It was Socialist Unity poster, Keith Watermelon who broke the news:
In other news, Terry Fitz was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment against Lee Jasper, who also rightly pointed the finger at Searchlight and Harrys Place for supplying him with left cover.
Comment by Keith Watermelon — 2 April, 2011 @ 6:58 pm
Andy Newman replied:
As I have myself pointed out to Lee jasper, Terry Fitz choose to claim an association with Searchlight, but was only extremely peripheraly involved.
They did once publish an article by him , that was unexceptional in content.
And remember, before his more recent descent into bewilderment, Terry Fitz did have a past record as an active anti-racist.
Once his current trajectory towards racism was noticed, Searchlight repudiated any connection with him.
In contrast harrys place chose to get involved with him after his racism was apparent
Andy Newman expands on his theme in a lengthy post:
Sadly, Fitz has spent nearly all his time drinking Stella in Wetherspoons pubs over the last few years, and then drunkenly participating in Internet forums. Over the last year or so his mental condition has clearly and observably deteriorated quite fast. The drink has robbed him of all his rebel pride.
However, Terry has been in the past a well known figure, and despite his more recent descent into mental distress and bewilderment He is still well respected in parts of East London, especially among older Bengalis, but not for who he is now, but for who he was. Back in the 1970s he gave considerable help and practical assistance to the Bengali community as it was establishing itself in the area, using his connections as a local gangster.
Despite the somewhat disingenuous claims nowadays from some why say they had never heard of Fitz, he was a significant figure in his day, for example Astrid Proll, a founder member of the German terrorist group, the Red Army Faction, is supposed to have stayed with Fitz when she came to London on her release from prison, and it was he who got her a job here. The 1986 BBC drama “King of the Gheto” was loosely based on Fitz’s life, with Tim Roth playing the Fitz character. Like many anarchists Fitz had little time for the political left, and often boasted of his assault on the SWP’s Chris Harman in the 1970s.
There are three points worth making here.
First: Lee Jasper has apparently accused not only Harry’s Place, but also Searchlight/Hope Not Hate of providing “Left cover” to Terry Fitz.
If this is what Lee Jasper is claiming, then it is absolutely disgraceful. It is well known that Lee Jasper is a supporter of the Ken Livingstone aligned Unite Against Fascism. Searchlight famously broke from UAF whose senior activists cynically accused Hope not Hate of being “Zionist” and “Islamophobic”. If Lee Jasper really has used his fight with a racist alcoholic to smear Hope Not Hate, the only effective anti-BNP campaign, then it is disgusting.
It does Andy Newman a little credit, at least, that he doesn’t join in the assault on Hope Not Hate, which is an organisation that he supports. Andy Newman’s clumsy attempt to attack Harry’s Place has more to do with his desire to duff up a critic of George Galloway and his various projects, than with genuine anti-racism.
Secondly: We publish a huge number of guest posts, most of which are from casual readers, but which have included Peter Tatchell, Terry Glavin, Imam Usama Hasan and the former Foreign Minister of Georgia. It is also a lie to claim that occasional guest posters are “members of the HP team”. They are not. We publish articles because they are interesting not, as Lee Jasper apparently claims, in order to give their authors “Left cover”.
Harry’s Place accepted a couple of guest posts from Terry Fitzpatrick because, as Andy Newman says, “before his more recent descent into bewilderment, Terry Fitz did have a past record as an active anti-racist”. This is precisely why he was published by Searchlight, as well.
It is a lie to claim, as Newman does, that we continued to publish articles by Terry Fitzpatrick, knowing that he was facing criminal charges arising from his correspondence with Lee Jasper. In fact, we removed them, and blocked him from commenting.
Thirdly: Irrespective of his politics, Lee Jasper should not have to face racist insults. There is something particularly insidious about using a man’s ethnicity against him, in any circumstances.
It is worth recalling, however, that Lee Jasper is a man who organised a rally in support of the Nation of Islam, a virulently racist organisation, which is essentially a Black version of the British National Party. It was only after Edmund Standing pointed out the incongruity of a supposed anti-racist organising a support for a racist party, that Lee Jasper and his allies turned their guns on us.
The conviction of Terry Fitzpatrick is not a vindication of Lee Jasper. It is the punishment of a man who committed a criminal offence against Lee Jasper. In no way does the fact that Lee Jasper is a victim of racist abuse from a drunk change the fact that Lee Jasper is a promoter and ally of the Nation of Islam, a racist organisation.
Campaigning against extremist and racist politics is a hazardous business. Those on the far fringes of politics tend to have few scruples, and lie desperately to push their own vicious politics. Frankly, we regard the brickbats from Stalinists, Islamists and Nazis as a badge of honour.