RELEASE THESE HEROES NOW

The Respect Party is calling on the British government to act urgently to secure the release of 28 British nationals who are confirmed missing after the Israeli assault on the Gaza aid flotilla. These were members and supporters of Viva Palestina, the Free Gaza movement and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. So far, the Foreign Office has failed to reply to urgent requests for information regarding the fate of these heroic volunteers.

All were aboard ships taking 10,000 tonnes of construction materials and human assistance to Gaza in defiance of the illegal and inhumane Israeli blockade. The flotilla was attacked in international waters and so far 19 aid volunteers are known to have died. This was an act of piracy and murder.

All five ships were boarded, commandeered and towed to Ashdod port in Israel . The aid was confiscated and all the aid volunteers were arrested. The Israeli government has failed to release any information on their whereabouts or health so they are missing at this time. The full list of those who we know are missing is below.

Among them is Kevin Ovenden, the international coordinator and leading force in the creation and development of Viva Palestina. He has led three aid convoys to break the siege of Gaza since March 2009 and is the epitome of tireless heroism and sacrifice in support of Palestine .

Kevin is a hugely influential and cherished comrade in the Respect Party. He is a member of the Executive Committee, the National Council and a leading figure in Tower Hamlets Respect. He led the Viva Palestina group that joined the Gaza aid flotilla this week and carries the pride and passion of our entire party and movement with dignity and intelligence in this daring mission.

We demand the immediate release of Kevin Ovenden. The Respect Party has firm information that Kevin was unharmed in the assault on the flotilla and we expect his unharmed release from detention forthwith.

We demand the release of all those detained in this murderous attack. These people are heroes who have risked everything to help Palestine . They will be honoured upon return. In particular, we draw attention to Ahsan Shamruk, who travelled with Viva Palestina and was injured in the attack. He is reported to be in a stable condition and we send our thoughts and wishes for his safe return home. 

The full list of British nationals (provisional) is as follows:
Laura Macdonald Stuart
Ebrahim Musaji
Jamal Sayed
Parveen Yaqub
Baboo Adem Zanghar
Ahsan Shamruk
Mustafa Cengiz Ahmet
Tauqir Sharif
Boudejma Bounoua
Mohammad Bounoua
Sakir Yildirim
Kenneth O'Keefe
Ali El-Awaisi
Mohammed Bhaiyat
Lort Phillips Alexandra Mary
Sarah Nancy Colborne
Ismail Adam Patel
Nader Daher
Mahi Mohammed Abid
Nur-E-Azom Choudhury
Kevin Ovenden
Peter Venner
Clifford Gardner Hanley
Muzzammil Layth Chogley
Jamaluddin Mohammad Farid Elshayyal
Hassan Al Banna Ghani
Lazrag Salah
Ali Altan

Results for Enfield Southgate

David Burrowes Conservative 21,928 49.4%
Bambos Charalambous Labour 14,302 32.2%
Johar Khan Liberal Democrat 6,124 13.8%
Peter Krakowiak Green 632 1.4%
Bob Brock UK Independence Party 505 1.1%
Asit Mukhopadhyay Independent 391 0.9%
Samad Billoo Respect-Unity Coalition 174 0.4%
Ben Weald English Democrats 173 0.4%
Mal Malakounides Independent 88 0.2%
Jeremy Sturgess Better Britain Party, The 35 0.1%
Majority 7,626 17.2
Turnout 44,352 69.2 5.7

Thank you to all our supporters

The polls have now closed and we await the results. Respect would like to say a big thank you to all our members and supporters who have worked so hard over the last few weeks to give people a real choice at the election.

We will publish the results as soon as we are able. You can get results of left candidates as they come in at Liam Mac Uaid's blog here.

George Galloway on the London Debate

On Tuesday an audience of Londoners will quiz Labour, Conservatives, Lib Democrats and hear from the smaller parties hoping to make an impact on 6 May.

The candidates appearing will be:
Tessa Jowell (Labour)
Jeremy Hunt (Conservative)
Tom Brake (Lib Dem)
George Galloway (Respect)
Natalie Bennett (Green)
David Coburn (UKIP)

You can watch the programme on BBC 1 in London on Tuesday 27 April from 10.50pm.
Outside London you can watch on the BBC website

Samad Billoo on N21.net

Respect Party to launch manifesto for a hung parliament

Respect Office, 9 Club Row, London E1 6JX
Noon, Tuesday 27th April 2010

George Galloway will launch the Respect Party manifesto for a hung parliament tomorrow. He will highlight the policies Respect MPs will press for where no party has an overall majority and the major parties are seeking support from minor party MPs.

Respect expects to elect three MPs in the general election, George Galloway and Abjol Miah in Tower Hamlets and Salma Yaqoob in Birmingham. Respect MPs have ruled out supporting a Conservative government. The conditions they will place on support for a government in the next parliament will be a massive investment into council housing, withdrawal from Afghanistan and the scrapping of Trident and democratic reform of parliament including the introduction for fair voting.

Election meets Alice in Wonderland

Last night's leaders debate was strange affair. It was supposed to discuss foreign affairs but what should have been the biggest TV topic of debate was passed over with barely a flutter. The issue is, of course Afghanistan, where British soldiers continue to kill and be killed in an un-winnable war.

According to a poll in the Independent on Sunday, 77% of people in the UK want the troops brought home. Respect agrees. But sadly all the three old parties promise to keep them there - ensuring more blood is spilt needlessly. It's time to get round the table and talk peace and bring British troops home to their families.

My fellow candidate Dr Kay Phiilips in Manchester wrote the article below for her election website after the first debate. It sort of sums up the election so far: the election has been reduced, by the media, to three men and a question of who can look most 'prime ministerial'. Meanwhile our services face a decade of Thatcherite cuts. But should it really matter how 'calm and assured' they look as they wield the axe?



George Galloway on the Daily Politics show

George appeared on Andrew Neil's Daily Politics and predicted Respect will collect three seats and could have a crucial role in a hung Parliament.

You can watch the video on the 
BBC website here

No progress without struggle

I have always thought it crazy that 16 year olds could be sent to war, but could not vote against the politicians who wanted to send them there. I support proposals to lower the voting age. But even if such changes were introduced, how many young people would avail of the opportunity to vote?

Survey after survey shows that young people have strong opinions about politics, but very little faith in the political system. Parliament is seen as aloof, sleazy and indifferent. Many feel cynical about whether their vote makes any difference. That cynicism is understandable, but doesn’t really help much.

If we want change, we have to engage. As the great anti-slavery campaigner Fredrick Douglas said, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favour freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without ploughing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning.” That struggle is waged outside parliament, for example, by workers in trade unions campaigning for decent wages and conditions, by people trying to raise awareness and solidarity about climate change, or Third World Debt, or Palestine.

But that struggle can also waged inside Parliament as well. One of the great weaknesses of the anti-war movement was that while we had plenty of supporters on the streets, we had few inside the House of Commons. That needs to change. Parliament needs to be more representative of the people.

On May 6 this country will elect a new parliament. If you want Britain to be more committed to values of peace, justice and equality, you need to put politicians into parliament who will advocate on your behalf. But in order to vote you have got to be registered to vote. The closing date to register is April 20. The General Election is an opportunity to effect change. My advice would be, don’t waste it.

George Galloway: The fight is on

Labour is soft on the bankers. The Tories are the bankers.

So it’s not surprising that each of them is planning massive cuts to public services if they win the next election. The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, promises cuts that will be “deeper and tougher” than those carried out by Margaret Thatcher in the early 1980s.

Those cuts, we should remember, led to city after city in Britain becoming industrial ghost-towns, as millions were thrown on the scrap heap of the dole. Meanwhile from Toxteth to St Pauls, Brixton to Handsworth our inner cities burned as riots erupted out of anger and frustration.

So we have Labour’s manifesto in a nutshell. ‘A future fair for all’ translates as vote for us and we’ll deliver cuts deeper and tougher than the axe woman herself.