It's possible to have good political views and still be an awful person

 Right. I didn't want to have to write about this subject, but the story isn't going away and someone has to say something, so it looks like it's going to be me.

I have quite a lot of friends whom I agree with on absolutely nothing. Some of them have views that I consider horrific actually. There have been times when it's been hard to separate my personal feelings from my political opinions. There have been times that I've lost friends over political disagreements, although it's nearly always been the other person that's cut me off. This is because I actually like talking to people I don't agree with on things. Not only that, but I think it's vital to. I really dislike echo chambers; I find them exceptionally toxic, and although it can be a breath of fresh air to hear someone say something that you agree with, it doesn't always change very much. What changes things is dialogue. I think all of us can remember a time when someone put something so well that it completely changed how we felt about something.

I also think that if someone has bad views, there's always a reason for that. A lot of the time, it eventually comes back to something quite reasonable. A good example of this is the amount of racism that surrounded the Brexit vote in 2016. There was a lot of harmful rhetoric around that 'all these immigrants came over here and stole our jobs, and we want them gone'. This is a racist and untrue statement, and in addition it didn't have the slightest thing to do with EU membership anyway. However, there is still some kind of logic behind it. The people saying it were generally people for whom the corporatist and capitalist system wasn't working (and in truth, it doesn't work for anyone apart from the super-rich). Their grievances, their lack of financial security, their fears for the future, were completely grounded in reality. The only thing that was wrong with how they were feeling was that they were casting the blame for that at the wrong people. But can you really blame someone for coming to this conclusion, when we have politicians who are scapegoating immigrants to take the heat off their own failures, a broadcast media that's letting them get away with it, an education system that doesn't reward any kind of critical thinking and a financial system that relies on working people so hard they don't have the time to stop and consider the truth of what they're being told? On a psychological level, and particularly if they're surrounded by people of the same social class with similar experiences, it is completely natural for someone to come to these conclusions. The establishment knows this; this is why they scapegoat people so much.

I myself voted Remain, but I was quite ashamed by quite a lot of my fellow Remain-voters, because we spent the following three years antagonising Leave voters and calling them ignorant and racist. Far from an organised campaign against racism, this was one of the most profoundly stupid displays of classism I have ever witnessed. More than that, we really shot ourselves in the foot with that, because the result was a very hard Brexit under the most rabidly right-wing Government the UK has had in the whole of its history. We could have used that time productively, by reaching out to people, establishing what they really want (mostly the same as what everyone else wants) and uniting under a mission for freedom, justice and human rights. We didn't do that, we succumbed to the establishment's desire to make this factional, and now we're all in the shit because of it.

What I'm getting at here is that if someone has awful views, a lot of the time it's not really their own fault. As humans, we are a product of our experiences, and we are all susceptible to believing things that are wrong. I've held opinions in the past that I no longer hold, as has I think everyone. This is why I try to create dialogue. If things aren't antagonistic and we can discuss them openly, we can see one another's feelings a lot more starkly and work together to reach a solution. A lot of people with horrible views actually turn out to be amazing and kind people in their personal lives; they just haven't realised how to extend that to their political actions.

But, of course, the opposite is also true. Just as it's possible to have horrible views and still be a good person, it's possible to hold really good strong progressive views and still be an utterly terrible human being. Over the last week, the case of Russell Brand has permeated UK media. I don't really want to go into the actual allegations about him because I don't think it's really my business to - that's a matter for himself, the alleged victims, the courts, the police and social workers, not for the general public. But what I would like to do is share a story that a friend of mine experienced with Russell Brand (reposted with permission):

'Over a decade ago, when Brand had re-branded himself politically, a few friends and I went to see his show (I know, why?!)

He very disappointingly began the show by commenting on women's breasts in the audience- asking the men they were with what sex with her was like and other inappropriate vulgarities. We began to get pretty angry.

When he came out in to the audience to continue this tyrade of sexual remarks, he walked past our aisle so with the encouragement of my friend, I shouted out "less of the mysogyny Russell". He stopped and said, "you what?", and proceeded to push past people's legs in the aisles to come to where I was sat. He straddled me and thrust the microphone from his crotch in to my face. He then asked me something I can't recall amidst attempts to shame and embarrass me in front of the room. I was trying to formulate thoughts but he grabbed the mic away before I could answer and said I was too late. I stood up next to him and covered my mouth with my hand as I felt silenced.

Most of the room bood me for interrupting their evening, blinded by their idolatry of this sexist idiot, but a small part of the room cheered. As he walked away he commented "well she was brave you've got to give her that" or some such comment. My friend was in a few rows back and her and some other audience members were shouting at him whilst he was doing this to me, and I had a message from a woman afterwards who was there with her 2 sons, who were all horrified at how he treated me.

It was an intimidating act, to tower above me like that and shame me in front of a packed out auditorium because I'd challenged him. But I'm really glad I had the guts to do that. If you don't challenge perpetrators, they keep getting away with it. And that's what happened with him. Years of people allowing him to say such utterly vile things about women live on stage/air. His interview with Jimmy Savile says it all.

No amount of attempts by Brand to suggest this is part of a co-ordinated media attack against his quest for truth-telling, can cover up the very words that came out of his mouth and the very behaviour that he himself enacted. I just hadn't realised how awful it was.'

I can't imagine how upsetting it would be to have an experience like this at a show that you've paid to see, at the hands of someone you'd previously respected. I have so much admiration for my friend for speaking out about it.

Russell Brand has always engaged in awful behaviour. I was a teenager when he and Jonathan Ross publicly harassed then 78-year-old Andrew Sachs (who incidentally, was a Jewish refugee during World War II). I garnered a bit more respect for him in the mid-2010s when he aligned himself strongly with the left - but now I'm a little older and more mature, I've come to realise that someone having similar political opinions to me does not mean I have to like them, just as someone having different ones does not mean I have to dislike them.

Because I have more respect for other people's dignity than Russell Brand obviously has, I'm going to assume that he was truly genuine in the progressive opinions that he expressed. I will say that I appreciate the fact that he was involved with the mid-2010s 'youthquake' that led to the election of Jeremy Corbyn to the Labour Party leadership - a youthquake the political establishment is now doing its utmost to undermine. But that does not mean he is a nice person, or a respectful one. Suggesting that someone can't be a sexual predator because they support progressive policies is just as unreasonable as suggesting that someone must be a violent thug because they voted for the Tories. People's political viewpoints are not indicative of their personalities generally, and never have been.

And incidentally, as a progressive person, I actively do not want Russell Brand representing my cause. I think his support is actively harmful to our chances of success. And, being the cynic that I am, I suspect that this may be the reason he was given such a big platform to supposedly promote our cause in the first place - because he's a terrible person, and having him on our team gives the establishment the ability to say, 'Look at the sort of odious individuals the left associate themselves with.'

We don't have to accept it. We don't have to ally ourselves with violent sexual predators just because they believe in the same thing as us. I actually think a lot of the time, it's more important to call people out who are in our own camp - because otherwise, things just get covered up, and coverups are how most political movements fail.

My Facebook My Twitter

It's not hard to speak out; it's only hard to be the first person to do so

'I used to think if I wanted to get somewhere I had to impress the right people. Then I realised that if you impress enough of the wrong ones you can do whatever you want anyway.' Grace Petrie

'No one is too small to make a difference' Greta Thunberg

It's very hard to speak out in the face of injustice. Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and so on still doggedly pursue us on our journey through this life, and I think it's important to sometimes take a moment to acknowledge to ourselves how enormously difficult this kind of this is to speak out against.

Acknowledging it means putting our thought processes down on paper (or on a screen) so here goes:

1) I feel bad for that person that's being oppressed.

2) But maybe the oppressor has something of a point? Let's listen to both sides.

3) Okay, yeah, I don't really agree with what that person's saying.

4) But hold on, aren't I in favour of free speech?

5) Maybe that person just knows more than I do?

6) Maybe I should just stay out of it.

7) No, I can't do that. That's not fair.

8) But the thing is, I don't want to draw attention to myself.

9) No one else is saying anything.

10) God, I have so much to do today.

11) I don't really have the energy.

12) I'll give that person a hug when everyone else has gone. That will at least help them emotionally.

Points 9 and 10 are the most crucial in understanding the psychological phenomenon behind it. The urge to conform is a highly powerful one within society (I used to study psychology, and this was the first part of it I was ever taught about - it hooked me right from the start), and in addition to that, most human beings are loaded with too many priorities in life to really have time to look at the wrongs in the world - the wrongs that in fact, they themselves may be propping up.

I work in the entertainment world, and things there are immensely weighted in favour of the powerful (which is why there's such a high instance of popular entertainers being accused of things like sexual assault - another one came out yesterday, and perhaps it will be the subject of a different blog, I don't know yet). Nowadays, there's a lot of talk about higher representation of things like people of colour, the disabled, LGBTQ+ people and so on - but from what I've seen, a lot of this is just for show. I wrote a bit about my experiences of this being just for show in this blog that I wrote back in January, but it also backs up my overall point about conformity. There is more talk about it nowadays, therefore in some respects it's easier to call out - but in other respects it isn't. It's only easy to call out if your view is in line exactly with what everyone else is saying. If it contradicts the dominant narrative, it's quite hard to get up on your pedestal and call it out, as I found with my objection to the notion that only LGBTQ+ actors can play LGBTQ+ parts. I argued that this is actually harmful to LGBTQ+ rights, and I was quite taken aback by the levels of hostility I got for expressing this viewpoint - even though it's an injustice I've experienced myself as an LGBTQ+ performer.

The entertainment world is where I witness most of this stuff first-hand because that is where I work - however, it's something that applies to the whole of society generally. Particularly in relation to the Labour Party at the moment, what I see of what they're doing, what with ruling out wealth taxes, ditching promises to axe tuition fees and expelling numerous members for calling anything out, is an attempt to reduce the level of opinion that it's acceptable to express. This kind of thing, unfortunately, works. There are so many examples throughout history of it working. When none of the leading political figures are willing to say anything remotely radical, it becomes very hard for any regular person to say or do anything radical as well. If they do, they're likely to be either mocked or get into trouble - and they know that as well, and the fear of losing social legitimacy is often a very strong deterrent.

But, I won't be entirely scathing about conformity either. Like every human function, I do believe that it has its place and can be used for good rather than harm. It's not hard to speak against injustice; it's only hard if you feel that no one's on your side. Once the first person has done it, it's so easy for others to get caught up in it. I can see no better example of this than Greta Thunberg, who never expected her small one-person protest outside the Swedish Parliament to catch on as much as it did. Human beings have a tendency to create a snowball effect with one another, and this can be a good thing as well as a bad thing. What I would advise though is that we always think rationally about what we're doing - whether it really helps, or whether we're just jumping on the bandwagon. Many, many times it does help, and climate activism is an area where I believe it is helping - however, this is also how people join cults.

Dialogue is always the cure for this dilemma. If we're open to talking to one another, even if some of us are expressing opinions that we really don't agree with, we can make so much progress. I have some friends who have some views that I really don't agree with - but I always think, there's a reason they think that, and that reason is probably somewhat legitimate. I think even people who hold racist views, if you really probe into why they think that, eventually just come back to feeling oppressed within society themselves. And they're allowed to feel like that, because most of us are oppressed in some way; and part of the nature of oppression involves turning people against one another. This removes their only weapon; the ability to talk, engage and collectively fight back. There are so many more oppressed than there are oppressors; we could come together and change the system in a single day, if we decided to.

What doesn't work is toeing the line in the hope that eventually you'll be in a higher-up position in which to change things. No one is EVER allowed to change things by the political class. Change only comes from lower down. I won't ever criticise someone who compromises their principles in order to get by, because in this world it is very hard to get by and we all do what we can - but I will say that it doesn't really work. All that tends to achieve is a headache. If you're someone who isn't sure what they can do to help deal with the problem they're most concerned about, I'd advise just chatting to your friends about it. There's so much of a culture of 'let's not bring politics into things', but what if there wasn't? What if we could talk to our friends about things going on in the world that were worrying us? When we can do that, even if we can't immediately come up with a solution, it just feels like there's a weight off our shoulders. I'm witnessing this myself quite a lot at the moment in relation to the day centre in Abergavenny my partner is fighting to save. We've harnessed the strong feelings of so many people, people who perhaps felt it was a losing battle before we started talking about it, and there's such a feeling of hope and optimism amongst the group now. It's a feeling of strength. This is what the oppressors most fear.

I started this with a quote from Grace Petrie, who is one of my absolute favourite protest singers. She said this at a concert I saw her in last year, before singing a song called 'We've Got An Office In Hackney'. It's essentially about being a protest singer getting a bit more attention, and whether that would compromise one's principles. Have a listen - it's a lovely song:

My Facebook My Twitter

Tips to balance good activism with bad mental health

I'll be frank, my mental health has been pretty poor lately.

I've had two bereavements this year, some quite stressful work to do, intense disagreements with people, just low energy generally... and awful things happening in the world. I sometimes think that the cruellest thing is that the more you care about changing the world, the more fatigued it makes you feel. This is the reason why many activists experience such burnout. It's often said that you lose your idealism as you age, and there's some truth in that statement. Most of us start off with the motivation that we're going to sort the world out quite quickly, and then if it doesn't quite happen like that it can be quite demotivating. I found after the 2019 General Election in particular, the huge numbers of people who were keen to achieve decent socialism in the UK kind of disappeared (although I think they are still out there, and can still be reached).

I've been having these problems for years, and I've written a bit about them on previous blogs. Unlike other occasions when things have been difficult for me though, I have actually been making more effort to keep my blog updated this time. This is one way that I've been coping... a lot of the time in the past I've gone through long periods of failing to bother updating this, and then that spirals. The more time passes, the more I have to write about, and then I don't know what to write first. Continuing to make myself write has had the benefit that I look out for interesting things to write about and create new perspectives on them... which is beneficial for my state of mind as much as anything else.

So that would be my first tip for staying sane in a world that seems like it's against you - to give something to focus on on a regular basis. It's not always easy to motivate yourself, but you feel so much better after you've done it. My second tip would be to find a specific project to work on. There's a theory that the only thing you need to improve the world is to improve someone's world, and I really relate to that. As regular readers will know, I'm actively involved in a campaign to save a day centre for vulnerable adults in Abergavenny (I've written about this here, here and here). It's obviously not something that's massively world-changing in one respect - but in another, I think it's one of the most world-changing things I've ever done. This campaign might win, and if it does it will have an extremely positive impact on people's lives. Isn't that all we want as activists - for the quality of people's lives to radically improve? The fact that my current campaign has a relatively small group of beneficiaries is not the point - it's quality that matters over quantity.

My third tip is to be aware of your triggers. This does NOT mean avoiding your triggers... I actually think it's quite beneficial to trigger yourself sometimes, as that stops your triggers from having so much power over you. But if you're going to trigger yourself, you do need to know when is the right moment and when isn't. Personally, I'm extremely triggered by depressing comments about climate change, to the point that my anxiety over this has started giving me physiological reactions. And with my state of mind at the moment, I just cannot engage. But that doesn't mean I'll never be able to engage. I will engage, one day when I feel more able to, which is what I'm working towards at the moment. And when I do engage, the people I will engage with will be the ones who make me feel capable of contributing towards solving the problem. I cannot stand climate doomers, and I agree with the scientists in this article that there's actually an argument that they're doing more harm than climate denialists these days. One of the problems with talking about climate change is that it's really hard to find a middle ground - information is either so terrifying that it makes you freeze with panic, or more reassuring than it should be (and it doesn't help if we don't know the complexities of the science behind it, which most of us don't). So I will recommend the two YouTube channels which I think have struck the appropriate balance. Dr Adam Levy is a climate scientist who uses the name ClimateAdam - I find him great at giving the information behind the headlines in a clear, positive and accessible way, which focusses on creating ideas that people can do to help. Another YouTuber I really like is Leena Norms - she talks about other things besides climate change, but I find her logic very original, intelligent and thought-out, and I always feel better after a blast at her content. So thank you Adam and Leena if you ever read this blog - you've helped me through some dark times!

Talking of help through dark times, my final tip (and arguably the most important one) is to find your community. One of the most difficult things about the fatigue of being someone who cares is that so often you think 'Why am I the only one?' You are not. There are so many people out there who feel the same way as you, and most likely think that they're the only one as well. All you need to do is find them. My most recent blog prior to this one was mourning the decline of the quality of The Canary, and the main reason I've felt so upset about that is that in 2017, The Canary was my main source of companionship. It was my reminder that I wasn't alone. The Canary sadly no longer serves that purpose (I have been in touch with them and they seemed interested in working with me on improving, but so far there have been no further developments on that front) but that doesn't mean there aren't groups of people that are helpful, whether they're activist groups, discussion groups, campaign groups... a different kind of group will work for each person depending on your personality and what you're most into. I think this is a big part of the reason why groups like Just Stop Oil have taken off so much... it's not just about sitting in the road and damaging paintings, it's that those groups have a companionship to them, a group of like-minded people who are willing and able to fight. That is so incredibly valuable in today's world, which seems desperate to turn us apart from one another. Find your companions.

I hope that this blog has helped anyone who might be struggling. We are in this world to improve it, we are capable of improving it and we can improve the lives of others as we do. We just have to believe we can.

My Facebook My Twitter