The Wardman Wire

Heave-Ho Harry’s Place

Here we go again; another random party using our atrocious Libel Laws to close down criticism and debate. In this case it appears to be Sheffield Academic Jenna Delich, or her supporters, making legal noises to intimidate the iSP hosting the blog Harry’s Place.

Harry’s Place comments:

Though we have not yet seen the complaint submitted, we assume it runs along the lines that pointing out that Ms Delich linked to the website of a known neo-Nazi figure and former Ku Klux Klan leader is defamatory.

This is extraordinary since Ms Delich has not denied that she circulated links to David Duke’s website. There would be no point since the evidence is in the public domain.

They committed the unforgiveable sin of “publishing a fact”, which means that any Libel Case is down the toilet for a start - if my legal head is screwed-on correctly tonight. And any iSP should know that, but the law makes it easier to give in. If allegation is not correct (I think it looks fine), then they (and the rest of us) may be skewered.

Leftish imbroglios and nuances are not my strong suit - but closing down debate by running squealing to an iSP using Britain’s nonsensical Libel Laws is the best way to make yourself look ridiculous.

The actors in this case: Jenna Delich is an activist with a bee in her bonnet for the campaign for an Academic Boycott of Israel, and the UCU is one of the main Unions for staff in Higher Education.

The Articles about Jenna Delich on Harry’s Place

You can read an archive of the articles about Jenna Delich at the backup blog. I have a local copy here (there may be problems with the Style Sheet, so treat this as a last resort).

Hip-Hip Harry

The Very Public Sociologist has a decent brief summary (with lots of comments, and the formatting of my quote is slightly off - sorry as time is short tonight):

HP is under attack - and not for the first time. The (hopefully) temporary stand-in while HP is off the air takes up the story:

Harry’s Place may be removed (or rather have it’s DNS disabled) after a ‘complaint’ to the company that our domain name is registered with. We assume after threats were made on the weekend that this ‘complaint’ originates from Jenna Delich or her supporters. Though we have not yet seen the complaint submitted, we assume it runs along the lines that pointing out that Ms Delich linked to the website of a known neo-Nazi figure and former Ku Klux Klan leader is defamatory. This is extraordinary since Ms Delich has not denied that she circulated links to David Dukes website. There would be no point since the evidence is in the public domain. Nevertheless, a malicious complaint has been made to the company hosting our DNS.

More background is available courtesy of Modernity Blog here, here and here.

More from Engage Online:

Harry’s Place, the website which published the fact that the University and College Union (UCU) had circulated an antisemitic link from David Duke’s website is currently offline. Its web service provider has been threatened with a libel suit and it has responded by suspending Harry’s Place.

This follows the advice circulated by the UCU on the activists’ list from Mike Cushman, who is one of the official leaders of the boycott campaign (BRICUP) within the union. He told Jenna Delich that he thought Harry’s Place had “potentially libelled” her and he advised her to “contact hurryupharry’s ISP”. One can only assume that he hoped that Harry’s Place would be silenced in this way.

The Boycott campaign has often criticized its opponents when there has been talk about bringing anti-racist law to bear on the UCU. Their position has been that it would be an illegitimate tactic to use the power of the state to interfere with free speech in the union.

But now at least some boycotters are hoping that British libel law is used to silence opponents of antisemitism and to protect themselves, and Jenna Delich, from criticism.

and also some background from the same source:

The email list within the union which links about 700 activists. Any union member may subscribe and the activist list is administrated and monitored by the union. You can see the kinds of things which pass for comradely and antiracist debate on the list by following this link. Antisemitism is routinely tolerated on the activist list when it is expressed in the language of hostility to Israel. Only a small group of Jews and antiracists have been standing up against this culture on the list. Some have been excluded from the list on trumped up charges. Others have been driven off the list by continual accusations of bad faith. Others have left the union because they cannot bear to pay their dues to what they consider to be an antisemitic organization.

All this is to do with the campaign to close down free Academic Debate in pursuit of the long term noises-off about Israel.

Harry’s Place Blog Button

Anyway - here’s the badge for general use. Whipped up a bit quickly, there aren’t a lot of graphics around. I suggest linking back to an article with a decent summary to help spread the message (such as this one, or any other you like).

(I feel like setting up a blasted button factory).

While I’m at it: British Muslim Initiative

While I’m at it, let me say I also support Harry’s Place in their previous (and maybe current?) legal argument with the people at the British Muslim Iniative. As Sunny said:

Harry’s Place blog was recently legally threatened by Mohammed Sawalha, President of the British Muslim Initiative, and associated with British sympathisers of the terrorist group Hamas. Harry’s Place responded with their own legal representation, and its unlikely that this stupid attempt to use libel law will get anywhere.

This one has gone quiet; it could be that Mr Sawalha has backed off when someone stood up to him, or it may be coming back to the surface.

Wrapping Up

Anyway, Harry and Friends have my support. Personally I would support an Academic Boycott of the Boycott Israel Campaign.

On the broader point, it may seem a minor issue in an obscure political backwater, but Free Expression starts at the bottom, not the top.

What actually needs to happen is for Jenna Delich and whoever runs the Union Activist List to issue a “cockup not conspiracy” confession and apology, and then everyone can get back to the traditional scrummage.