George Galloway’s anti-war ‘Respect’ party was out campaigning today on the Stratford Road (Sparkbrook, Birmingham constituency). They had set up stall outside Mushtaq’s Asian Sweet Centre, handing out leaflets to shoppers and debating with passers by who had time. I noticed them from a distance and, despite my normal reticence, mustered enough courage to talk to one of them.
My argument was simple: I agreed with most of their sentiments, especially about the war, but thought they were a divisive influence in a Muslim majority constituency such as Sparkbrook. They would win a significant chunk of votes, sure, but not the seat. Other anti-war votes would go to the Liberal Democrats. The anti-war vote thus divided, Labour would sneak comfortably back in. I pointed out that this is what had happened before. If Respect had not stood in the Hodge Hill bye-election last year, Labour would have been massively defeated. By standing in Sparkbrook, Respect was ensuring a Labour victory. Only the Liberal Democrats offered a realistic route to defeating Labour here.
The campaigners were casually dismissive of such reasoning. For them, the Liberal Democrats are just as pro-war as Labour. What difference did it make which party of war won? I did not debate the point further, but felt unconvinced by their visceral rebuttal. The fact is that this was Blair’s war, made easy by oscitant Labour MPs. There is genuine anger against the war. If ever there was need for tactical voting, it is in this election.
As we were debating, a bearded gentleman came out of Mushtaq’s, clutching a box of mithai. He was in a hurry, but managed to offer some dialectic reasoning before hastily departing. “Do you know what Respect is?”, he asked rhetorically. His reply can be summed up like this. “Respect” is left wing, which is about being a socialist, which is related to anti-religious communism, which was an ideology diametrically opposed to Islam.
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