Response to Medhi Hassan's Guardian piece

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/02/muslims-step-outside-antiwar-comfort-zone

My comment:

Medhi, as an avid follower of your polemics, I'm quite disappointed.

You seem to have adopted the mainstream discourse in assuming that those of an Islamic faith 'won it' for Galloway, in ignorance of plain empirical fact. The fact is, Galloway could not have 'won it' at all by simply targeting an Islamic bloc; the so-called 'Muslim' population constitutes 38% of the Bradford West populace. Galloway won a decisive majority of 55.9% of the vote. It takes no statistical fetishist to acknowledge that, to have claimed such a victory, Galloway would have had to claw a huge chunk from pretty much every 'bloc' going; the White population at 52.6%, or the specifically Christian cohort at 38.9%. Indeed, the student population, at 11%, is reported to have voted highly in Galloway's favour as well. And this is before we even consider Labour's choice of candidate, and the supposed manipulation of votes by Asian families, through kinship ties, in Labour's favour.

You seem to have adopted the stance of the political mainstream in order to boost your own standing; the 'wise man of the minority', omniscient, bound by a fierce duty to direct your brother-pawns in the pursuit of truth, from your commanding backseat position. Yet in reality, you've subverted your politics to the feeble chess moves of the political elite. Feeble, disgusting, tiresome; these comical combinations of trickery no longer work. And it's a shame you have failed to diagnose this correctly. Galloway's victory represents a triumph for the British people, liberated of age-old ties to cemented political franchises; Labour, the Tories, and the Lib Dems. And it represents an utter disaster for the towering brand under which these franchises operate; the political elite. Disregard people, ignore inequality, attempt to manipulate and cajole, at your peril. That is the lesson from Bradford West. And yet, funnily enough, Labour have yet to learn their lesson; the literature currently being churned from the party line dresses the result in robes of nonsense, apportioning the blame for defeat upon a 'lack of concentration' in regards to Galloway's presence on the ground, or Labour's extensive 'focus' upon the Tories. Any regard for the 26% of households without central heating in Bradford, that resided under thirteen years of Labour rule? Or the 38.4% of non-qualified adults in the city? Or the 18.6% in social housing? Or what any of these people thought of Labour, and the promises of '97 to the British people? I really don't think I need even to satisfy these questions with the correct answer. It's explicit. Labour view the electorate as tool, with which the screws to the cementing of Tory rule may be unlocked and replaced. Yet as for caring about the electorate, and people's problems, they really couldn't give a toss. Read the Galloway campaign literature, which actually engaged with people's fears regarding capitalism, social apathy and atomisation, and the physical state of the local area, let alone austerity, and offered a solution to these issues.

As for the Middle East, it isn't only Muslims who are fed up of 'humanitarian missions' and disgusting hypocrisy. It played a part in the election, but please, don't for one second pretend it was the decisive factor. It's this sort of crap that lies behind Labour's inability to win votes. The jokes on you.