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Johann Hari
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Johann Hari (born January 21, 1979) is a left-liberal British journalist and writer. He is a columnist for The Independent, the Evening Standard and the Huffington Post. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, Le Monde, Slate, El Pais, the Sydney Morning Herald and Ha'aretz. Hari describes himself as a "European social democrat", who believes that markets are "an essential tool to generate wealth" but must be matched by strong democratic governments and strong trade unions.
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Encyclopedia
Johann Hari (born January 21, 1979) is a left-liberal British journalist and writer. He is a columnist for The Independent, the Evening Standard and the Huffington Post. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, Le Monde, Slate, El Pais, the Sydney Morning Herald and Ha'aretz. Hari describes himself as a "European social democrat", who believes that markets are "an essential tool to generate wealth" but must be matched by strong democratic governments and strong trade unions. He appears regularly as an arts critic on the BBC show Newsnight Review.
Early life
Hari was born in Glasgow and raised in London. Having attended Woodhouse College he graduated with a double first in Social and Political Sciences at King's College, Cambridge in 2001
Politics
International affairs
Hari has reported from many parts of the world, including Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Venezuela, Central African Republic, Bangladesh, the United States, Rwanda, Peru and Syria.
One of his most frequent topics is opposition to man-made global warming. He is a prominent supporter of the climate change protests camps in Britain , and has reported from Bangladesh, a country he says is doomed to drowning by global warming.
He is a critic of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank arguing instead for global social democracy and a "re-regulation of the global economy."
He has campaigned for nuclear disarmament through support for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.. He is a supporter of the international legalisation of drugs, as he has argued that criminalisation of drugs causes more problems than drug use itself, particularly in fuelling armed gangsterism.
Hari has reported from Israel, Gaza and the West Bank , where he was very critical of Israeli occupation policies, as well as of Hamas and Islamic fundamentalism .
Hari reported from the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He argued that the Rwandan government invaded to secure economic resources and that the succeeding invasions were effectively by "armies of business" selling Congo's resources to the West. He has also reported from Venezuela's barrios and interviewed Hugo Chavez, whose government he broadly supports, although with some criticisms.
He was, in its first year, a supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq after visiting the country, because he believed any alternative would be better than Saddam, although he always argued the WMD rationale was false. He later wrote his support had been a 'terrible mistake' and he "should have known all along Bush would produce a disaster." He has subsequently been very critical of the occupation and of supporters of the war who still insist they were right. His post-war writings have been praised by Andrew Murray, Chair of the Stop the War Coalition, as "a tremendous service to the worldwide antiwar movement."
British domestic politics
Hari urges his readers to vote for the Green Party where doing so will not split the left vote and let the Tories in. He supports some policies of the Labour government, such as social programmes like SureStart and child tax credit, but opposes others, like the mistreatment of asylum seekers and tax cuts for the rich. He argues David Cameron is more right-wing than is generally understood, and is being disingenuous when he claims he will reduce global warming or child poverty. He is also a republican who believes the Queen should be replaced as head of state by the Speaker of the House of Commons.
Prominent themes in his writing over recent years have included the plight of asylum seekers, refugees and detention centres and in 2004, Hari appeared as a guest on Richard Littlejohn's Sky News to debate the issue of exactly how much asylum seekers get in benefits, where he accused Littlejohn of being a "liar". Hari is critical of UK prison policies, claiming that rehabilitation is impossible in overcrowded prisons, and that far too many mentally ill people are incarcerated.
Hari, who is openly gay, supports gay rights, advocating full legal equality, including same-sex marriage. He has criticized radical gay theorists, and ideas of gay difference, superiority or separatism.
Hari is a strong defender of the European Union and supported Britain joining the Euro.
Interviewees
Hari has interviewed many leading figures, including Tony Blair, the Dalai Lama, Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis, Dolly Parton, George Michael, Simon Peres, Hugo Chavez, William F. Buckley, Abu Hamza, Laurent Kabila and David Irving.
Notable Secularist
Hari is a noted secularist and has recently been nominated for the Secularist of the Year Award by the National Secular Society. He regards himself as a defender of Enlightenment values and has written in favour of free speech and against alternative medicine.
He has defended rationalism, which he believes is under attack from several directions. A self-described antitheist, he has criticised Buddhism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity. He has criticised the Catholic Church's stance on birth control and Islamist attitudes towards women. He has been accused of Islamophobia, a charge he denies. He has also been critical of postmodernist views.
In February 2009, he wrote an article arguing for freedom of speech to extend to the right to criticise all religions, after moves at the UN to punish those who "defame religion or Prophets." A liberal secular Indian newspaper, The Statesman, republished the article and in response there were riots that brought Calcutta to a standstill. The editor (Ravindra Kumar) and publisher (Anand Sinha) of The Statesman were arrested on charges of "hurting the religious feelings" of Muslims. . Hari argued this was further evidence of the erosion of free speech, writing "Every word I wrote was true. I believe the right to openly discuss religion, and follow the facts wherever they lead us, is one of the most precious on earth – especially in a democracy of a billion people riven with streaks of fanaticism from a minority of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. So I cannot and will not apologize."
Public disagreements
With George Galloway
Hari has engaged in a long disagreement with his Member of Parliament, George Galloway whom he accused of "supporting a string of dictators" and being a remnant of the part of the left that supported Stalinism. Galloway contested this.
With Niall Ferguson
In 2006, Hari engaged in a public debate with the historians Niall Ferguson and Lawrence James in The Sunday Times, Daily Mail and The Independent about the overall effect of the British Empire in India. Ferguson viewed British colonialism as, on balance, a positive thing for India, whilst Hari argued that the British Empire was a form of totalitarianism comparable with Stalinism.
With the Chapman Brothers
In 2007, Hari criticised the Chapman Brothers for adopting an anti-Enlightenment philosophy, and for Jake Chapman saying that the boys who murdered Liverpool toddler James Bulger performed "a good social service". Jake Chapman responded by calling Hari "fat-faced ugly [and] four-eyed" and "a fascist", and claimed the Bulger quote and others had been "stripped from the serious debate in which they belong".
With Mark Steyn
Hari has frequently disagreed with Canadian writer Mark Steyn, particularly on the subject of Muslims. While Hari defends the use of the word 'Islamofascism' to describe jihadis, he has written that "It has been picked up by some people, like the vile Mark Steyn, who seem to think that all Islam is evil. I dislike all religions and would happily see the whittling away of every last church and mosque, but to imply that all Islam is on a par with al-Qa’eda is grotesque." . Hari has also criticised the emphasis on demographics in Steyn's writing. In a review of Steyn's book 'America Alone', Hari condemned passages he argued showed Steyn to be celebrating that more "white babies" are born in the US, and his prediction that there will be "evacuations" of white people from France by 2015. . However, when complaints were submitted regarding Steyn's writings to the Human Rights Commissions in Canada, Hari defended his right to free speech.
With Nick Cohen
In 2007 Hari reviewed Nick Cohen's book What's Left in the American Dissent magazine, where he called for Cohen and others (like Hari himself) who supported the Iraq war from a left-wing perspective to admit they had been wrong and had profoundly misunderstood neoconservatism.. Cohen argued that Hari's review was "Maoist", "deceitful" and "a nervous breakdown in print", among other epiphets.. Hari responded by offering quotes from Cohen's writing which he argues backed up his claims and accusing Cohen of "a baffling denial of his own words". Soon after they were both nominated for the Orwell prize, which Hari won.
Other writing and work
Hari is also the author of a book about the British monarchy which called for a republic, God Save the Queen?, where he argues that the system of monarchy does deep psychological damage to the members of the royal family as well as conflicting with democracy. He has also written a play called Going Down in History, which was greeted at the Edinburgh Festival with positive reviews, most notably by the Daily Telegraph as the work of "the new David Hare".
Awards
- Nominated for Columnist of the Year at the British Press Awards in 2008 and 2009
- Author of Story of the Year at the Environmental Press Awards 2008
- The Orwell Prize for political journalism, 2008. (Hari is the youngest ever recipient.)
- Amnesty International Newspaper Journalist of the Year in 2007
- One of Debrett's top 100 international 'People of the Year' in 2007
- 'Young Journalist of the Year' at the British Press Awards in 2003
- 'Student Journalist of the Year' by the Times in 2000
External links
- Official website, featuring an archive of his writings.
- with Johann Hari on Resonance FM's Little Atoms chat show.
- of Hari from Channel Four
- on Democracy Now
- on Interview with Hari
- about Hari's commentary on the role of corporations in Darfur
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