Johann Hari: Encyclopedia II - Johann Hari - Politics

Johann Hari - Politics

From a working-class family, Johann Hari is a member of the Labour Party, but opposes the party leadership on certain issues, being to the left of the government. He has written positively (March 2005) of Tony Blair's stand on gay issues and on "moderate redistribution of wealth", but is fiercely critical of his prisons policies, his failure to adequately tackle climate change, his approach to drugs, and others. He has been supportive of Hugo Chavez's government in Venezuela, reporting from the country on several occassions. He is a self-described "militant anti-theist" and is also openly gay.

Some people on the left, most notably Noam Chomsky, believe Hari's support for the invasion of Iraq contradicts his self-description as a left-winger. Hari replies that he always opposed the WMD rationale for war and said "the Bush administration is very obviously not doing this for the right reasons, to say the least"; but he believed - on the basis of opinion polls and extensive interviews with Iraqis, both inside Iraq and in exile - that "a majority of Iraqis would rather takes their chances with a horrible American occupation than with the living hell of Saddam and his sons for generations to come." Since the end of the war, he has been fiercely critical of the 'structural adjustment' of Iraq, and supported early elections and troop withdrawal.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Politics", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki