Harry's Place and Jenna Delich

Every so often there's a post on Harry's Place that I enjoy or find useful. I am, of course, duly ashamed of myself as it's hardly a place known for its cool and rational perspectives on politics, but once a month or so there's something worth reading there. We basically come from very different places and usually when I read HP it's with one long tut on the go.

However, that does not mean I think it should be closed down. Particularly for mentioning an uncontested fact - that a UCU union member posted a link to an article on the website of David Duke, who's politics are down the line racist.

His book Jewish Supremacism says it "simply examines and documents elements of ethnic supremacism that have existed in the Jewish community from historical to modern times" which should ring a bell with most readers here, but it is the least of the problems with the guy seeing as he's a former Grand Wizard of the KKK.

Interestingly I checked out the link Jenna Delich posted and it's essentially a cut and paste job which, whilst controversial and inaccurate, is not anti-semitic in itself, out of context. I can imagine someone scan reading the piece and, not knowing who David Duke was, forwarding the link. Although, having said that, they would have to be pretty unobservant not to cast their eye to the right of the screen, to the array of links and banners which do rather give the game away. Thankfully being unobservant is not yet a crime.

However, if I'd posted a link to a vile and genuinely dangerous racist, when it was pointed out to me I'd go "oh my good Lord" take down the link and apologise to everyone. In fact exactly that happened to me once - I linked to a BNP members blog. The piece itself was innocuous (it was on some local bit of news I think) but I hadn't bothered checking out the rest of the blog so I got a horrible surprise when someone said "Jim, why are you linking to fascists?"

It seems Jenna's response has been rather different from mine though. She's decided to take it all up a notch and has put in a legal complaint to their ISP and the site has been suspended, all for the fact that an image on Harry's Place said that she "links to far right websites associated with the Klu Klux Klan" - which is true.

Jenna states here that she "support[s] the idea that we should all stand united against all forms of racism against all people and religions (with no double-standards or selectiveness). All people are born equal, and deserve an euqal right to live, and an equal right to respect." If that's the case then she should really take stock about this whole affair. David Duke is not your ally.

It's one thing to link to abhorrent material (after all I've even done so in this post, it can be impossible to avoid if you're to allow the reader to judge for themselves) but it's quite another to kick up a fuss when someone highlights the fact that you did so. It's alright to make a mistake, it really is, who's perfect after all? But if you react to that mistake by refusing to correct what you've done and instead closing down the opposition - well, don't expect to feel the love.

Tactically she's clearly made one of the stupidest decisions of her life because her name will now be associated forever with posting a link to one of the world's leading racists and thinking it's everyone else who has the problem. Let's bring Harry's Place back on line.

You can read more on this episode here; http://jennadelich.blogspot.com/

Update: The Place has returned.

Update II: following the comments discussion I wanted to make two amendments to this post, and following my normal custom and practice I've chosen not to simply change the original text (which would erase my errors but make the discussion difficult to follow) but rather to add text in an update.

Amendment one: I linked to the Jenna Delich blog (above) as at the time it was the place that gave their "official" side of the story - readers should not take that link to be an endorsement of the site and was provided so people could read around the topic. There are a number of statements on that site now that did not exist when I linked to it that I find to be exaggerations, hyperboles, stupidities or lies.

Amendment two: It's been fairly pointed out that whilst I was correct in stating the basics of the case the post does rather leave the impression that HP were completely innocent and truthful throughout the episode. I'm happy to clarify that I do not think this is the case. I still hold to the opinion that Jenna's course of action was quite wrong, but I want to correct any impression that I approve of everything HP have said about her or those they disagree with on the Palestine issue.

It's clear that HP's purpose in the affair was to attack those who provide solidarity to the Palestinians and oppose the policies of the Israeli state, in this case specifically in UCU. By focusing on Jenna's error they hoped, successfully as it turned out, to turn her mistake into something of far greater political significance and for it to carry the meaning that she specifically and, by implication, other PSC members are Nazi sympathisers and anti-semites.

There is no justification for those disgraceful claims.

However, silencing opponents is wrong in principle and does not work as a tactic, as this whole episode shows extremely clearly. HP should not have been closed down, and had it not been the most far fetched of its claims would have been forgotten long ago.