Comments on: Comrade Nadine

By: WPBer

WPBer — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 17:53:55 +0000

Just to mention that NRR was expelled from the WPB because of her alliances with JahJah and willingness to brint the WPB on the islamist path

By: Joanne

Joanne — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:22:35 +0000

OK, I understand.

If your actual aim is to track the extremists, that’s fine. Then I would merely suggest that you cast your net a bit wider.

Granted, nuanced political shifts by center-left and center-right MPs can make for bland reading. That’s a good point. But I still think you could trawl the political mainstream for maddening political stupidity to fisk, as you already do at times.

So, for instance, you could give more space to Monbiot, Toynbee, Fisk, Pilger, Alibhai-Brown and their ilk. And I’m sure there’s no shortage of idiots in politics, the arts, and NGOs–on the right and left–who spout inanities that you could skewer.

I’m not saying you should ignore the extremists who poison the political atmosphere, only that you should also focus on extremist nonsense from more “establishment” types, as they can do the most damage. With too much exposure, even Galloway will start to seem dull.

By: ermintrude

ermintrude — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:23:50 +0000

Perhaps this will be enlightening:

http://www.aboujahjah.com/

By: ermintrude

ermintrude — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:07:31 +0000

I take your point, Joanne, it is well made. However (from an entirely personal point of view) I find the study and tracking of such assorted moonbats, wingnuts and associated loons a pleasant – if perhaps eccentric, if not perverse – diversion.

By: Cipriano

Cipriano — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:05:51 +0000

Joanne – I take your point, but on the whole the various players in the democratic debate can be left alone, and can make their own points. We (or I, as I can only speak for myself) are mainly concerned with the attacks made on liberal democracy from its fringes. The people you mention do not count for much in themselves, but they’ve managed to create an atmosphere in which Islamic extremists get away with pretty well anything in the name of “Palestine”, bringing illiberal thuggishness into the politics of this country. Harry’s Place is active in turning the tide here; we have just had a major influence in getting a Hesbollah/Hamas meeting cancelled. A small triumph, but a triumph nonetheless: the liberal world has been put on notice that Islamists will no longer get a free ride, as we’re prepared to counter-demonstrate.

So other sites can concentrate on the minutiae of democratic politics (on which HP contributors hold widely divergent views). We need to focus on, and delegitimise, the nutters.

By: Joanne

Joanne — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:09:48 +0000

I’m wondering if Harry’s Place is spending too much time looking at marginal types, and thus exaggerating their importance.

It’s fine to look at radical Islamists or left-wing moonbats if they speak on behalf of major organizations or are in a position to influence policy. And it doesn’t hurt to look at the margins now and then, anyway.

But this focus on wingnuts from the right and left can wear thin after awhile. One hungers for a more general overview.

What do backbenchers and voters from all parties think? What are columnists from the Guardian and the Times saying these days? It might be worthwhile to give more more space to them–not just the most outrageous among them, but the most influential among them.

Never mind about George Galloway, Nadine Rosa-Rosso, Cynthia McKinney, Yvonne Ridley, Gilad Atzmon, Lauren Booth, etc. How much do these people really count at the end of the day? At the very least, HP shouldn’t focus on them so much. It’s becoming a kind of freak show.

By: Alec

Alec — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:11:02 +0000

Hoora!

http://www.quaker.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=170585&int1stParentNodeID=93929&int2ndParentNodeID=89723&int3rdParentNodeID=89723

By: Alec

Alec — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:51:12 +0000

I’m hearing on the chocolate house circuit it’s been cancelled.

By: Tory

Tory — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:39:25 +0000

Thanks ermintrude. The French ‘anti-Tesco’ Resistance then.

By: Cipriano

Cipriano — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:55:42 +0000

“As communist I am part of a tradition which fought against fascism and Nazism.”

No, you’re not. You’re part of a tradition which cut a dirty deal with fascism and Nazism, shortly after sabotaging the Spanish Republic and letting Franco win, supporting Hitler by propaganda and assistance in repression for the first year and three quarters of his war, and which only started flighting at all when the invasion left it no choice. Consistent enemies of the real libertarian Left, collaborators with (and arse-lickers of) fascism whenever it suits you, you lot are and always were a fucking disgrace.