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Old 03-25-2009, 06:16 AM   #1
Starlah
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Location: British Columbia, Canada
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Post Bushism MP's In Ottawa Ban George Galloway MP

George Galloway MP for Bethnall Green and Bow in the U.K. has been banned from entering Canada by the Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

Apparently our MP for Immigration and most likely the Prime Minister Stephen Harper do not like or endorse any opposing views/free speech regarding Canada's role in Afghanistan despite the increasing casualties arriving back to Canada in "body bags".
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...alloway-canada

Canada can't muzzle me
To ban me from the country for my views on Afghanistan is absurd, hypocritical, and in vain


George Galloway
The Guardian, Saturday 21 March 2009

The Canadian immigration minister Jason Kenney gazetted in the Sun yesterday morning that I was to be excluded from his country because of my views on Afghanistan. That's the way the rightwing, last-ditch dead-enders of Bushism in Ottawa conduct their business.

Kenney is quite a card. A quick trawl establishes he's a gay-baiter, gung-ho armchair warrior, with an odd habit of exceeding his immigration brief. Three years ago he attacked the pro-western Lebanese prime minister, Fuad Siniora, for being ungrateful to Canada for its support of Israeli bombardment of his country. Most curiously of all, in 2006 he addressed a rally of the so-called People's Mujahideen of Iran, a Waco-style cult, banned in the European Union as a terrorist organisation. On one level being banned by such a man is like being told to sit up straight by the hunchback of Notre Dame or being lectured on due diligence by Conrad Black. On another, for a Scotsman to be excluded from Canada is like being turned away from the family home.

But what are my views on Afghanistan which the Canadian government does not want its people to hear? I've never been to Afghanistan, nor have I ever met a Taliban, but my first impression into the parliamentary vellum on the subject was more than two decades ago. At the time the fathers of the Taliban were "freedom fighters", paraded at US Republican and British Tory conferences. Who knows, maybe even the Canadian right extolled these god-fearing opponents of communism. I did not, however.

On the eve of their storming of Kabul I told Margaret Thatcher that she "had opened the gates to the barbarians" and that "a long, dark night would now descend upon the people of Afghanistan". With the same conviction, I say to the Canadian and other Nato governments today that your policy is equally a profound mistake. From time to time and with increased regularity it is a crime. Like the bombardment of wedding parties and even funerals or the presiding over a record opium crop, which under our noses finds its way coursing through the veins of young people from Nova Scotia to Newcastle upon Tyne. But it is worse than a crime, as Tallyrand said, it's a blunder.

The Afghans have never succumbed to foreign occupation, heaven knows the British empire tried, tried and failed again. Not even Alexander the Great succeeded, and whoever else he is, minister Kenney is no Alexander the Great. Young Canadian soldiers are dying in significant numbers on Afghanistan's plains. Their families are entitled to know how many of us believe this adventure to be similarly doomed and that genuine support for troops - British, Canadian and other - means bringing them home and changing course.

To ban a five-times elected British MP from addressing public events or keeping appointments with television and radio programmes is a serious matter. Kenney's "spokesman" told the Sun, "Galloway's not coming in ... end of story." Alas for him, it's not. Canada remains a free country governed by law and my friends are even now seeking a judicial review. And there are other ways I can address those Canadians who wish to hear me.

More than half a century ago Paul Robeson, one of the greatest men who ever lived, was forbidden to enter Canada not by Ottawa but by Washington, which had taken away his passport. But he was still able to transfix a vast crowd of Vancouver's mill hands and miners with a 17-minute telephone concert, culminating in a rendition of the Ballad of Joe Hill. Technology has moved on since then. And so from coast to coast, minister Kenney notwithstanding, I will be heard - one way or another.

• George Galloway is Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow gallowayg@parliament.uk

_________________________________________________
Kick at the darkness until it bleeds daylight...Bruce Cockburn
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Old 03-25-2009, 08:37 AM   #2
Anchor
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Default Re: Bushism MP's In Ottawa Ban George Galloway MP

George Galloway is a genius with words, and his research and knowledge is brilliant. I am glad he is on the side of truth.

A..
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Old 01-07-2010, 06:40 PM   #3
no caste
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Default Re: Bushism MP's In Ottawa Ban George Galloway MP

George Galloway is in Gaza today, after a 2-week delay, delivering supplies like medicine.
The food is not allowed by Israeli forces ('because food is actually not allowed to come through the Rafah gate.')

That he was not allowed into Canada to speak last year is a wretched embarrassment. How many butts can a PM put his head in.
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George Galloway's aid convoy arrives in Gaza after clashes with Egyptian police - Jan 7 2010 By Matt Dickinson
ACTIVISTS led by MP George Galloway finally arrived in Gaza last night after clashes with Egyptian police.
Around 520 people on board 150 trucks full of supplies were earlier involved in violent scenes at the port city of El Arish, near Gaza.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk...6908-21948659/

ALSO: VIVA PALESTINA WEBSITE
http://www.vivapalestina.org/messages.htm

INTERVIEW: Viva Palestina Aid Convoy Arrives in Gaza, George Galloway Describes “Desperate” Situation (January 07, 2010)
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/7...voy_arrives_in

*'Infandous*' George Galloway banned from Canada on grounds of national security (*look it up)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...-security.html
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Old 01-08-2010, 08:12 AM   #4
Starlah
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Post Re: Bushism MP's In Ottawa Ban George Galloway MP

Thanks for those links No Caste...Gaza is a "heartbreak and shame" to those who are aware of its plight...recently I watched a video about Gaza during the time American Rachel Corrie (an activist for the Palestinian cause) was in the country...it included graphic footage of her being mowed down and killed by a bulldozer wrecking crew which was obliterating homes and businesses in the settlement. How those people survive with poisoned wells and toxic food is beyond my comprehension.
The world needs more Galloways......
__________________________________________________ _________
Kick at the darkness til it bleeds daylight...........Bruce Cockburn
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