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Russell Brand on Revolution

Brand is like the counter point to the old dissent, RTS, type ethos of not having a spokesperson to stop the spokesperson becoming the defacto leader.

BY dint of being the most famous, most well resourced, loudest mouth brand has now been packaged and sold back to us as our glorious leader and we should all be thankful to him for being so good as to volunteer himself to take the lead on our behalf.

Not that the dissent method wasn't problematic, but this is fucking ridiculous.
 
Diana9 said:
Butchersapron, if you spent the time you're wasting butchering Brand and insulting me doing something kind and loving, you could actually become part of the solution instead of being part of the problem.
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So we can't criticise? What a foolish perspective to have, how do you develop better strategies, tactics, policies, ideas, practice and action without criticism?

I really hate that attitude, there's pointless sectarian bickering sure, but nobody should be beyond critique.
 
Diana9 said:
Sure, that's just how the oligarchs want us, whispering to each other in warehouses, unable to speak openly or be heard so that the whole world can hear the truth of what we're saying in our whispering rooms.

The importance of Russel Brand is that he's amplifying our voices. He's said that's all he's doing. He makes no claims to being the messiah.

So just run along and whisper with your friends. They've got you where they want you.
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Actual fucking lol.
 
free spirit said:
Brand is like the counter point to the old dissent, RTS, type ethos of not having a spokesperson to stop the spokesperson becoming the defacto leader.

BY dint of being the most famous, most well resourced, loudest mouth brand has now been packaged and sold back to us as our glorious leader and we should all be thankful to him for being so good as to volunteer himself to take the lead on our behalf.

Not that the dissent method wasn't problematic, but this is fucking ridiculous.
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at least the self appointed Standard Bearer is easily identifiable, perfect for the popular national sport of the British- tearing anyone prominent to shreds. The faceless, rotating spokesperson just leads to dull discussions about the Tyranny of Structurelessness.

Looking backwards, neither seem to achieve much anyway, although the voice of a comedian has reach and longevity that others struggle to manage. So maybe Brand will establish himself as some sort of symbol, used as lazily as the "doomed" bloke in Dads Army or Citizen Smith.
 
what i don't like to see is making it personal. so he has all this money he made from his books, films, comedy, tv whatever he has done, what would you have him do, live in a hovel? would that make his message taste better? he is someone with a high profile who is saying stuff i agree with, that in itself is a refreshing change.
 
BigTom said:
So we can't criticise? What a foolish perspective to have, how do you develop better strategies, tactics, policies, ideas, practice and action without criticism?

I really hate that attitude, there's pointless sectarian bickering sure, but nobody should be beyond critique.
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On this thread no better strategies have been developed, no ideas have been put forward and the criticism which appears looks very much like sectarian ranting, (including a complaint that a Russell Brand video was posted in the Russell Brand thread, I shit you not).

Russell Brand supporting any campaign will garner more support and inspire more similiar campaigns than all the sectarian and self marginalized political groups have done in the last 30 years. He is being attacked by the right for taking a left wing stance. Is it the job of the left to attack him with the same arguments or would it be more constructive to build on the interest he is generating in these campaigns to help further them? After all he is reaching a wide audience.

Are you doing it better?

Look at the woman in the video, her campaigning has given her more confidence and Brand got her in front of a camera in front of 10 downing street. What's wrong with that? Why focus so much on him?

As a person who was squeezed out of London by gentrification myself, who works part time and struggles to reach the end of the month and has kids, I wholeheartedly approve of Russell Brand's way of bringing politics to the masses.
 
He didn't dream up the campaign but he is giving it oxygen. Encouraging others to become active. He will probably be more effective with this method than 50 years of Harry Potter lookalikes selling papers in the rain.

He is not a substitute for a political group. He is playing the role of the paper.
 
Oh fantastic, more celebrity oxygen. Not more working class people talking about their conditions then acting. As they already are every day, but celebrity oxygen. And if you spot a celebrity using you. Just keep quiet as there's no other strategy.

Of if you see gorms swamping with empty spiritual rhetoric, with conspiracy, with talk of love...
 
A lot of left wing types tend to be very quick to attack and very belittling if there's something they don't agree with.

Brand is making that side of politics more accessible, and in all honesty anyone who does that can only be a good thing imho.
 
sim667 said:
A lot of left wing types tend to be very quick to attack and very belittling if there's something they don't agree with.

Brand is making that side of politics more accessible, and in all honesty anyone who does that can only be a good thing imho.
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What side of politics exactly?
 
I tell you what, what we're missing from our grass roots campaign is an injection of celeb-culture. Then people who hate celeb culture can applaud celeb-culture and criticise those who mock their hatred of celeb-culture under the guise of really really caring for the victims - don't you care about the victims?

Let's be clear here - brand is entering these pre-exisitng things as a celeb, as someone who will go on the tv with his arm around young girls, who will steal their air-time, who will take the words (and they've been brilliant words) out of their mouth and he is someone who takes it away from them. From a rooted spreading campaign that recognises where it's strengths lie - that is, in what it shares in common with people across the capital and the country and the recognition that we change things when we act together rather than elites imposing as they like - back to giving power to a celeb elite, back to the image, back to the media, tjhe same media that these clowns thinks directs and controls the victims. What a disgusting tawdry lash-up.

All these people going on about brands involvement in New Era PR- what did you do? Did Brand's involvement prod you to do anything at all?
 
DownwardDog said:
He's a latter day Alexandre Ledru-Rollin.

There go the people. I must follow them for I am their leader.
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You can fuck off and all. That someone likes your post after arguing what they just did and doesn't recognise the sneering reactionary tone is telling. The idea of people having their own ideas and of the people that power recognises as being leaders (because this is how power must see things) being genuine committed people laughed at and liked.
 
I am not a particular fan of Russell Brand (sometimes I think he can be a bit of a prick), but I was really fucked off by the way that interviewer attacked him on the C4 News report on the housing demo the other day. I wanted to hear an interview about the issues, not have some jumped up reporter getting excited about being given a chance to have a go at Brand. The woman who stepped in at the end and gave the interviewer an earful was absolutely wonderful :D
 
Epona said:
I am not a particular fan of Russell Brand (sometimes I think he can be a bit of a prick), but I was really fucked off by the way that interviewer attacked him on the C4 News report on the housing demo the other day. I wanted to hear an interview about the issues, not have some jumped up reporter getting excited about being given a chance to have a go at Brand. The woman who stepped in at the end and gave the interviewer an earful was absolutely wonderful :D
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He could have talked directly to the people effected then. But no, Brand.

Brand Brand Brand. That's the ground he's wrestled the thing onto. Onto TV interviews.
 
Epona said:
Sadly, the demo wouldn't have had a news camera there to talk to anyone if there hadn't been a 'sleb' there - don't pretend you don't know that. :/
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Why not? And what use was it anyway? And as it goes C4 had already been there without Brand.

And now they did - we get a debate about russel brand being unable to deal with criticism. Not New Era and their practices.
 
butchersapron said:
Why not? And what use was it anyway? And as it goes C4 had already been there without Brand.

And now they did - we get a debate about russel brand being unable to deal with criticism. Not New Era and their practices.
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I don't want a debate about Brand, I think he's a bit of a tosser. I do think his presence there garnered a bit more publicity than it would have had otherwise (I've been on fuck loads of protests about housing that no-one will every fucking remember unless they were there, no reporter ever turns up to most things) and I think if anyone is at fault for detracting from the purpose of the protest, it was the interviewer.
 
Epona said:
I don't want a debate about Brand, I think he's a bit of a tosser. I do think his presence there garnered a bit more publicity than it would have had otherwise (I've been on fuck loads of protests about housing that no-one will every fucking remember unless they were there) and I think if anyone is at fault for detracting from the purpose of the protest, it was the interviewer.
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About fucking brand. That's the publicity. Brand.
 
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