Still no reply to my email sent to the STWC in the wake of last weekend’s rally and the comments by Galloway thus:
“I am here to glorify the resistance, Hezbollah. I am here to glorify the leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.”
Those questions in full:
1 – Is it now official STWC policy to support Hezbollah?
2 – If not, does the STWC disassociate itself from GeorgeGalloway’s remarks, which are an explicit statement of solidarity with Hezbollah?
3 – If so, when did it become official policy to support Hezbollah, as such a policy is clearly at variance with your email to PD two days before the rally, where you made it clear that the STWC was not a supporter of that movement?
4 – Does the STWC agree that the firing of over 1,000 Katyusha rockets at Israeli towns and cities in the last 2 weeks meets the standard of “terrorist action against civilians”?
5 – Assuming you agree this is “terrorist action against civilians”, will you take this opportunity – or any other? – to condemn these acts, something you say in your email to PD that the STWC “never hesitates” to do?
Gene adds: Andrew Murray, chair of the Stop the War Coalition, has posted in the comments the following responses to Brownie’s questions:
1 – No.
2 – Andrew Burgin and myself spoke on behalf of the StWC at the rally in question. Other speakers spoke on their own behalf or that of other organisations they represent. We do not answer for their opinions. Our views are summarised in the letter to the Prime Minister signed by over 8,000 people to date, including George Galloway, the text of which can be found at www.stopwar.org.uk
3 – This question falls, I think, in the light of the answer to question 1 above.
4 – StWC calls for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Lebanon. This would bring an end to rocket attacks on northern Israel, and the civilian deaths which have resulted, as well as an end to the aerial bombardment of south Beirut and other Lebanese cities by the Israeli armed forces and the far greater loss of innocent life they have caused. Any military action which deliberately targets civilian life or which is conducted with a reckless disregard to the overwhelming probability of innocent deaths cannot be supported as a general principle.
5 – As you probably are aware, StWC has always condemned terrorist acts aimed at civilians, whether carried out by state or non-state actors. This constitutes one of the differences between us.