george

why oh why? as i may have mentioned i am an armchair socialist. i have been to many of the swp (that’s socialist workers party) summer conferences to sit and listen to the various speakers tell me that the crash of capitalism is just around the corner, that the revolution is almost here and that the swp is ready to lead the working class to the promised land. while i have never once thought that "yes this summer will see it the great workers paradise... oh yeah get the barricades ready..." i always come away from them with a feeling that more could and should be done in order to change the world.
(i am the first to admit i am not very good at putting that into practice - hence the reason i am armchair socialist.)
but there is always something about the swp and its members that stop me from becoming active with them. well there are many reasons - firstly there is the incredible amount of doctrinaire stuff that goes on about who said what and to whom and what marx really meant in his early, middle and mature period. while all along ignoring the fact that the world has moved on since then. which means that the radical left is incredibly splintered as people are caught up in arguments about phrases in old books, rather than paying attention to changes around them. rather than uniting to bring about change.
secondly there is their reluctance to answer the basic stuff like who cleans the toilets. yeah i get there will be no exploitation and i am down with that, i get that from each according to his ability to each according to his needs - i cheer the principle. but who cleans the toilets? we can't all be painters, poets and boss. some of us have to do the grunt work. (a pal of mine changes his question to "what about the beer" but this is aimed at the young muslim fundamentalists who come into his shop...)
then there is the stubborn refusal to admit - well when we said last year it was collapsing, ooops we got it wrong.
fourthly there is their tendency
but worst of all is that they have no sense of humour what so ever, not mention that people keeping calling each other comrade - it's the lefts version of mate and just as irritating.

anyway what does all this have to do with the story.
well i am not a fan of george galloway, i am not a fan of respect (who are involved with the swp - and it's not because of the fact that there is a link between, its more to do with the fact that they have changed their name in order to pretend to be something else). and now i have to look forward to them banging on my door in order to get oona king out in the next general election.
so why is george galloway, a scots mp, coming to my area in the east end of london?
his constituency is being done away with for a start.
then there is the fact that oona is seen as being very new labour (and lets be honest most who voted for new labour really wanted tory lite and that is what they got and oona is not stupid enough to think she got voted in because of who she is, she knows her votes mainly came from people who saw labour next to her name).
but perhaps key is that oona is seen as being pro war in iraq and tower hamlets has a large muslim constituency.
so george who has the concerns of the local population on his mind (ok i am being sarcastic) is going to spend the run up to the election harping on about the war but little else. he talks about how he and respect "would "turn the east end of london into a fortress". "
i am not quite sure what that means but it does make me want to get off my arse and see if i can help oona king in the forthcoming elections.

(two more points -
firstly from the story it looks as if galloway accepted his role as prospective mp at a meeting in my favourite coffee shop in brick lane.
secondly respect are not just anti-war they also are for the repeal of anti-union law and the end of privatisation. both noble things - but for me a little light on the policy end of things...... it always comes back to who cleans the toilets...)