Red Pepper News

New Hamas?

Although no one would accuse Hamas of softening its message into a bland 'third way' politics, its attempts to reform and become the new dominant voice of Palestine nationalism have not gone unnoticed. Graham Usher (a regular contributor to Red Pepper on Palestine and Israel ) has documented this trend in this informative article for Middle East Report, published in August 2005. The following quotation is particularly interesting:

Sheikh Ahmad Hajj Ali is a member of Hamas' Shura Council, the supreme decision-making body in the organization. He sketches a future in which a new Hamas, domestic in thrust, consensual in aim, international in reach, emerges gradually from the old one: "Our aim is governance and one can only govern through the institutions of government. If we are the minority in Parliament, we will monitor the ministers on the basis of their performance, not on the basis of their political affiliation. If we are a majority, we will not monopolize power like Fatah. We will share power in a national coalition, a government that represents all the Palestinian people."             

The sheikh continues: "But in all cases our priority now is to address the internal Palestinian situation rather than the confrontation with Israel. We would negotiate with Israel since that is the power that usurped our rights. If negotiations fail, we will call on the world to intervene. If this fails, we will go back to resistance. But if Israel were to agree with our internationally recognized rights -- including the refugees' right of return -- the Shura Council would seriously consider recognizing Israel in the interests of world peace."

In the eye of the storm

New publication: When the Brazilian Workers Party (PT) came to power, it seemed likely to act as a practical source of inspiration and learning for the construction of another world. But whilst the severe constraints of international finance and politics were always likely to weigh heavily upon Lula's government, its failure to extend the promise of participatory democracy and redistribution to a state level was far from predictable. In August 2005, Red Pepper editor Hilary Wainwright went to Brazil to find out 'what went wrong', and what positive lessons the Brazilian experience might hold for the future of the left. But on her arrival in Brazil, she found herself observing at first hand the unfolding of a political crisis, as revelations of systemic political corruption by elements of the PT leadership were uncovered. In the eye of the storm is, first and foremost, a collection of interviews with some key players in (and left- wing critics of) the PT, conducted as the crisis unfolded. Rather than expressing outrage at the moral lapses of their colleagues, the interviewees are concerned, above all, with how to protect the project of political transformation which, at its best moments, the PT had stood for. Essays by Sue Branford and Hilary Wainwright, and a preface by Geraldo Campos, set the interviews in the wider context of contemporary Brazilian politics. Download the pdf in English or Spanish

Charles Kennedy: dignity in retirement

Outgoing Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy will no doubt be as amused as we were by the ironic main headline on the party's website. It reads:  "Our vision: dignity and security in retirement."

George in the House

From the Grapple in the Apple... to boredom in Borehamwood. George Galloway has never been one to shy away from publicity, but his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother certainly raised a few eyebrows on the left.

The MP for Bethnal Green and Bow's constituents were initially shocked to hear that George had entered the House.
 
They weren't the only ones. Senior SWP members were kept in the dark about their Respect comrade's latest exploit and are not exactly best pleased. The Party's Central Committee are apparently fans of rival ITV show I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, if dark rumours that they are organising their own Bushtucker trial for Galloway are to be believed.