a écrit :Students apoplectic, not apathetic, says Galloway
Redbrick vol 71, issue 1297, 10th-16th November 2006
Wednesday evening the campus host a meeting organised by Birmingham University Students Against the War, "Say No to War & Islamophobia", with star speaker RESPECT MP George Galloway.
As reported in Redbrick, his invitation to the University has provoked some controversy, as Guild President Gary Hughes withdrew from the platform after learning of Galloway's involvment (Issue 1295).
The controversy was highlighted by some students walking out as Mr Galloway began to speak, but he continued unruffled, arguing that "young peaple are not apathetic, but apoplectic at our pathetic government." Jack Straw came under fire as Mr. Galloway accused him of being an ambitious and cowardly headline seeker attacking a small minority of women.
He went on to describe the Iraq War as being an aggressive act which has "turned the world upside down", and been more significant to British foreign policy than the 1956 Suez crisis. He also criticised Western governments for supporting undemocratic regimes such as those of Saudi Arabia and Lybia. In the aftermeth of the recent US mid-term elections he called upon Britain to deliver a similarly crushing defeat to Blair.
Other speakers included RESPECT Councillor Salma Yaqoob, who compared the climate surrounding Jewish immigration in Europe before World War Two to the current attitudes surrounding the Muslim population of Britain. She issued a challenge to Bush and Blair: "if you want to stop terrorism, stop participating in terrorism."
Dr. Tahir Abbas, a Sociology lecturer at the University, argued that multicultural countries are a model of success and that the failures of the state are to blame for ethnic tension. Lynda Holmes of "Military Families Against the War" warned students that these problems could affect all of us if the Government should decide to reintroduce conscription, adding "male or female - if they want you, they will come and get you."
Around 40 students staged a protest outside University Centre before the meeting. They cited Mr Galloway's support of Hezbollah and irs leader, Hassan Nasrallah, as the reason for their belief that he should not be invited on the campus. One anonymous student argued, "These resistance movements are funded, financed and have ideological roots in terrorism. There are many who jump on bandwagons without fully knowing the issues.3 President Hughes commented, "It is unfortunate that the strong views of the Guild against racism and war are being confused with this event. The fact that I won't stand with Galloway doesn't mean that I don't stand with our Muslim students."
Bilal Hussain, a student attending the meeting, saw the protest as unrepresentative - about twenty idiots claiming to speak for the entire university." The treasurer of Conservative Future, Daniel Cowdrill, argued that trying to bar Galloway from campus contradicts free speech. Other students were wary of the use of Israeli flags at the protest (the Jewish Society helped to organise it).
Israel quickly became the focus of discussion in the meeting, with Galloway expressing his surprise at seeing so many protesters waving Israeli flags when the previous night eighteen civilians in Gaza, all members of the same family, had died as a result of Israel shells. He continued, controversially, "The flag of Israel is spattered with the blood of Palestinians. It is the flag of a terrorist state which has broken more UN resolutions than any other." He called upon British Jewish to wave the "flag of liberty" rather than the flag of Israel, saying that he did not believe Jew equals Zionist or vice versa.
In response, Rafi Addlestone, one organiser of the protest, called on Galloway to justify his support of Hezbollah and Hassan Nasrallah. he argues that Israel is a country seeking peace, adding, to jeers, "Israel has never unprovokedly attacked anyone." Galloway riposted that, "no one in their right minds, outside of the Zionist fanatics, believes that to be true," before calling for a boycott of Israeli goods and universities: "every penny you spend on Israeli goods is a bullet in the back of a Palestinian child."
The event was attended by at least 400 people, with Chair Simon Howard saying he was "very happy".
Daniel Coggins.
Quelques notes pour comprendre :
* "The Guild" : il s'agit de la "Guild of Students", en gros le bureau des élèves, qui regroupe les associations étudiantes. Celles-ci en Angleterre sont assez souvant communautaires et parfois clairement communautaristes. C'est le cas de la "Jewish Society" qui est évoquée dans l'article et qui est animée par des militants sionistes.
* Sur Jack Straw, je ne sais pas si on en a beaucoup parlé en France : c'est le ministre de l'intérieur de Tony Blair, et il a récemment fait des déclarations publiques comme quoi le niqab (voile islamique qui ne laisse voir que les yeux :ph34r: ) pouvaient "inhiber les relations inter-communautaires". Je sais ça n'a l'air de rien vu de France mais jamais jusqu'ici aucun homme politique anglais n'avait osé dénoncer le voile islamique. Et du coup ses propos extrêmement mesurés ont été dénoncés comme une provocation raciste, non seulement par les islamistes mais aussi par les leaders de RESPECT et même certains travaillistes.