Russell Brand on Revolution

[J Ed]

To beat the Tories, first smash the lizards!

 

[DotCommunist]

any excuse for a recruitment drive

 

[frogwoman]

So don't just get angry at the news or throw your hands in the air, wishing things would change, get out there and make a difference

Good grief

 

[J Ed]

This is just anecdotal obv but amount of times Brand has been mentioned positively at my work ever: 0 the amount of times Farage has been mentioned positively this week: about 8 or so

 

[Cheesypoof]

This thread has gone to the dogs...a load of Internet grumps who havent even read his book, doing nothing and talking bollocks.

 

[J Ed]

This thread has gone to the dogs...a load of Internet grumps who havent even read his book, doing nothing and talking bollocks.

What's worth reading in his book?

 

[DotCommunist]

To beat the Tories, first smash the lizards!

I'm wondering what the PD CC would make of Brand now

 

[BigTom]

This thread has gone to the dogs...a load of Internet grumps who havent even read his book, doing nothing and talking bollocks.

Whose doing nothing? Lazy cliche, you should know better.

So far, because I'm critical & skeptical of brand & celeb activism I've been told I don't care, that I've nothing to say and should be quiet and now that I do nothing. This is not healthy for left politics, engage with the reasons why people are skeptical, don't throw out lazy stupid accusations, it's fucking shit

 

[Cheesypoof]

What's worth reading in his book?

His vision for a changed Britain. Sure, there is some analysis and referencing but he does his homework. He is an extremely well read and intelligent man with a sincere desire for change and attempts to encourage people to do this (instead of, for example, sitting there talking bollocks on the Internet, which i am aware i am currently doing). There is some interesting analysis in there of how society can incorporate spiritual values too and aspire to that, rather than attempts at achieving change through violent means. That is not the book in a nutshell by the way, read it for yourself. It doesnt exactly take long!

If you read his words you will understand him more - its easy to spot people who have clearly NOT read anything about Brand's efforts to get clean, and its laughable those who think he is out for self promotion. There is some real ignorance on here, from people who just look at him and his foppish demeanour and make a judgment, without actually listening to him or reading his words. And who offer no alternatives either. I'll let this thread get on with it. As you were.

 

[J Ed]

I'm wondering what the PD CC would make of Brand now

Posadist Aliens vs the Coalition of Rothschilds and Royalist Lizards for control of the post-apocalyptic earth

 

[Cheesypoof]

Whose doing nothing? Lazy cliche, you should know better.

So far, because I'm critical & skeptical of brand & celeb activism I've been told I don't care, that I've nothing to say and should be quiet and now that I do nothing. This is not healthy for left politics, engage with the reasons why people are skeptical, don't throw out lazy stupid accusations, it's fucking shit

maybe you care. Those who make blanket statements about Russell Brands politics and motives without reading his words or listening to his DAILY news analysis (which is a pretty prolific and dedicated output), sound sour and bitter. I wonder whether they focus on his demeanour or his words. What he is saying exposing Walmart's treatment of its employees, Irish water charges and how shit Ed Miliband is as a politician has to be said! I dont agree with absolutely everything he says but feel very GLAD someone is saying it. In fact im chuffed. And learning some stuff too (such as the transparent Fox News agenda). why the fuck should someone with balls not expose these cunts? There are others who have done such as George Monbiot, but why not go further?

It really baffles me that there are some of you who might prefer him to stop, cos he gets on your nerves and stuff with his foppish air and hyperactive demeanour. Have a think about what he is saying instead. He has zero interest in self promotion anymore, and is sincere in his politics. What is it about comprehending this that some people find so strange? If you find it suspect, and think he has a self-aggrandizing agenda, you're off the mark.

I have a question for those who dont like Russell Brand. Can they suggest anyone else today who is very credible, and calling for revolution in a very dedicated way? serious question.

 

[J Ed]

There is some interesting analysis in there of how society can incorporate spiritual values too and aspire to that, rather than attempts at achieving change through violent means.

Lost me there. A couple hundred kids can't sit about in a shopping centre without getting attacked and arrested by the police and Brand thinks that neoliberalism is going to be overthrown by being a little bit Eastern religious dogma

 

[Cheesypoof]

Lost me there. A couple hundred kids can't sit about in a shopping centre without getting attacked and arrested by the police and Brand thinks that neoliberalism is going to be overthrown by being a little bit Eastern religious dogma

thats bloody ignorant, and you know it. Go and educate yourself about what he is saying instead of making blanket sneery statements like that.

 

[Mungy]

Lost me there. A couple hundred kids can't sit about in a shopping centre without getting attacked and arrested by the police and Brand thinks that neoliberalism is going to be overthrown by being a little bit Eastern religious dogma

in watching quite a few editions of the trews and reading his book, i don't think i have heard brand say that, or anything that could be construed as that.

spirituality is a part of what he talks about. i'm a recovering addict, and spirituality is cornerstone of my own recovery, and is important to me. i can understand why anyone experiencing life in this way would want others to see it this way. whilst i think, as a generalisation, we could all benefit from attending to the spiritual aspect of life, my understanding is there are people who don't need to go there, who are doing just fine and don't need to check their moral compass in that way.

 

[DotCommunist]

I bet if he was talking christian socialism his supporters would shit a brick

 

[Blagsta]

I have a question for those who dont like Russell Brand. Can they suggest anyone else today who is very credible, and calling for revolution in a very dedicated way? serious question.

He can call for a revolution all he likes. Won't happen without a social base.

 

[chilango]

This is just anecdotal obv but amount of times Brand has been mentioned positively at my work ever: 0 the amount of times Farage has been mentioned positively this week: about 8 or so

Quite.

Farage comes up in conversation regularly. Universally negatively.

Brand hasn't come up at all.

 

[Blagsta]

thats bloody ignorant, and you know it. Go and educate yourself about what he is saying instead of making blanket sneery statements like that.

How do you propose to overthrow capital and the state without violence?

 

[frogwoman]

Quite.

Farage comes up in conversation regularly. Universally negatively.

Brand hasn't come up at all.

Yep.

 

[maomao]

This is just anecdotal obv but amount of times Brand has been mentioned positively at my work ever: 0 the amount of times Farage has been mentioned positively this week: about 8 or so

Well the member of night staff who has been calling me Arthur Scargill for the last 8 years has now started calling me Russell Brand so he's obviously had some impact.

 

[DotCommunist]

Well the member of night staff who has been calling me Arthur Scargill for the last 8 years has now started calling me Russell Brand so he's obviously had some impact.

what a demotion you have had

 

[Mungy]

I bet if he was talking christian socialism his supporters would shit a brick

i had to look that one up

 

[FNG]

Amazing as it is that the brain can conjure up these neurological illusions, which on some subtle level are a physical reality, like they must be made of an electrical impulse which has a charge or a weight, it’s a fucking drag when I can’t voluntarily stop it. There is no limit to what can be imagined either; we can now in this moment command the mind to play the Kylie [Minogue] track, then instead of her singing it, have the words emerge from the mouth of an elephant in dark glasses. Your mind is doing it now. It exists. Then you can put your school’s hardest kid in there, mine was Jamie Dawkins (no relation), put him on the elephant’s back dressed as bin Laden, singing the harmonies

Sounds like NLP, which is a useful tool for overcoming adictions and trauma but its purely subjective.
Sounds like all we need is the will,A triumph of the Will if you like.

 

[FNG]

Lost me there. A couple hundred kids can't sit about in a shopping centre without getting attacked and arrested by the police and Brand thinks that neoliberalism is going to be overthrown by being a little bit Eastern religious dogma

Just bear in mind that behind every smiling native seemingly happy with his lot all benign and smiling and that is a grim faced policeman tightly gripping a lathi

 

[Citizen66]

thats bloody ignorant, and you know it. Go and educate yourself about what he is saying instead of making blanket sneery statements like that.

Smash Capital by buying his product.

Just lol really.

 

[articul8]

Is Russell being lined up to front TUSC and the new mass workers party?

 

[butchersapron]

This thread has gone to the dogs...a load of Internet grumps who havent even read his book, doing nothing and talking bollocks.

Your hilarious yet tragic posts here last night demonstrate something that's becoming clearer by the day. The only effect Brand has had on a number of confused guilty right-on types who are very aware that they themselves never do a damn thing is to turn him into a weapon to attack the people who do actually do things - and to do this because you don't like those people, nothing to do with actual politics. Transparent.

And it's celebrity that allows you to do this - it allows you to rally behind him and point to his fame as a measure of your own popularity and correctness by hiding behind his fame - whilst pointing to people making serious experience based criticisms of the way that celebrity has been used and is now being used (and most of you are the same people who moan about x-factor and 'manufactured shit' btw) lack of fame as a way to dismiss or evade those criticisms. Exactly that celebrity poison being injected a talked about the other week.

And look at the dynamic they're driving - they're forcing people who were formerly sympathetic to Brand and willing to give him a chance, letting him learn from mistakes based on sincerity and enthusiasm, willing to give him space and time to a position (read back the posts from earlier on here for example) where they no longer feel they can or should - precisely because of the way people like you are acting and the fear of what consequences that continuing may bring. Brand has become a tool (or more accurately, you and have have turned him into that weapon) that the people you say he exposes has put in your hands and you're using it just as they would want.

I asked these people a few weeks ago exactly what Brand has got them to do - not a single one could list a single thing.

 

[butchersapron]

Is Russell being lined up to front TUSC and the new mass workers party?

It's people like you that helped produce him and the conditions that produced him. On one hand giving it rhetoric about encouraging ground up organisation and participation, extra-parliamentary activity and so on, whilst demanding it's directed into the labour party and the proper processes - the ones that people can see are rotten and offer nothing.

 

[articul8]

It's people like you that helped produce him and the conditions that produced him. On one hand giving it rhetoric about encouraging ground up organisation and participation, extra-parliamentary activity and so on, whilst demanding it's directed into the labour party and the proper processes - the ones that people can see are rotten and offer nothing.

I have never argued everything has to go through Labour - I don't think that. But building pressure inside and outside Labour and the unions is necessary. How does that make Brand my fault?!

 

[Buckaroo]

Your hilarious yet tragic posts here last night demonstrate something that's becoming clearer by the day. The only effect Brand has had on a number of confused guilty right-on types who are very aware that they themselves never do a damn thing is to turn him into a weapon to attack the people who do actually do things - and to do this because you don't like those people, nothing to do with actual politics. Transparent.

And it's celebrity that allows you to do this - it allows you to rally behind him and point to his fame as a measure of your own popularity and correctness by hiding behind his fame - whilst pointing to people making serious experience based criticisms of the way that celebrity has been used and is now being used (and most of you are the same people who moan about x-factor and 'manufactured shit' btw) lack of fame as a way to dismiss or evade those criticisms. Exactly that celebrity poison being injected a talked about the other week.

And look at the dynamic they're driving - they're forcing people who were formerly sympathetic to Brand and willing to give him a chance, letting him learn from mistakes based on sincerity and enthusiasm, willing to give him space and time to a position (read back the posts from earlier on here for example) where they no longer feel they can or should - precisely because of the way people like you are acting and the fear of what consequences that continuing may bring. Brand has become a tool (or more accurately, you and have have turned him into that weapon) that the people you say he exposes has put in your hands and you're using it just as they would want.

I asked these people a few weeks ago exactly what Brand has got them to do - not a single one could list a single thing.

Ask not what your celebrity can do for you, ask what you can do for your celebrity.