When Russell Brand agreed to guest-edit the "New Statesman," one of Britain's political and current affairs magazines, he set out to write about revolution, he says, because "imagining the overthrow of the current political system is the only way I can be enthused about politics."
But it seems his subsequent interview with The BBC's Jeremy Paxman, prompted by that article, has attracted far more attention. In it, Brand defends his policy of not voting, which serves as a launchpad for a broad critique of the current political system.
Responding to Paxman's initial inquiry, wherein he notes Brand has never voted and asks, "How do you have any authority to talk about politics?" Brand replies:
It's not that I'm not voting out of apathy, I'm not voting out of absolute indifference, and weariness, and exhaustion from the lies, treachery, deceit of the political class that has been going on for generations now and has now reached a fever pitch, where we have a disenfranchised, disillusioned, despondent underclass that [is] not being represented by that political system, so voting for it is tacit complicity with that system.
"So you struck an attitude way before the age of 18?" Paxman asks.
Brand responds, "Well I was busy being a drug addict at that point because I come from the kind of social conditions that are exacerbated by an indifferent system which really just administrates for large corporations and ignores the population it was voted in to serve."
From there, the interview continues for an entertaining fast-paced 10 minutes or so, wherein Paxman labels Brand "a trivial man," and Brand later predicts, without "a flicker of doubt," that revolution is near and inevitable.
"Most politicians don't lay a glove on Paxman," The Telegraph notes. "Brand made him look uncomfortable and faintly ridiculous."
Watch the interview, above.