Harry's Place

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Harry's Place is a British political weblog. It is a prominent voice of what it calls "the pro-liberation left" (a group more disparagingly referred to as "liberal hawks"). It was first set up in November 2002 and named for the Sham 69 song "Hurry up Harry" and the first name of the founder of the blog, Harry Hatchet. The logo on the front page of the blog is a quote from George Orwell: "Liberty, if it means anything, is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear".

It has been nominated for a number of awards, including a Guardian award for political blogs ^[1], the 2005 Weblog awards for UK blogs, ^[2] as well as the UK section of the Islamic Human Rights Commission's 'Annual Islamophobia Awards' 2006 [1]; posts on the site had ridiculed these awards and openly invited nomination. [2]

1 Politics
2 Contributors
3 Controversy
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Politics

Harry's Place defines itself as centre-left and was supportive of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the concept of humanitarian intervention, and liberal dissident movements in the Islamic world. It is a supporter of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and is a defender of Israel's right to exist within safe and secure boundaries. It is highly critical of Islamism ^[3] and of allegedly totalitarian, pro-Islamist, and anti-Semitic tendencies on the left.^[4] ^[5] Nick Cohen noted that the blog was one of few places where it was being pointed out that "a section of the left has allied with religious fundamentalism". ^[6]

The site is particularly critical of Ken Livingstone, ^[7] ^[8] George Galloway, ^[9] RESPECT, ^[10] ^[11] and the Socialist Workers Party.^[12] It is a staunch opponent of religious and political censorship of all kinds, ^[13] and was supportive of the 2006 London March for Free Expression.^[14] The site is also one of the main backers of the Euston Manifesto.^[15]

Harry's Place has a love-hate relationship with The Guardian newspaper. Harry has noted that he is still a Guardian reader ^[16] and he has had several guest columns in The Guardian's technology and online commentary sections.^[17] ^[18] On the other hand, Harry's Place contributors disagree with The Guardian's editorial writers more often than not, and their vehement disagreements with various Guardian columns are a frequent subject of topic on their site.^[19] Harry's Place is a frequent subject of satire in The Guardian's satirical "Norman Johnson" column.^[20] In April 2006, Harry's Place has mirrored its site under the domain name Grauniad.org, an allusion to The Guardian's reputation for frequent typos and misspellings.

[edit] Contributors

Harry's Place was originally started by a writer using the nom de plume Harry Hatchet (aka "Harry" - none of Harry's Place writers use their full name), who was originally the sole writer. Harry was active in British anti-fascist and Marxist politics in the mid-to-late 1980s, and in this period was also a member of the Straight Left faction of the Communist Party of Great Britain. It is claimed that he took the pseudonym "Harry Steele" as a tribute to Harry Pollitt, former General Secretary of the CPGB, and the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (though Harry claims it was a "piss-take" and "not a homage to anyone").^[21] Under this name he contributed to a number of far-left message boards and mailing lists, including "UK Left Network" and "The Politburo", a discussion board for British Communists, the latter of which he set up.^[22] In this period he became well-known among fellow contributors for his support for "orthodox" Soviet Communism and his attacks on Trotskyists, in particular the Socialist Workers Party. Some critics felt that his later views on the anti-racism movement were closer to the right-wing than to traditional left-wing politics. For example, he wrote in the "UK Left Network" in May 2001 that "Most white people think that the police have been letting Pakistani youth get away with actions that white youths would be banged up for without a second thought - and they have a point."^[23]

The September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center served as a "wake up call" according to Harry, prompting him to try and better understand what political forces led up to it^[16]. In 2002, he began blogging as a way to clarify his own thoughts on political issues such as the impending war in Iraq, moving away from his Communism to embrace a more moderate social-democratic worldview. He made a public break with his former views in a Workers' Liberty message board discussion in October 2002, where he said Stalinism was a viewpoint "I now reject totally".^[24]

The rapid growth in the site's audience led him to include other like-minded writers so that the blog could be updated more regularly. Harry ceased to contribute regularly at the end of September 2005.^[25] ^[20]

Other contributors include Marcus, Gene Zitver (aka "Gene"), David T, and more recently, Adam LeBor, Brett Lock, Brian Meredith and others. Marcus is an old friend and political comrade of Harry's. Marcus attended the February 15 2003 anti-war protest in London, and came away with the opinion that "I don't know if I can consider myself left-wing anymore if this is the left". Marcus wrote about his views on the politics behind the February 15 demonstration, and soon became a regular contributor.^[16] Gene is a resident of the United States and from a socialist and trade union background, and had spent several years living in Israel. Harry came across Gene's posts on a George Orwell discussion list, and invited him to start posting on his blog.^[16] Gene is a strong supporter of the opposition to President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, whom he accuses of being authoritarian^{[citation needed]}.

David T is a lawyer and former lecturer. David T also came to blogging after the September 11 attacks. One of his close childhood friends was among those killed in the World Trade Center, while another close childhood friend became a militant Islamist, and appeared in the media applauding the attacks. He took up reading and writing blogs as a way of trying to making sense of these events.^[26] Journalist Johann Hari also contributed articles to the weblog until Autumn 2004, when he left to start his own blog.

[edit] Controversy

The comments pages on Harry's Place are an open forum, and there are many who visit the site simply to post and make their disagreement known. The level of debate can become quite heated and it has been alleged that in spite of Harry's Place' oft-stated opposition to censorship, they have been known to block users or remove their posts if the argument becomes heated enough.^[27]

Harry's Place is often accused of Islamophobia. ^[28] The site's contributors reply that they are criticizing what they see as a reactionary interpretation of Islam, not Muslims in general, and that they are expressing solidarity with Muslims who are oppressed by Islamists.^[29] ^[30]