Comments on: letter – Nick Cohen is wrong about the liberal-left

By: With liberals like these, who needs enemies « Full Fat Mocha

With liberals like these, who needs enemies « Full Fat Mocha — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 21:07:19 +0000

[...] have followed this feud will know, Katwala then retaliated with a piece on NextLeft and a letter signed by a group of writers and activists to the Observer, as a rebuttal to [...]

By: billaricaydicky

billaricaydicky — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:51:15 +0000

Yo Sunny Bro, big up innit. The offer of a free curry in one of my restaurants is still on the table.

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:51:05 +0000

Nick Cohen is correct in his position.
Several of those names reek of appeasment & even Fifth Column.

Can’t you people face up to the fact that Islamism is worse than the Nazism it resembles, and in the 1930s plenty on the Left were not just Nazi appeasers, they were collaborators

Martin

By: Pickled Politics » Nick Cohen: blah blah blah… please buy my book!

Pickled Politics » Nick Cohen: blah blah blah… please buy my book! — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 05:12:09 +0000

[...] on our little spat with Nick Cohen but I’ve certainly not, yet. Cohen’s response to our letter in the Observer, following his downright hilarious claim that because “noted lefties such as [...]

By: Sunny

Sunny — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:02:53 +0000

Yeah trust Bill! He’s down wit da efnicks! The guy has been hanging around with Bengalis so much he thinks he is one! And now if any brown person opposes the bullshit being shovelled in our faces, then Bill will just declare you’re part of the ‘race industry’ and point out the long list of Bengalis he knows who you can have a curry with.

By: BenSix

BenSix — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:57:47 +0000

Cohen's replied! He deals with the suggestion that he "needs to find a new column to write" by writing that you should, er, read a book of his old columns...

By: billericaydicky

billericaydicky — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:21:16 +0000

Katy Newton,
Give me an address and I’ll send you a book token, a rattling good read. All of the signatories of this letter live on another planet it’s called planet race industry.

Every single signatory of this letter is an academic, at, least the ones that I have heard of, and as such utterly divorced from reality. When the row over the article started I began re-reading the book and am still struck by how accurate it is.

One of the people mentioned in the article is Ansar Ullah who lives and works in East London. He is involved with the Shadinata Trust a Bangladeshi cultural organisation which, amongst other things, campaigns for the war criminals of 1971 to be brought to justice.
Across the Whitechapel Rd from where they are based is the London Muslim Centre home to Islamic Forum Europe whose President openly claims that they are linked to Jamati Islam which was actively involved in the slaughter.

I don’t see Ansar Ullah in the list of signatories and for a very good reason. He is actively engaged with his community and not a member of a talk shop or a D list list celebrity or academic.

More power to your elbow Nick, when you are being attacked by this bunch of nonentities you know you’r doing something right.

By: Sunny

Sunny — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 22:21:05 +0000

I’ll summarise it: the SWP represent the left, and I hate the SWP, and therefore the left has lost its way.

See this review on his latest book:
http://www.democratiya.com/review.asp?reviews_id=246

By: Katy Newton

Katy Newton — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:37:15 +0000

I have to admit, I haven’t really read Nick Cohen much. I keep walking past “What’s Left” in Borders, thinking I might buy it, and then not.

By: Sunny

Sunny — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:32:46 +0000

I think describing this as a â€œsmackdownâ€ somewhat dilutes the â€œcomradely callâ€ in the open letter, doesnâ€™t it?

Katy – to be honest Sunder is a lot more conciliatory than I am. I gave up on Nick Cohen about a year ago I think, and have increasingly ignored his writings on the issue. If Nick Cohen now starts to make sense on the issue then great, but I’m not holding my breath.

And to be honest, his incredibly lame response to our original blog posts just showed how incapable he is of debating the points we made in response to his strawmen.

By: Lester

Lester — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 17:38:40 +0000

I don’t know about smackdown, from the standpoint where I used to sit moderate elements like the Sufi Council were shunned by what could be called liberal-left campaigners in favour of the likes of MAB.

Cohen may be a tired old record but there is an element of truth in what he’s saying, even if people find it uncomfortable or divisive.

By: Bo

Bo — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 17:19:57 +0000

Yes, the lovely Yasmin, friend of the white working class.

http://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/01/05/untouchables/

By: Katy Newton

Katy Newton — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 17:14:11 +0000

I think describing this as a “smackdown” somewhat dilutes the “comradely call” in the open letter, doesn’t it?

By: MaidMarian

MaidMarian — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:56:42 +0000

‘But too often, too many in the media prefer to give platforms to the most extreme, polarising and least representative voices and crowd out the mainstream conversation we believe most of our fellow citizens want to have.’

Do you really think that Yasmin Alibhai-Brown was the best person to sign up to this?

By: Amrit

Amrit — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:08:40 +0000

CLASSY. For once, I get what I wish for!

By: Leon

Leon — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:57:43 +0000

We make a comradely call on Nick Cohen to stop shouting, to rejoin the conversation, engage with the work going on across the liberal-left and to become part of the solution.

Haha I wouldn’t hold your collective breaths!

By: Anton Vowl

Anton Vowl — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:52:19 +0000

Excellent, although it does generously suppose that Nick Cohen is capable of writing (or willing to write) anything other than anti-left ramblings nowadays.

By: Sunny

Sunny — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:34:15 +0000

Ben – ha ha! Perfect

By: Anas

Anas — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:36:50 +0000

nice one sunny

By: Yakoub

Yakoub — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 10:46:42 +0000

Finally, someone (quite a few someones, in fact) has told Nick Cohen to stop talking shite. Let’s hope he has the courage to re-engage brain!