its' fair share of spies, as have most independant activist groups.
But Geoerge Galloway? A man whose integrity cannot be doubted? Well, there are doubts about that. For instance, his role in the scandals around Saddam Hussein's oil has still not been clarified, and his constant threats of libel action, backed by vast amounts of money that he got from somewhere are notorious among critics of the firebrand MP, and this makes it difficult for anyone who can't afford to defend such a case to investigate further.
In addition, Galloway has many of the characteristic features of a high-functioning personality disorder - his quick smile, which is almost like a facial tic, the way he changes his emotional range from very angry to calm and urbane depending on the audience, yet sometimes switching his trademark fury on and off like a light switch (as any fan of his radio talk show will attest).
Galloway is known to fund an extremely expensive lifestyle. Homes in New York and London, expensive cars, first class air travel between the Palestine convoy and other engagemetns and back again, Savile Row suits, Cuban cigars...
In other words, Galloway fits the profile, as they say - he has the sort of personality that would gravitate to treachery, he has expensive tastes and there are indications that he could be a target for blackmail.
His recent rant about T.E. Lawrence is very telling. Lawrence himself was an interesting character and very similar politically to Galloway - he was very pro-Arab and thought that giving the Arabs a large, single country would benefit Britain. The two are not neccesarily mutually exclusive.
In any case, the State often engages in friendly relations with its supposed enemies. The Iran-Contra affair proves that. The Americans and Israelis gave a vast amount of advanced weapons to their sworn enemies in return for cash and the speedy repatriation of American prisoners. Could a similar effort be going on right now, behind the scenes?
Compared to the above act of treachery, Galloway hasn't harmed the British state at all. Quite the reverse - He's channeled Islamic hostility against Britain in the direction of Israel instead.
In fact, anyone who genuinely threatens the State can be crushed like a bug. Look at what happened to Arthur Scargill - they smashed him and his trade union, literally. In fact they had spies right next to him just like in those nasty undemocratic foreign countries we hear so much about.
Galloway and his movement in no way threatens the State, although they do give the appearance of challenging State power, which is all to the good as it gives him credibility with activists and extremists alike - possibly even the reader of this article, whom I imagine to be recoiling in horror at my suggestions.
The results of George Galloways' leadership are certainly undeniable: Galloway's actions and those of his compadres have in fact saved the British State considerable trouble. They have taken a movement that could command a million people onto the streets of London and turned it into a small pressure group whose main target is not USUK's War On Terror or even the war in Iraq, but some country called Israel and people whom they call "Zionists", a racially loaded catch-all term that is used to silence anyone who disagrees with one politically.
What they have done is to make the "Zionists" (or just possibly, the Jews), into scapegoats for the War On Terror. Before this happened the British State were looking at some serious civil disobedience if they went ahead with their attack on Iraq, there's not much chance of that happening now though.
A side benefit of Galloway's scapegoating tactics is to channel the aggression of Islamic Fundamentalists away from British interests and onto Israel. Every pound that's donated to Hamas is not being donated to the Iraq insurgency.
There is another possiblity. It is well known that the West's allegiences change constantly - Saddam was our best friend when he was blowing away the Iranian Shia, I myself distinctly remember being taught in school that the Iraqis were "moderate" compared to the "extremist" Shia Iranians. Perhaps our governments' alliance with Israel is similarly shallow.
It certainly wouldn't surprise me if he was some sort of unofficial diplomat to Hamas, possibly funneling funds to them in exchange for influence or merely for a moratorium on attacks on British soil. We might just find out in thirty years - they'll couch it in terms of Galloway being a "back-channel", of him "influencing moderates" - just as the bare-faced treason of Iran-Contra is described as a deal with "moderates" today.
Of course, this is all just a bit of a laugh and these are all just co-incidences that I bring to amuse you all. Parapolitics shouldn't be taken too seriously.
Comments
Hide the following 14 comments
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06.02.2010 17:07
I certainly hope that's the case, not that you even identified any coincidences really. Because that was just absurd conjecture. I despise Galloway, the character and the politics, but he's just an egoist, and doesn't deserve any more attention than he already has. His bloated self-image does not require any more fueling.
D
never gets busted though
06.02.2010 17:43
How come he's so confident of winning court cases? How come the Select committe "did not examine the bank account of Galloway's former wife or their joint account." when investigating the Oil For Food allegations?
The man has friends in high places, mark my words. And it's not as if he hasn't taken money from other governments - his paper, Asian Voice was funded by Pakistan, he works for Press TV currently... what's the support of one more government - his very own?
Luther Blisset
but what we love him for most of all is....
06.02.2010 18:09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ptFPJ46ZUY
@narchist
A "Muslim" activist group run by English whites ...Hizb-ut-Tahrir and Yvonne : (
06.02.2010 19:01
Then again MI5 are very good at fucking people up, setting and fitting people up, planting "evidence" etc so who knows but the leotard..well.
anon
The article about George Galloway is libel
07.02.2010 10:26
I would sue Indymedia for publishing this stuff which has already been proved to be lies by the High Courts aka the Daily Telegraph attempts at smears and lies.
I never imagined I'd see Daily Telegraph type tactics on Indymedia. Ah well.
Independent? Are your sure?
Respect the truth
"respect the truth", is that you george?
07.02.2010 12:24
george is a self deluded prat
yes yes yes
07.02.2010 12:56
Why not send this article to senator Carl Levine and his buddies in AIPAC, I am sure that they could use it in their next outrageous attack on the freedom of UK parliamentarians to speak their minds.
The usual suspects here; a few dopey old 'narchists' and plod disguised ...
... boring.
Still it is easier than addressing the things he says, which are consistent, factually based and pose a real danger to the hasbara line in whining falsehood.
jackslucid
help
07.02.2010 13:22
help maboab
Respect the truth? We could do with the publicity
07.02.2010 14:17
We could do with the publicity, so please ask George to come and have a go if he thinks he`s hard enough!
George is just another stooge in a long line of stooges for the status quo. . . . get over it!
Ivor Had-Enough.com
jackslucid the rabid antisemite is back....
07.02.2010 15:23
jack is a prat
ahhh!
07.02.2010 15:45
2. Boring meaningless accusations do not advance your cause, opinion or standing - so please carry on.
3. Have you any political point to make, or is it all about your own macho & purer than purer opinion of yourself?
4. Perhaps Mr Galloway - who has a broad political following - has a different way of doing things to you, one based on producing a broad political consensus for effective action. Should he break a few windows and then drink out on his daring exploits instead?
Are you a zionist that you feel the need to accuse all and sundry when they fail to bow grateful to your wisdom[sic]?
whatever ...
jackslucid
hostility to blair outside Chilcot enquiry
07.02.2010 18:03
http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1726/1/
There was no need to channel "islamic hostility" away from Britain to anywhere else because there are enough British people opposed to these wars anyway, who understand what their "Government" is up to.
The speech by Jeremy Corbyn equally has plenty of opposition directed to the MPs who voted for war on 18 March 2003, who "must have know was illegal, must have known was based on a lie".
Brian B
see what I mean?
07.02.2010 18:10
It's become one of those political hot-button insults that's used to silence criticism without anyone having to think very hard, much as the anti-Zionists themselves accuse their critics of using "anti-semitism". In fact the only difference is that the label "zionist" does indeed have some very sinister, racially loaded connotations. The "Zionist" label was used as an acceptable form of racial abuse in Soviet Russia, for instance.
Anyway, essentially the effect of all this is to create a heirarchical, top-down movement with no internal debate, essential if you want a movement of pseudo-dissent that can be easily controlled, so that it doesn't go off the rails and challenge State power. If your views fall outside the parameters set by the people who run the movement you're a "zionist" and therefore persona non grata, you're out.
Never forget that the British State was the main target of protest before these people came along, and now it is not. Instead, "Zionists" are the main internal and extrernal enemy, a fluid, never-exactly- group of people whose only common factor is that they disagree with the approved ideology of blaming Israel and "Zionists" for pretty much everything that's worth protesting against. How very convenient for the British State!
Luther Blisset
No I do not see what you mean?
07.02.2010 19:17
What is the difference if the result is the same?
That poster stated quite clearly and unambiguously that he regarded Mr Galloway as being anti-semitic, homophobic etc ... this is the same line vomited up by zionists who desire to see his uncompromising support for the Palestinians removed from public discourse. Should we ignore this open attack?
No.
And stuff anyone who attempts it.
The issue, as ever, sees some macho twat giving it large on subjects they are woefully inadequate to deal with. Have they organized any meaningful relief for the oppressed of this world? No. Same old same old boring shit. Wake me up when you have something worth debating.
jackslucid