The timing of a conference this weekend outlining policies and action to bring about a more progressive London could scarcely be better. This week the official figures confirm what those of us in east London can see with our own eyes: that class inequality has increased to Victorian levels even as tens of billions of pounds of public money has gone into banks which remain in private hands.

The result is gold-dripping Croesus characters in Canary Wharf and the City eyeing every council estate and bit of spare land in the East End as a possible development or pied-a-terre, with the current inhabitants an encumbrance to be uprooted and dumped further east. This class gulf is combined with racial inequalities, poor health and other forms of deprivation into a toxic cocktail.

It is set to get worse – and much, much worse if the Old Etonians of the Tory party are to get the chance, as they did in the early 1980s, to unleash their Thatcherite dogmas. And no one should forget – as one representative after another of Blair's war camarilla is hauled before the Iraq inquiry – that Cameron and the Tories backed each and every one of those bloody adventures.

Yet despite the deadening consensus in parliament, on many issues there is a progressive majority – particularly in London. At one point there appeared to be flickers of realisation in the Brown circle that this is so. They flirted with the idea of fighting an election contrasting Tory cuts to necessary public investment. But a peashooter across the bows from the Blairites in the New Year put paid to that.

Now we are to face an election with the three parties pushing various permutations of cuts that threaten to plunge the economy into a second slump even as it flatlines from the first. My party, Respect, will be standing in carefully targeted seats in opposition to that. And we will be working with those who also seek to promote a progressive answer to class inequality, war and racism. If we can win in the three seats where we are best placed – Poplar & Limehouse and Bethnal Green & Bow in east London, and Hall Green in Birmingham – we believe we can make a major contribution to shifting the terms of political debate.

We know, of course, that that will not be enough. That's why we are engaging across the board with those who want to defend traditional Labour values. The argument is overwhelming. We are told that the state needs to be cut back. But it is only thanks to the largest ever state peacetime state intervention in the economy that the world has avoided a greater slump than the 1930s, at least for now.

We are told by one general after another that we will have to be in Afghanistan for five, 10, or even 15 years. Yet scepticism about the war has grown and is set, along with Iraq, to provide a backdrop to this year's general election as it did in 2005. The shrill cries of racism, bigotry and Islamophobia are amplified by the media and all too many politicians, giving credence to the hate-mongers of the BNP. Yet more and more people are living and mixing alongside one another in council wards, schools and workplaces across Britain.

The London elections in 2008 saw a progressive coalition emerge. But it was defeated, not because it was too radical, but because it was dragged down by the failure of New Labour in office. As I said to those on the left who appeared indifferent, or even hostile, as to whether Ken Livingstone would remain mayor of London, quoting Joni Mitchell, "You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone." How many people must now bitterly realise that now that Boris Johnson is busy paving, if not paradise, then certainly over one poor community after another in the capital.

The same should not be allowed to happen now nationally. Those who want a fairer and more just society need to band together and stand on principle. We can do that it movements for peace, social justice and against racism. But we should do it where we can at the ballot box too.

• George Galloway is speaking at the Progressive London conference on 30 January at Congress House, Great Russell Street WC1H, 10am-5:30pm. To register in advance go to www.progressivelondon.org.uk

This article first appeared on The Guardian’s Comment is free on Friday 29th January.

Respect Party MP George Galloway will join Ken Livingstone and a wide range of leading writers, commentators, campaigners and politicians at a conference to discuss 'A Progressive Agenda to Stop the Right in 2010'.

The conference on 30 January in London will bring together leading figures to discuss the most important issues for progressive politics in 2010, nationally, internationally and in London.

Other speakers include Professor Tariq Ramadan, Anas Altikriti of the British Muslim Initiative, Speech Debelle, Jon McClure of Reverend and the Makers, Dr Karma Nabulsi, Nizam Uddin (President of the University of London Union), Bellavia Ribeiro-Addy (NUS Black Students’ Officer), Daf Adley (NUS LGBT Officer) and Samuel Moncada the Venezuelan Ambassador to Britain.

Sessions include:

Young People and the Economic Crisis

Gaza 1 Year On

One Society, Many Cultures

Investment not Cuts

Stopping the BNP – no concessions to the far right

There is no progressive imperialism

Other discussions will include culture, climate change, women’s liberation, LGBT rights and defending public services.

Announcing the conference Ken Livingstone said:
“Progressive political forces must seize back the agenda by offering policies that ensure that the majority of people are not made to pay for a crisis they did not create.

The Progressive London conference will look at how we resist cuts to public services, pensions and pay that would hamper economic revival, work together to continue to achieve social progress, take radical steps to protect the planet from climate change and halt the BNP in its tracks by ending the self-defeating cycle of concessions to the far right.”

The Viva Palestina Convoy broke the siege on Gaza in a historic act of solidarity.

Despite being attacked by Egyptian riot police at the port of Al Arish, the 'strong willed' convoy of humanitarians from all over the world carrying much needed medical aid to the people of Gaza reached their final destination and was greeted with cheers from hundreds of well-wishers carrying flowers, warm smiles and chanting Viva Palestina!

Viva Palestina convoy leader Kevin Ovenden said: “We are all emotional to see that all of Gaza are out to greet us! - Our Viva Palestina convoy is symbolic! It shows the Palestinian people just how much the people of the West do care. We come in peace to deliver humanitarian aid and we hope that our convoy (and convoys like ours) will help to build pressure on the Israeli government to break the siege.”

The convoy aimed to cross the Rafah border into Gaza on 27 December 2009, to mark the first anniversary of the beginning of Israel’s 2008/9 land and air assault on Gaza, which killed 1,400 Palestinians in three weeks. The Convoy finally made it to Gaza on January 6th 2010.

Get Involved - National Student Speaking Tour throughout February and March

‘End the Siege on Gaza – Student Eye Witnesses from Viva Palestina Convoy’ national speaker tour will be taking place at universities and colleges across the country throughout February and March.

If you would like to host a meeting on your campus please contact: students@palestinecampaign.org

The tour is organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Viva Palestina, NUS Black Students’ Campaign and Let Palestinians Study.

A report from Students on the Convoy about their experiences in Gaza will be coming soon.

The Viva Palestina convoy is now on the thirtieth day of its mission to deliver vital humanitarian aid to Gaza. After departing from London and travelling through Europe then down through Syria, the convoy was denied entry to Egypt across the Gulf of Aqaba, instead remaining in the Jordanian port of Aqaba. Following many days of protracted negotiations with the Egyptian authorities, the convoy was forced to accept a lengthy and unnecessary detour. This has delayed the aid from arriving at its destination and resulted in some of the convoy members having to return home without reaching Gaza.

The new route saw the convoy head back north to Syria, arriving in the Mediterranean port of Lataika on New Year’s Eve. Yesterday, the vehicles and a handful of the convoy members embarked on a seventeen-hour boat journey to the Egyptian port of El-Arish, which lies just twenty miles west of the Rafah crossing into Gaza. Shortly after midday (GMT) today, the Viva Palestina delegates moved out of the Palestinian refugee camp that had been their home for the last few days and headed for Lataika airport to be shuttled across to El-Arish.

The vehicles have cleared customs and the delegates are ready to fly. The Rafah crossing opened yesterday, so everything appears to be falling into place for the aid to be delivered tomorrow.

Viva Palestina delegate Fiona Edwards has sent the following report from the road to Gaza:
"Whilst many of us on the convoy are very frustrated and disappointed that Egypt has delayed the convoy from entering Gaza in time for the first anniversary of 'Operation Cast Lead' on 27th December to deliver our vital humanitarian aid, spirits are far from low.

For the past four days, the convoy has been hosted by a Palestinian refugee camp in the town of Lattakia, Syria. It has been a great privilege to spend time with refugees who were forced out of their homes in Palestine over 60 years ago and have been prevented from returning ever since.

One Palestinian family generously offered a few members of the convoy, including myself, dinner on New Year's Eve. As fireworks filled the Syrian night sky, I was reminded of the horrors inflicted on the population of Gaza by Israel this time last year; the only thing raining down from the sky in Gaza on 31st December 2008 were burning balls of white phosphorous.

Meeting and staying with Palestinian refugees, who are denied the right to visit their relatives and friends in besieged Gaza, over the past few days has made the convoy more determined than ever to reach Gaza with our aid and solidarity. Long live Palestine - Viva Palestina!"

Ian Drummond, another student on the convoy, commented:
"It has been frustrating that the Egyptian government has deliberately delayed the convoy and sad to see some convoy members have to leave before reaching Gaza as a result. But the overwhelmingly positive response we have received from people along the way, and especially the hospitality and generosity of the Palestinian refugees we've been staying with for the past few days, has raised our spirits and inspired us to see this through to the end.

The reception we've had in Syria (both times we've been here) has been phenomenal. When I went to a poetry night in Damascus in my Viva Palestina t-shirt, I was invited by the compère to make a speech about the convoy! One of the great things about Viva Palestina is that it shows the world that whilst the British government supports Israel's siege on Gaza, ordinary people in Britain have organised and raised money to relieve the suffering that the siege causes. I just hope this delay won't cause any more needless suffering and death in Gaza - because our aid did not reach the people of Gaza who needed it in time."

National Speaker Tour - End the Siege on Gaza

with eye-witnesses from the Viva Palestina convoy

If you would like to organise a meeting on your university or college campus with speakers from the Viva Palestina convoy in February or March, please contact students@palestinecampaign.org.

The convoy's progress can be followed online at:
www.palestinecampaign.org or www.vivapalestina.org.uk
You can also follow the convoy’s progress on Twitter @Pal_S_Campaign or @viva_palestina

Press release from One Society Many Cultures

Following the failed terrorist attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on 25th December 2009, many media reports have used the fact that the perpetrator was a student in London who was active in a student Islamic society to imply that this appalling act was incited by the perfectly normal activities of Islamic societies in London colleges.

Such views have been rejected by Malcolm Grant, provost of University College London (UCL), who said reports that Abdulmutallab developed extreme views whilst studying at UCL about were "spectacular insinuation", and has ordered a review of the 23-year-old's time at the university. Attacks on Islamic societies are unjustified, and whip up an atmosphere of fear and even hatred towards all Muslims.

Islamic societies - like Jewish, Christian and other faith groups - are a normal part of student life. Islamic societies give their members social support, discuss issues of faith, and, among many other activities, are a means of inter-faith and inter-community dialogue.

Islamic societies also respond to Islamaphobia - for example following a vicious assault on Muslim students leaving prayers at City University in November, the Islamic societies supported the victims and gathered support for widespread condemnation of the perpetrators.

Responses to this terrorist attack that encourage hostility to all Muslims and their expressions of faith add to an atmosphere which is already leading to stepped up attacks and assaults on Muslims.

In addition to the incident at City University mentioned above, in recent months there has been a rise in physical attacks on Muslims, including two murders - of a taxi driver in Birmingham and a man in Tooting, South London. In Rochdale in the North West, a Muslim woman was violently attacked by a BNP supporter who attempted to rip off her Hijab. Fascist and far-right groups have held numerous overtly anti-Muslim demonstrations, including two outside a Mosque.

Sabby Dhalu, National Assembly Against Racism Co-ordinator, said:
"Part of the route to countering terrorism lies in ensuring that Britain's Muslim communities are respected and included in all aspects of society. The overwhelming majority of Muslims resident in the UK abhor acts like that attempted by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on 25th December 2009, and support the work of the police and others in identifying those advocating such inhuman acts.

"Isolating and stigmatising all Muslims in response to such incidents undermines these efforts and the basis of an integrated society where all are free to express their faith and culture as long as it does not interfere with the rights of others to do the same.

"Unilateral and unsubstantiated attacks on the role of Islamic societies in London colleges, propagated by right-wing institutes like the Centre for Social Cohesion, undermine these efforts and whip up fear and prejudice against Muslims.

"Such attacks on the Islamic faith as a whole would be utterly rejected if the target was Jewish or Christian societies.

"The media should stop giving prime time coverage to those whose only contribution is to whip up Islamaphobia, which can lead to increased violence against Muslims as recent cases demonstrate, and whose prejudiced and sneering views about a faith practiced by over a billion people in the world, serve no purpose in fighting terrorism."

Faisal Hanjra, spokesman for the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) said:
"It was with great relief that we learnt that this attempted terror attack on a US airliner was thwarted; it is though deeply concerning that this individual, who was known to the security services, was allowed to slip through the various layers of security and bring on board explosive material.

"This is clearly a very complicated case, with numerous dimensions and complexities. What is needed is a fully informed picture as to the whereabouts and behaviour of the individual in question in the run-up to recent events.

"We reaffirm our stance that there is no credible evidence to suggest that university campuses in the UK are arenas of radicalisation or that students are particularly at risk of the threat of radicalisation.

"We remain committed, in conjunction with various partners and organisations, to ensure that universities remain safe places for both students and staff."

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, Muslim Council of Britain Secretary General, said:
"We all have a collective duty to stand against those who wish to perpetrate terror against innocent civilians wherever it may occur. Terror and violence is not the way to convey a message, however legitimate the cause may be. It is totally counter-productive. While the suspected individual has been arrested and charged, the due process of the law should take its course and all individuals are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. There has been hysterical commentary on its alleged links to the United Kingdom, even though terrorism is now a transient phenomenon and draws its strength from informal transnational networks. The overwhelming majority of Muslims have no truck with extremists. This is borne out by credible research showing that Muslims in the UK are the most patriotic in Europe.

"Moreover there are approximately 100,000 Muslim students at universities across the UK, the vast majority of whom are law-abiding and play a full and active role in student life. Muslim students, who come to study in the UK from across the world have contributed immensely to the culture, society and economy of the UK. The actions of one misguided individual should not tarnish the reputation of the majority. We will let terrorists win if bigotry is allowed to flourish."

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, NUS Black Students' Officer, said:
"The NUS Black Students' Campaign condemns the attempted terrorist attack on 25th December. Terrorist attacks are indiscriminate, taking victims of all backgrounds, all walks of life, of all faiths and none.

"The NUS Black Students' Campaign believes the most effective way of combating terrorism is to work with all communities, including the Muslim community, including on campuses.

"On campuses, Muslim students have become the victims of a hostile climate which saw students stabbed at City University, and Muslim women having their Hijabs ripped off. Such divisions only work to the advantage of all extremists who want to see our society divided.

"We therefore fully support the efforts of the Muslim community, including the Federation of Student Islamic Societies on campuses, in building cross-community relations across society."

Student Respect fully supports 'One Society Many Cultures', which is a campaign that defends our most fundamental human rights including the rights to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and cultural expression. It took hundreds of years of struggles, including international and civil wars, to establish the freedoms of religious and cultural expression and these must be vigorously upheld subject only to the proportionate protection of the human rights and freedoms of others. These universal rights must be defended for all groups in society.