09.12.2004

Phantoms and anti-war candidates

The Weekly Worker has become mind-numbingly irrelevant of late. It is looking at the world through the wrong end of a telescope - with its endless reports of muted opposition in the Socialist Workers Party and what goes on in the Scottish Socialist Party.

No doubt we can expect to see in the run-up to the general election an interminable debate on the shortcomings of the Respect manifesto, with articles arguing for and against electoral support for the coalition. I guess the outcome will be to, very critically, support Respect on the dubious grounds of “that is where the action is”, as a writer in the Weekly Worker foolishly put it in the past.

Meanwhile, in the real world … Respect will be standing in a minority of constituencies, in all but a handful of which it will not get more than a few percent of the vote. And at best (or worst) deliver the odd Labour seat to the Tories or Lib Dems.

However, I am interested in George Galloway’s decision to stand against Oona King in Bethnal Green and Bow. This is not out of any softness on Respect or George, but because he might - conceivably - win. This issue actually got raised at the London Labour Party conference, when mayor Ken Livingstone argued that, if anti-war candidates must stand against Labour, they should do so in seats belonging to Blair or Geoff Hoon, not against one of only two black women MPs.

I fundamentally disagree. What defines Oona King politically is not her ethnicity or gender, but the small fact that - like many other Labour MPs - she supported the war on Iraq. On Ken’s argument you would end up supporting Condoleeza Rice.

I do not accept George’s terms of reference - however, what is wrong with standing where you are most likely to win? It seems sensible to me. As a Labour Party member, I cannot openly advocate support for George and decline the invitation to do so. Whatever the short-term impact of a victory for him, I do not see this as a part of an organised, concerted attempt to build a political alternative to New Labour. There will be many Labour Party members, however, who will not be able to stomach campaigning for Oona King, nor for any of her warmongering colleagues.

To me, the war is still the key issue in the coming election. I will be urging Labour anti-war comrades not to be invisible, or to sit at home and despair, but to actively campaign for the many Labour MPs who voted against the war and who can be persuaded to stand on an anti-war ticket. This is what Labour Against the War will be advocating at its AGM on Saturday February 5.

That is not an easy option. But it is engaging in a real political process - not the phantom one that currently appears in the pages of the Weekly Worker.