This hero of the left has again revealed himself as fundamentally reactionary. Those with any familiarity with the struggle in Western Sahara know that talk about opposing the "partition of Morocco" is akin to opposing Israeli withdrawal from "Judea and Samaria." But even given Galloway's unseemly alliance with radical Islamism, this makes precious little political sense. His apparent genocide-denial* in the case of Darfur at least has some logic, as Sudan is a fundamentalist regime with anti-imperialist pretensions. Morocco is throughly in the Western camp, a domesticated partner in Washington's War on Terror. On the other hand, King Mohamed VI and the Islamist militants who occupy his torture chambers would probably agree where Western Sahara is concerned... From the Morocco Times Sept. 18:
British MP supports Morocco's territorial integrity
In an interview with the Moroccan weekly La Gazette du Maroc, Galloway underlined that he advocates a “peaceful settlement” to the Sahara issue in order to "open the way for a real large Arab Maghreb.”
“I am for Morocco's position (on the Sahara issue), and I always have been”, he said, stressing he is against “the balkanisation of the Arab region”.
“We should not balkanise the Arab region … I am against the partition of Morocco,” added the British deputy, affirming that “there is no room for small entities”.
*Don't give us a hard time for citing the jingoistic Disturbingly Yellow to back up this claim. Nobody is more frustrated than we are with the lack of any middle ground between reactionary jihadism and reactionary jingoism.
See our last posts on Western Sahara and George Galloway.
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Western Sahara: Galloway on the wrong side again
I really wish I wasn't doing so many posts about George Galloway. But he keeps on saying/doing outrageous stuff - eg. on the veil, and on abortion - and until his footsoldiers notice that the Emperor has no clothes, I'll have to keep pointing out his nakedness.
Morocco occupies the Western Sahara, and has done since invading the territory in 1975. The Saharawi people are campaigning against the occupation, against the widespread human rights abuses and for a legitimate referendum on self-determination. I first heard about this issue thanks to the stirling work of the Fire Brigades Union (link is to a PDF) in publicising it, and at every labour movement conference at which I have seen it raised, the Saharawis' demands have been unanimously endorsed.
But guess what? Yes, George Galloway is on the wrong side of this one, too. He supports Morocco's "territorial integrity", otherwise knows as its occupation of the Western Sahara. To quote: “I am for Morocco's position (on the Sahara issue), and I always have been”.