Arab socialism (, ''Al-Ishtirākīya Al-‘Arabīya'') is a political ideology based on an amalgamation of Pan-Arabism and socialism. Arab socialism is distinct from the much broader tradition of socialist thought in the Arab world, which predates Arab socialism by as much as fifty years. The first book on socialism in Arabic, ''Al-Ishtirākiyya'' (''The Socialism''), was published in 1913 by the Coptic Egyptian journalist and reformer Salama Musa (1887–1958), and republished from 1962 onwards. The term "Arab socialism" was coined by Michel Aflaq, the principal founder of ba'athism and the Ba'ath Party, in order to distinguish his version of socialist ideology from the internationalist Marxist socialism in Eastern Europe and Eastern Asia, and the social democracy in Western Europe.

Arab socialism represents a political trend in the Arab world. The intellectual and political influence of Arab socialism peaked during the 1950s and 60s, when it constituted the ideological basis of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, of the Arab Nationalist Movement and, to a lesser extent, of the Nasserist movement.

Ideology [link]

For its adherents, Arab socialism was a necessary consequence of the quest for Arab unity and freedom, as only a socialist system of property and development would overcome the social and economic legacy of imperialism and colonialism. At the same time, Arab socialism widely differs from the Eastern Europe and Eastern Asian socialist movements, which were atheist. Unlike their Chinese counterparts, the basis of Arab nationalism is not ostensibly doctrinal, but cultural and spiritual. Thus, the "anti-spiritual" socialism of Eastern Europe and Eastern Asia was considered ill-adapted to the Arab World. As with socialist ideologies across the world, there has historically been a strong internationalist tendency in the Arab socialism; however, it was based primarily on anti-imperialism, and non-alignment, particularly during the Cold War.

Nasserist Arab socialism believes that socialism requires public control over the means of production but claims that public control does not necessarily require nationalization of all means of production nor the abolition of private property but that private property should always be subject to public control.

While Arab socialism in its heyday endorsed much of the economic and social programme of Eastern European-style socialism, its divergent intellectual and spiritual foundations imposed some limits on its revolutionary potential: the ownership of the means of production was to be nationalized, but only within the constraints of traditional values such as private property, and inheritance. So-called primitive social structures, such as feudalism, nomadism, tribalism, religious factionalism, and the oppression of women, were to be overcome, but not at the cost of severing the social ties that constituted the Arab identity.

Arguably, the most notable economic manifestations of Arab socialism were the land reforms in Egypt (1952), Syria (1963), and Iraq (1970), and the nationalization of major industries and the banking systems in those countries. In Egypt and Syria, many of these policies were later reversed to some degree from the 1970s onwards. They were more successful in Iraq, possibly due to the country's oil wealth, until the beginning of the Iran–Iraq War in 1980.

Arab socialism and women [link]

Socialism and socialist parties claim that they can bring the full emancipation of women. In socialist ideology and in its modernization theory there is a need to emancipate women in order to create social equality.

Arab Socialism is different from the classical Marxism and Soviet socialism, and the term 'socialism' has been used as a regime consolidation in Arab Socialism. Rather than an ideological belief, ‘socialism’ was used to describe policies conducted out of nationalist and modernizing concerns in Arab socialism. However, because of its affiliation to socialist and modernist ideologies, Arab socialism had a modernist and egalitarian perspective on gender issues, at least in rhetoric.

For instance, the Iraqi Ba’ath Party changed Iraq’s policies and rhetoric positively towards women in order to change economic, social, and political conditions in Iraq. By encouraging women to join the public sphere, especially in the educational system and labour force, the Ba’ath party made an impact on the change of relations between men and women in Iraq.

The ideology or at least the rhetoric of Arab socialism can be understood from Saddam Hussein's words: ''The complete emancipation of women from the ties which held them back in the past, during the ages of despotism and ignorance, is a basic aim of the Party and the Revolution. Women make up one half of society. Our society will remain backward and in chains unless its women are liberated, enlightened and educated''…(1981).

List of Arab socialists [link]

The following is a list of people who have been seen as adherents of Arab socialism, or have been influential within the Arab socialist school of thought, although some of them may not have used the term, or may even have opposed it. Ba'athists:

Zaki al-Arsuzi

Michel ‘Aflaq

Salah al-Din al-Bitar

Tariq Aziz

Saddam Hussein

Hafez al-Assad

Bashar al-Assad

Nasserites:

Gamal Abdel Nasser

Muammar al-Gaddafi

Algerian Socialists:

Ahmed Ben Bella

Houari Boumediene

Moroccans Socialists:

Mehdi Ben Barka

Palestinian Socialists:

Yasser Arafat

George Habash

Nayef Hawatmeh

Lebanese Socialists:

Assem Qanso

Kamal Jumblat

Walid Jumblatt

Sudanese Socialists

Gaafar Nimeiry

Omar al-Bashir

Syrian Socialists:

Akram al-Hawrani

Yemeni Socialists

Ali Abdullah Saleh

Abdul Rahman al-Iryani

Abdullah as-Sallal

See also [link]

Arab Nationalism, more particularly Arab Nationalist Movement

Ba'ath Party

Islamic socialism

Justicialism

Nasserism

Pan Arabism

References[link]

External links[link]

Nasser and Arab Socialism

Bibliography[link]

Maxime Rodinson, Marxism and the Muslim world, Zed Press, 1979, 229 pages, ISBN 978-0-905762-21-0 (transl. from the French reference book Maxime Rodinson, Marxisme et monde musulman, Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1972, 698 pages)

Category:Socialism Category:Arab nationalism Category:Arab socialism

ar:اشتراكية عربية ast:Socialismu árabe de:Arabischer Sozialismus es:Socialismo árabe fr:Socialisme arabe it:Socialismo arabo he:סוציאליזם ערבי arz:اشتراكيه عربيه nl:Arabisch socialisme ja:アラブ社会主義 pl:Socjalizm arabski ru:Арабский социализм sr:Арапски социјализам fi:Arabisosialismi sv:Arabisk socialism zh:阿拉伯社会主义

Arab people, also known as Arabs (, ''ʿarab''), are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing an important part of Arab identity.

The word "Arab" has had several different, but overlapping, meanings over the centuries (and sometimes even today). In addition to including all Arabized people of the world (with language tending to be the acid test), it has also at times been used exclusively for bedouin (Arab nomads [although a related word, "`a-RAB," with the Arabic letter "alif" in the second syllable, once was sometimes used when this specific meaning was intended] and their now almost entirely settled descendants). It is sometimes used that way colloquially even today in some places. Townspeople once were sometimes called "sons of the Arabs." As in the case of other ethnicities or nations, people identify themselves (or are identified by others) as "Arabs" to varying degrees. This may not be one's primary identity (it tends to compete with country, religion, sect, etc.), and whether it is emphasized may depend upon one's audience.

If the diverse Arab pan-ethnicity is regarded as a single ethnic group, then it constitutes one of the world's largest after Han Chinese.

Etymology[link]

The earliest documented use of the word "Arab" to refer to a people appears in the Monolith Inscription, an Akkadian language record of the 9th century BC Assyrian Conquest of Syria (Arabs had formed part of a coalition of forces opposed to Assyria). Listed among the booty captured by the army of king Shalmaneser III of Assyria in the Battle of Qarqar are 1000 camels of "Gi-in-di-bu'u the ar-ba-a-a" or "[the man] Gindibu belonging to the ''ʕarab''" (''ar-ba-a-a'' being an adjectival nisba of the noun ''ʕarab'').

The most popular Arab account holds that the word 'Arab' came from an eponymous father called Yarab, who was supposedly the first to speak Arabic. Al-Hamdani had another view; he states that Arabs were called GhArab (West in Semitic) by Mesopotamians because Arabs resided to the west of Mesopotamia; the term was then corrupted into Arab. Yet another view is held by Al-Masudi that the word Arabs was initially applied to the Ishmaelites of the "Arabah" valley.

The root of the word has many meanings in Semitic languages including "west/sunset," "desert," "mingle," "merchant," "raven" and are "comprehensible" with all of these having varying degrees of relevance to the emergence of the name. It is also possible that some forms were metathetical from "moving around" (Arabic "traverse"), and hence, it is alleged, "nomadic."

Identity[link]

Arab identity is defined independently of religious identity, and pre-dates the rise of Islam, with historically attested Arab Christian kingdoms and Arab Jewish tribes. Today, however, most Arabs are Muslim, with a minority adhering to other faiths, largely Christianity. Arabs are generally Sunni, Shia, or Ismaili Muslims, but currently, 7.1 percent to 10 percent of Arabs are Arab Christians. This figure does not include Christian ethnic groups such as Assyrians, Syriacs and those designated as Arameans or Phoenicians.

The early Arabs were the tribes of Northern Arabia speaking proto Arabic dialects. Although since early days other people became Arabs through an Arabization process that could mean intermarriage with Arabs, adopting the Arabic language and culture, or both. For example, the Ghassanids and the Lakhmids which originated from Southern Semitic speaking Yemen made a major contribution in the creation of the Arabic language. The same process happened all over the Arab world after the spread of Islam by the mixing of Arabs with several other peoples. The Arab cultures went through a mixing process. Therefore every Arab country has cultural specificities which constitute a cultural mix which also originate in local novelties achieved after the arabization took place. However, all Arab countries do also share a common culture in most Aspects: Arts (music, literature, poetry, calligraphy...), Cultural products (Handicrafts, carpets, henne, bronze carving...), Social behaviour and relations (Hospitality, codes of conduct among friends and family...), Customs and superstitions, Some dishes (Shorba, Mloukhia), Traditional clothing, Architecture...

Muslim but non-Arab people, who are about 80 percent of the world's Muslim population, do not form part of the Arab world, but instead comprise what is the geographically larger, and more diverse, Muslim World.

Arabs have historically been racially classified as white/Caucasian and, since 1997, by the U.S. Census as well.

Arabic, the main unifying feature among Arabs, is a Semitic language originating in Arabia. From there it spread to a variety of distinct peoples across most of West Asia and North Africa, resulting in their acculturation and eventual denomination as Arabs. Arabization, a culturo-linguistic shift, was often, though not always, in conjunction with Islamization, a religious shift.

With the rise of Islam in the 7th century, and as the language of the Qur'an, Arabic became the lingua franca of the Islamic world. (See Anwar G. Chegne, "Arabic: Its Significance and Place in Arab-Muslim Society," Middle East Journal 19 (Autumn 1965), pp. 447–470. It was in this period that Arabic language and culture was widely disseminated with the early Islamic expansion, both through conquest and cultural contact.

Arabic culture and language, however, began a more limited diffusion before the Islamic age, first spreading in West Asia beginning in the 2nd century, as Arab Christians such as the Ghassanids, Lakhmids and Banu Judham began migrating north from Arabia into the Syrian Desert, south western Iraq and the Levant.

In the modern era, defining who is an Arab is done on the grounds of one or more of the following two criteria: Genealogical: someone who can trace his or her ancestry to the tribes of Arabia – the original inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula – and the Syrian Desert. This was the definition used in medieval times, for example by Ibn Khaldun, but has decreased in importance over time, as a portion of those of Arab ancestry lost their links with their ancestors' motherland. In the modern era, however, DNA tests have at times proved reliable in identifying those of Arab genealogical descent. For example, it has been found that the frequency of the "Arab marker" Haplogroup J1 collapses suddenly at the borders of Arabic speaking countries. Linguistic: someone whose first language, and by extension cultural expression, is Arabic, including any of its varieties. This definition covers more than 300 million people. Certain groups that fulfill this criterion reject this definition on the basis of non-Arab ancestry; such an example may be seen in the way that Egyptians identified themselves in the early 20th century.

The relative importance of these factors is estimated differently by different groups and frequently disputed. Some combine aspects of each definition, as done by Palestinian Habib Hassan Touma, who defines an ''Arab'' "in the modern sense of the word", as "one who is a national of an Arab state, has command of the Arabic language, and possesses a fundamental knowledge of Arab tradition, that is, of the manners, customs, and political and social systems of the culture." Most people who consider themselves Arab do so based on the overlap of the political and linguistic definitions. Few people consider themselves Arab based on the political definition without also having Arabic as a first or primary language. Thus Kurds, the Assyrian Christians and Mandeans of Iraq and its surrounds (who primarily speak Mesopotamian Aramaic), Armenians, Shabak, Turcoman, Circassians and Baluch do not identify as Arab, and some Berbers have also rejected the label. Some other ethno-religious minorities within Western Asia and North Africa who do speak Arabic as their primary community language also do not identify with the Arab identity, most notably the Syriac Christian communities such as Maronites of Syria and Lebanon and the Copts of Egypt.

The Arab League, a regional organization of countries intended to encompass the Arab world, defines an Arab as:

The relation of '''' and '''' is complicated further by the notion of "lost Arabs" '''' mentioned in the Qur'an as punished for their disbelief. All contemporary Arabs were considered as descended from two ancestors, Qahtan and Adnan.

Versteegh (1997) is uncertain whether to ascribe this distinction to the memory of a real difference of origin of the two groups, but it is certain that the difference was strongly felt in early Islamic times. Even in Islamic Spain there was enmity between the Qays of the northern and the Kalb of the southern group. The so-called Sabaean or Himyarite language described by Abū Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdānī (died 946) appears to be a special case of language contact between the two groups, an originally north Arabic dialect spoken in the south, and influenced by Old South Arabian.

During the Muslim conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries, the Arabs forged an Arab Empire (under the Rashidun and Umayyads, and later the Abbasids) whose borders touched southern France in the west, China in the east, Asia Minor in the north, and the Sudan in the south. This was one of the largest land empires in history. In much of this area, the Arabs spread Islam and the Arabic culture, Science, and Language (the language of the Qur'an) through conversion and cultural assimilation.

Two references valuable for understanding the political significance of Arab identity: Michael C. Hudson, Arab Politics: The Search for Legitimacy (Yale University Press, 1977), especially Chs. 2 and 3; and Michael N. Barnett, Dialogues in Arab Politics: Negotiations in Regional Order (Columbia University Press, 1998).

Arab population[link]

The table below shows the number of Arab people, including expatriates and some groups that may not be identified as Arabs.

Arab diaspora[link]

The Arab diaspora is a global diaspora distributed across many continents.

According to the International Organization for Migration, there are 13 million first-generation Arab migrants in the world, of which 5.8 reside in Arab countries. Arab expatriates contribute to the circulation of financial and human capital in the region and thus significantly promote regional development. In 2009 Arab countries received a total of 35.1 billion USD in remittance in-flows and remittances sent to Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon from other Arab countries are 40 to 190 per cent higher than trade revenues between these and other Arab countries.

Central Asia and Caucasus

In 1728, a Russian officer described a group of Sunni Arab nomads who populated the Caspian shores of Mughan (in present-day Azerbaijan) and spoke a mixed Turkic-Arabic language. It is believed that these groups migrated to the Caucasus in the 16th century. The 1888 edition of Encyclopædia Britannica also mentioned a certain number of Arabs populating the Baku Governorate of the Russian Empire. They retained an Arabic dialect at least into the mid-19th century, but since then have fully assimilated with the neighbouring Azeris and Tats. Today in Azerbaijan alone, there are nearly 30 settlements still holding the name ''Arab'' (for example, Arabgadim, Arabojaghy, Arab-Yengija, etc.).

From the time of the Arab conquest of the Caucasus, continuous small-scale Arab migration from various parts of the Arab world was observed in Dagestan influencing and shaping the culture of the local peoples. Up until the mid-20th century, there were still individuals in Dagestan who claimed Arabic to be their native language, with the majority of them living in the village of Darvag to the north-west of Derbent. The latest of these accounts dates to the 1930s. Most Arab communities in southern Dagestan underwent linguistic Turkicisation, thus nowadays Darvag is a majority-Azeri village.

According to the ''History of Ibn Khaldun'', the Arabs that were once in Central Asia have been either killed or have fled the Tatar invasion of the region, leaving only the locals . However, today many people in Central Asia identify as Arabs. Most Arabs of Central Asia are fully integrated into local populations, and sometimes call themselves the same as locals (for example, Tajiks, Uzbeks) but they use special titles to show their Arabic origin such as Sayyid, Khoja or Siddiqui.

Iranian Arab communities are also found in Khuzestan Province.

South Asia

There are only two communities with the self-identity Arab in South Asia, the Chaush of the Deccan region and the Chavuse of Gujerat, who are by and large descended of Hadhrami migrants who settled in these two regions in the 18th Centuries. However, both these communities no longer speak Arabic, although with the Chaush, there has been re-immigration to the Gulf States, and re-adoption of Arabic by these immigrants. In South Asia, claiming Arab ancestry is considered prestigious, and many communities have origin myths with claim to an Arab ancestry. Examples include the Mappilla of Karela, Labbai of Tamil Nadu and Kokan of Maharashtra. These communities all allege an Arab ancestry, but none speak Arabic and follow the customs and traditions of the Hindu majority. Among Muslims of North India and Pakistan, there are groups who claim the status of Sayyid, have origin myths that allege descent from the Prophet Mohammmad. None of these Sayyid families speak Arabic or follow Arab customs or traditions.

History[link]

Pre-Islamic[link]

Semitic origin[link]

There is a consensus that the Semitic peoples originated from Arabian peninsula, deriving the entire population of Mesopotamia from population movements out of ''Jazirat al-Arab'' ("island of the Arabs") – an area between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, with Hadramawt its southern perimeter, extending northward up to the area just east of the Dead Sea (Jordan). It should be pointed out that these settlers were not Arabs or Arabic speakers. Early non Arab Semitic peoples from the Ancient Near East, such as the Arameans, Akkadians (Assyrians and Babylonians), Amorites, Israelites, Eblaites, Ugarites and Canaanites, built civilizations in Mesopotamia and the Levant; genetically, they often interlapped and mixed. Slowly, however, they lost their political domination of the Near East due to internal turmoil and attacks by non-Semitic peoples. Although the Semites eventually lost political control of Western Asia to the Persian Empire, the Aramaic language remained the lingua franca of Assyria, Mesopotamia and the Levant. Aramaic itself was replaced by Greek as Western Asia's prestige language following the conquest of Alexander III of Macedon, though it survives to this day among Assyrian (aka Chaldo-Assyrian) Christians and Mandeans in Iraq, northeast Syria, southeast Turkey and northwest Iran.

Early history[link]

The first written attestation of the ethnonym "Arab" occurs in an Assyrian inscription of 853 BCE, where Shalmaneser III lists a King Gindibu of ''mâtu arbâi'' (Arab land) as among the people he defeated at the Battle of Karkar. Some of the names given in these texts are Aramaic, while others are the first attestations of Ancient North Arabian dialects. In fact several different ethnonyms are found in Assyrian texts that are conventionally translated "Arab": ''Arabi, Arubu, Aribi'' and ''Urbi''. Many of the Qedarite queens were also described as queens of the ''aribi''. The Hebrew Bible occasionally refers to ''Aravi'' peoples (or variants thereof), translated as "Arab" or "Arabian." The scope of the term at that early stage is unclear, but it seems to have referred to various desert-dwelling Semitic tribes in the Syrian Desert and Arabia. Arab tribes came into conflict with the Assyrians during the reign of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, and he records military victories against the powerful Qedar tribe among others.

Medieval Arab genealogists divided Arabs into three groups:

"Ancient Arabs", tribes that had vanished or been destroyed, such as ʿĀd and Thamud, often mentioned in the Qur'an as examples of God's power to destroy those who did not believe and follow their prophets and messengers.

"Pure Arabs" of South Arabia, descending from Qahtan. The Qahtanites (Qahtanis) are said to have migrated from the land of Yemen following the destruction of the Ma'rib Dam (''sadd Ma'rib'').

The "Arabized Arabs" (''musta`ribah'') of center and North Arabia, descending from Ishmael, the elder son of Abraham. The Book of Genesis narrates that God promised Hagar to beget from Ishmael twelve princes and turn him to a great nation.⁽⁾ The Book of Jubilees, in the other hand, claims that the sons of Ishmael intermingled with the 6 sons of Keturah, from Abraham, and their descendants were called Arabs and Ishmaelites:

Book of Jubilees 20:13 ''And Ishmael and his sons, and the sons of Keturah and their sons, went together and dwelt from Paran to the entering in of Babylon in all the land which is towards the East facing the desert. And these mingled with each other, and their name was called Arabs, and Ishmaelites.''

Ibn Khaldun's ''Muqaddima'' distinguishes between sedentary Muslims who used to be nomadic Arabs and the Bedouin nomadic Arabs of the desert. He used the term "formerly-nomadic" Arabs and refers to sedentary Muslims by the region or city they lived in, as in Egyptians, Spaniards and Yemenis. The Christians of Italy and the Crusaders preferred the term Saracens for all the Arabs and Muslims of that time. The Christians of Iberia used the term Moor to describe all the Arabs and Muslims of that time. Muslims of Medina referred to the nomadic tribes of the deserts as the A'raab, and considered themselves sedentary, but were aware of their close racial bonds. The term "A'raab' mirrors the term Assyrians used to describe the closely related nomads they defeated in Syria.

The Qur'an does not use the word '''', only the nisba adjective ''''. The Qur'an calls itself '''', "Arabic", and '''', "clear". The two qualities are connected for example in ayat 43.2–3, "By the ''clear'' Book: We have made it an ''Arabic'' recitation in order that you may understand". The Qur'an became regarded as the prime example of the '''', the language of the Arabs. The term '''' has the same root and refers to a particularly clear and correct mode of speech. The plural noun '''' refers to the Bedouin tribes of the desert who resisted Muhammad, for example in ayat 9.97, '''' "the Bedouin are the worst in disbelief and hypocrisy".

Based on this, in early Islamic terminology, '''' referred to the language, and '''' to the Arab Bedouins, carrying a negative connotation due to the Qur'anic verdict just cited. But after the Islamic conquest of the 8th century, the language of the nomadic Arabs became regarded as the most pure by the grammarians following Abi Ishaq, and the term , "language of the Arabs", denoted the uncontaminated language of the Bedouins.

Classical kingdoms[link]

Proto-Arabic, or Ancient North Arabian, texts give a clearer picture of the Arabs' emergence. The earliest are written in variants of epigraphic south Arabian ''musnad'' script, including the 8th century BCE Hasaean inscriptions of eastern Saudi Arabia, the 6th century BCE Lihyanite texts of southeastern Saudi Arabia and the Thamudic texts found throughout Arabia and the Sinai (not in reality connected with Thamud).

The Nabataeans were nomadic newcomers who moved into territory vacated by the Edomites – Semites who settled the region centuries before them. Their early inscriptions were in Aramaic, but gradually switched to Arabic, and since they had writing, it was they who made the first inscriptions in Arabic. The Nabataean Alphabet was adopted by Arabs to the south, and evolved into modern Arabic script around the 4th century. This is attested by Safaitic inscriptions (beginning in the 1st century BCE) and the many Arabic personal names in Nabataean inscriptions. From about the 2nd century BCE, a few inscriptions from Qaryat al-Faw (near Sulayyil) reveal a dialect which is no longer considered "proto-Arabic", but pre-classical Arabic. Five Syriac inscriptions mentioning Arabs have been found at Sumatar Harabesi, one of which has been dated to the 2nd century CE.

Late kingdoms[link]

The Ghassanids, Lakhmids and Kindites were the last major migration of non-Muslims out of Yemen to the north.

The Ghassanids increased the Semitic presence in the then Hellenized Syria, the majority of Semites were Aramaic peoples. They mainly settled in the Hauran region and spread to modern Lebanon, Palestine and East Jordan.

Greeks and Romans referred to all the nomadic population of the desert in the Near East as Arabi. The Romans called Yemen "Arabia Felix". The Romans called the vassal nomadic states within the Roman Empire "Arabia Petraea" after the city of Petra, and called unconquered deserts bordering the empire to the south and east Arabia Magna. The Lakhmids as a dynasty inherited their power from the Tanukhids, the mid Tigris region around their capital Al-Hira they ended up allying with the Sassanid against the Ghassanids and the Byzantine Empire. The Lakhmids contested control of the Central Arabian tribes with the Kindites with the Lakhmids eventually destroying Kinda in 540 after the fall of their main ally Himyar. The Persians Sassanids dissolved the Lakhmid dynasty in 602, being under puppet kings, then under their direct control.

The Kindites migrated from Yemen along with the Ghassanids and Lakhmids, but were turned back in Bahrain by the Abdul Qais Rabi'a tribe. They returned to Yemen and allied themselves with the Himyarites who installed them as a vassal kingdom that ruled Central Arbia from "Qaryah Dhat Kahl" (the present-day called Qaryat al-Faw) in Central Arabia. They ruled much of the Northern/Central Arabian peninsula, till they were destroyed by the Lakhmid king Al-Mundhir, and his son 'Amr

Islamic[link]

Arab Caliphate[link]

Rashidun Era (632-661) After the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632, Rashidun armies launched campaigns of conquest, establishing the Caliphate, or Islamic Empire, one of the largest empires in history. It was larger and lasted longer than the previous Arab empires of Queen Mawia or the Palmyrene Empire which was predominantly Syriac rather than Arab. The Rashidun state was a completely new state and not a mere imitation of the earlier Arab kingdoms such as the Himyarite, Lakhmids or Ghassanids, although it benefited greatly from their art, administration and architecture.

Umayyad Era (661-750) In 661 Caliphate turned to the hands of the Umayyad dynasty, Damascus was established as the Muslim capital. They were proud of their Arab ancestry and sponsored the poetry and culture of pre-Islamic Arabia. They established garrison towns at Ramla, ar-Raqqah, Basra, Kufa, Mosul and Samarra, all of which developed into major cities.

Caliph Abd al-Malik established Arabic as the Caliphate's official language in 686. This reform greatly influenced the conquered non-Arab peoples and fueled the Arabization of the region. However, the Arabs' higher status among non-Arab Muslim converts and the latter's obligation to pay heavy taxes caused resentment. Caliph Umar II strove to resolve the conflict when he came to power in 717. He rectified the situation, demanding that all Muslims be treated as equals, but his intended reforms did not take effect as he died after only three years of rule. By now, discontent with the Umayyads swept the region and an uprising occurred in which the Abbasids came to power and moved the capital to Baghdad.

Umayyads expanded their Empire westwards capturing North Africa from the Byzantines. Prior to the Arab conquest, North Africa was inhibited by various people including Punics, Vandals and Greeks. It was not until the 11th century that the Maghreb saw a large influx of ethnic Arabs. Starting with the 11th century, the Arab bedouin Banu Hilal tribes migrated to the West. Having been sent by the Fatimids to punish the Berber Zirids for abandoning Shiism, they travelled westwards. The Banu Hilal quickly defeated the Zirids and deeply weakened the neighboring Hammadids. Their influx was a major factor in the Arabization of the Maghreb, Although Berbers would rule the region until the 16th century (under such powerful dynasties as the Almoravids, the Almohads, Hafsids, etc.), the arrival of these tribes would eventually help to Arabize much of it ethnically in addition to the linguistic and political impact on the none-Arabs there. With the collapse of the Umayyad state in 1031 AD, Islamic Spain was divided into small kingdoms.

Abbassid Era (750-1513)

Abbasids let a revolt against the Umayyads and defeated them in the Battle of the Zab effectively ending their rule in all part of the Empire except Al-Andalus. The Abbasids descendants of Muhammad's uncle Abbas, but unlike the Ummayads, they had the support of non-Arab subjects of the Umayyads. where Umayyads treated non-Arabs in contempt. Abbasids ruled for 200 years before they lost their central control when Wilayas began to fracture, afterwards in the 1190s there was a revival for their power which was put to end by the Mongols who conquered Baghdad and killed the Caliph, members of the Abbasid royal family escaped the massacre and resorted to Cairo, which fractured from the Abbasid rule two years earlier, the Mamluk generals were taking the political side of the kingdom while Abbasid Caliphs were engaged in civil activities and continued patronizing science, arts and literature.

Fractured Entities:

Fatimids

Ayyubid dynasty

Ottoman Caliphate[link]

Arabs were ruled by Ottoman sultans from 1513 to 1918. Ottomans defeated the Mamluk Sultanate in Cairo, and ended the Abbasid Caliphate when they choose to bear the title of Caliph. Arabs did not feel the change of administration because Ottomans modeled their rule after the previous Arab administration systems. After World War I when the Ottoman Empire was overthrown by the British Empire, former Ottoman colonies were divided up between the British and French as Mandates.

Modern[link]

Arabs in modern times live in the Arab world, which comprises 22 countries. They are all modern states and became significant as distinct political entities after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

Religion[link]

Arab Muslims are generally Sunni or Shia, one exception being the Ibadis, who predominate in Oman and can be found as small minorities in Algeria and Libya (mostly Berbers). Arab Christians generally follow Eastern Churches such as the Coptic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches and the Maronite church and others. In Iraq most Christians are Assyrians rather than Arabs, and follow the Assyrian Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox and Chaldean Church. The Greek Catholic churches and Maronite church are under the Pope of Rome, and a part of the larger worldwide Catholic Church. There are also Arab communities consisting of Druze and Baha'is.

Before the coming of Islam, most Arabs followed a pagan religion with a number of deities, including Hubal, Wadd, Allāt, Manat, and Uzza. A few individuals, the ''hanifs'', had apparently rejected polytheism in favor of monotheism unaffiliated with any particular religion. Some tribes had converted to Christianity or Judaism. The most prominent Arab Christian kingdoms were the Ghassanid and Lakhmid kingdoms. When the Himyarite king converted to Judaism in the late 4th century, the elites of the other prominent Arab kingdom, the Kindites, being Himyirite vassals, apparently also converted (at least partly). With the expansion of Islam, polytheistic Arabs were rapidly Islamized, and polytheistic traditions gradually disappeared.

Today, Sunni Islam dominates in most areas, overwhelmingly so in North Africa. Shia Islam is dominant in southern Iraq and Lebanon. Substantial Shi'a populations exist in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, northern Syria, the al-Batinah region in Oman, and in northern Yemen. The Druze community, concentrated in Lebanon, Israel, and Syria. Many Druze claim independence from other major religions in the area and consider their religion more of a philosophy. Their books of worship are called Kitab Al Hikma (Epistles of Wisdom). They believe in reincarnation and pray to five messengers from God.

Christians make up 5.5% of the population of the Near East. In Lebanon they number about 39% of the population. In Syria, Christians make up 16% of the population. In British Palestine estimates ranged as high as 25%, but is now 3.8% due largely to the 1948 Palestinian exodus or Nakba. In West Bank and in Gaza, Arab Christians make up 8% and 0.8% of the populations, respectively. In Iraq, Christians constitute today up 3%, the number dropped from 5% after Iraq war, few of these are Arabs. In Israel, Arab Christians constitute 2.1% (roughly 9% of the Arab population). Arab Christians make up 6% of the population of Jordan. Most North and South American Arabs are Christian, as are about half of Arabs in Australia who come particularly from Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinian territories. One well known member of this religious and ethnic community is Saint Abo, martyr and the patron saint of Tbilisi, Georgia.

Jews from Arab countries – mainly Mizrahi Jews and Yemenite Jews – are today usually not categorised as Arab. Sociologist Philip Mendes asserts that before the anti-Jewish actions of the 1930s and 1940s, overall Iraqi Jews "viewed themselves as Arabs of the Jewish faith, rather than as a separate race or nationality". Also, prior to the massive Sephardic emigrations to the Middle East in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Jewish communities of what are today Syria, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt and Yemen were known by other Jewish communities as Musta'arabi Jews or "like Arabs". Prior to the emergence of the term ''Mizrahi'', the term "Arab Jews" was sometimes used to describe Jews of the Arab world. The term is rarely used today. The few remaining Jews in the Arab countries reside mostly in Morocco and Tunisia. From the late 1940s to the early 1960s, following the creation of the state of Israel, most of these Jews fled their countries of birth and are now mostly concentrated in Israel. Some immigrated to France, where they formed a large Jewish community, that outnumbered Jews in the United States, but relatively small compared to European Jews. See Jewish exodus from Arab lands.

Urbanization[link]

Dozens of large cities and hundreds of towns reflect pronounced urban character of the Arab world; in most of the countries about 70 percent of people are urban dwellers.

Science[link]

The Islamic Golden Age was inaugurated by the middle of the 8th century by the ascension of the Abbasid Caliphate and the transfer of the capital from Damascus to the newly founded city Baghdad. The Abbassids were influenced by the Qur'anic injunctions and hadith such as "The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of martyrs" stressing the value of knowledge. During this period the Muslim world became an intellectual centre for science, philosophy, medicine and education as the Abbasids championed the cause of knowledge and established the "House of Wisdom" (Arabic: بيت الحكمة) in Baghdad. Rival Muslim dynasties such as the Fatimids of Egypt and the Umayyads of al-Andalus were also major intellectual centres with cities such as Cairo and Córdoba rivaling Baghdad.

Culture[link]

Arab culture is a term that draws together the common themes and overtones found in the Arab countries, especially those of the Middle-Eastern countries. This region's distinct religion, art, and food are some of the fundamental features that define Arab culture.

Art[link]

Arabic Art includes a wide range or artistic components, it can be Arabic miniature, calligraphy or Arabesque.

Architecture[link]

Arab Architecture has a deep diverse history, it dates to the dawn of the history in pre-Islamic Arabia. Each of it phases largely an extension of the earlier phase, it left also heavy impact on the architecture of other nations.

Music[link]

Arabic music is the music of Arab people or countries, especially those centered on the Arabian Peninsula. The world of Arab music has long been dominated by Cairo, a cultural center, though musical innovation and regional styles abound from Morocco to Saudi Arabia. Beirut has, in recent years, also become a major center of Arabic music. Classical Arab music is extremely popular across the population, especially a small number of superstars known throughout the Arab world. Regional styles of popular music include Algerian raï, Moroccan gnawa, Kuwaiti sawt, Egyptian el gil and Arabesque-pop music in Turkey.

Literature[link]

Arabic literature spans for over two millennium, it has three phases, the pre-Islamic, Islamic and modern. Arabic literature had contributions by thousands of figures, many of them are not only poets but are celebrates in other fields such as politicians, scientists and scholars among others.

References[link]

;Notes ;Bibliography

Touma, Habib Hassan. ''The Music of the Arabs''. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus P, 1996. ISBN 0-931340-88-8.

Lipinski, Edward. ''Semitic Languages: Outlines of a Comparative Grammar'', 2nd ed., Orientalia Lovanensia Analecta: Leuven 2001

Kees Versteegh, ''The Arabic Language'', Edinburgh University Press (1997)

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Robert Appleton Company, 1907, Online Edition, K. Night 2003: article Arabia

History of Arabic language(1894), Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

The Arabic language, National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education web page (2006)

Hooker, Richard. "Pre-Islamic Arabic Culture." WSU Web Site. 6 June 1999. Washington State University.

Owen, Roger. "State Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East 3rd Ed" Page 57 ISBN 0-415-29714-1

External links[link]

Arab League (Arabic)

Category:Arab Category:Ethnic groups in Asia Category:Ethnic groups in Africa Category:Ethnic groups in the Middle East Category:Muslim communities Category:Ethnic groups in the Arab League Category:Semitic peoples Category:Ancient peoples

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name	George Galloway
honorific-suffix	MP
birth date	August 16, 1954
birth place	Dundee
residence	London
office2	Member of Parliament for Bradford West
majority2	10,140 (16.7%)
term start2	29 March 2012
predecessor2	Marsha Singh
office3	Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow
term start3	5 May 2005
term end3	6 May 2010
predecessor3	Oona King
successor3	Rushanara Ali
majority3	823 (1.9%)
office4	Member of Parliament for Glasgow Kelvin
term start4	1 May 1997
term end4	5 May 2005
predecessor4	Constituency created
successor4	Constituency abolished
majority4	7,260 (27.1%)
Office5	Member of Parliament for Glasgow Hillhead
term start5	11 June 1987
term end5	1 May 1997
predecessor5	Roy Jenkins
successor5	Constituency abolished
majority5	4,826 (12.3%)
party	Respect (2004–present)Labour (1967–2003)
citizenship	British
website	www.georgegalloway.com
footnotes	}}

George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, author, journalist, and broadcaster, and the Respect Member of Parliament (MP) for Bradford West. He was previously an MP for the Labour Party, for Glasgow Hillhead and then its successor constituency Glasgow Kelvin from 1987 until 2005. He was expelled from the Labour Party in October 2003 because of his strident public opposition to the Iraq War. He subsequently became a founding member of the left-wing Respect Party, and was elected as the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in 2005. In 2010, Galloway unsuccessfully contested the seat of Poplar and Limehouse, and in 2011 he unsuccessfully contested the Glasgow list for the Scottish Parliament, before being elected as an MP in the Bradford West by-election, 2012.

Galloway is well known for his campaigns in support of the Palestinians in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. In the late-1980s Hansard records him delivering a ferocious assault on the Ba'ath regime, and Galloway opposed Saddam's regime until the United States-led Gulf War in 1991. Galloway is known for a visit to Iraq where he met Saddam Hussein, and delivered a speech, which ended in English with the statement "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability." He has always stated that he was addressing the Iraqi people in the speech. Galloway testified to the United States Senate in 2005 over alleged illicit payments from the United Nations' Oil for Food Programme.

Early and personal life[link]

Galloway was born in the Lochee area of Dundee to a Scottish trade unionist father and Irish republican mother. He describes himself as "born in an attic in a slum tenement in the Irish quarter of Dundee, which is known as Tipperary". He grew up in Charleston and attended Charleston Primary and then Harris Academy, a non-denominational school. During his school years at Charleston Primary and Harris Academy, he used to play football for the school team. As an amateur footballer, he went on to play for West End United U12s, Lochee Boys Club U16s and St Columbus U18s.

From 1979 to 1999, he was married to Elaine Fyffe, with whom he has a daughter. In 1994, he married Amineh Abu-Zayyad as a second wife in a Muslim ceremony (later after his divorce from his first wife, he and Abu-Zayyad also undertook a civil ceremony); Zayyad filed for divorce in 2005. In 2005, Galloway married as his third wife Rima Husseini, a Lebanese woman and former researcher, also in a Muslim ceremony. She gave birth to their first son in May 2007, and a second son in December 2011. In March 2012, Galloway married Putri Gayatri Pertiwi, a consultant with a Dutch research firm.

Galloway was raised as a Roman Catholic. By his own account he decided, at the age of 18, never to drink alcohol. He disapproves of it and describes it as having a "very deleterious effect on people". He stated at a March 2012 rally "We stand for justice and haqq" and "A Muslim is somebody who is not afraid of earthly power but who fears only the Judgment Day. I’m ready for that, I’m working for that and it’s the only thing I fear".

In a April 2012 ''New Statesman'' magazine interview with Galloway, Jemima Khan asserted that the politician had become a Muslim sometime around 2000, but had not advertised this fact. Galloway subsequently denied a ceremony had taken place: "I have never attended any such ceremony in Kilburn, Karachi or Kathmandu. It is simply and categorically untrue."

Labour Party organiser[link]

Galloway joined the Labour Party at 13 years old and, within five years, was secretary of the Dundee West Constituency Labour Party. His enthusiasm led him to become Vice-Chairman of the Labour Party in the City of Dundee and a member of the Scottish Executive Committee in 1975. On 5 May 1977, he contested his first election campaign in the Scottish district elections, but failed to hold the safe Labour seat at Gillburn, Dundee. He was defeated by the Independent candidate Bunty Turley. Galloway became the secretary organiser of Dundee Labour Party—the youngest ever Scottish chairman—in March 1981 at 26 years old.

In his mid-20s after a trip to Beirut in 1977, he became a passionate supporter of Palestine stating "barely a week after my return I made a pledge to devote the rest of my life to the Palestinian and Arab cause". He supported Dundee City Council which flew the Palestinian flag inside the City Chambers and was involved in the twinning of Dundee with Nablus in 1980, although he did not take part in the visit of Lord Provost Gowans, Ernie Ross MP and three City Councillors to Nablus and Kuwait in April 1981.

In 1981, Galloway wrote an article in ''Scottish Marxist'' supporting Communist Party affiliation with the Labour Party. In response, Denis Healey, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, tried and failed to remove Galloway from the list of Prospective Parliamentary Candidates. Healey lost his motion by 13 votes to 5. Galloway had argued that this was his own personal viewpoint, not that of the Labour Party. He once quipped that, in order to overcome a £1.5 million deficit which had arisen in the city budget, he, Ernie Ross and leading Councillors should be placed in the stocks in the city square: "we would allow people to throw buckets of water over us at 20p a time."

Galloway stood for a place on the Labour Party National Executive Committee in 1986; in a large field of candidates he finished second from the bottom. At the 1986 Labour Party Conference, he made a strong attack on the Labour Party's Deputy Leader and Shadow Chancellor Roy Hattersley for not favouring exchange controls.

War on Want[link]

From November 1983 to 1987, Galloway was General Secretary of War on Want, a British charity that campaigns against poverty worldwide. In this post he was much travelled, writing eye-witness accounts of the famine in Eritrea in 1985 which were published in ''The Sunday Times'' and ''The Spectator''.

The ''Daily Mirror'' accused him of living luxuriously at the charity's expense. An independent auditor cleared him of misuse of funds, though he did repay £1,720 in contested expenses. He later reportedly won £155,000 from "The Mirror'' in an unrelated libel lawsuit.

More than two years after Galloway stepped down to serve as a Labour MP, the UK Government investigated War on Want. It found accounting irregularities from 1985 to 1989, but little evidence that money was used for non-charitable purposes. The commission said responsibility lay largely with auditors, and did not single out individuals for blame.

Reported Break In[link]

In an article published by the ''Daily Mail'' at the beginning of May 2012, it was asserted that staff at his £1.4 million London home had discovered items had been moved and curious objects were found in the house such as an empty bottle of gin and a gay pornographic video stashed in a closet. The culprit is thought to have been an unidentified homeless man. Galloway has increased security at his home to prevent any more homeless intruders.

Parliamentary career[link]

Member of Parliament for a Glasgow seat[link]

In the 1987 election, Galloway won Glasgow Hillhead constituency for the Labour Party from Roy Jenkins of the Social Democratic Party (who had briefly led that Party earlier in the decade) with a majority of 3,251. Although known for his left-wing views, Galloway was never a member of Labour's leftist groupings of MPs, the Tribune Group or the Socialist Campaign Group. In 2002, Galloway stated "I am on the anti-imperialist left... If you are asking did I support the Soviet Union, yes I did. Yes, I did support the Soviet Union, and I think the disappearance of the Soviet Union is the biggest catastrophe of my life."

Asked about a War on Want conference on Mykonos, Greece during his previous job, the new MP replied "I travelled and spent lots of time with people in Greece, many of whom were women, some of whom were known carnally to me. I actually had sexual intercourse with some of the people in Greece." The statement put Galloway on the front pages of the tabloid press and in February 1988 the Executive Committee of his Constituency Labour Party passed a vote of no confidence in him.

He gained re-selection when challenged by Trish Godman (wife of fellow MP Norman Godman) in June 1989, but failed to get a majority of the electoral college on the first ballot. This was the worst result for any sitting Labour MP who was reselected; 13 of the 26 members of the Constituency Party's Executive Committee resigned that August, indicating their dissatisfaction with the result.

In 1990, a classified advertisement appeared in the Labour-Left weekly ''Tribune'' headed "Lost: MP who answers to the name of George", "balding and has been nicknamed gorgeous", claiming that the lost MP had been seen in Romania but had not been to a constituency meeting for a year. A telephone number was given which turned out to be for the Groucho Club in London, from which Galloway had recently been excluded (although subsequently readmitted). Galloway threatened legal action and pointed out that he had been to five constituency meetings. He eventually settled for an out-of-court payment by ''Tribune''.

The leadership election of the Labour Party in 1992 saw Galloway voting for the eventual winners, John Smith for Leader and Margaret Beckett as Deputy Leader. In 1994, after Smith's death, Galloway declined to cast a vote in the leadership election (one of only three MPs to do so). In a debate with the Leader of the Scottish National Party Alex Salmond, Galloway responded to one of Salmond's jibes against the Labour Party by declaring "I don't give a fuck what Tony Blair thinks."

Although facing a challenge for the Labour nomination for the seat of Glasgow Kelvin in 1997, Galloway defeated Shiona Waldron. He was unchallenged for the nomination in 2001.

In the 1997 and 2001 elections Galloway was the Labour candidate for the seat of Glasgow Kelvin, winning with majorities of over 16,000 and 12,000 respectively. During the 2001 Parliament, he voted against the Whip 27 times. During the 2001–02 session he was the 9th most rebellious Labour MP.

Expulsion from the Labour Party[link]

Galloway became the Vice President of the Stop the War Coalition in 2001. He is actively involved, often speaking on StWC platforms at anti-war demonstrations. From this position Galloway made many aggressive and controversial statements in opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. These were the formal reasons for his expulsion from the Labour Party. He reportedly said in a 28 March 2003 interview with Abu Dhabi TV that Tony Blair and George W. Bush had "lied to the British Air Force and Navy, when they said the battle of Iraq would be very quick and easy. They attacked Iraq like wolves...." and added, "... the best thing British troops can do is to refuse to obey illegal orders." He called the Labour Government "Tony Blair's lie machine." ''The Observer'' reported in 2003 that the Director of Public Prosecutions looked at a request by the solicitor Justin Hugheston-Roberts to pursue Galloway under the Incitement to Disaffection Act, 1934, though no prosecution occurred.

On 18 April, ''The Sun'' published an interview with Tony Blair who said: "His comments were disgraceful and wrong. The National Executive will deal with it." The General Secretary of the Labour Party, citing Galloway's outspoken opinion of Blair and Bush in their pursuit of the Iraq war, suspended him from holding office in the party on 6 May 2003, pending a hearing on charges that he had violated the party's constitution by "bringing the Labour Party into disrepute through behaviour that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the Party". The National Constitutional Committee held a hearing on 22 October 2003, to consider the charges, taking evidence from Galloway himself, from other party witnesses, viewing media interviews, and hearing character testimony from Tony Benn, among others. The following day, the committee found the charge of bringing the party into disrepute proved, and so expelled Galloway from the Labour Party. Galloway called the Committee's hearing "a show trial" and "a kangaroo court".

2005 election[link]

In January 2004, Galloway announced he would be working with members of the Socialist Alliance in England and Wales, and others, under the name Respect – The Unity Coalition, generally referred to simply as Respect.

Galloway later announced that he would not force a by-election and intended not to contest the next general election in Glasgow. Galloway's Glasgow Kelvin seat was split between three neighbouring constituencies for the May 2005 general election. One of these, the new Glasgow Central constituency, might have been his best chance with a relatively large Muslim vote. However, his long-time friend Mohammad Sarwar, the first Muslim Labour MP and a strong opponent of the Iraq War also intended to go for it; Galloway did not wish to challenge him. After the European election results became known, Galloway announced that he would stand in Bethnal Green and Bow, the area where Respect had its strongest election results and where the sitting Labour MP, Oona King, supported the Iraq War. On 2 December, despite speculation that he might stand in Newham, he confirmed that he would be the candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow.

The ensuing electoral campaign in the seat proved to be a difficult one with heated rhetoric. The BBC reported that Galloway had himself been threatened with death by extreme Islamists from the banned organisation al-Ghurabaa. All the major candidates united in condemning the threats and violence. On 5 May, Galloway won the seat by 823 votes and made a fiery acceptance speech, saying that Tony Blair had the blood of 100,000 people on his hands and denouncing the returning officer over alleged discrepancies in the electoral process. When challenged in a subsequent televised interview by Jeremy Paxman as to whether he was happy to have removed one of the few black women in Parliament, Galloway replied "I don't believe that people get elected because of the colour of their skin. I believe people get elected because of their record and because of their policies." Jeremy Paxman during the same BBC interview accused Galloway of being a demagogue.

Oona King later told BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme that she found Paxman's line of question inappropriate. "He shouldn't be barred from running against me because I'm a black woman. ... I was not defined, or did not wish to be defined, by either my ethnicity or religious background."

"It's good to be back", Galloway said on being sworn in as MP for Bethnal Green after the May election. He pledged to represent "the people that New Labour has abandoned" and to "speak for those who have nobody else to speak for them."

Parliamentary participation statistics[link]

After he was suspended and later expelled from the Labour Party, Galloway's participation in Parliamentary activity fell to minimal levels. After speaking in a debate on Iraq on 25 March 2003, Galloway did not intervene in any way in Parliamentary debates or ask any oral questions for the remainder of the Parliament and his participation in House of Commons divisions was among the lowest of any MP.

Following the 2005 election, his participation rate remained low, and at the end of the year he had participated in only 15% of Divisions in the House of Commons since the general election, placing him 634th of 645 MPs. Of the eleven MPs below him in the rankings, one was the then Prime Minister Tony Blair, five were Sinn Féin members who have an abstentionist policy toward taking their seats, three were the speaker and deputy speakers and therefore ineligible to vote, and two had died since the election. Galloway claims a record of unusual activity at a "grass roots" level. His own estimate is that he made 1,100 public speeches between September 2001 and May 2005.

In September 2009, he still had one of the lowest voting participation records in parliament at 8.4% as a total of 93 votes out of a possible 1,113 divisions.

Suspension from the House of Commons[link]

On 17 July 2007, following a four-year inquiry, the House of Commons Select Committee on Standards and Privileges published its sixth report. The Committee concluded that there was no evidence that Galloway gained any personal benefit from either the former Iraqi regime, or from the Oil-for-Food Programme.

}} However, it found that Galloway's use of parliamentary resources to support his work on the Mariam Appeal "went beyond what was reasonable."

}} In response, Galloway stated At a press conference following publication of the report, Galloway stated "To be deprived of the company for 18 days of the honourable ladies and gentleman behind me [in parliament] will be painful ... but I'm intending to struggle on regardless ... What really upset them [the committee] is that I always defend myself.

Candidate at other elections[link]

On 10 August 2007, Galloway confirmed he would stand in newly created constituency of Poplar and Limehouse where the Labour Party had a notional majority of 3,942. The Labour candidate was the current Poplar and Canning Town MP Jim Fitzpatrick. Galloway said he had planned to stand down from Parliament at the next election, but was prompted to stay on and fight to win the neighbouring east London constituency after he felt he was unfairly suspended from Parliament for 18 days. In the election Galloway was defeated, coming third after the Labour and Conservative candidates. He received 8,460 votes. Galloway headed the post-split Respect (London-wide) top-up list for the London Assembly election, 2008 but was not selected.

On 5 May 2011, in the Scottish Parliament general election, 2011, the Respect Party, on whose list Galloway was standing in the Glasgow electoral region, received 6,972 votes (3.3%), failing to achieve any seats in the Holyrood Parliament.

2012 by-election[link]

After the resignation of sitting Labour MP Marsha Singh due to ill health, Galloway returned to Parliament at the March 2012 Bradford West by-election in an unexpected landslide result, with Galloway calling it "the most sensational victory in British political history". His 36% swing from Labour was the third-largest in modern British political history.The result was seen as a major disappointment for Labour, with Galloway speaking of his belief that it showed the "alienation" of voters from the leading three political parties.

On 16 April, Galloway was sworn into Parliament by the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow.

Political views[link]

Galloway advocates greater spending on welfare benefits, and some nationalisation of large industries. Galloway is opposed to abortion, although he supports Respect's pro-choice stance. He opposes Scottish independence but supports the right of the people to vote on the matter via a referendum. He also supports the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. In the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, George Galloway supported Solidarity, despite not supporting all their policies, such as Scottish independence. Galloway has attracted most attention for his comments on foreign policy, taking a special interest in Libya, Pakistan, Iraq, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. According to the report ''Preventing terrorism, where next for Britain?'' from the counter-extremism think tank Quilliam, which receives private and public funding, Galloway is "Islamist backed". Inayat Bunglawala, chair of Muslims4Uk and a former MCB spokesperson, disagreed, saying: "This is just like something straight out of a Stasi manual. The advice from Quilliam is frankly appalling and incredibly self-serving."

Iraq and Saddam Hussein[link]

Galloway opposed the 1991 Gulf War and was critical of the effect the subsequent sanctions had on the people of Iraq. He visited Iraq twice and met senior government officials. His involvement caused some critics to deride him as the "member for Baghdad North". In 1994, Galloway faced some of his strongest criticism on his return from a Middle-Eastern visit during which he had met Saddam Hussein "to try and bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war". At the meeting, he reported the support given to Saddam by the people of the Gaza Strip and ended his speech in English with the statement "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability". In a January 2007 edition of the BBC's ''Hardtalk'' he stated that he was saluting the "Iraqi people". Galloway's speech was translated for Hussein. Anasal-Tikriti, a friend of Galloway's and a Respect candidate, spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain said: "I understand Arabic and it [Galloway's salutation] was taken completely out of context. When he said "you" he meant the Iraqi people, he was saluting their indefatigability, their resolve against sanctions. Even the interpreter got it right and, in Arabic, says salutes the stand of the Iraqi people'."

In 1999, Galloway was criticised for spending Christmas in Iraq with Tariq Aziz, who was Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister. In the 17 May 2005, hearing of the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Galloway stated that he had had many meetings with Aziz, and characterised their relationship as friendly. After the fall of Saddam, he continued to praise Aziz, calling him "an eminent diplomatic and intellectual person". In 2006 a video surfaced showing Galloway enthusiastically greeting Uday Hussein, Saddam's eldest son, with the title of "Excellency" at Uday's palace in 1999. "The two men also made unflattering comments about the United States and joked about losing weight, going bald and how difficult it is to give up smoking cigars," according to ''The Scotsman''.

In a House of Commons debate on 6 March 2002, Foreign Office Minister Ben Bradshaw said of Galloway that he was "not just an apologist, but a mouthpiece, for the Iraqi regime over many years." Galloway called the Minister a liar and refused to withdraw: "[Bradshaw's] imputation that I am a mouthpiece for a dictator is a clear imputation of dishonour" he said, and the sitting was suspended due to the dispute. Bradshaw later withdrew his allegation, and Galloway apologised for using unparliamentary language. In August 2002, Galloway returned to Iraq and met Saddam Hussein for a second time. According to Galloway, the intention of the trip was to persuade Saddam to re-admit Hans Blix, and the United Nations weapons inspectors into the country.

Giving evidence in his libel case against the ''Daily Telegraph'' newspaper in 2004, Galloway testified that he regarded Saddam as a "bestial dictator" and would have welcomed his removal from power, but not by means of a military attack on Iraq. Galloway also pointed that he was a prominent critic of Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1980s, as well as of the role of Margaret Thatcher's government in supporting arms sales to Iraq during the Iran/Iraq war. Labour MP Tam Dalyell said during the controversy over whether Galloway should be expelled from the Labour Party that "in the mid-1980s there was only one MP that I can recollect making speeches about human rights in Iraq and this was George Galloway." When the issue of Galloway's meetings with Saddam Hussein is raised, including before the US Senate, Galloway has argued that he had met Saddam "exactly the same number of times as US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and to give him maps the better to target those guns." He continued "I met him to try to bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war".

During a 9 March 2005 interview at the University of Dhaka campus Galloway called for a global alliance between Muslims and progressives: "Not only do I think it’s possible but I think it is vitally necessary and I think it is happening already. It is possible because the progressive movement around the world and the Muslims have the same enemies. Their enemies are the Zionist occupation, American occupation, British occupation of poor countries mainly Muslim countries."

Israel and Palestine[link]

At a 22 July 2006 demonstration (and later in a ''Socialist Worker'' op-ed), Galloway stated "Hezbollah has never been a terrorist organisation!" The National Union of Students of the United Kingdom passed a motion condemning Galloway for this statement. In 2009, Galloway received a Palestinian passport from Hamas leader Ismail Haniya. Hamas are a considered a terrorist organisation by the European Union, and the US.

According to Al-Ahram, in a series of speeches broadcast on Arab television, Galloway described Jerusalem and Baghdad as being "raped" by "foreigners," referring to Israel's illegal annexation of East Jerusalem, and the war in Iraq.

In an interview with the American radio host Alex Jones, Galloway blamed Israel for creating "conditions in the Arab countries and in some European countries to stampede Jewish people ... into the Zionist state". Jones then alleged that the "Zionists" funded Hitler, to which Galloway replied that Zionists used the Jewish people "to create this little settler state on the Mediterranean," whose purpose was "to act as an advance guard for their own interests in the Arab world..."

Galloway was introduced as “a former member of the British Houses of Parliament” during a live interview with Qatari Al-Jazeera television, to which he responded: “I am still a member of parliament and was re-elected five times. On the last occasion I was re-elected despite all the efforts made by the British government, the Zionist movement and the newspapers and news media which are controlled by Zionism.”

Galloway expressed support for the Syrian presence in Lebanon five months before it ended, telling the ''Daily Star'' of Lebanon "Syrian troops in Lebanon maintain stability and protect the country from Israel". In the same article he expressed his opposition to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559, which urged the Lebanese Government to establish control over all its territory.

In an interview with the Hizbullah run Al-Manar TV, which aired on 26 July 2011 (as translated by MEMRI), Galloway accused Israel of being responsible for the assassination of Rafiq Al-Hariri, stating that "Israel was the only country with any interest and any benefit to gain from the assassination of the martyr Rafiq Al-Hariri. They are the ones who had the capability to do so, they are the ones who had the motive for doing so, and they are the ones who had the criminal record for doing so. How many hundreds of people has Israel killed in Lebanon? Assassination squads of people landing on the beach, and people planting bombs of one kind or another..." He further stated that "When this inquiry [the Special Tribunal for Lebanon] refused to lead in that direction, I knew it was a fake inquiry" and that "this process and all these individuals are completely discredited."

Several months earlier in a speech given in Edmonton, Alberta in November 2010, Galloway stated that

“I believe, and I don’t know anybody who is objective in this matter who does not believe, that Hezbollah are absolutely innocent of this crime, and it is time that the tribunal looked to the people who benefited from this crime..in Israel."

Blair and Bush[link]

At the national conference of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, on 30 June 2003, Galloway apologised for describing George W. Bush as a "wolf", saying that to do so defamed wolves: "No wolf would commit the sort of crimes against humanity that George Bush committed against the people of Iraq."

On 20 November 2004, George Galloway gave an interview on Abu Dhabi TV in which he said:

On 20 June 2005, he appeared on Al Jazeera English to lambast these two leaders and others.

On 3 February 2006, Galloway was refused entry to Egypt at Cairo Airport and was detained "on grounds of national security", where he had been invited to 'give evidence' at a 'mock trial' of Bush and Blair. After being detained overnight, he said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak "apologised on behalf of the Egyptian people", and he was allowed to enter the country. After initial derogatory comments from Galloway and a spokesman from his Respect party regarding Mubarak's pro-Western stance and ties to Bush and Blair, Galloway later commented: "It was a most gracious apology which I accept wholeheartedly. I consider the matter now closed."

Suicide bombings[link]

In the House of Commons, on the day of the 7 July 2005 London bombings that killed 52 people and injured hundreds more, and following a visit to the Royal London Hospital in his constituency where many of the victims had been taken, Galloway condemned the attacks strongly, but argued that they could not be separated from the hatred and bitterness felt among Muslims because of injustices in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan, including injustices, he said, suffered as a result of British foreign policy: }}

Winding up the debate for the government in the last moments allotted, Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram described Galloway's remarks as "disgraceful" and accused Galloway of "dipping his poisonous tongue in a pool of blood." No time remained for Galloway to intervene and he ran afoul of the Deputy Speaker when trying to make a point of order about Ingram's attack. He later went on to describe Ingram as a "thug" who had committed a "foul-mouthed, deliberately timed, last-10-seconds smear." The men had previously clashed over claims in Galloway's autobiography (see below).

In an interview with Piers Morgan for ''GQ Magazine'' in May 2006, Galloway was asked whether a suicide bomb attack on Tony Blair with "no other casualties" would be morally justifiable "as revenge for the war on Iraq?". He answered "Yes it would be morally justified. I am not calling for it, but if it happened it would be of a wholly different moral order to the events of 7/7. It would be entirely logical and explicable, and morally equivalent to ordering the deaths of thousands of innocent people in Iraq as Blair did." He further stated that if he knew about such a plan that he would inform the relevant authorities, saying: "I would [tell the police], because such an operation would be counterproductive because it would just generate a new wave of anti-Muslim, anti-Arab sentiment whipped up by the press. It would lead to new draconian anti-terror laws, and would probably strengthen the resolve of the British and American services in Iraq rather than weaken it. So yes, I would inform the authorities." Christopher Hitchens claimed this to be a call for an attack while appearing not to.

Pakistan coup of 1999[link]

At the time of the 1999 Musharraf coup in Pakistan, he wrote, "In poor third world countries like Pakistan, politics is too important to be left to petty squabbling politicians. Pakistan is always on the brink of breaking apart into its widely disparate components. Only the armed forces can really be counted on to hold such a country together... Democracy is a means, not an end in itself and it has a bad name on the streets of Karachi and Lahore." Nonetheless, on his TalkSport talk radio show, Galloway has been outspoken in criticising the former Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf.

Record on LGBT issues[link]

In 1994, Galloway voted in support of the equalisation of the age of consent for homosexuality (which was then 21 years) with that for heterosexuality at 16 years. He also voted against a reduction of the homosexual age of consent to 18. He voted in favour of permitting unmarried and gay couples to adopt children. Critics have claimed that his involvement in the leadership of Respect – which made no explicit mention of gay rights in its 2005 election manifesto and accepted donations from Islamic Party members – raise questions about commitment to those issues, as does his rather poor voting record in parliamentary divisions, 80% of which he missed, during the 2001-5 parliament while still a Glasgow MP. However, Respect's 2005 conference, in which Galloway took part, resolved that explicit defence of equal rights and calls for the end to all discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people would be made in all of its manifestos and principal election materials.

Galloway's assertion on ''The Wright Stuff'' chat show (13 March 2008) that the executed boyfriend of homosexual Iranian asylum seeker Mehdi Kazemi was executed for sex crimes rather than for being homosexual received criticism from Peter Tatchell, among others. Galloway also stated on ''The Wright Stuff'' that the case of gay rights in Iran was being used by supporters of war with Iran.

Humanitarian work[link]

Mariam Appeal[link]

In 1998 Galloway founded the Mariam Appeal, intended "to campaign against sanctions on Iraq which are having disastrous effects on the ordinary people of Iraq". The campaign was named after Mariam Hamza, a child flown by the fund from Iraq to Britain to receive treatment for leukaemia. The intention was to raise awareness of the suffering and death of hundreds of thousands of other Iraqi children due to poor health conditions and lack of suitable medicines and facilities, and to campaign for the lifting of the Iraq sanctions that many maintained were responsible for that situation.

The fund received scrutiny during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, after a complaint that Galloway used some of the donation money to pay his travel expenses. Galloway said that the expenses were incurred in his capacity as the Appeal's chairman. Although the Mariam Appeal was never a registered charity and never intended to be such, it was investigated by the Charity Commission. The report of this year-long inquiry, published in June 2004, found that the Mariam Appeal was doing charitable work (and so ought to have registered with them), but did not substantiate allegations that any funds had been misused.

A further Charity Commission Report published on 7 June 2007 found that the Appeal had received funds from Fawaz Zureikat that originated from the Oil For Food programme, and concluded that: "Although Mr Galloway, Mr Halford and Mr Al-Mukhtar have confirmed that they were unaware of the source of Mr Zureikat’s donations, the Commission has concluded that the charity trustees should have made further enquiries when accepting such large single and cumulative donations to satisfy themselves as to their origin and legitimacy. The Commission’s conclusion is that the charity trustees did not properly discharge their duty of care as trustees to the Appeal in respect of these donations." They added: "The Commission is also concerned, having considered the totality of the evidence before it, that Mr Galloway may also have known of the connection between the Appeal and the Programme". Galloway responded: "I've always disputed the Commission's retrospective view that a campaign to win a change in national and international policy—a political campaign—was, in fact, a charity."

Viva Palestina aid convoy[link]

In response to the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, in January 2009 Galloway instigated the ''Viva Palestina'' aid convoy to the Gaza Strip. On 14 February 2009, after raising over £1 million-worth of humanitarian aid in four weeks, Galloway and hundreds of volunteers launched the convoy comprising approximately 120 vehicles intended for use in the Strip, including a fire engine donated by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), 12 ambulances, a boat and trucks full of medicines, tools, clothes, blankets and gifts for children. The 5,000-mile route passed through Belgium, France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.

On 20 February, Galloway condemned Lancashire Police after they arrested nine of the volunteers under the Terrorism Act a day before the convoy's launch. Galloway said: "The arrests were clearly deliberately timed for the eve of the departure of the convoy. Photographs of the high-profile snatch on the M65 were immediately fed to the press to maximise the newsworthiness of the smear that was being perpetrated on the convoy." ''Viva Palestina'' reported an 80% drop in donations following the broadcast of the arrests and the police allegations on the BBC.

The convoy arrived in Gaza on 9 March, accompanied by approximately 180 extra trucks of aid donated by Libya's Gaddafi Foundation. All the British aid was delivered with the exception of the fire engine and boat which were blocked by the Egyptian government. The boat is to be delivered later in a flotilla of craft which Viva Palestina intends to take into Gaza harbour. On 10 March 2009, Galloway announced at a press conference in Gaza City attended by several senior Hamas officials: "We are giving you now 100 vehicles and all of their contents, and we make no apology for what I am about to say. We are giving them to the elected government of Palestine," adding he would personally donate three cars and 25,000 pounds to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.

The Charity Commission opened a statutory inquiry into Viva Palestina on 23 March 2009, citing concerns over the finances, use of funds for non-charitable purposes, and the lack of "substantive response" to their repeated requests. George Galloway admitted that the appeal had not responded to the requests, but argued that a substantive response was anyway due to be passed to the Charity Commission only hours after they launched the inquiry. He argued that the Charity Commission's actions were suspicious, hinting that they might be politically motivated. On 8 April 2009, Galloway joined Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic to launch Viva Palestina US.

A third Viva Palestina convoy began at the end of 2009. On 8 January 2010, Galloway and his colleague Ron McKay were deported from Egypt immediately upon entry from Gaza. They had been attempting to help take about 200 aid trucks into the Gaza Strip. They were driven by the police to the airport and put on a plane to London. The previous day an Egyptian soldier had been killed during a clash at the border with Hamas loyalists. Several Palestinians were also injured.

The Foreign Ministry of Egypt released a statement reading: "George Galloway is considered persona non grata and will not be allowed to enter into Egypt again". Shortly after his deportation Galloway said, "It is a badge of honour to be deported by a dictatorship" and "I've been thrown out of better joints than that." He also vowed to go back to the Gaza strip. ''The Daily Record'' described his mood as "defiant".

Controversy[link]

Oil for Food[link]

''Daily Telegraph'' libel case[link]

On 22 April 2003, the ''Daily Telegraph'' published news articles and comment describing documents found by its reporter David Blair in the ruins of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry. The documents purported to be records of meetings between Galloway and Iraqi intelligence agents, and state that he had received £375,000 per year from the proceeds of the Oil-for-Food Programme. Galloway completely denied the story, and pointed to the nature of the discovery within an unguarded, bombed-out building as being questionable. He instigated legal action against the newspaper, which was heard in the High Court from 14 November 2004.

On 2 December, Justice David Eady ruled that the story had been "seriously defamatory", and that the ''Telegraph'' was "obliged to compensate Mr Galloway ... and to make an award for the purposes of restoring his reputation". Galloway was awarded damages of £150,000 plus, after a failed appeal in 2006, legal costs of about £2 million.

The libel case was regarded by both sides as an important test of the Reynolds qualified-privilege defence. The ''Daily Telegraph'' did not attempt to claim justification (where the defendant seeks to prove the truth of the defamatory reports): "It has never been the ''Telegraph's'' case to suggest that the allegations contained in these documents are true". Instead, the paper sought to argue that it acted responsibly because the allegations it reported were of sufficient public interest to outweigh the damage caused to Galloway's reputation. However the trial judge did not accept this defence saying the suggestion such as Galloway was guilty of "treason", "in Saddam's pay", and being "Saddam's little helper" caused him to conclude "the newspaper was not neutral but both embraced the allegations with relish and fervour and went on to embellish them". Additionally Galloway had not been given a fair or reasonable opportunity to make inquiries or meaningful comment upon the documents before they were published.

The issue of whether the documents were genuine was likewise not at issue at the trial. However, it later transpired that the expert hired by Galloway's lawyers, a forensic expert named Oliver Thorne, said "In my opinion the evidence found fully supports that the vast majority of the submitted documents are authentic." He added "It should be noted that I am unable to comment on the veracity of the information within the disputed ''Telegraph'' documents, whether or not they are authentic."

Others[link]

The ''Christian Science Monitor'' also published a story on 25 April 2003, stating that they had documentary evidence that he had received "more than ten million dollars" from the Iraqi regime. However, on 20 June 2003, the ''Monitor'' reported that their own investigation had concluded the documents were sophisticated forgeries, and apologised. Galloway rejected the newspaper's apology, asserted that the affair was a conspiracy against him, and continued a libel claim against the paper.

The ''Christian Science Monitor'' settled the claim, paying him an undisclosed sum in damages, on 19 March 2004. It emerged that these documents had first been offered to the ''Daily Telegraph'', but they had rejected them. The documents' origin remains obscure.

In January 2004, a further set of allegations were made in ''Al-Mada'', a newspaper in Iraq. The newspaper claimed to have found documents in the Iraqi national oil corporation showing that Galloway received (through an intermediary) some of the profits arising from the sale of 19.5 million barrels (3,100,000 m³) of oil. Galloway acknowledged that money had been paid into the Mariam Appeal by Iraqi businessmen who had profited from the UN-run programme, but denied benefiting personally, and maintained that, in any case, there was nothing illicit about this:

The report of the Iraq Survey Group published in October 2004 claimed that Galloway was one of the recipients of a fund used by Iraq to buy influence among foreign politicians. Galloway denied receiving any money from Saddam Hussein's regime. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards had begun an investigation into George Galloway but suspended it when Galloway launched legal action.

US Senate[link]

Allegations[link]

In May 2005, a US Senate committee report accused Galloway along with former French minister Charles Pasqua of receiving the right to buy oil under the UN's oil-for-food scheme. The report was issued by the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Senator Norm Coleman, a Republican from Minnesota. The report cited further documents from the Iraqi oil ministry and interviews with Iraqi officials.

Coleman's committee said Pasqua had received allocations worth from 1999 to 2000, and Galloway received allocations worth from 2000 to 2003. The allegations against Pasqua and Galloway, both outspoken opponents of U.N. sanctions against Iraq in the 1990s, have been made before, including in an October report by US arms inspector Charles Duelfer as well as in the various purported documents described earlier in this section. But Coleman's report provided several new details. It also included information from interrogations of former high-ranking officials in US custody, including former Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz and former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan. Among the claims is that there is new evidence to suggest that the Mariam Appeal, a children's leukaemia charity founded by Galloway, was in fact used to conceal oil payments. The report cites Ramadan as saying under interrogation that Galloway was allocated oil "because of his opinions about Iraq."

''Socialist Worker'' reported what they say is evidence that the key Iraqi oil ministry documents regarding oil allocations, in which Galloway's name appears six times (contracts M/08/35, M/09/23, M/10/38, M/11/04, M/12/14, M/13/48) have been tampered with. They published a copy of contract M/09/23 and allege that George Galloway's name appears to have been added in a different font and at a different angle to the rest of the text on that line. In these documents (relating to oil allocations 8–13), Galloway is among just a few people whose nationality is never identified, whilst Zureikat is the only one whose nationality is identified in one instance but not in others. Galloway combatively countered the charges by accusing Coleman and other pro-war politicians of covering up the "theft of billions of dollars of Iraq's wealth... on your watch" that had occurred under a post-invasion Coalition Provisional Authority, committed by "Halliburton and other American corporations... with the connivance of your own government."

Galloway's response[link]

On 17 May 2005, the committee held a hearing concerning specific allegations (of which Galloway was one part) relating to improprieties surrounding the Oil-for-Food programme. Attending Galloway's oral testimony and enquiring of him were two of the thirteen committee members: the chair (Coleman) and the ranking Democrat (Carl Levin).

Upon Galloway's arrival in the US, he told Reuters, "I have no expectation of justice from a group of Christian fundamentalist and Zionist activists under the chairmanship of a neo-con George Bush". Galloway described Coleman as a "pro-war, neo-con hawk and the lickspittle of George W. Bush", who, he said, sought revenge against anyone who did not support the invasion of Iraq.

In his testimony, Galloway made the following statements in response to the allegations against him:

He questioned the reliability of evidence given by former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, stating that the circumstances of his captivity by American forces call into question the authenticity of the remarks. Galloway also pointed out an error in the report, where documents by ''The Daily Telegraph'' were said to have covered an earlier period from those held by the Senate. In fact the report's documents referred to the same period as those used by ''The Daily Telegraph'', though Galloway pointed out that the presumed forgeries pertaining to the ''Christian Science Monitor'' report did refer to an earlier period.

Galloway also denounced the invasion of Iraq as having been based on "a pack of lies" in his Senate testimony. The US media, in reporting his appearance, emphasised his blunt remarks on the war. The British media gave generally more positive coverage; TV presenter Anne Robinson said Galloway "quite frankly put the pride back in British politics" when introducing him for a prime time talk show.

A report by the then-majority Republican Party staff of the United States Senate Committee on Investigations published in October 2005 asserted that Galloway had given false "or misleading" testimony under oath when appearing before them. The report exhibits bank statements it claims show that £85,000 of proceeds from the Oil-for-Food Programme had been paid to Galloway's then-wife Amineh Abu-Zayyad. Galloway reiterated his denial of the charges and challenged the US Senate committee to charge him with perjury. He claimed Coleman's motive was revenge over the embarrassment of his appearance before the committee in May.

Stance on the Islamic Republic of Iran[link]

Galloway has attracted criticism from both the Left and the Right for his comments relating to the regime in Iran, and his work for the state-run satellite television channel, Press TV. Scott Long, writing in ''The Guardian'', criticised Galloway's claim that "homosexuals aren't executed in Iran, just rapists", pointing out that current law in the country stipulates that "Penetrative sex acts between men can bring death on the first conviction". Long-time Gay Rights activist Peter Tatchell, also writing in ''The Guardian'', accused Galloway of spouting "Iranian Propaganda", continuing: "His claim that lesbian and gay people are not at risk of execution in Iran is refuted by every reputable human rights organisation, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and the International Lesbian and Gay Association." Galloway argued that Western governments should accept the election of the conservative President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Trotskyist Workers' Liberty group also condemns Galloway, largely on the basis of his support and work for the current Iranian regime. In "No vote for Galloway – an open letter to the left", he is quoted from his Press TV interview with President Ahmadinejad as stating that he requires "police protection in London from the Iranian opposition because of my support for your election campaign. I mention this so you know where I’m coming from."

Controversy at Oxford University[link]

On 2 November 2006, ''The Times'' reported that Galloway was in a fracas at the Oxford Union. He was there to discuss his book. () In his speech to the Union, Galloway claimed "that democracy in Cuba is more “free” than in the UK", and when questioned on this, he mentioned "that Oxford students are too privileged to understand what he was talking about". Three former state school students who met him afterwards and disputed this description, allege that Galloway said: "I don’t represent anyone’s views. I represent me. I don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks."

Clashes with the ''News of the World''[link]

Galloway says that the Metropolitan Police Service told him they had evidence he was targeted by Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator working for the ''News of the World'' who was jailed for phone hacking in 2007. In 2010 Galloway began legal action for breach of privacy. In 2012 it was reported that Galloway had settled out of court, along with many other victims of phone hacking. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but he had previously claimed to have been offered "substantial sums of money" by ''NOTW'' to settle out of court.

The settlement with News International in respect of phone-hacking is understood not to cover a legal dispute regarding the activities of Mazher Mahmood, an undercover reporter for the ''News of the World''. In March 2006 Galloway claimed in a statement that Mahmood, who uses a disguise as a sheikh to frame celebrities, targeted him in an alleged sting operation. Galloway claims that Mahmood and an accomplice tried but failed to implicate him in illegal party funding, and to agree with antisemitic statements. Galloway wrote to the Metropolitan police commissioner and the Speaker of the House of Commons about the incident. He also released photographs of Mahmood and revealed other aspects of his activities. The ''News of the World'' lost a High Court action to prevent publication of photographs of Mahmood.

Islamic Forum of Europe[link]

Galloway has been recorded as saying that he owes "more than I can say, more than it would be wise for me to say, to the Islamic Forum of Europe".

Hamas[link]

Respect MP George Galloway was barred in 2009 from visiting Canada (a ban now reversed) because of his support for Hamas, and donations to suspected vehicles of the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip.

Forbidden to enter Canada[link]

On 20 March 2009, Galloway was advised by the Canada Border Services Agency he was deemed inadmissible to Canada on "security grounds" due to his involvement in the ''Viva Palestina'' aid convoy to the Gaza Strip following the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict. The Gaza Strip is governed by Hamas, which is on Canada's list of terrorist organisations. This resulted from a personal donation of £25,000 made by Galloway ten days earlier. The Canadians ruled (and maintained on appeal) that this constituted explicit support for Hamas, although Galloway argued it was not the case as the money was intended to be used for aid purposes.

Galloway was on a lecture tour of North America, and was due to speak on war prevention and Gaza for a United Church congregation in Toronto, as well as for events in Mississauga, Ottawa and Montreal. Galloway was also described as an "infamous street-corner Cromwell" by Alykhan Velshi, communications director for Jason Kenney, Canada's Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. Galloway described the ban as "idiotic" and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was accused by Jack Layton, leader of Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP), of being a "minister of censorship." Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, the group who invited Galloway to Canada, sought an emergency injunction to allow for his entry into Canada for the first speech in Toronto citing their rights to freedom of association and freedom of expression. On 30 March 2009, the Federal Court of Canada upheld the decision of the Canada Border Services Agency. Justice Luc Martineau cited non-citizens "do not have an unqualified right to enter in Canada. The admission of a foreign national to this country is a privilege determined by statute, regulation or otherwise, and not as a matter of right." The judge also noted "a proper factual record and the benefit of full legal argument...are lacking at the present time." Subsequently, Galloway cancelled his Canadian tour and instead, delivered his speech over video link from New York to his Canadian audiences.

Galloway was allowed entry into Canada in October 2010, after a judge concluded that the original ban had been undertaken for political reasons. He continued to criticise Jason Kenney, saying that the minister had "damaged Canada's reputation" and had used "anti-terrorism" as a means of suppressing political debate. Galloway has also threatened to sue the Canadian government for the banning incident.

Media activities[link]

Autobiography[link]

His autobiography, ''I'm Not The Only One'', was published on 28 April 2004. The book's title is a quotation from the song "Imagine" by John Lennon. Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram applied for an interim interdict to prevent the book's publication. Ingram asserted that Galloway's text, which stated that Ingram "played the flute in a sectarian, anti-Catholic, Protestant-supremacist Orange Order band", was in bad faith and defamatory, although Ingram's lawyers conceded that for a year as a teenager he had been a member of a junior Orange Lodge in Barlanark, Glasgow, and had attended three parades. The Judge, Lord Kingarth, decided to refuse an interim interdict, that the balance of the arguments favoured Galloway's publisher, and that the phrase "sectarian, anti-Catholic, Protestant-supremacist" was fair comment on that organisation. Although Ingram was not and never had been a flute-player, the defending advocate observed that "playing the flute carries no obvious defamatory imputation ... it is not to the discredit of anyone that he plays the flute." The judge ruled that Ingram should pay the full court costs of the hearing.

Other books[link]

Galloway has also published the ''Fidel Castro Handbook'', a biography of the former Cuban President in 2006 (MQ Publications. ISBN 1-84072-688-1).

In August 2011, Galloway's book entitled ''Open Season: The Neil Lennon Story'' which explores anti-Irish and anti-Catholic racism and bigotry in Scotland and describes many of the related hardships which have befallen Celtic manager Neil Lennon throughout his footballing career. Galloway himself has claimed that he was the victim of a sectarian attack at Glasgow Airport on 10 June 2007. He believes that his attackers were on the way home from attending an Orange Order parade in London and that they attacked him because he is a Celtic fan. No arrest was made in connection with this incident.

Publishing ventures[link]

Galloway has been involved in several publishing companies. He owned ''Asian Voice'', which published a newspaper called ''East'' from 1996. It later transpired that the Pakistan Government was funding Galloway's company Asian Voice with several hundred-thousand-pounds. "Documents show that the Pakistan government agreed an initial budget for the weekly newspaper of £547,000. According to a memorandum dated 2 January 1996, the Pakistan government proposed to "covertly sponsor" the publication, with money allocated to "the Secret Fund of the High Commissioner for Pakistan in the UK as a special grant for the project". The Commons Committee cleared Galloway of any wrongdoing in this matter.

In 2005 Galloway established Friction Books, an imprint for fiction and non-fiction, with longstanding associate Ron McKay. Friction claimed its purpose was to publish ''"books that burn, books that cause controversy and get people talking"''. it has released at least two books: Paco Ignacio Taibo II novel ''An Easy Thing'' and ''Topple the Mighty'' by Leon Kuhn and Colin Gile.

''Celebrity Big Brother''[link]

In January 2006 Galloway appeared on the fourth series of the reality show for three weeks. During his time on the programme he appeared apparently licking milk, while pretending to be a cat, from the cupped hands of another housemate, actress Rula Lenska. Galloway was a sitting member of parliament at the time, leading to the allegation that he was bringing parliament into disrepute.

Galloway acted as the guest presenter for the E4 companion programme to the 2007 edition of Big Brother, ''Big Brother's Big Mouth'', from 5 to 8 June 2007.

talkSPORT[link]

Show name	The Mother of All Talk Shows
Italic title	no
Format	Political discussion
Runtime	Friday 22:00–01:00Saturday 22:00–01:00
Country	UK
Language	English
Home station	talkSPORT
Syndicates	Talk 107
Presenter	George Galloway
Rec location	Central London
Opentheme	The theme from ''Top Cat''
Podcast	}}

On 11 March 2006, Galloway started broadcasting on Britain's commercial radio station, the UTV-owned talkSPORT, and two weeks later started a simultaneous broadcast on Talk 107, TalkSPORT's Edinburgh-based sister station.

Billed as "The Mother of All Talk Shows", Galloway began every broadcast by playing the theme from the ''Top Cat'' cartoon series.

Galloway ceased presenting the show on 27 March 2010, due to campaign commitments in the 2010 UK General Election. During this time, he was replaced by Mike Graham.

In August 2010, Galloway returned to the radio station with a new show bearing a similar format to his original, but this time titled ''The Week with George Galloway'', described by the station as a "No-holds barred review of the past seven days around the world". It was announced in March 2012 that Galloway's programme is to end as TalkSport plans to drop the non-sport elements of its schedule.

Connection to Press TV[link]

Galloway began presenting a programme titled ''The Real Deal'' on 21 May 2007. Originally on Raj TV, a satellite channel primarily aimed at the British Asian community, the show was resurrected, following a short break, on 10 February 2008 by Press TV, a London-based news channel controlled by the government of Iran. The series was still running in late 2011.

Galloway hosts a 45-minute weekly current affairs show ''Comment'' on Press TV. This programme invites the viewers to engage in lively debate on international political issues.

In 2009, the British telecommunications regulator Ofcom criticised Galloway for breaching their broadcasting code by "breaking impartiality rules" in several of his Press TV programmes on the war in Gaza in which Israeli opinion failed to be "'adequately represented'".

Journalism[link]

As of 25 June 2007, Galloway has contributed a weekly column in the ''Daily Record'' giving his views on politics and popular culture. He used this column to reveal he was considering running for a seat in the Scottish Parliament in the May 2011 election. Galloway is an occasional contributor to ''The Guardian'' newspaper and website.

As an orator[link]

''The Times'' finds that he has "the gift of the Glasgow gab, a love of the stage and an inexhaustible fund of self-belief." ''The Guardian'' finds him "renowned for his colourful rhetoric and combative debating style" and the ''Spectator'' once awarded him Debater of the Year.

Honours[link]

Galloway has been conferred by the President of Pakistan with the following decorations:

Hilal-e-Pakistan

Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam

References[link]

External links[link]

GeorgeGalloway.com Official website

www.debretts.co.uk

''The Scotsman''. ''Indefatigably yours''. Personal interview, 19 May 2003.

{{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Bradford West | years = 2012 – present }}

Category:1954 births Category:Anti-poverty advocates Category:Anti-Zionism in the United Kingdom Category:Scottish anti–Iraq War activists

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ar:جورج غالوي cy:George Galloway de:George Galloway eo:George Galloway fa:جورج گلوی fr:George Galloway he:ג'ורג' גאלאוויי la:Georgius Galloway no:George Galloway nn:George Galloway pl:George Galloway ru:Галлоуэй, Джордж fi:George Galloway sv:George Galloway tl:George Galloway uk:Джордж Галловей

Name	Tariq Ali
Birth date	October 21, 1943
Birth place	Lahore, British Raj(now Pakistan)
Occupation	Military historianNovelistActivist
Alma mater	University of the PunjabExeter College, Oxford
Genre	GeopoliticsHistoryPostcolonialism
Subject	Historical criticism
Movement	New Left Review
Spouse	Susan Watkins
Religion	None (Atheist) }}

Tariq Ali (Punjabi, }}), (born 21 October 1943), is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and regularly contributes to ''The Guardian'', ''CounterPunch'', and the ''London Review of Books''.

He is the author of several books, including ''Pakistan: Military Rule or People's Power'' (1970), ''Can Pakistan Survive? The Death of a State'' (1991), ''Pirates Of The Caribbean: Axis Of Hope'' (2006), ''Conversations with Edward Said'' (2005), ''Bush in Babylon'' (2003), and ''Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity'' (2002), ''A Banker for All Seasons'' (2007), ''The Duel'' (2008) and ''The Obama Syndrome'' (2010).

Early life [link]

Ali was born and raised in Lahore. The city was part of British India at the time of his birth in 1943, but became part of the newly independent nation of Pakistan four years later. He is the son of journalist Mazhar Ali Khan and activist mother Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan (daughter of Sir Sikandar Hyat Khan who led the Unionist Muslim League and was later Prime Minister of the Punjab from 1937–1942).

Ali's parents "both came from a very old, crusty, feudal family". His father had broken with the family's conventions in politics when he was a student, adopting communism and atheism. Ali's mother also belonged to the same family, and became radicalized upon meeting his father. However, Ali was taught the fundamentals of Islam in order to be able to argue against it. He stated in ''Islam, Empire, and the Left: Conversation with Tariq Ali'': "I grew up an atheist. I make no secret of it. It was acceptable. In fact, when I think back, none of my friends were believers. None of them were religious; maybe a few were believers. But very few were religious in temperament."

Emerging activism[link]

While studying at the Punjab University, he organised demonstrations against Pakistan's military dictatorship. Ali's maternal uncle was chief of Pakistan's Military Intelligence and he warned Ali's parents that if he didn't stop criticising the government, he'd be in deep trouble soon. His parents therefore decided to get him out of Pakistan, and sent him to England to study at Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. He was elected President of the Oxford Union, in 1965. Ali's tenure at the Union included a meeting with Malcolm X in December 1964 during which Malcolm X expressed deep consternation about his own risk of assassination.

Career[link]

His public profile began to grow during the Vietnam War, when he engaged in debates against the war with such figures as Henry Kissinger and Michael Stewart. He testified at the Russell Tribunal over US involvement in Vietnam. As time passed, Ali became increasingly critical of American and Israeli foreign policies. He is also well known for his satirical work. He was also a vigorous opponent of American relations with Pakistan that tended to back military dictatorships over democracy. He was one of the marchers on the American embassy in London in 1968 in a demonstration against the Vietnam war.

Active in the New Left of the 1960s, he has long been associated with the ''New Left Review''. Drawn into revolutionary socialist politics through his involvement with ''The Black Dwarf'' newspaper, he joined a Trotskyist party, the International Marxist Group (IMG) in 1968. He was recruited to the leadership of the IMG and became a member of the International Executive Committee of the (reunified) Fourth International. He also befriended influential figures such as Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, John Lennon, and Yoko Ono.

In 1967 Ali was in Camiri, Bolivia, not far from where Che Guevara was captured, to observe the trial of Régis Debray. He was accused of being a Cuban revolutionary by authorities. Ali then said "If you torture me the whole night and I can speak Spanish in the morning I'll be grateful to you for the rest of my life."

During this period he was an IMG candidate in Sheffield Attercliffe at the February 1974 UK general election and was co-author of ''Trotsky for Beginners'', a cartoon book. In 1981, the IMG dissolved when its members entered the Labour Party: the IMG was promptly proscribed. Ali then abandoned activism in the revolutionary left and supported Tony Benn in his bid to become deputy leader of the Labour Party that year.

In 1990, he published the satire ''Redemption'', on the inability of the Trotskyists to handle the downfall of the Eastern bloc. The book contains parodies of many well-known figures in the Trotskyist movement.

His book ''Bush in Babylon'' criticizes the 2003 invasion of Iraq by American president George W. Bush. This book has a unique style, using poetry and critical essays in portraying the war in Iraq as a failure. Ali believes that the new Iraqi government will fail.

His previous book, ''Clash of Fundamentalisms'', puts the events of the September 11 attacks in historical perspective, covering the history of Islam from its foundations.

Ali has remained a critic of modern neoliberal economics and was present at the 2005 World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil where he was one of 19 to sign the Porto Alegre Manifesto. He is a fan of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela.

He has been described as "the alleged inspiration" for the Rolling Stones' song "Street Fighting Man", recorded in 1968. John Lennon's "Power to the People" was inspired by an interview Lennon gave to Ali.

In an article published in ''CounterPunch'', he responded to the Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversy and said, "The Bavarian is a razor-sharp reactionary cleric. I think he knew what he was saying and why. In a neo-liberal world suffering from environmental degradation, poverty, hunger, repression, a ‘planet of slums’ (in the graphic phrase of Mike Davis), the Pope chooses to insult the founder of a rival faith. The reaction in the Muslim world was predictable, but depressingly insufficient."

Screenplay[link]

Tariq Ali's ''The Leopard and The Fox'', first written as a BBC screenplay in 1985, is about the last days of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Never previously produced because of a censorship controversy, it was finally premiered in New York in October 2007, the day before former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned to her home country after eight years in exile.

in 2009, Ali, alongside Mark Weisbrot wrote the screenplay to the Oliver Stone documentary ''South of the Border''. This gave a favourable account of Hugo Chavez and other left wing Latin American leaders.

Personal life[link]

He currently lives in Highgate, London with his wife Susan Watkins, editor of the ''New Left Review''. He has three children: Natasha, Chengiz, and Aisha.

Works (partial) [link]

''Pakistan: Military Rule or People's Power'' (1970) ISBN 978-0-224-61864-9

''The Coming British Revolution'' (1971) ISBN 978-0-224-00630-9

''1968 and After: Inside the Revolution'' (1978) ISBN 978-0-85634-082-6

''Chile, Lessons of the Coup: Which Way to Workers Power'' (1978) ISBN 978-0-85612-107-4

''Trotsky for Beginners'' (1980) ISBN 978-0-906495-27-8

''Can Pakistan Survive?: The Death of a State'' (1983) ISBN 978-0-8052-7194-2; (1991) ISBN 978-0-86091-260-6

''Who's Afraid of Margaret Thatcher? In Praise of Socialism'' (1984) ISBN 978-0-86091-802-8

''The Stalinist Legacy: Its Impact on 20th-Century World Politics'' (1984) ISBN 978-0-931477-56-0

''An Indian Dynasty: The Story of the Nehru-Gandhi Family'' (1985) ISBN 978-0-399-13074-8

''Street Fighting Years: An Autobiography of the Sixties'' (1987) ISBN 978-0-00-217779-5

''Revolution from Above: Soviet Union Now'' (1988) ISBN 978-0-86091-268-2

''Iranian Nights'' (1989) ISBN 978-1-85459-026-8

''Moscow Gold'' (1990) ISBN 978-1-85459-078-7

''Redemption'' (1990) ISBN 978-0-7011-3394-8

''Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree'' (1992; 1st in the 'Islam Quintet') ISBN 978-0-7011-3944-5

''Necklaces'' (1992)

''Ugly Rumours'' (1998) ISBN 978-1-85459-426-6

''1968: Marching in the Streets'' (1998) ISBN 978-0-7475-3763-2

''Fear of Mirrors'' Arcadia Books (4 Aug 1998) ISBN 978-1-900850-10-0; University of Chicago Press (10 Aug 2010) ISBN 978-1-906497-15-6

''The Book of Saladin'' (1998; 2nd in the 'Islam Quintet') ISBN 978-1-85984-834-0

''Snogging Ken'' (2000) ISBN 978-1-84002-163-9

''The Stone Woman'' (2000; 3rd in the 'Islam Quintet') ISBN 978-1-85984-764-0

''Masters of the Universe: NATO's Balkan Crusade'' (2000) ISBN 978-1-85984-752-7

''Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity'' (2002) ISBN 978-1-85984-679-7

''Bush in Babylon'' (2003) ISBN 978-1-85984-583-7

''Street-Fighting Years: An Autobiography of the Sixties'' (2005) ISBN 978-1-84467-029-1

''Speaking of Empire and Resistance: Conversations with Tariq Ali'' (2005) ISBN 978-1-56584-954-9

''Rough Music: Blair, Bombs, Baghdad, London, Terror'' (2005) ISBN 978-1-84467-545-6

''Conversations with Edward Said'' (2005) ISBN 978-1-905422-04-3

''A Sultan in Palermo'' (2005; featuring Muhammad al-Idrisi and Roger II of Sicily; 4th in the 'Islam Quintet') ISBN 978-1-84467-025-3

''The Leopard and the Fox'' (2006) ISBN 978-1-905422-29-6

''Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope'' (2006) ISBN 978-1-84467-102-1; revised ed. (2008) ISBN 978-1-84467-248-6

''A Banker for All Seasons: Bank of Crooks and Cheats Incorporated'' (2007) ISBN 978-1-905422-65-4

''The assassination: Who Killed Indira G?'' (2008) ISBN 978-1-905422-85-2

''The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power'' (2008) ISBN 978-1-84737-355-7

''The Protocols of the Elders of Sodom: and other Essays'' (2009) ISBN 978-1-84467-367-4

''The Idea of Communism'' (Non-fiction) (2009) ISBN 978-1-906497-26-2

''Night of the Golden Butterfly'' (2010; 5th in the 'Islam Quintet') ISBN 978-1-84467-611-8

''The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, War Abroad'' (2010) ISBN 978-1-84467-449-7

''On History: Tariq Ali and Oliver Stone in Conversation'' (2011) ISBN 978-1-60846-149-3

References [link]

External links [link]

Tariq Ali Official webpage

On History

Column archive at ''The Guardian''

Articles authored at ''Journalisted''

Tariq Ali: ''The Night of the Golden Butterfly'' - Shimmering Prose against the Clash of Civilisations

;Interviews and speeches

A Clash of Civilizations of Fundamentalisms? A Conversation with Tariq Ali on pg. 115

Harvard Law School on U.S. foreign policy and Afghanistan">Tariq Ali speaks at Harvard Law School on U.S. foreign policy and Afghanistan

Tariq Ali: Neoliberalism and Protectorate States in the post-Yugoslav Balkans (ZNet)

Tariq Ali transcript & video of ''Conversations with History - Islam, Empire, and the Left''

"Media Matters" interview with Robert McChesney, 14 November 2004

"We live, after all, in a world where illusions are sacred and truth profane" (essay) - Tariq Ali

12-19-02 "On the Verge of War" talk - Noam Chomsky, Tariq Ali, Gilbert Achcar and Isin Elicin

"Seven Oaks Magazine" interview with Charles Demers

"Naked Punch Review" interview

A Life in Writing: Tariq Ali by ''The Guardian''

10-26-06 "The Latin American Challenge: Chavez, Morales, Castro" (audio recording)

10-01-06 W.B.A.I. ''Behind The News'' interview with Doug Henwood

Audio recording of Tariq Ali speaking on his book ''Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope''

"The Ideas of Tariq Ali" on CBC Radio One’s ''Ideas''

Desert Island Discs Tariq Ali's choices for ''Desert Island Discs''

Ali: "Obama’s Afghan-Pak Syndrome" - video report by ''Democracy Now!''

Ali on his book ''The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, War Abroad'' - video report by ''Democracy Now!''

;Profiles

Biography from the international literature festival berlin

Category:1943 births Category:Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Category:Anti–Vietnam War activists Category:Atheism activists Category:British anti-war activists Category:British atheists Category:British Marxists Category:British Trotskyists Category:English people of Pakistani descent Category:Historical novelists Category:International Marxist Group members Category:Living people Category:Pakistani activists Category:Pakistani anti-war activists Category:Pakistani atheists Category:Pakistani historical novelists Category:Pakistani emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Pakistani filmmakers Category:Pakistani Marxists Category:Pakistani military historians Category:Pakistani scholars Category:Pakistani Trotskyists Category:Pakistani writers Category:Presidents of the Oxford Union Category:Punjabi people Category:University of the Punjab alumni

ar:طارق علي de:Tariq Ali es:Tariq Ali eo:Tariq Ali fa:طارق علی fi:Tariq Ali fr:Tariq Ali hr:Tarik Ali id:Tariq Ali it:Tariq Ali mk:Тарик Али nl:Tariq Ali pt:Tariq Ali ro:Tariq Ali ru:Али, Тарик sr:Тарик Али sv:Tariq Ali tr:Tarık Ali ur:طارق علی

{{article issues |notability=March 2012 |original research=March 2012}}

{{infobox person | name

Lal Khan | image Lalkhan.jpg | caption Lal Khan addressing 30th Congress of The Struggle | pseudonym | birth_name | birth_date 1956 | birth_place Bhopan, Pakistan | death_date | death_place | occupation Political theorist, activist, writer | nationality Pakistani | period | genre | subject Trotskyism | movement International Marxist Tendency | spouse | alma_mater University of Islamabad | signature | website http://www.marxist.com }}

Lal Khan, M.D., is a political activist and Trotskyist political theorist. He is the leading figure and main theorist in the International Marxist Tendency, alongside Alan Woods. He is a physician by profession, although he no longer practices this profession for the sake of his revolutionary activities. In response to the coup attempt of 2002 in Venezuela, he helped found the Hands Off Venezuela campaign. He is currently the leader of the Pakistani Marxist organization The Struggle, and editor of its newspaper.

Early life[link]

In the 1970s, Khan was a student of medicine in college and a political activist in Pakistan when the military coup of General Zia ul Haq toppled the Pakistan Peoples Party government, and subsequently hanged the country's first democratically elected prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. In the aftermath of this event, many PPP workers and activists begun a struggle against General Zia's regime. As a consequence, many of them faced arrests, persecution, torture, and exile. Khan was arrested in 1980 on the charges of leading a student wing which was involved in organizing mass rallies against General Zia's government. He was sentenced to one year in prison, fifteen lashes, and a 20,000 rupee fine. He was imprisoned for a year, then went to university in the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad.

He was in the university for four months, and then, due to his involvement in anti-government political activities and the struggle for the overthrow of the Zia's dictatorship, he was sentenced to death, to be shot on sight. As a result of this, he was forced to leave Pakistan, moving to live in exile in 1980 in the Netherlands. During his time in exile, he graduated from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, and continued to reside in the Netherlands for eight more years. In his years of exile, he became acquainted with the works of Alan Woods, a Trotskyist political theorist in the British Labour Party. In the 1988, he returned to his country and quit his profession as a doctor, and has been working full time in revolutionary politics ever since.

Woods and Khan lead the International Marxist Tendency (IMT), an organization for the promotion of socialist and Marxist ideas. In recent years Lal Khan has received media attention for some of his work.

Work for The Struggle[link]

The International Marxist Tendency (IMT) is an international Trotskyist organization which is based on the ideas of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Trotsky.

The late Ted Grant was its chief theoretician and the person who built the organization. Currently, Alan Woods along with Lal Khan are its main leaders and theoreticians. The Pakistani section, The Struggle, is the largest section of the International Marxist Tendency. Lal Khan heads The Struggle in Pakistan and organizes many activities under the banner of the organization.

The Struggle advocates a socialist transformation of Pakistan. It demands the nationalization of the commanding heights of the economy under workers control, an end to religious extremism and radicalism, the eradication of unemployment and free accessible education for all Pakistani citizens. On March 12-13, 2011 the largest congress of The Struggle was held in Lahore . These annual congresses are held to analyse the performance of the International Marxist Tendency and to formulate new strategies for social change and revolution.

Books written by Lal Khan[link]

Khan is the author of several books:

''Partition - Can it be undone?'' This book examines the historical background of partition of the Indian subcontinent, and the formation of Pakistan and India.

''Lebanon-Israel War''. Written in 2009, this book discusses not only the current conflict between Lebanon and Israel in detail, but also looks at the history of wars and revolutions in the whole region. The changing role of Iran in the region and the possibility of an invasion of Iran are also discussed in detail.

''Pakistan’s Other Story - The Revolution of 1968-69''. This book examines the student and political activism of the late 1960s which gave birth to a revolution. Khan argues that due to lack of leadership courage, the opportunity to establish a worker's state was lost.

''Kashmir, A revolutionary way out''. This book examines the possibility of the liberation of Kashmir under a united South Asian socialist federation.

See also[link]

Marxism

Trotskyism

International Marxist Tendency

The Struggle

Ted Grant

Alan Woods

References[link]

External links[link]

Official website of The Struggle

Website of the IMT

Website of Youth for International Socialism

Website of Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign

Category:Living people Category:Pakistani political theorists Category:Pakistani revolutionaries Category:Pakistani Marxists Category:Pakistani Trotskyists Category:Pakistani people Category:Pakistani expatriates in the Netherlands Category:International Marxist Tendency Category:Quaid-i-Azam University alumni Category:1956 births

fr:Lal Khan