Revolution
abracad, · Categories: books, spiritual politics
Society is broken, beyond repair. That's the premise of Russell Brand's bestseller Revolution, a premise that's becoming increasingly difficult to argue against.
For those that don't know Russell Brand is an English-born comedian, actor, author turned political activist who found fame and fortune, descended into drug and alcohol abuse, and has been recovered for some years. Indulging in the various trappings of fame and fortune Brand realized them to be ultimately unsatisfying and has since turned to spirituality to offer both individual meaning and hint at a pathway of salvation for the world. Revolution began after he caused considerable controversy by saying he never voted in elections as mainstream political parties were no more than different varieties of the same thing.
Brand asserts that the current system works only for a tiny minority, at the expense of the great majority (hence the vast inequality among humanity), and is destroying the planet into the bargain, echoing the message of the Occupy movement. The belief that the current way of things is the only way possible is a giant myth, created and sustained by the powerful to maintain their privileged position.
Indeed, if as a project you were to sit down and design a society from scratch it would probably look very different and be massively fairer than the current model.
The privileged few are helped in maintaining their position because those they rule over are divided, disorganized and frequently squabbling amongst themselves, which of course suits those that wield the real power and carry the real responsibility for most of the world's problems. Some of the masses are a little better off than others, and encouraged to view the less fortunate as unworthy scroungers. Particular scapegoats are immigrants, in reality the majority of us have far more in common with our peers of different race / nationality / religion / gender / etc... than the masters we currently serve, ie nation states and big business.
We are all fundamentally spiritual beings, but modern society and its citizens have become detached from their true spiritual nature. To replace the flawed status quo we need to incorporate spiritual principles, in particular that of the essential oneness of all beings, in building a new system that works for all.
Quoting Noam Chomsky, Brand says the state doesn't exist to serve the people but rather to secure its own power and that of private interests, ie big business.
Brand's suggestion for a better world is based on replacing divisive institutions such as corporations and nation states with a series of non-profit cooperative run for and by their members on the basis of equality of say and outcome.
There is little to argue with in Brand's analysis of the problems faced by the vast majority of humanity. His solution is somewhat sketchy, and idealistic - since it eschews leaders. I can see where he's coming from, as historically revolutions have frequently resulted in something as bad or even worse than what they replaced. The problem is, as the adage says, "power corrupts".
Sadly, Revolution doesn't provide a detailed blueprint for building a better world. But let's hope it starts a wide and vigorous debate starting from what we have isn't the way it has to be and by working together and sharing ideas towards a mutually beneficial common goal we can draw closer to utopia than the present scam.
The difficulty in overcoming the current establishment is how the disorganized masses can stop battling each other off for long enough to organize against their real oppressors without some kind of central leadership, which in its turn could become the new oppressor. Maybe the answer lies in new technology, ie the Internet, that allows anyone to communicate globally and near-instantaneously, and indeed organizations like change.org are starting to make a real difference. We can but hope. Thank you Mr Brand for much food for thought.
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Filed in: books, spiritual politics
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