Hi Russell
I want to say something about voting.
Wait…. WAIT!! Gimme a min before you go, OK?!
I've heard a lot of anti-voting arguments from yourself and friends and they can be extremely compelling: our ridiculous first past the post system; that a centralised government can never work and we must take back control at community level; that by voting you are implicitly supporting a system that is totally fucked, where politicians are lying creeps who worship at the altar of money and seem to think that the Earth has infinite resources and that the poor and vulnerable are some sort of scourge on society that must be systematically eradicated. *aaaaaand breathe.* Politics is full of hateful people and we want nothing to do with them.
I actually agree with these points. But herein lies the problem: Ill-informed or 'bad-hearted' people still do vote (I use the term 'bad-hearted' with caution as I think there is good in all of us, underneath the layers of fear and bullshit). The numbers to make non-participation work on a national level are astronomical. We need to stay in the debate to be heard. If we don’t, the outcome is skewed and, god forbid, someone like Nigel Farrage might actually be in a position where he could make decisions that affect us. *I just threw up in my mouth a bit at the thought of it*
I agree with you that change must come from ourselves. Ultimately, we must take back power and govern ourselves with love.. But whilst there is still a government system in place that holds a lot of the cards, the path of least resistance that has the best chance of making change QUICKLY is to infiltrate the system and change it from within.
You were grilled on question time recently about disengaging with voting and you passionately cried: "Give me something to vote for!"
May I present the Green Party.
You're a clued up dude. I'm sure you've heard of them. They represent a paradigm shift in political party views about how this country should be run. They are anti austerity, pro environment, pro drug law reform, pro banking and money reform… just check out reasonstovotegreen.org.uk for more. They don't accept corporate backing (in fact, they have crowdfunder campaigns to raise funds so that they can stand as candidates and promote their campaign) and I truly believe they represent the people.
You have a lot of clout, Russell. If you get behind them, you could mobilise a generation to surprise us all and get the Greens into government.
Sure, you could say: "it'll all go to shit once they get into power and are corrupted." And yeah, you could be right. But we could try giving it a chance; it's one counter vote against UKIP and Conservative at the very least. And let's say we did it. We get the Greens in. a shedload of people do what they've not done in a long time and lend their voice to the voting system to chose a party that represents their best interests. And then it all does go to shit and they turn out to be another bunch of lying bastards. You know what? I think enough people would FINALLY be pissed off enough to take direct action: break down parliament walls and eat the fuckers. And the revolution has begun.
It's a win win situation! Please get behind it… vote Green and tell your followers to as well!
