By Sean Burns,
Russel Brand’s call for revolution is ringing right through the minds of many working class people; not only in Belfast but across the globe. We are searching for an alternative to this crisis of capitalism.
While unemployment is rising and a soaring number of people are being forced to turn to food banks and charities for help, wealth is becoming increasingly concentrated into the hands of the few, at the expense of the many. The super-rich top 1% of earners now pocket 10p in every pound of income paid in Britain, while the poorest half of the population take home only 18p of every pound between them. Or as Russell would put it “the current political system is nothing more than a bureaucratic means for furthering the augmentation and advantages of economic elites”. I sat in a state of shock watching this on TV. Brand armed with his comedic charm tore into the failures of capitalism, ripping apart the failure of the free market to provide enough for people. He shone a spotlight on the misery and mass inequality suffered by millions. All I could think was fair play Russell. Paxman didn’t know what hit him.
Paxman was reduced to feeble attempts at trying to undermine Brand for his never having voted, attacking the concept of revolution and questioning his right to even having an opinion on politics at all. Brand met Paxman head on and tore into Paxman’s lines of argument, explaining how the present system leaves the majority of the population disengaged through a lack of real representation, and the inevitability of an eventual explosion of class anger against the capitalist system.
This is not enough on it’s own. Russell is moving in the right direction. He knows where we have to go but not how to get there. Our vehicle is organisation. Our fuel is the force of workers action. Our class must have a political voice. We must be able to stand independently of large, faceless multi nationals and challenge the system of capitalism on all fronts.
In saying that Russell has earned my respect. His passion and quick-witted way of putting forward revolutionary ideals is refreshing. I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds him a refreshing change to the usual jargon spewed out in the media. Without a doubt he has my support.
