Bottom line: if Johann Hari wants to write an article like that, and can’t, then he shouldn’t be writing for the FT. The problem is deeper than that of course; Hari doesn’t want to write such an article, and similarly nor do many other “liberal” commentators.

As garbled about on my blog, what would have been the reaction to these same posters had they been held aloft by members of UCU in a different different dispute but where they had the same relevance? Would the lecturers have been racist thugs, or would they have been offering ironic comment on Gordon Brown’s choice of words?

If you can honestly (even though hypothetically) say that you would have condemned those lecturers as clearly racist, and their actions therefore wrong, then I’ll take back my line of argument and just start swearing at you instead for being such a bleedin’ liberal with no sense of objective interest, seeing as this is Dave’s site and that’s what you tend to get when you come here (well, alright, not thay much swearing). It’s Friday and I’m not feeling intellectually robust enough to take you on my own.

And if you’d read any of my other articles on this subject, I’ve pointed out that BJ4BW was a piss-poor choice of slogan, even if ironic. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s got nothing to do with discrimination. That article you highlighted, the same one I did, is discrimination in reverse, except the OP and the comments are basically using it to say “I told you so” that the “discrimination” by the striking workers will cause discrimination in Italy.

Which is bollocks, and will only happen if socialists pursue a non-strategy as regards organisation amongst such workers.

You’d hope, but that doesn’t mean that the current slogans aren’t an extremely poor choice.

Re. your comment on my post, I’m shocked that you’re shocked! I’m not exactly in favour of discrimination, am I?

I was happy to see the Socialist Party with representation up there; the SP are a class act when it comes to organising industrial action. Though, of course, actually getting them to support industrial action when they hold positions as in PCS is entirely a different matter. But yes, we should be focussed on our goals, not the actions of others, groups which will prove to be irrelevant if we succeed…

Still, the capitulation of the Guardian and many sections of the self-defined “liberal-left” offer valuable insights.

I didn’t really look at what Left groups of various sorts were saying/doing myself (not least as i find the whole scene a bit confusing, not having ever had any formal involvement beyond Labour). That’s apart from the SP who actually appeared to be doing something, and I tend to think that comparative micro-analysis of the different approaches gets us less far than simply keeping arguing what needs to be done. After all, the Daily Mail does not tend to win readers by arguing a careful comparative case against the Guardian, but by generally dissing it and its readership.

Then I looked at Lenin’s Tomb and various other sites – particularly the comments section on the Splintered Sunrise article on the subject – and I’m frankly shocked by the degree to which the Left reacted against it.

Have we learned nothing about how best to fight the fascists? Instead of picketing bloody Unite, the AWL as a whole should have been on the picket lines discussing with the workers what to do and why they were doing it.

I’m appalled, frankly.

1) It showed up in all its glory the biases of the mainstream media, and suggested that, because that bias is actually so easy to expose, that the development of countermedia approaches has real potential. It also show how the far right media approaches can be challenged and beaten even when the ‘liberals’ you survey muddy the waters.

2) Much more importantly, the strikers at Lindsey actually won what they won relatively easily (this is not in any way to downplay the admirable commitment and organisation showed, which is what made it look easy). The power-that-be were genuinely freaked out by what happened, and sought temporary solutions as soon as they possibly could. The guard is, at least to some extent, down at the moment and a a few clean ‘left jabs’, as it were, could and should follow. Where and when this should happen is daft to predict/propose given that for most people including me the East Lindsey upsurge came from nowhere. The left blogosophere and allied organisations job should be, over the weeks and months to come, be about encouraging the exploitation of whatever opportunities arise, and making sure it’s in a position to be first on the scene, first with the facts, first with the analysis, when they do.

I do, mind, predict a riot, though of course as an office-bearer I couldn’t possibly condone behaviour beyond the law.