This wide ranging interview took place in Lahore in May this year while on a tour from Lahore to Chittral.
I also met with the PTI leadership and with Imran’s legal team.
I also got to umpire some cricket matches, including at the wonderful Lahore Gymkhana, venue of Pakistan’s first ever Test Match, and at Langlands, Chittral in the Hindu Kush which may be the world’s highest cricket pitch.
Doing some digging, it seems that segregation has long been a real problem in Blackburn and that Jack Straw got into hot water by asking Muslim women to remove their veils when coming to see him. Hopefully you can draw on your experience to help reduce fear, prejudice and unnecessary barriers.
Is there a video of your Freedom House speech anywhere?
This one: https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2002/10/speech_by_ambas/
“no government has the right to use the war against terrorism as an excuse for the persecution of those with a deep personal commitment to the Islamic religion, and who pursue their views by peaceful means. Sadly the large majority of those wrongly imprisoned in Uzbekistan fall into this category.”
In the 10 videos about Craig Murray I’ve not seen a single reference to the courageous defense of Muslims in Uzbekistan.
I wholeheartedly endorse the message presented here by Craig. I am aware of what has happened to over the last 25 yrs to the idea of western democracy. There was a key moment during the time of the Iraq war,with the destruction/assassination/ ‘convenient death’ of David Kelly. However the signs of how the stage was arranged were clearly visible years before that, at the time of the 1st Iraq war.
The media presentation of the situation in the middle east, and in particular Gaza and the west bank is so skewed by the undermining and suppression of the context of the conflict. Yesterday on the Today R 4 morning news programme was an interview with a released hostage. There was no attempt to describe the preceding conditions in the disputed areas and the overwhelming dominance of the US in dictating the prevailing conditions.
Here is a link to a less well known blogger providing some insight into the spreading dismay concerning our so called democratic process https://lenathehyena.wordpress.com/2024/06/19/quackocracy-the-great-british-rake-off/
I suppose my point is that the appalling pretence of democracy and its utterly corrupt posture is become more widely known. The stinging rejection of our system of government by a blogger more usually concerned with local history/culture reveals how serious the position is.
It is impossible to predict the outcome of this situation -a system which is now so unstable, socially/societally /economically/administratively/ climatically. People are clutching at straws- Farage is one such false prophet but polls suggest he is gaining traction.
It is hard to see how it can continue without some major disruption or collapse or descent into internal strife. This is compounded by the growing instability and rightward shift in neighbouring countries like Macron’s France, Germany, and some Eastern European countries. all impacted by the ongoing war in Ukraine, about to be escalated by the supply of F16 jets to Ukraine.
I hope the outcome of the campaign is that Craig is elected. It would be good to see a distinct group of MPs which questions the neoliberal orthodoxy now imposed upon us. Galloway, Murray, Corbyn, Abbott? to provide the kernel for the revival of politics not enslaved to the neoliberal mode and which can express dissent at the deeply corrupt Tory/Lab regime. Unfortunately the FPTP system suppresses alternative carraraites – but I wish Craig Murray the best in his epic struggle.
The UK uniparty and its supporters cannot tolerate the existence of even one powerful voice of dissent anywhere in the political world. Especially now, when they are complicit in genocide. Just one charismatic dissenter can destroy the official propaganda narrative for millions of people.
They cannot tolerate such voices even if they are not British and are elected outside the UK. There was recently absolute glee in British uniparty media when the fearless and captivating Irishwoman Clare Daly did not get re-elected to Brussels.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/11/controversial-dublin-mep-candidate-clare-daly-loses-seat-despite-celebrity-backing
Remember that glorious photo op and piece of aggregated propaganda showing “the Army” performing shooting practice on targets with Corbyn’s face on them Greg?
The uniform delight expressed by Daly’s gloaters (A Percyism from Blackadder) is creepy when delineated so simply. As you say symbolic resonance only yet she is considered a threat. It is the same ethos as Spycops, where completely powerless people were targeted by counter-terror operations as opposed to information warfare as in this case. She, like us is powerless but someone getting to say their opinions in a Parliament! – is considered a “clear and present danger” and this privilege must be extinguished
What do you think is the primary objection that the “Plastic People” have for this woman? The Velvet Revolution lead by Vaclav Havel used this song to describe the people who ran Czechoslovakia, released by Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in the late eighties.
“Take a day and walk around
Watch the nazis run your town
Then go home and check yourself
You think we’re singing ’bout someone else…
But you’re plastic people
You gotta go
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Plastic people
You gotta go
Three nights and days I walk the streets
This town is full of plastic creeps
Their shoes are brown to match their suits
They got no balls, they got no roots…”
Frank Zappa (1987)
Now that the Greens have been excluded from the BBC Leaders debate, while Reform are in, it really seems that our democratic choice is tightly curtailed
I absolutely agree Alyson, the BBullshitting Corporation is up to their old racist exclusion.
Where I am there’s no Worker’s Party candidate, so barring independents who I don’t know anything about it’s a toss-up between the LibDems and the Greens.
You’re fooling yourself. We’re living in a dictatorship. A self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working classes–
So are you going to sit at home and let some “autocrat” take the seat in your constituency by default, instead of exercising a choice between the candidates available?
The latest massive YouGov MRP poll was released yesterday (sample size: ca. 40,000 – fieldwork: 11-18 June):
https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/49809-second-yougov-2024-election-mrp-shows-conservatives-on-lowest-seat-total-in-history
In Blackburn, it has Labour on 47%, with our host and the three Independents on a combined 14% – so it looks like a lot of work is going to have to be done to overturn that. In Rochdale, it puts Galloway on only 7%, and all the other parties apart from Labour not much higher – which, if accurate, means that there could be money (circa £100 by my maths) to be made on Betfair*:
https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/politics/market/1.229310778
Caution: In the words of Galloway himself, gambling is the ‘Devil’s buttermilk’ – except, of course, if you’re betting on him, in which case, he’ll even retweet a picture of your betting slip.
* That doesn’t happen everyday. Someone is also offering odds on ‘any other candidate’ winning in Rochdale, even though they’re aren’t any – the cheeky ****.
Sticking with the gambling theme. According to CCHQ in a now-deleted tweet: If you bet on Labour, you can never win:
https://x.com/BestForBritain/status/1803737636172890443
And if you work for the Tories and bet on a July election, you can’t lose – until you get a knock on the door from the rozzers, because you were too stupid to get a passing acquaintance who’s a bit wherrr to do it for you in exchange for a 20% cut of the profits.
“The latest massive YouGov MRP poll”
They would say that wouldn’t Lol
This is why the left and people like you are finished in politics, Murray. As bad as the two main parties are, you people – Galloway, Hedges, Corbyn, and the rest – are the worst of the worst – you want to see Britain and the British completely drowned in other cultures and those who just want to use this country for their own personal gain.
I was wondering at first what you were complaining about – but I get it now. You’re a racist.
Try reading something other than Stormfront once in a while, and you might understand that we’ve always been migrating, we’re a migratory species. May I suggest “Nomad Nation” by Gaia Vince.