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[music]

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I'm George Galloway, member of

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parliament, anti-war leader, and this

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broadcast is being made by Malaka Media.

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But you could feed back at me on what

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I've got to say on Twitter at George

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Galloway on Facebook. The page is called

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George Galloway MP. I've just come back

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from Tunisia. I was only there a couple

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of days, so I can't claim to have seen

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everything or everybody. But I saw and

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heard and learned enough to know that

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Tunisia is the flower of the Arab

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Revolution, the only flower that has

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grown and is still growing in the Arab

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Spring. The credit for that goes to a

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lot of people. First of all, it goes to

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the Tunisian people as a whole who

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conducted their revolution with

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exemplary discipline and determination.

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It also goes to the political leadership

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of that revolution. I was for many years

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here in London, a comrade of Sheikh

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Rashid Ganushi who was an exile here and

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who had no reason to imagine that he

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would ever go home. But he patiently

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developed an ideological stance here in

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Britain and a strategic sense of the

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need for people like him to unify broad

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forces in their country in order to

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bring about a transformation from

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dictatorship to democracy. I'm very

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proud of my friendship with Sheikh

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Rashid Ganushi. He when he returned led

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his party Ina to a very substantial

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electoral victory. But they gave up

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office when it became clear that things

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were rocky in the garden of the Tunisian

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revolution and that in order to preserve

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unity and stability, a step back by him

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and a na was necessary. And so I take my

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hat off to Sheikh Rashid Ganushi for the

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current situation in Tunisia which is

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just for those who don't know a bustling

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revolutionary society where people can

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speak and assemble freely where a

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proliferation of newspapers, radio

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stations, television stations are

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literally the uh the expression

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of chairman Ma Tong's famous phrase that

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a revolution is one in which a thousand

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flowers must grow and that a thousand

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schools of thought must contend. It

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wasn't entirely lived up to in

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revolutionary China but so far at least

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it is being lived up to in Tunisia.

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There is a political space there, a

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civic society there, a freedom there

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that doesn't exist anywhere else in the

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Arab world with the possible exception

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of Lebanon, which is as always a bit of

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a special case. But I'm not here to talk

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about Lebanon. I'm here to talk about

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Tunisia. [snorts] There are other

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political forces, of course, who have

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played their role. The interim

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president, Marzuki, who is currently one

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of the last two candidates running to be

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the elected president of the republic,

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also must take a lot of the credit. He

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has helped to create this island of

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stability whilst still going through a

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revolutionary process in Tunisia. and

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Sepsi, the one who leads the coalition

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which includes people on the left,

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people amongst nationalist uh uh uh

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schools of thought and I'm sorry to say

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people from the old regime, the old

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dictatorship uh of uh Ben Ali, the

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president who was overthrown in the

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first of the Arab revolutions. Sebi won

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the elections not by a vast amount but

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clearly he leads the leading party in

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the state in the parliament. He could

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have if he was like some other Arab

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leaders he could have said that he was

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going to rule alone. But he has learned

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from Sheikh Rashid Ganushi that leading

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alone unless you have absolutely

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enormous hegimmonic support in a country

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is not going to work. So he has declared

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that he is ready to work with the

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opposition and include them in the

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politics of the state. I have never met

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Marzuki or CSI. I have no personal acts

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to grind against any of them or any

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particular preference for either of

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them. Though I must say that Marzuki's

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views on many things, including Syria,

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are not my own. But nonetheless, I'm

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hoping that Marzuki wins the

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presidential runoff which is taking

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place in just a couple of weeks time.

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I'm hoping that he will win because I

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think that he more authentically

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represents the revolutionary spirit of

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the people of Tunisia. I think that

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Sebi, a figure from the old regime, from

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the old dictatorship, is not really the

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man who can best lead Tunisia into the

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postrevolutionary

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future. There are too many dangers in,

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as we've seen in Egypt, an old regime

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coming back. In Egypt, we have the

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frankly absurd situation since my last

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broadcast that the old dictator Mubarak

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has been cleared of all charges whilst

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the actual president of Egypt, President

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Morsy, is on trial for his life and

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being held in dark and dank conditions.

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I'm not comparing Sebi with the new

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regime in Egypt. I've already said I

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think that Sebi has displayed a deafness

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and a sophistication in his political

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approach that's quite different from

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that which exists elsewhere in the Arab

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world. Nonetheless, I think that a

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figure from the old regime of Ben Ali

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cannot possibly be the best of the two

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candidates running in this election.

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Neither of these two candidates of

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course is an Islamist. Neither of them

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are supporters of Sheikh Rashid Ganushi.

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So this is not about an Islamist versus

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a secularist. They are both secularists.

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They are both people who accept the

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verdict of the Tunisian people and their

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revolution. So I'm aiming this broadcast

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at the many people in Tunisia by the

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grace of God who listen to me. Tunisia

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is the second biggest country in the

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whole world amongst my followers of

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almost 1 million people on social media.

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Tunis is after London the second biggest

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city of my followers on social media.

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And I'm aiming this message at them. I'm

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aing it I'm aiming it at men of the left

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like me. I'm aiming it of supporters of

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the idea of Arab national unity like

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myself. And to them I say that Marzuki

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has to be the better of the two

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candidates. Neither of them is bad.

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Neither of them is overwhelmingly good.

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But you have a choice between candidate

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A and candidate B. And I'm here to say

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to you that if like me you are a

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progressive in politics, if like me you

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are a leftist in politics, if like me

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you support the idea of Arab

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nationalism, then the man best able to

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lead Tunisia in a way which will

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preserve the space not just for those

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schools of thought but respect the other

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schools of thought all of whom must be

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allowed to contend. end. If the goals of

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the Chunisian revolution are to be

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maintained, you should vote for Marzuki.