George Galloway

[Barrfields_Largs]

Really struggling to find any logic to Mr. Galloway when it comes to Scottish Independence. He travels the world preaching freedom for numerous other states, yet his "just say naw" tour tells us to vote to be better together.

Ill admit to my pro independence bias, but IMO his stance exists solely to protect his own career. The far left in England is all but dead, and outside of his constituency the only place he has political relevance is north of the border.

Thoughts?

[Tubbs]

I am not sure there is a direct line between the other states he is pro freedom and the position in Scotland. Scots are not under the cosh like perhaps other peoples are, we are free to make our choices and right now have a referendum to cement the position of the people.

[Michael W]

People aren't being killed in conflict over whether or not Scotland should be independent, so I don't it's comparable with the situation in other places of the world.

Having said that, Galloway is nothing but an embarrassment to the No campaign.

[HardyBamboo]

Galloways prime motive for this position is that, he believes or at least says he believes, that Scotland would turn into a Sectarian state where Catholics would be disadvantaged. As we say in Dundee "he's no right".

[throbber]

And now would you like me to be the cat?

[Barrfields_Largs]

Galloways prime motive for this position is that, he believes or at least says he believes, that Scotland would turn into a Sectarian state where Catholics would be disadvantaged. As we say in Dundee "he's no right".

And what evidence does he have of this?

I can understand the argument that Scotland isn't like the other states he supports, but I still can't understand why he thinks its in our best interests to be part of the UK, when he's made a career out of running down the British government.

[PaulIsclosed]

Really struggling to find any logic to Mr. Galloway when it comes to Scottish Independence. He travels the world preaching freedom for numerous other states, yet his "just say naw" tour tells us to vote to be better together.

Ill admit to my pro independence bias, but IMO his stance exists solely to protect his own career. The far left in England is all but dead, and outside of his constituency the only place he has political relevance is north of the border.

Thoughts?

George Galloway is a well known internationalist, for instance his solution to the Israel-Palestine question is a single state. He's also in favour of a Greater Arabia, so I'm not surprised he's against independence.

[Tubbs]

And what evidence does he have of this?

I can understand the argument that Scotland isn't like the other states he supports, but I still can't understand why he thinks its in our best interests to be part of the UK, when he's made a career out of running down the British government.

Well I would imagine his position is that you can be critical of the policies of a state or of the particular government of the day at any one time, without being of the opinion that the state should be dismantled.

[Mark Connolly]

Having said that, Galloway is nothing but an embarrassment

FTFY.

[pandarilla]

I agree with Galloway on quite a few issues but am really bemused by his staunch opposition to independence.

All I can think of is that he seems to me to be more interested in working in England than Scotland - and has been for some time.

I think he likes the bright lights of London but obviously found an issue that appealed to him in the north in relation to Islamophobia.

I didn't expect him to be a supporter of independence - but I certainly didn't expect the level of seethe he has for the Yes campaign. He's like a dog wi a bone. Fortunately he doesn't seem to be making much ground as far as I can see cos the minority of folk that have time for him tend to be persuaded by the opportunity of creating a fairer society through independence.

[~~~]

And what evidence does he have of this?

I can understand the argument that Scotland isn't like the other states he supports, but I still can't understand why he thinks its in our best interests to be part of the UK, when he's made a career out of running down the British government.

None at all, he's talking shite.

I think he is still seething after failing to get elected as an MSP. the guy has became so full of himself these days.

[Enigma]

Yeah the whole protestant state, 'new' Scotland, Scottish kulturkampf stuff seems like real fear tactics. He want's to paint on Scotland of 'us' and 'them', they every Scot who isn't a catholic is a Mason Boyne style character and that independence would result in an "Orange Scotland", which is, quite frankly, utter guff. He's scrambling for relevance up here, to use a P&B phrase, and couldn't win a seat here so he doesn't have a platform, perhaps that's a good thing for BT because he'd probably cause them no end of embarrassment. Credit where it's due though, at least I haven't heard him wheel out the 'proud scot' shtick.

[Barrfields_Largs]

Yeah the whole protestant state, 'new' Scotland, Scottish kulturkampf stuff seems like real fear tactics. He want's to paint on Scotland of 'us' and 'them', they every Scot who isn't a catholic is a Mason Boyne style character and that independence would result in an "Orange Scotland", which is, quite frankly, utter guff. He's scrambling for relevance up here, to use a P&B phrase, and couldn't win a seat here so he doesn't have a platform, perhaps that's a good thing for BT because he'd probably cause them no end of embarrassment. Credit where it's due though, at least I haven't heard him wheel out the 'proud scot' shtick.

He's not a proud scot though, for the reasons you've mentioned. He thinks we're all orange bigots and racists for daring to want to break away from the union. We're all "anti English", which is ironic considering he's been anti-English his entire political career

[Baxter Parp]

 

George Galloway is a well known internationalist, for instance his solution to the Israel-Palestine question is a single state. He's also in favour of a Greater Arabia, so I'm not surprised he's against independence.   

Why did he like Saddam so much then?

[bunkmedal]

Can't say I spend much time listening to Galloway, but there are a fair few of the old school socialist types who are against independence. If you go back to Marxist ideology then nationalism was perceived as being "bourgeois" - the idea being that the ruling classes play up artificial national/ethnic/religious distinctions to keep the workers divided and prevent them from forming a single block of opposition. They believed that workers from across all national borders should put aside their national allegiances and unite on the basis of class interest.

So it's not that surprising if people like Galloway are against independence, although in his case I'm not sure he really has any solid principles beyond feathering his own nest.

[Enigma]

He's not a proud scot though, for the reasons you've mentioned...

Precisely my point. At least he's not attempting to kid on that he is.

[Enigma]

Can't say I spend much time listening to Galloway, but there are a fair few of the old school socialist types who are against independence. If you go back to Marxist ideology then nationalism was perceived as being "bourgeois" - the idea being that the ruling classes play up artificial national/ethnic/religious distinctions to keep the workers divided and prevent them from forming a single block of opposition. They believed that workers from across all national borders should put aside their national allegiances and unite on the basis of class interest.

So it's not that surprising if people like Galloway are against independence, although in his case I'm not sure he really has any solid principles beyond feathering his own nest.

I think there was also the movement against nationalist economics and strict protectionism, tariffs and so forth. Here's an interesting video of Ramsay MacDonald.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zg_UzCzNYM

One wonders whether he would support today's 'Independence in Europe'. His opposition to Scottish nationalism seemingly being that it would create a state not willing to trade freely with it's neighbours.

[Tryfield]

I agree with Galloway on quite a few issues but am really bemused by his staunch opposition to independence.

He's bamboozled The Green Brigade too with that stance.

I'll not ask what issues you and Galloway agree on though. Eugh.

[MassiveFanDan]

[ICTChris]

Really struggling to find any logic to Mr. Galloway when it comes to Scottish Independence. He travels the world preaching freedom for numerous other states, yet his "just say naw" tour tells us to vote to be better together.

Ill admit to my pro independence bias, but IMO his stance exists solely to protect his own career. The far left in England is all but dead, and outside of his constituency the only place he has political relevance is north of the border.

Thoughts?

I think his political background is in the Old Labour unionist camp, that sees class as the defining characteristic as opposed to nationality or nationhood. I remember a Labour member of a similar vintage to Galloway once telling me that the SNP and nationalism was about pulling people apart whereas socialism was about pulling people together. I'm not saying I agree with this but that's what people said and I think Galloway comes from that tradition.

I'd dispute that George Galloway goes around the world preaching freedom. He doesn't seem that keen that Syrians should be free from the Assad dynasty and was notably keen on the Soviet Union, which doesn't exactly suggest a taste for freedom is his defining principle.

Galloway now has based his political career on dog whistling his way to office, which won't work in Scotland. It's rare that I look at Scottish politics and feel my heart swell with patriotism but when he couldn't even get in on the list in Glasgow I must admit a tear came to my eye. Well played weegies, well fucking played.