our melting pot (and theirs)
as a (actually serious) follow-through to this post, here is what Baer says abt Galloway’s win, concluding “As [James] Forsythe [in the New Republic] goes on to explain, a Galloway win could spark a backlash against Muslims as: ‘It could lead many Britons to conclude that Muslims threaten the country’s liberal political culture.’ Galloway?s win is a loss for us all.” Galloway is a dick among dicks but this is deeply silly (and I think demonstrates how little Baer *does* understand Brit politics): GG received death-threats from anti-democratic militants; the votes he got from Muslims, however alienated from the consensus - not that there IS a consensus on the war in the UK - represent support for the UK’s parliamentary culture. Given that there well-organised alternatives, the fact that these people VOTED is a VOTE FOR VOTING. As a coalition between what Baer vaguely deems the “far far far left”* and “Islamists”, RESPECT represents both a domestication and a compromise, which together entirely draw such anti-parliamentary sting as any of the disparate elements might secretly imagine they can still call on.
*And if Gorgeous G is a Stalinist at heart, the SWP - another major partner in RESPECT - have of course been witheringly anti-Stalinist lo! these 70-odd years…
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