Harry’s Place

Poor old Lib Dems! Clegg really is leading them into oblivion.

It really is ending with a whimper for RESPECT, isn’t it?

Finally, some sense returns.

I wonder if any of Galloways few remaining supporters would fancy a bet that he won’t stand in the General Election?

Respect is well and truly buried. It is the nature of the British far-left to implode as soon as it senses any success as factions fight for influence - faction-fighting and recruitment appear to be the main preoccupations of such groups, over and above the bread-and-butter issues the proletariat are really interested in. Such coalitions are more than the sum of their parts, something that the SWP and Galloway did not accept. The far-left is doomed to failure.

Having said that, celebrating a council by-election win in a traditionally Labour stronghold shows that Labour party activists are seeking even the smallest crumb of comfort in a what has been, on the whole, a pretty dismal couple of years for them. A few years ago, this by-election would not have warranted a mention.

Given our tiff with Gorgeous George this election would ALWAYS have got a mention here.

Was George out canvassing last night?
No, he was working for Iranian TV instead.

@ Dan: RESPECT & SWP aren’t far left organizations (look, what happened to 6 out of 12 councillors in Tower Hamlets), Galloway never was and the SWP isn’t anymore particularly leftish

It is a significant loss of those who betrayed the British people; loss to who wishes to rotten and destroy our British values; loss to advocators of murder, slaughter and betray; loss to advocators of Hamas and Hezbollah. But we all lost the word Respect from our vocabulary to a degrading and humiliating use of George Galloway.

Mile End voters diss Respect

Its not all about Respect FFS. It was a good win for Labour, who saw off strong Tory campaigning as well.

Rachel was a great candidate and I encountered some of the strongest doorstep support on any canvassing I’ve done in the borough.

David T, over at Newman’s gaffe, you ask I mean, we’ve got John McDonnell. Why would we need another supporter of terrorism and political extremism?

And what about Corbyn? He does the occasional gig for the Iranian Press and Propaganda Department (Satellite TV division) too. And Luke Akehurst seems to suggest that Islington North CLP doesn’t really seem to like him very much. Perhaps he’ll be on the telly more after the next election. Or maybe not - the value of both Gallowsway and Corbyn to the Iranians will be much diminished when they’re not in parliament any more, surely?

Funny you should mention Corbyn,

Check out the authors of this letter in the Guardian today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/nov/21/military-afghanistan

Nazir Ahmed House of Lords, Julie Bowman Military Families Against the War, Louise Christian human rights lawyer, Jeremy Corbyn MP, George Galloway MP, Lindsey German Convener, Stop the War Coalition, Elfyn Llwyd MP Plaid Cymru UK parliamentary group leader, Rachael Massey Military Families Against the War, Andrew Murray Chair, Stop the War Coalition, Michael Rosen poet & broadcaster, Nitin Sawhney musician, Walter Wolfgang Labour CND

Well, what can I say?

Well, what can I say?

Is this actually a Guest Post by Andy Newman? Or just cut and pasted?

Apart from me and David Rosenburg is we the ‘house nigger lefties’ who post on Harry’s Place?

When I lived in Mile End, it was a two-horse race between Labour and the LibDems. Now the LibDem vote has collapsed and the Tories have replaced them - something I would not have thought was possible 10 years ago. It probably has something to do with the gentrification of the area - City workers snapping up the Victorian houses in places like Tredegar Square.

Tredegar Square is not in Mile End East - the northern boundary of the ward is the Mile End Road; Tredegar Square is thus in Bow West ward.

“Tredegar Square is not in Mile End East - the northern boundary of the ward is the Mile End Road; Tredegar Square is thus in Bow West ward.”

I find it hard to believe that anyone south of Mile End Road would vote Conservative. Is Grove Road a new yuppy haven or is the world going mad?

Thanks David, afraid I’ve only just surfaced after some serious partying last night.

Dan - fuck off.
SJM - thanks for all your work yesterday.

47% of the vote is a bloody good result on a cold wet November Thursday.

The Lib Dems never had much support in this neck of the woods. And, it would appear that it’s back to beinbg a Labour stronghold.

I really, really, really wanted Galloway to be at the count last night; just so I could say what he said to me when Oliur Rahman (who was doing stirling work fior Labour syesterday) was elected (as the first directly elected Respect candidate):

“Commiserations comrade”

Oh, and I’ll keep you posted on the Special Branch into the Tory nominations.

Well done LLS.
Morale in the Labour Party seems to be going up startlingly quickly in the last couple of months.

As for Galloway, he couldn’t be at the count as he works for Iranian TV on a Thursday.

Is GG still claiming, through Ovenden etc that he’ll stand in Poplar?

Apart from me and David Rosenburg is we the ‘house nigger lefties’ who post on Harry’s Place?

When you post here, do you feel dirrrrrty?

P.

“Dan - fuck off.”

No.

Can someone tell me if Labour’s win in Mile End has anything to do with their group leader, Luthfur Rahman, being Secretary General of the Islamic Forum Europe, which is linked to the far-right Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and has its headquarters in Mile End Road?

Dan - No. IFE were, as usual, backing Respect.

Dan, no it didn’t.

Labour were the only party to field a white candidate and also the only party to field a female candidate. Given that the other 3 parties fielded banglasdeshi men, 2 of which had close links to the mosque in the area - its hardly likely the IFE thought getting a white woman elected is the best way to get towards an islamic state. I would suggest you don’t know as much as you think you do.

She also beat Lutfur’s candidate during the selection. So even less likely.

“No. IFE were, as usual, backing Respect.”

How strange. IFE’s Secretary General is Labour leader in Tower Hamlets.

“She also beat Lutfur’s candidate during the selection.”

Is the reason why IFE allegedly backed Respect because Lutfur’s candidate didn’t get selected?

“its hardly likely the IFE thought getting a white woman elected is the best way to get towards an islamic state.”

That implies that the IFE is racist and sexist. White women can be Muslims too. So why wouldn’t a white woman be backed by Islamists. After all, Yvonne Ridley is.

Anyway, if it is true that IFE would only support non-white Muslim men, then why on earth did Labour select its Secretary General as the leader of its group on the council?

Interesting to see some of the far left chez Newman trying to blame the result on the poor state of the economy.

Wasn’t the message supposed to be that the Marxists have been proved right all along? If they can’t attract enough support to retain their own seat in one of the most deprived wards in the country in the teeth of a severe recession, they haven’t got a prayer.

Rachael is a Christian (CofE) not a Muslim

“How strange. IFE’s Secretary General is Labour leader in Tower Hamlets.”

1. Is he? Prove it.

2. He won’t be after May.

“Labour has ousted leader Denise Jones for Lutfur Rahman, a man about whom many of his colleagues are wary; mutterings about the influence within the Town Hall of an East London Mosque-based organisation called Islamic Forum Europe have intensified …”
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/content/towerhamlets/advertiser/trialbyjeory/story.aspx?brand=elaonline&category=trialbyjeory&tBrand=ELAOnline&tCategory=trialbyjeory&itemid=WeED22%20May%202008%2019%3A52%3A21%3A393

“Youth groups are also active among Bangladeshi communities, such as the Young Muslim Organisation (YMO), which is affiliated to the Islamic Forum Europe (IFE) - an organisation based in Tower Hamlets with several branches across Britain, including Oldham and Birmingham …
“The East London Mosque – this claims to be the oldest mosque in London going back to the early 1940s. It has maintained close links with the Jamaat i Islami, largely through the Islamic Forum Europe and the Young Muslim Organisation, whose offices are located nearby.”
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/Arts/CRONEM/SOASBangladeshi%20diaspora%20PaperDRAFT-7June2005.pdf

“An article on the website of the Islamic Forum Europe (IFE), an organisation associated with the mosque, urged voters to vote for Galloway; although it said he was “unlikely to establish khalifah in East London”, and he has “passionately (campaigned) for Muslim political prisoners far more than some of our Muslim community elders who are still living in the days of the subservient maharajas in British India.”"
http://www.opendemocracy.net/content/articles/PDF/3715.pdf

IFE’s youth wing aims to “contribute to the global Islamic Movement whose aim is to direct the Islamic process of social change” and “to help liberate individuals from wrong influences, injustices and oppression and prepare them spiritually, physically and intellectually to be part of the forthcoming change based on Islam … Our motto, “Together towards Paradise” can only materialise if we believe with certainty that “Our Struggle Must Go On”.”
http://www.ymouk.org/?page_id=2

If Lutfur Rahman had been a councillor for any other party in Tower Hamlets, let alone led that party, there would be plenty of attacks on him here for is Islamism. And I find it peculiar that the Labour group leader is secretary general of an organisation that has supported Respect and George Galloway. But let’s not question it. Have a go at the Green Party instead.

Sorry, this man is not the Secretary General of IFE. I misread this sentence: “Attended by over 300 people from diverse backgrounds, the seminar featured, amongst others, the Mayor of LBTH Cllr Abus Salik, Imam Abdul Qayyum of The East London Mosque, Rev. Alan Green from Tower Hamlets Interfaith Forum, Dilowar Hussian Khan, Secretary-General of the Islamic Forum of Europe and Council Leader Cllr Luthfur Rahman.” http://www.islamicforumeurope.com/live/ife.php?doc=articleitem&itemId=389

I read it as “Secretary-General of the Islamic Forum of Europe and Council Leader Cllr Luthfur Rahman”, when “Secretary-General of the Islamic Forum of Europe” actually refers to Dilowar Hussian Khan.

Rahman is merely supported by this Jamaat-e-Islami outfit, so that’s OK.

There has always been something rotten about Tower Hamlets politics. It’s got nothing to do with ethnicity or ideology.

Bloody hell Dan, they really need to get someone to proof-read stuff, that really is appalingly misleading. I have no political point to make here.

Please imagine I have also ranted about the use of sentences ending in “respectively”.

See, I give a fuck about an Oxford comma. Fuck Vampire Weekend!

I find it hard to believe that anyone south of Mile End Road would vote Conservative

Well, believe it or not, there are sane, intelligent people south of the Mile End Road.

Well, believe it or not, there are sane, intelligent people south of the Mile End Road.

How would you know?

“Well, believe it or not, there are sane, intelligent people south of the Mile End Road.”

I am sure there are, but it is highly questionable whether Conservative policy would do anything to tackle the poverty and poor housing that plague some of the estates there. In fact, they largely helped create the problems when in government. There are other factors at work. The Conservatives were the first to really attempt to mobilise an election campaign against ethnicity and religion, with the candidacy of Kabir Choudhury in 1997 - the only Tory in the country who was able to increase his party’s vote. I remember outside the East London Mosque, a gang of his supporters greeted John Major’s bus in what threatened to become a riot. They bashed a couple of Labour activists over the head with their banners and called Oona King a “Jewish pig”, “black whore”, etc - all in Bengali, so the media didn’t know what they were shouting. It was the most repulsive display of communalism, akin to the BNP and the National Front.

Communalism is now being used by all parties to corner the vote, aware that this plays well with a certain extreme minority within the Bangladeshi community - and it is a minority, but one with power and influence, emanating from the mosque and linked to the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (a party that cannot secure more than 5% of the vote in Bangladesh itself). East London Mosque is Bethnal Green’s powerhouse and whoever has control there has influence over events in Tower Hamlets. Labour, Respect and the Tories are well aware of this. But this has nothing to do with the Bangladeshi community, religion or ideology. It is about business, about money and about power. That’s why a Respect councillor can make an easy transition to the Tories or Labour.

Thanks for clearing that up Dan, and thanks for the apology.

I witnessed similar behaviour against Oona in 2005. But lets be honest, Labour had always treated the BME vote as communal, other mainstream parties wised up to this, but Respect capitalized on it.

A comparison with the May 2oo6 Council election has been posted by someone who knows the area:

http://grayee.blogspot.com/2008/11/victory-to-labour-at-mile-end-east.html

http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/data/your-council/data/elections/downloads/2006-results/mile-end-east.pdf

My quick look, with no analysis, suggests this result is similar to May 2008, when Shadwell was the only Tower Hamlets ward won by Respect.

What is sad about Bethnal Green and Bow is that Oona King was an excellent constituency MP - dignified in the face of horrendous anti-black and anti-semitic abuse, extremely hard-working, good-humoured and had time for everyone. She was someone that, if you met her, you would instantly like. It was such a shame that she was voted out; and I don’t think she was interested in playing the communalist game, even if the council Labour group did.

Galloway also proved her right by spending more time on his media career than his constituency or even his own party, which he managed to destroy. If he had been championing Bethnal Green as much as he had the Gaza Strip, then I would have had some respect for him. Having said that, I don’t think he would have approved of the racist attacks on Oona.

Well, believe it or not, there are sane, intelligent people south of the Mile End Road.

How would you know?

How would you know that I don’t, Mr Snotty? I dated one of them.

I dated one of them.

Now I really do know that you were making it all up!