Russell Brand on Revolution

[butchersapron]

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?!

And here, politician, you again do what i said you do.

 

[articul8]

And here, politician, you again do what i said you do.

No I don't - extra parliamentary campaigns can be valuable in themselves

 

[butchersapron]

No I don't - extra parliamentary campaigns can be valuable in themselves

You have consistently argeud for years on here that any real change can and must come through labour - the only way you're interested in anything else is in how it impacts labour internally. You say one thing and pretend you mean another. You always mean the latter above but say the former. Politician. Why are you so untrusted and with such a bad reputation for spinning waffling deviousness on here? It's because you are the people that are hated by Brand's types (and many many others) for your politicianicity writ small.

 

[andysays]

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

Could be worse though - it could have gone to the wolves

And OMG, we haven't even read his book

 

[rekil]

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.

Nickelback.

Spoiler

 

[articul8]

Untrusted by the small army of permanent interweb warriors of the ideological ultra-left in their groupthink hate sessions. Ah well we all have our crosses to bear

 

[BigTom]

Untrusted by the small army of permanent interweb warriors of the ideological ultra-left in their groupthink hate sessions. Ah well we all have our crosses to bear

Fuck off with this sectarian nonsense and address the points and criticisms that have been made, or put butchers on ignore and leave it at that.

 

[BigTom]

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.

If you don't like blanket statements don't make them about people on this thread.
You've no need to wonder if people focus on his demeanour or his words, because it's quite clear what people are criticising him about on the basis of what they've said in their posts.
Either specifically pick out people who you think are just sniping, or respond to the arguments that people are making.

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?

His involvement reproduces the celebrity culture that means that you feel like someone famous must be saying this and that it's an issue if not. I've had plenty of conversations with people about how shit miliband is, how bad ASDA/Walmart (and other companies) are, and plenty of other things that Brand has talked about. We don't actually need him to discuss these things, but because he exists and takes up that space, then people don't talk as much about is as they would if celebs weren't there to do it instead.

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.

either find something from me - or anyone else - who says he should stop because of his hair style or fuck off with this bullshit nonsense.

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.

If he had zero interest in self-promotion, he wouldn't be recording trews, releasing a book or anything else. He'd be working as anonymously as possible with the groups he wants to support. That doesn't mean he isn't genuine in his support for those groups, or that his primary aim is self-promotion, it likely means that he thinks that he has a platform to promote the groups and wants to use it because he thinks that'll be good, but it necessarily promotes himself at the same time, and he must know this to be true.

I know quite a few credible people who are working for and calling for revolution in a very dedicated way. none of them are celebs. We don't need celebs, I hate celeb culture, I won't support something that is produced from, feeds into and recreates celeb culture. I don't want him involved with the projects I'm involved in because his celebrity would be actively damaging to them.
Now respond to those points please, instead of nonsense about his fucking hair style.

Also, why is it not talking bollocks when it's in printed, written form, mediated through publishing houses, but it's bollocks when it's on the internet, expressed without mediation by ordinary people?
Is it cos it's brand and he's a celeb, but we're not celebs? Cos it really feels that way.

 

[butchersapron]

Could be worse though - it could have gone to the wolves

And OMG, we haven't even read his book

I've read his book - in it he claims that Dom Joly is the modern day equivalent of Guy Debord. He also seems to think that ISIS took Damascus and that they travel solely on horseback rather than US built High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles. That Assange was set up on rape charges and that classic 'global conspiracy' (you know, all the old tropes) is real. That politics can't bring about his revolution - only religion can.

I no longer think Hari had much of hand in it - but there are many pennyesque handy types popping up to conveniently illustrate (the judge shooting smack whilst sentencing people for possession, the private schoolboy who tells him to read orwell). But there is no doubting he is genuine. Now he can get on with the things i mentioned he should do with his money and that he also says he intends to do in the book as regards 'money-sharing'.

 

[ViolentPanda]

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

Plus a couple of Brand fans who ignore the fact that some of us have read his book, who are politically active, and aren't talking bollocks, they're saying things that you don't like.

 

[ViolentPanda]

What's worth reading in his book?

I read it to find out where his head is at. The book does a good job of that - better than his piece in the NS issue he edited.

 

[rekil]

Maybe Debord shot himself because he didn't get that phone call about the ferry ad.

 

[ViolentPanda]

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?

Russell Brand hasn't "exposed" either of the things that you claim he has. They were both existing issues with protests constructed around them before he publicised them.

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.

No-one has said that Brand should stop. Most of us have said that he needs to be more aware of his effect on causes, as well as how the media will spin such involvement. It's not about Brand, except for you, a Brand fangrrll.

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's not "calling for a revolution", he's saying a revolution is needed and necessary. You know, the same thing people have been saying since the end of the fucking interregnum in the 17th century. He admits he has no plans, that he isn't a leader, so saying he's calling for a revolution is either stupidity or poor English usage on your part.

 

[The Pale King]

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.

Have you recently started wearing tighter trousers?

 

[ViolentPanda]

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

From what I recall from his piece in the New Statesman edition he edited, his "spiritual values" aren't really spiritual, they're fairly socially-pragmatic stuff like "think of others", and "altruism is a good thing". All stuff communists, anarchists, Christians and a shedload of others have been saying for centuries, but it gets seen as "spiritual", because it's so outside the ambit of many people reared under neoliberalism.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Have you recently started wearing tighter trousers?

Skinny jeans, even?

 

[ViolentPanda]

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

Maybe if Cheesy-weezy and Russy-Wussy ask them nicely...?

 

[ViolentPanda]

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.

You should just ask him "do I look like I'm 5ft 7 inches tall, and have hair made of shredded wheat?", then nut him.

 

[Pickman's model]

Have you recently started wearing tighter trousers?

i've heard he's started wearing a chest wig.

 

[ViolentPanda]

No I don't - extra parliamentary campaigns can be valuable in themselves

What happens with extra-parliamentary campaigns that gain traction?

Let's face it, we all know that if the above happens, then Labour, the Tories or the Living-Deads will appropriate the cause (suitably strip-mined of any meaningful content) in order to "capture" the cause's support.
THAT is most often the value your ilk see in extra-parliamentary causes and campaigns - as a feedstock for votes for your party.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Untrusted by the small army of permanent interweb warriors of the ideological ultra-left in their groupthink hate sessions. Ah well we all have our crosses to bear

You can take the boy out of the Trots, but you can't take the Trot out of the boy.

 

[Pickman's model]

You can take the boy out of the Trots, but you can't take the Trot out of the boy.

he always posts like he's got the trots of the verbal sort

 

[articul8]

How is it that I get called a "politician" then I get called out for sectarian abuse!?

 

[Pickman's model]

Untrusted by the small army of permanent interweb warriors of the ideological ultra-left in their groupthink hate sessions. Ah well we all have our crosses to bear

when do you think you'll be nailed to yours?

 

[Pickman's model]

How is it that I get called a "politician" then I get called out for sectarian abuse!?

aren't politicians by necessity sectarian?

 

[frogwoman]

I've read his book - in it he claims that Dom Joly is the modern day equivalent of Guy Debord. He also seems to think that ISIS took Damascus and that they travel solely on horseback rather than US built High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles. That Assange was set up on rape charges and that classic 'global conspiracy' (you know, all the old tropes) is real. That politics can't bring about his revolution - only religion can.

I no longer think Hari had much of hand in it - but there are many pennyesque handy types popping up to conveniently illustrate (the judge shooting smack whilst sentencing people for possession, the private schoolboy who tells him to read orwell). But there is no doubting he is genuine. Now he can get on with the things i mentioned he should do with his money and that he also says he intends to do in the book as regards 'money-sharing'.

Seriously? I didn't think it would be that bad.

 

[articul8]

aren't politicians by necessity sectarian?

I've never been a politician so wouldn't know

 

[Pickman's model]

I've never been a politician so wouldn't know

you've an absence of coherent politics so you've every qualification to be a labour politician.

 

[butchersapron]

Seriously? I didn't think it would be that bad.

It's not a case of being that bad meaning terrible - it's all over the shop and about a millimetre in depth - but then so are many other things. That's not really why i posted that. It's like those michael moore books really but wih loads of rich people name-dopping. The things to criticise are not the factual errors or misunderstandings but the potential damage of the only religion can save us ('we all need someone to lean on') and that challenges must be made in this specific way or that, that we all need what Russel Brand needs/wants and so on - and the misdirection down blind alleys,

 

[articul8]

you've an absence of coherent politics so you've every qualification to be a labour politician.

And you are like a less funny Brand with about as much nous.