(Untitled)

[katy_kat]

FAO : Bethnal Green.

He is not a nice man.

I just wanted you to know.

Comments

[trueconfession_]

Hmmmm, not sure I agree with you on this one...

I am not particularly happy that George Galloway the individual has been elected. He may or may not be a nice man. I know I certainly disagree with him on several things, as much as I agree with him on others.

But I'm very happy to be associated with people who voted against the war, against privatisation and for respect and equality. I think it's great that the blairites can't just get away with anything and assume we'll all vote them back in. I'm glad that it's a slap in the face to the government that has brought us the Iraq war, privatisation and tuition fees.

Finally I'm all in favour of parliament being more reflective of the population instead of being full of posh white men - but isn't the point that Oona King failed to represent her constituents by voting in favour of Blair's illegal war? And in fact generally supporting everything Blair put forward? King didn't lose because she was a black woman (she had a massive majority from last time!). So it seems quite reasonable to me that Galloway wanted to talk about the issues such as the war...

Well that's my penny's worth...
see you soonx

[lacuna]

The thing is, Oona King's also Jewish (through her mother, while her father was black). Bethnal Green and Bow has a high proportion of Muslims, so it's not hard to imagine Galloway going in with a message of sympathy for Muslims and creating a subtle distinction between himself and the Jewish woman. It's easy enough to exploit underlying racial tension when you have constituents saying things like "she comes here with her Jewish friends who are killing our people..."

I think she was mistaken in voting for the war and I was very much against it; however, I wonder if it may have escalated in that particular constituency to something more symbolic - her sanctioning of the murder of Muslims more than anything else.

[trueconfession_]

Well I think the only people who’ve brought up King being Jewish are her supporters. From what I’ve seen, Galloway was trying to create a none-too-subtle distinction between himself and her. She’s pro-war, pro-privatisation, pro pretty much anything Blair comes up with. He’s not.

As for the underlying racial tension, am I being too naive in thinking this is not really present? There was an interesting report on the campaign on Channel 4 news last night. One of the interviewees was a young muslim guy who was quite straightforward. He’d had no problem with Oona King until she supported the war, had supported Labour and would have been campaigning for King if it hadn’t been for the war. She had after all been elected in the constituency twice before by the same people.

I’m intrigued by “she comes here with her Jewish friends who are killing our people..." Is this something you saw quoted or are you using an imaginary quote to illustrate your argument? Is it a reference to Israel? Personally I have no truck with anti-Semitism and so would argue strongly with anyone who said this. Although I don’t think being Jewish necessarily makes you a Zionist either.

Anyway Katy -sorry to hijack your LJ with such long posts…

[lacuna]

I’m intrigued by “she comes here with her Jewish friends who are killing our people..." Is this something you saw quoted or are you using an imaginary quote to illustrate your argument?

It was a quote from a young male Muslim resident of the constituency, as reported in a Telegraph article detailing how King had been pelted with eggs while attending a memorial to Jewish war dead. (There was a police presence at the event, in case it attracted some kind of hostility.) I'm pretty sure it's a reference to the Middle East situation. I might imagine that was indicative of at least some tension - some of which may well have emerged after King's vote for the war. As I said, it might have assumed symbolic significance.