{"id":13253,"date":"2024-08-26T03:01:04","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T07:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/?p=13253"},"modified":"2024-08-28T10:11:57","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T14:11:57","slug":"gruesome-george-galloway-and-the-paris-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2024\/08\/gruesome-george-galloway-and-the-paris-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"Gruesome George Galloway and the Paris Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/span>lthough you wouldn\u2019t know it from the tut-tutting of outraged conservatives, it seems most of France liked the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics. This was even with the presence of drag queens<\/a> and what was perceived as a parody of da Vinci\u2019s The Last Supper<\/em><\/a>. A poll conducted<\/a> shortly after the ceremony aired found that 86 percent of French viewers judged it a success, five percent disagreed, and the rest were indifferent.<\/p>\n

The highest profile French politician opposed was neo-fascist Marine La Pen<\/a> who accused organizers<\/a> of being part of \u201ca left wing minority ready for any provocation.\u201d In the U.S., those opposed were of a similar political bent, people like former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis<\/a> and dimbulb kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs Harrison Butker<\/a>. Why these two conservative Christians are so deferential towards a piece of art created by a man who was almost certainly gay<\/a>, is an unanswered question.<\/p>\n

Joining this group is ex-British MP \u201cGorgeous\u201d George Galloway, fresh from losing his Rochdale seat. The same George Galloway who voted in favor of equalizing the age of consent<\/a> for gay and straight sex, and who voted in favor<\/a> of legalizing same-sex marriage, had issues with the ceremony. In the opening monologue for his Mother of All Talk Shows<\/em>, Galloway howled that \u201cthe very acme of Western degeneracy and decline was surely the opening ceremony of the French Olympics.\u201d Galloway described the ceremony as \u201csacrilegious, blasphemous, and utterly obscene,\u201d referring to the alleged parody of The Last Supper<\/em>, even though artistic director David Jolly and numerous art critics<\/a> have said it was actually a reference to Feast of the Gods by Jan van Bijlert.<\/p>\n

Those in the U.S. probably know Galloway for his 2005 demolition job<\/a> on Christopher Hitchens, his long-standing activism around Palestine, or his leadership of the anti-war Respect Party. They might be surprised at these remarks. Yet for roughly the past five years, Galloway has shifted sharply to the right<\/a> on a variety of social issues to the point that he was quoted in the Tory-supporting Daily Telegraph<\/em><\/a> identifying himself as a \u201csocial conservative.\u201d To be sure, Galloway had been a longtime opponent of abortion<\/a>, but he never made social conservatism a defining part of his politics until recently.<\/p>\n

Part of the reason for Galloway\u2019s changing attitude could be his collaboration with the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist), henceforth CPGBML. The party was an early cheerleader for Galloway\u2019s Workers Party of Britain. Joti Brar, vice-chair of the CPGBML, was elected<\/a> as co-chair of WPB. Brar\u2019s party exhibits all the classic homophobia and transphobia that animated earlier \u201canti-revisionist\u201d communist parties. In 1975, the U.S.-based Workers Voice Organization called homosexuality<\/a> \u201ca form of social sickness, a form of social perversion.\u201d The CPGBML proves that attitude survived for decades on some sections of the Marxist left despite social advances for LGBTQ people.<\/p>\n

The CPGBML passed a resolution<\/a> at their eighth congress opposing \u201cLGBT ideology\u201d as \u201cbeing reactionary and anti-working class and a harmful distraction and diversion from the class struggle of the proletariat for its social emancipation, is incompatible with membership of the party, rendering those involved in its promotion liable to expulsion.\u201d A summary of a speech given at that congress was published by the party headlined \u201cThe reactionary nightmare of \u2018gender fluidity.\u2019\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n