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today I'm in the Parliamentary office of
George Galloway MP who around three
months ago won a surprise election
victory in his constituency of Bradford
West George Galloway thanks very much
for talking to us today now your uh
election your Victory uh was a surprise
to many possibly not to you uh what does
it take to break a monopoly of these
three ruling parties to win an election
in British politics it's uh an Everest
of a a challenge because first of all
the big parties command almost all of
the media attention and the media is the
medium through which most people get
their political ideas and news and
secondly because you usually lack a
critical credibility Factor people are
doubtful that they would be doing other
than throwing their vote Away by voting
for a candidate who may be closer to
their uh cup of tea but uh are unlikely
to win it and therefore the voter is in
a way taking a self-denying ordinance in
the choosing of the MP but if you have
this critical mass
of derision I mean I don't think that's
too strong a word the derision felt in
the country against the three uh
mainstream parties as I often say if a
backside could have three cheeks
these three parties are those three
cheeks the three mainstream parties are
such that you couldn't slip a cigarette
paper between them they all accept that
austerity is the medicine some quibble
about the dosage and the uh the um
timetable of the taking of the medicine
but they all accept that the mass of the
people must pay the price for the crimes
and the mistakes of rich and powerful
people secondly all of them support
Britain's role in going around the world
invading other people's countries
occupying them and expending billions in
some cases hundreds of billions of hard
earned money that the people have
sweated for on uh on weapons and War uh
and so if you can come along and say we
don't believe the ordinary people should
pay the price for this crisis and we
don't believe should be occupying other
people's countries first in the ranks of
those pushing for a new Invasion a new
occupation as Mr heg is doing over Syria
for example at the moment we just reject
that we we our Paradigm is completely
different and it's like in the uh
wonderful film Dead Poet Society when
the teacher invites the children to
stand on the desk and see how different
everything looks once you get people
standing up on those desks they can see
the ACT actually the world looks very
different from up there and do you think
that there's a wider disconnect between
politics and the electorate the people
yes the people hold the mainstream
politicians in contempt uh they know
that the mainstream politicians hundreds
of them many hundreds of them almost all
of them were uh looting the people's
pockets in uh in parliamentary expenses
which was a huge
Scandal uh we have actually systemic
failure in Britain the media is on trial
the bankers are on trial the politicians
have been put on trial and found guilty
long ago
so I who was Untouched by the expenses
Scandal didn't claim any expenses at all
uh and who have a has a track record of
attacking the uh Mogul billionaire Mogul
ownership of the media and is seen as an
anti-political voice in the sense of
being anti- the political system Bingo
we won uh we won the jackpot you've said
in the past that uh Muslims like you
because you protect them from
islamophobia um we recently heard the
director of MI5 say that Al-Qaeda is
using Arab Spring Nations to uh recruit
terrorists and potentially Target
Britain um is there a point to
islamophobia therefore do do people have
uh are there people justified in their
fear of Islam if you like no like any
phobia uh it is irrational uh
exaggerated and paranoid uh but that's
not to say that Islamic extremism does
not exist of course it exists and it
exists in Britain and it gets more and
more uh
oxygen uh as a result of the policies
that the British government follows you
can't make endless war against Muslims
and Muslim countries abroad and expect
to have no resonance here at home
but actually we are the antidote to
islamist extremism because we say to the
young Muslims you are right to be angry
but be angry with others who are not
Muslims in Democratic politics uh so
that you can affect change rather than
blowing yourself and other people up and
in these kind of terrible acts of uh
self ulation that uh we saw on 77 5
years ago here almost uh to the day uh
so uh the truth is Al-Qaeda exists it
was invented by the countries now most
concerned about it it was invented on
the principle bankrupt moral principle
that my enemy's enemy is my friend the
Soviet Union was the enemy of the West
so they gave weapons and money and
credibility to an islamist fanatic
formation and uh they didn't read the
novel Frankenstein to the end if they
had they would have known that when you
make a monster It ultimately breaks free
of your control so they've no one to
blame but themselves for this phenomenon
of islamist extremism it comes out of a
swamp of hatred sown by Western
countries in their policies towards the
Muslim countries therefore the best way
to solve this problem is to drain this
swamp of hatred and bitterness by doing
the reverse of what we did to fill it um
there is a a rise in islamist political
parties there isn't there um
particularly in Arab Spring Nations uh
in the Middle East and North Africa what
challenges do you think that poses for
Syria at the moment well a very large
number of people in Syria whether a
majority or not I don't know uh are
terrified of the prospects of Victory uh
for the uh Syrian
rebels because there's a substantial
Christian population in Syria for
example which has the most honored
position of any Christian group anywhere
in the the Middle East including Israel
by the way uh there are uh minority
Islamic sects which are substantial in
number but a minority in the state as a
whole there are different ethnic groups
Kurdish people for example are terrified
of the victory of a
jihadist extremist Islamic uh Victory so
that's undoubtedly one of the reasons
why the Syrian government is still
holding on in the the teeth of what is a
thoroughgoing and massive International
conspiracy against them not because
they're a dictatorship because the West
likes dictatorships in the Arab world
Saudi Arabia is the grimmest
dictatorship of them all and is the best
friend of the West not because it's a
one family rule because of course all
these Arab dictatorships are one family
Rule and in Saudi Arabia the family is
even given its name to the country even
Kim Jong-il didn't do that uh so it's
not because of of dislike of
dictatorship no it's because the Syrian
regime refuses to follow Western orders
and has always refused to follow Western
orders that's why they want to bring
them down there are mixed signals though
aren't there from Assad he he seems to
suggest that he will step down then he
won't what what do you think will happen
there as far as I know he has no
intention of stepping down uh there are
people who fly kites in the western
media Russia's about to change its
position China's about to change its
position Assad's about to get on a this
is I think largely disinformation but
undoubtedly the Syrian regime has a
massive uh problem it has uh
Democratic uh deficit in its country it
is a dictatorship the era of
dictatorship must be coming to an end in
the Arab world and should come to an end
should have long ago come to an end uh
but uh there are many uh dictatorships
in the Arab world who are not being
targeted by this International
conspiracy indeed are a a vital
component part of the conspiracy Mrs
Clinton declared the friends of
democratic Syria but within 3 days even
she had realized the risibility of that
moniker because its core included Saudi
Arabia and Qatar where there is no
democracy of any kind whatsoever you
mentioned these ethnic groups that are
jostling for position in Syria do you
predict a fullscale slide into Civil War
and if so do you think that Britain will
be gunning to get involved well I think
there already is a civil war in Syria uh
the massacres that are uh taking place
are almost entirely demarcated by
sectarian division uh the uh if you like
the uh dichotomy that exists in the
country is not just between those who
are with the regime or against the
regime though that exists uh but between
different uh ethnic and confessional
groups and that's a powder keg uh if if
ever you wanted to find one that's why I
say to I said last night to a British
foreign office Minister what are you
doing in Syria have you any idea of the
virtual nuclear explosion uh in a
critical area that you are helping to
bring about did you learn nothing from
Afghanistan did you learn nothing from
flying Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan to
fight the Red Army uh this is even more
dangerous because it has of course
Frontier with uh with Israel it's uh on
the shores of the Mediterranean so close
to Europe itself and uh it is part of if
you wanted to draw it that way an arc
involving Iran Iraq with its big Shia
majority uh the Syrian uh government and
the people who support it and of course
the Shiite uh National resistance
movement in Lebanon Hezbollah that's a
very powerful Arc uh with a lot of fire
power and one of the characteristics of
shiism which the foreign office Minister
that I talked to last night appeared
oblivious to was that Shiites are quite
ready to fight to the death and what
role do you think Iran should play in
bringing peace to Syria well Iran is a
critical component in the region as a
whole it's critical in Iraq it could end
in an afternoon the all remaining traces
of Western occupation of Iraq in an
afternoon if they gave the word to do so
and of course you cannot talk about the
future of the region without bringing
Iran into it and Russia and cof Anan are
both correct in saying that Iran is
indispensable in any solution to this
this uh the only possible solution is
the cofan plan which is supported by
everybody in the world except the people
whose plan it ostensibly is the United
Nations is supporting it as the Rope
supports the hanging man the Arab League
the appointed cofan in the first place
is busily supplying weapons to the
rebels to undo it but any sensible
person in the world wants the plan to
succeed and the plan is to by dialogue
and transition in dictatorship in Syria
uh without having to spill an ocean of
blood in order to do it and uh
destabilize the region and therefore the
world George Galloway thank you very
much thank
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you