Galloway may be Muslim but what he really gives a fuck about is Galloway, as his treatment of Naz Shah in the recent election suggests. He’s a tin-pot demagogue opportunist who became an MP first by using anti-war sentiment to win a protest vote, and then again in a different constituency in a by-election which often tend to favor protest candidates.
He does appear to be virulently anti-Israeli, even blaming his recent electoral curb-stomping by Shah on “Zionists”. Whether this is indicative of wider anti-Semitism I don’t know and frankly I don’t care to dig further into his views to research it - it’s like asking me to taste a bowl of cyanide to see if there’s any arsenic in it.
Galloway also isn’t remotely representative of the “extreme Left”. He has expressed some left-wing views on occasion (including support for SSM, although he didn’t make it part of his platform) and been willing to use leftist groups for his own ends but he’s also been happy to pal around with a variety of tyrants when it served his personal agenda. He’s been roundly criticised by left and right alike, and the number of people willing to claim political kinship with him is exceedingly small.
He fell out of the left wing of the Labour Party into a world where the mainstream of UK socialism wouldn’t follow. He doesn’t represent the left anymore because he has become so obnoxious that they have been forced to repudiate him, but he certainly started in that mileu. The subject of radical leftism’s marriage of convenience with Islam is one that might be worth a real thread and not this bizarre timewarp (Galloway was very hot in anti-war circles in 2004 and that’s about the last time anyone outside of the conservative AM radio bubble thought about Michael Savage, either — why exactly these two people were brought up puzzles me).
I’m not going to argue that Galloway hasn’t gone far down the road to crazyland from earlier less-insane views. However, let’s not conflate “radical leftism’s marriage of convenience with Islam” (whatever the hell that means) and being anti-war; anti-war sentiment was strong across a wide range of demographic groups and Tony Blair is still reviled by many for championing a war few wanted. Also, the British are generally far less hysterical about Muslims than Americans since they’re* far more likely to have met at least one and discovered they’re not all latest ISIS supporters.
Galloway, however, is a master of getting to the front of a crowd and pretending he’s leading them. His win over Oona King had less to do with his own popularity and much more to do with voters pissed off with Blair.
*I suppose I should say “we’re” as I now have dual citizenship.
If it was so easy to just campaign on being pissed off with Blair, then why did he launch anti-Semitic attacks on her (including a literal physical assault on a Jewish funeral during the campaign by Galloway supporters?) There’s no mistaking what Galloway and the type of Muslims who support him are up to.
Because he’s an extreme asshole. But his election was still a great big “fuck you” to Blair.
Yes, it’s terrible when demagogues stir up the political fringes by repeated attacking innocent minorities for no good reason. Thank goodness a candidate like that would never get any support in America.
It is useful to observe that this is not a fact but an assertion by a political opponent and that no muslim attendee from the Muslim assocation has came forward to confirm such an event. This posters wild paranoid imaginations about things islamic aside (with the abject abuse of the qualifier radical without any real meaning) , it is not any way confirmed that the demogogue Galloway made any conversion or has adhered. He also denies the event and does not claim to be muslim.
It is more clear Galloway religion is Galloway ego.
Galloway has openly referred to himself as a Roman Catholic. However, when asked if he is a Muslim, he angrily refuses to answer, saying his religion is no one’s business but God’s.
He also boasts at campaign stops of never drinking alcohol, yells at people on Twitter for talking about pork, changed his position on gay rights to “against,” and is the founder and leader of an Islamist political party. It’s comical that anyone would deny that Galloway is a Muslim or had his political change of heart motivated by a desire to lead an Islamist political movement (or that the sort of extreme Muslim supremacists who comprise 100% of his voting base would ever vote for someone who they didn’t think was a Muslim). If he didn’t convert, he sure did a good job hoodwinking people who care deeply about everyone else’s religious stances into believing that he did.
He does many things and people assert many things about him with limited evidences.
He’s been ardent in support of Sadaam for the political angles, a drinking non practioner and now he has maybe a new method of doing the demogoguery for his thirst for the attention and money…
Respect is an islamist party? - well coming from someone like this poster in the accuracy he displays in rantings…
no it is comical anyone would fall for his blatent self serving.
What his personal religious views are is not evident.
what is very evident is he likes himself very much and likes playing the radical opponent to gain the fame and the money, and changes his stripes all the time for that.
And of course the rabid religious bigots searching for things to complain about and are easy to dupe.
Michael Alan Weiner, aka Michael Savage, is a conservative radio host based in San Francisco, California. He has been on the air since 1994. He is a nationalist whose motto is “borders, language, culture.” He is extremely hostile toward illegal immigration, Islam, communism and internationalism. His style of radio hosting is very angry and hostile, and he is constantly ranting. When he gets callers he doesn’t like, he tears them apart and shuts them down in an extremely rude (and loud) way.
George Galloway is a far-left British politician and radio and TV pundit. He served as the Member of Parliament for Bradford West, UK until 2015, when he lost his seat to opposition. He is the founder of the Respect Party and gives very vocal support to international Islam. He is extremely anti-Israel and believes that Israeli independence in 1948 was illegal land theft. He claims he is not anti-Semitic, just “anti-Zionist.” He supports the communist governments of Cuba and China. He has been the host of shows like Talk Sport (radio) and Comment (television). Much like Michael Savage, Galloway is an angry, ranting host who is rude to his callers if they dare cross him, and he shouts them down in much the same way that Savage does.
The fact that these two are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, yet have such similar personalities and styles of arguing, is the reason I would like to see them debate.