HE IS the firebrand Scottish politician who took on the US Senate, fiercely campaigned to overturn economic sanctions against Iraq and fought for the rights of Palestinians in Gaza. But George Galloway's confrontational approach to politics has created a malestrom for him. He stands accused of inflaming anti-British sentiment in Iran after its supreme leader publicly singled out "evil" Britain as the foremost enemy of the Islamic republic. Galloway appeared on Iranian television backing the regime of President Ahmadinejad and blaming the BBC for helping foment unrest in Tehran. Galloway has already been accused of treachery to Britain, and his latest outburst on Iranian TV won't help. Denis MacShane, the former Europe minister and a fellow Scot, once likened Galloway in the House of Commons to William Joyce, alias Lord Haw Haw, the infamous wartime traitor who collaborated with Hitler, broadcast Nazi propaganda and was hanged for treason. Footage of the former Glasgow MP has sprung up across the internet, showing some of Galloway's most inflammatory statements, and has been met with some equally explosive protests and a questioning of his motives. One of the Dundee-born Respect MP's most contentious remarks was that it "may very well be that foreign hands" were behind "some of the activities" in the streets of Tehran where protestors challenged what they saw as rigged elections. At least ten are thought to have lost their lives in the demonstrations over the election which saw President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad get a landslide victory with 63% of votes. Thousands took to the streets despite the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banning protests, and warning of bloodshed, while Iran's Revolutionary Guard and paramilitary-style security forces enforced the bans with water cannon, tear gas, baton charges and live rounds fired into crowds. Galloway's show The Real Deal is broadcast by Tehran-based Press TV, an English-language international television news channel which is funded by the Iranian government. On it, Galloway defended the conduct of the Iranian election, saying George W Bush had "actually stolen" the American presidency, referring to the presidential election of 2000. Galloway accused some of those who opposed Ahmadinejad of being the kind that make a "beeline for the BBC and CNN cameras". The BBC - or as he put it, "the Bush and Blair Corporation" - and the Fox network in the US, provided "opinion masquerading as fact, at length and usually on shaky cam". During a half-hour phone-in show devoted to the Iranian election result, one London-based South African incurred the wrath of Galloway when he questioned how democratic the elections were. He pointed out that the candidates for the election had to be approved by a central body and screened for"absolute obedience" to the country's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Galloway, who earlier this week was found by Ofcom to have breached broadcasting rules over impartiality after he encouraged TalkSport listeners to attend demonstrations against Israel, said: "In the end the opposition was defeated and there was a lot of disappointment about that amongst the Iranians and especially amongst western commentators, and you can work out why. "Why they hate the Islamic republic of Iran, why they hate President Ahmadinejad. "It's not for any bad things he has done or any mistakes ... it's because Iran will not bow the knee to western power. Because Iran will not bow the knee to the Zionist settler state of Israel which is an apartheid state, I remind you. "That's why they hate Ahamdinejad. Ask yourself, you're a South African, you should know better." But his uncritical support for the government has angered the likes of the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation, the British charity set up in 2002 to support Middle Eastern women at risk of honour killings, domestic violence, forced marriages and physical abuse. Its director, Diana Nammi, believes the MP has betrayed his country in support of the Iranian regime. "He lives in a free country and is hurting that country. George Galloway has never lived in Iran. He has never been beaten for criticising the Government. If he could live in Iran for a month then he could say it is a democracy. He has freedom, but I don't think he lives on this Earth. "How is it George Galloway cannot see what is going on? " Nammi says she is shocked by the scenes, which have been appearing on video-sharing sites, of the shooting of protestors in the streets of Iran. In his latest statement on Press TV, Galloway defended his stance, saying: "Press TV is Iranian-owned but that doesn't influence my opinion which is that until there is even a scintilla of evidence that the election was fiddled, we have to accept the verdict of the Iranian people, however much some of us might not like it." Press TV has stated its intention to cover world news differently from western channels and insists that it is not beholden to any commercial or governmental entity, and does not face constraints on its editorial independence.
Monday, 29 June 2009
Galloway stirs up a new storm with TV defence of regime
IRAN: the 'traitor'By Martin Williams
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