Friday 30th June 2006 - Galloway: A Language Of Dissent? A Personal View (3/3) By Pablo Luis González

(1/3), (2/3), (3/3),

How do I see this relationship between politics, situation and language in the case of Galloway? When he was expelled from New Labour, he already was in a position of minority within the party, holding unsavoury views for the liking of the hierarchy in issues such as Palestine, the sanctions and bombardment of Iraq, workers' rights, NHS, and many others.

In fact, it seems that the case was that the comments he made regarding the presence and role of British troops in Iraq were used as an excuse to get rid of him, an excuse that the party hierarchy had been looking for a long time. He has since then not only been marginalized by the political establishment, in spite of having won a seat in the East End of London at the last general election against all odds, but also by the media, currently the two pillars of political power.

He has been accused of being a traitor, of being in the pay of Saddam Hussein, of encouraging subversion and suicide bombings, and of every other wrong doing possible under the sun. What can be expected from the man? To hang himself? Galloway is a heavyweight fighter, and he is getting out of the corner he has been forced into. Confronted with the reality of poor or no access at all to mainstream media, old style public meetings along the breadth and length of the country, shunned by most politician these days of dominant global news - a description of Blair wearing make-up was simply beautiful.

Literature festivals such as the Humber Mouth here in Hull, rallies, demonstrations and marches, and even Big Brother, have become platforms from which he is fighting for his beliefs for a just society, both here and abroad.

For it cannot be morally justified to have a just and balanced society at home while either intervening abroad as a rather decrepit imperial power, like in Iraq, or supporting aggressive and militarized states such as Israel. Certainly he was right to be annoyed and enraged at the suggestion that Britain should intervene in Zimbabwe. The days of the empire where the sun never sets are gone never to return, regardless of the lack of thrust or not that people may have had on their former colonial masters.

The directness and colour of his language, his attacks on morally bankrupt politicians and ministers, his skills to disarm, disassemble and throw back opponents' arguments onto their faces, so evident and useful during the American Senate hearing.

"The repeated use of the words 'I'" and 'I did this or that' or 'I was there' have been moulded initially by his political honesty and integrity, by his situation as an outsider to the political establishment. " And honed by the fact that more recently he became an outcast, a strong-willed politician with deep convictions facing the formidable machine that New Labour is and the combined onslaught by newspapers and broadcasters - just remember how he has been treated by the presenters of a supposedly balanced and neutral programme such as Radio 4's Today in the very few occasions he has been interviewed.

And all of this without a sizeable political apparatus behind him. Without a formidable ego to confront these combined brutal attacks, he would have been politically dead a long time ago. When facing an establishment that uses words as weapons of mass destruction, sometimes in a subtle way and other times not so subtly, a language has to be honed to counter those and to be able to be heard above all the noise. This is Galloway's language, the language of a fighter deeply committed to social justice, equality and workers' rights. Certainly, Britain needs more politicians and activists with these qualities and courage to speak out. www.humbermouth.org.uk www.humbermouth.blogspot.com pabloluisgonzalez.tripod.com

Reviews, Theatre - Northern Broadsides Company at Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough - Wars of The Roses by Patrick Henry
	Battles depicted by semaphoric flag-wielding and huge rattling drums, vigorous balletics, sack-barrows deployed as steeds or track-turning tanks; speeches characterised by robust Northern or Midlands accents, and their inherent ironies and wiliness; intrigues concocted rapidly and sadistically, mirroring statecraft strategy related to our day now. Such are the best Read more...

Reviews, Humber Mouth 2006 - Saturday 1st July - Germaine Greer at Hull By Laura Kilvington
	As a enthusiastic follower of feminist literature, I attended the talk by Germaine Greer with the expectation of an intense, second wave feminism discussion like the, all societies on the verge of death are masculine (Greer:1984) type opinions which I associated with her. Instead, the rubric of Greer's discussion was Anne Hathaway, the older and greatly overlooked Read more...

Reviews, Humber Mouth 2006 - Friday 30th June - Galloway Trucking in Hull By Martin J Deane George Galloway Photographs by Ben Gurevitch
	George Galloway, MP for Tower Hamlets in East London played Spring Street Theatre, Hull on Friday. Despite introducing himself as having spent 6 hours in the back of a car suffering from food poisoning he delivered an entertaining, insightful and though-provoking show. Here is a flavour of it! It's not verbatim but from notes so any errors are my own! Read more...

Reviews, Humber Mouth 2006 - John Pilger at the Ferens By Martin J Deane
	Blair is the most right wing Prime Minister I have ever known. And that includes Thatcher! In a wide ranging talk on Tuesday night, John Pilger shared his experiences of nearly 40 years of investigative journalism giving a flavour of the man who, over 40 years, has made it an art. In his opening remarks, John Pilger said how he used to cover northern England for Read more...

Reviews, Books - Book Recommendations by Steve Rudd
	Here are some short and sweet book recommendations in place of the usual fully-fledged reviews, quite simply because I haven't had time to write up these reviews in more detail. The fact is that there are too many great books, and far too little time to read them - let alone write about them in gushing retrospect. Anyway, here's some mention of some of the books I've recently been Read more...

Reviews, Films - Films Kong By Michelle Dee
	Visually stunning. Terrific pace. Jackson winds up the tension to breaking point and never lets you go till the final frame. This is what you would expect from a Christmas Blockbuster, but this reworking of the original King Kong film, has so much more than the usual thrills and spills. Naomi Watts is very striking to say the least and the ill-fated love Read more...

Reviews, Books - Complicity by Nick Quantrill Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	The rain refused to ease as Coleman made his way through Queens Gardens and on towards King Edward Street. He pulled his collar up and hurried his pace... This is a staggeringly enthralling showcase for Hull-based writer Nick Quantrill's unmistakable talent for writing fiction - and crime fiction, to be more precise. He has written a fair few short stories that revolve around crime Read more...

Reviews, Books - Ian Newton - The Night Shift Reviewed By Kevin Maguire
	The guy in a sharp business suit glowered as if I was mad for laughing out loud while waiting for a flight in Washington Dulles International Airport. No exhibitionist, I rarely laugh out loud. Indeed, I rarely read anything worth laughing about, let alone out loud. But the story about two on-the-run robbers holding a group of Hull factory workers hostage after a fish Read more...

Reviews, Books - East Of The Mountains By David Guterson Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	Alright, so you might not have heard of the author before, but you might actually be already familiar with some of his 'work,' as his debut novel was called Snow Falling On Cedars... a staggering bestseller that came to be made into a Hollywood movie starring Ethan Hawke. Such a debut made it apparent that Guterson is one hell of a story teller who goes to great Read more...

Reviews, Books - Scott Phillips - The Walkaway Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	It is imperative that you keep your wits about when reading this novel more than with almost any other mighty slab of fiction ever published. If you've never read Phillips' awesome debut novel The Ice Harvest, then there's actually little point whatsoever you even making a beeline for The Walkaway, for this mesmerisingly cool epic crime-drama is the incredible Read more...

Reviews, Books - Robert Adams - Antman (Bitterne Books) Reviewed By Nick Quantrill
	Antman is the latest crime novel from prolific Hull-based author Robert Adams. It is his interest in ant behaviour that forms the heart of this book, and one that allows him to craft a dark narrative that absorbs and terrifies in equal measure. The novel starts with the discovery of a dead pig at a remote location in the Hull area. Forensic investigation reveals that the animal was reduced Read more...

Reviews, Books - The Two-Bear Mambo By Joe R. Lansdale Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	Lansdale certainly is one hell of a prolific author, and this is something like the tenth novel of his that I have had the pleasure of reading. The vast majority of his novels follow two buddies, Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, as they manage - without fail - to get into all kinds of violent predicaments through being often overly stubborn and too-proud-by-half men. Read more...

Reviews, Books - Wobegon Boy by Garrison Keillor Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	I have a responsible job and pay my taxes and keep my lawn mowed, but because I dare to be an individual, people whisper about me behind my back. Why is life like this? This epic novel is an absolute masterpiece that is drama-driven and hugely poignant, as it follows a man called John Tollefson as he bumbles through his life over a pronounced period of time, with the Read more...

Reviews, Books - Down By The River Where The Dead Men Go by George P. Pelecanos Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	As the novel title must suggest, this is a crime thriller... and one of the highest order. I first heard of the author in Pelecanos through him heaping praise on the 'action-thriller' writing of Steve Hamilton. Like with Hamilton's work, Pelecanos weaves an engrossing story around a series of hugely believable and genuinely exciting set-pieces. Interestingly, many authors Read more...

Reviews, Books - Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller Reviewed By Steve Rudd
	You can get something out of a book, even a bad book. First published in France in 1934, this extraordinary piece of writing never saw the light of day in the United States and the wider world at large until after 1961, following a mighty legal battle that resulted in the book finally being published elsewhere. Human beings make a strange fauna and flora...More than anything Read more...

Reviews, Books - Rising To Obscurity and How To Remain Anonymous by AAA Aarbon (Bitterne Books) Reviewed By Nick Quantrill
	Published by Hull-based Bitterne Books, the first two titles in this humorous series offer a different take on the modern world that we live in. Part satire, part social comment, they follow the story of AAA Aarbon, a self-confessed seeker of anonymity. AAA Aarbon is described by his editor as being best forgotten for many reasons. Rising To Obscurity charts the absurd Read more...