UK’s finger- pointing to Hong Kong reveals imperialist mindset
GT: What do you think is the reason behind the West’s misunderstanding on Hong Kong- related affairs?
Galloway: You know the famous old saw that the scorpion stings because it’s a scorpion. An imperialist and colonialist mindset works the way it does because it is a colonialist imperialist mindset. The truth is, Britain has never reconciled to its loss of empire and its diminution in the world to the tail of the American dog. Nobody wants to be a tail. But we have decided that we’d rather be the tail of the American dog than nothing at all.
Consequently, when we act and express today the interference in China’s internal affairs, we do so not on our own behalf, but on behalf of the American empire as the tail of the American dog.
In Hong Kong, we are going to live with the consequences because we have given hundreds of thousands of passports to Hong Kong Chinese citizens, and many of those Hong Kong people are going to turn up here. Where are we going to put them? What are we going to do with them? How are we going to find jobs for them? How are we going to find an appointment at the doctor for them or a place in school for their children? I have no idea because we can’t do any of these things for our own people. Never mind the people from Hong Kong. Why any Hong Kong person would want to come here is the first mystery. What we are going to do to accommodate them is an even bigger mystery.
GT: Against the current political atmosphere in the UK, do you feel pressure when you raise voices on Hong Kong- related affairs?
Galloway: I’m too long in the tooth to feel pressure. I’m an independent man, a political leader of a party. I served six terms in the British parliament, I have millions or followers. I’m kind of invulnerable to pressure. But there’s no doubt that people more vulnerable than me do feel pressure.
We feel suppression in our social media activities. For example, they have stamped me on Twitter with the absolutely false label that I am Russian state media.
I’m no state media, but that doesn’t stop them stamping every one of my pronouncements, whether about football or my children or about high politics, with the label Russian state media. And I have millions of followers. So that falsehood is being circulated millions of times every day.
If there is one thing that defines me, it is opposition to imperialism. I hate bigger, powerful people bullying smaller, less powerful people. I hate it on a global scale. The Hong Kong situation is as clear as day. Britain was only ever in Hong Kong because of imperial bullying. Now
that it has gone and the people who were bullied have taken back that which was always rightfully theirs, then truthfully, morally, you can do no other than to side with China.
GT: Do you think the US and some Western countries will continue to use the Hong Kong issue to put pressure on the Chinese government in the future? What form might it take?
Galloway: I absolutely do. But China seems to have stabilized the situation in Hong Kong for now. And I’m sure great attention is being paid to ensuring that it stays that way.
I talked earlier about the concept of an orchestra, a chorus. The conductor’s eyes are on elsewhere at the moment. They are on Taiwan. There’s the constant, dismal drill of lies about the Uygur question. Tibet is quiet for now, but they’ll be back. China has to be alert every day, because the enemy never sleeps. And China has to, if I may say so, sharpen its rebuttal skills.
China has to use whatever security is necessary to defend its national boundaries. That is obvious. It is the very definition of a state that it can defend its borders from subversion, from outside, from forces that seek to divide or weaken, or even break up China. That is not just your right. It’s your responsibility. But security isn’t just about force alone. Force is necessary, but not sufficient. An ideological struggle has to be maintained at home to foster a spirit of national unity and determination. And rebuttal of enemy propaganda. These are all essential weapons that China must deploy if it is to prevail. And we need a bit more of that going round in the West.