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Labour Deputy Dawgs: Hari Hari Harri Christener
Johann Hari who was one of those "leftie intellectuals" who backed the war in Iraq has christened Harri as the best fit for Gordy. His CV is HERE. Scheduled to defend the war in an Independent debate in Manchester Town Hall he bottled it on one of Waterhouse's fine staircases and admitted the war had made the world less safe at the outset. Robert Fisk made mincemeat of the young pretender. But here's his Harri hype:Okay, so Harriet Harman is not offering "an intergalactic revolution"*. It is unlikely space-aliens will bring socialism the day after she is elected. But she is offering a combination of real feminism and electoral popularity. As Labour faces its toughest election and most demoralised members since 1992, can it afford to say no?
You can join the campaign to make Harriet leader here.
Although his essential point below is a good one - which Labour can achieve however our women are deployed - I cannot approve of the gratuitous insult to dear Ann Widdecombe which rather detracts from Johann's proud feminist credentials:Harmanism can trash David Cameron's flimsy, inconsistent bid for the women's vote. The Tory leader conspicuously belongs to a small clique of rich men, with barely a woman in sight. Out of 179 Tory MPs, only 17 are women - and that's if you count Ann Widdecombe as female.
Write in and complain: here or here.
It's also worth noting that Red Harri and the Daily Telegraph Health pages were a couple or four months ahead of this game of Yin and Yan.
* Reference to one of Tony Benn's fellow travellers of yesteryear.
6 comments:
Write in and complain on behalf of Anne Wigglybum? You've got to be joking. I was a prisoner under her when she was Prisons Minister, I got smothered...
She is a she though isn't she? It is extraordinary that the pro-war but liberal JH should write a piece about Harriet's feminism and the disgrace of the Tories and include such crassness don't you think?
See the post on my blog entitled 'Hatty and Patty'. It's high time that someone looked into all of that again...
The Widdecombe jibe is unfortunate, especially in a piece pushing a feminist agenda. But like JHL, I just don't feel the rage. (Interestingly you fail to link directly to Hari's piece so we can see it in context, but I won't tell Iain Dale!). It's here.
Have to say I don't share your optimism that Labour will bring 'however our women are deployed' what Hari calls 'real feminism'. One consequence of the war in Iraq, is that many on the left have jettisoned feminism in a rush to defend Muslims; contrast Harmon's NS interview last year -- Why I want to see the veil gone from Britain -- with Afzal Khan’s assertion that the veil is a little more than a fashion item.
I'm undecided, but close to being persuaded that we we need a woman like Harriet to put feminism back on the left's agenda
The first link is to the piece in fact, albeit on the boy wonder's blog.
My optimism is on beating cameron on this issue rather than bringing real feminism I must say.
No-one have yet risen to dispute or endorse my assertion that Harriet Harman is more left wing than Jon Cruddas.
And I didn't get a reply from Mr Hari about his unfortunate remark.
On Afzal's veiled remarks we'd have to add harmless. A harmless fashion item he suggested.
Muslim's are not the only ones with distinctive dress codes. When I was a kid my dad worked with a Sikh woman who hubbie was the great crash helmet rebel of the day. Mr Chahal Singh I think from distant memory.
We went to their home in Oakridge Road in High Wycombe where we also lived and I remember playing with the kids and asking one of the boys names. This was Singh. I said: "Oh, that's unusual" ... was quite young at the time.
Catholic women wore headscarves in Britain particularly on Sundays and holy days in great numbers in those days and there are of course many people following the house of frum fashion line, the rastafarian line and the buddhist orange. Even a few Civil War puritans of the Sealed Knot.
My mistake on the link. Sorry! Although I do think your phrase ‘however we deploy our women’ is unfortunately macho.
It remains the case that the veil is a symbol of misogyny even if others have distinctive and/or misogynistic dress codes.
That many Muslim women feel such a strong obligation to show solidarity with their faith group that they overlook that, doesn’t change things either. It means women shouldn’t be forced to remove their veils.
Assuming we put women’s rights before religious rights, disingenuous commentary from men like Afzal Khan should face constant challenge.
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