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filistin lebanon libanon hizbullah hezbollah
hisbollah George Galloway (born 16 August
1954) is a British politician noted for his
socialist views, confrontational style, and
rhetorical skill. He is currently the Respect
Member of Parliament (MP) for Bethnal Green
and Bow, and was previously elected as a
Labour Party MP for Glasgow Hillhead and
Glasgow Kelvin.
Galloway is perhaps best known for his
vigorous campaign to overturn economic
sanctions against Iraq, and for his visits to
Saddam Hussein in 1994 and 2002. He was
expelled from the Labour Party in October
2003 when a party body decided that he had
brought the party into disrepute over the
2003 invasion of Iraq, when he called the
Labour government "Tony Blair's lie
machine",[1] and stated that British soldiers
should "refuse to obey illegal orders".[2]
In January 2004, he teamed up with the
Socialist Workers Party, leading members of
the anti-Iraq war movement such as Salma
Yaqoob, and other figures on the British left
such as filmaker Ken Loach and journalist
George Monbiot, to form RESPECT The Unity
Coalition (Respect), a new political party to
the left of Labour. He won his seat in the
2005 general election, the only time Respect
has won a Parliamentary election. In January
2006 he sparked controversy for taking part
in the television series Celebrity Big
Brother.
has a reputation as a fiery left-winger and
advocates redistribution of wealth, greater
spending on welfare benefits, and extensive
nationalisation of large industries. He
opposes Scottish independence and supports
the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Raised
as a Roman Catholic, he left the church for a
time but returned to Christian belief in his
mid-20s, and he is opposed to abortion,
although he supports Respect's pro-choice
stance. However, some critics, like Nick
Cohen, have suggested he is in fact a far
right-winger like Oswald Mosley for lining up
with, as Cohen sees it, Ba'athist and Islamic
fundamentalist regimes hostile to everything
the left stands for.
Galloway is also a prominent critic of
Israel, frequently condemning Israel's
military actions.
In 1994 he voted to support the equalisation
of the age of consent for homosexuality
(which was then 21 years) with that for
heterosexuality at 16 years[1], and then
voted against a reduction of the homosexual
age of consent to 18[2]. He voted in favour
of permitting unmarried and gay couples to
adopt children. [3] Critics have claimed that
his involvement in the leadership of Respect
- which made no explicit mention of gay
rights in its 2005 election manifesto[27] and
accepted donations from certain Islamic,
homophobic sources[28] - raise questions
about commitment to those issues. However,
Respect's 2005 conference which Galloway took
part in, resolved that explicit defence of
equal rights and calls for the end to all
discrimination against lesbians, gay men,
bisexuals and transgender people would be
made in all of its manifestos and principal
election materials. [4]
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