So, cheeky Cockney trickster Russell Brand has gone bec à bec with the BBC reactionary Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight. In a witty and intelligent performance, Brand got the better of Paxo in an argument about the merits of voting that the veteran anchor seemed unable or perhaps unwilling to follow (as Upton Sinclair once quipped, 'It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it'). Brand indicted capitalism and questioned the necessity of voting for capitalist parties. Not since the 'radical press' of the early nineteenth century has there been a mass media discourse condemning the profit system tout court, so it is pleasing to hear these sentiments expressed, however briefly. From recent discussions with friends and colleagues, it seems to me that Brand's comments strike a chord with many people, who can see that capitalist politicians and political parties do not represent their interests.
Brand's remarks have been critiqued not only - or even primarily - by right-wing pundits, but by liberal and left-wing commentators. Brand's stance was challenged, for example, by the actor Robert Webb, who responded by publicly announcing his (re)commitment to the Labour Party, while smugly averring that all revolutionary politics leads to the gulag. A more sophisticated, but totally contradictory version of this response was offered by Jeremy Gilbert and Mark Fisher, who combined praise for Brand with a defence of the Labour Party (they mention the national minimum wage as one of New Labour's recent achievements - as though it had not been more than paid for by the outsourcing of 'British jobs' elsewhere, and indeed offset by the party's sanctioning of the use of deadly force against working people, from Belgrade to Baghdad).
In contrast to such equivocations, Brand's basic message is clear: the profit system is destroying the lives of poor and ordinary people everywhere and it is time to organise society differently. Certainly, Brand does hold some pretty bizarre New Age notions and has a dubious track record when it comes to gender politics (something that has earned him a proper dissing from the intersectional left). But neither his quirkiness nor his supposed sexism invalidate his fundamental political point about the need to stop voting for capitalist parties. I hope he sticks to it.
Brand's remarks have been critiqued not only - or even primarily - by right-wing pundits, but by liberal and left-wing commentators. Brand's stance was challenged, for example, by the actor Robert Webb, who responded by publicly announcing his (re)commitment to the Labour Party, while smugly averring that all revolutionary politics leads to the gulag. A more sophisticated, but totally contradictory version of this response was offered by Jeremy Gilbert and Mark Fisher, who combined praise for Brand with a defence of the Labour Party (they mention the national minimum wage as one of New Labour's recent achievements - as though it had not been more than paid for by the outsourcing of 'British jobs' elsewhere, and indeed offset by the party's sanctioning of the use of deadly force against working people, from Belgrade to Baghdad).
In contrast to such equivocations, Brand's basic message is clear: the profit system is destroying the lives of poor and ordinary people everywhere and it is time to organise society differently. Certainly, Brand does hold some pretty bizarre New Age notions and has a dubious track record when it comes to gender politics (something that has earned him a proper dissing from the intersectional left). But neither his quirkiness nor his supposed sexism invalidate his fundamental political point about the need to stop voting for capitalist parties. I hope he sticks to it.
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