Tony Benn: A Voice From Labour’s Left

[font size="1"]Tony Benn in Michael Moore's 'SiCKO'[/font]


from In These Times:



Tony Benn: A Voice From Labour’s Left
BY Jane Miller


Tony Benn is now 86. He left Parliament 10 years ago in order, as he put it, “to spend more time on politics.” Benn’s public service career began in 1950 and was interrupted in 1960, when his father died and he became Viscount Stansgate. After a famous struggle, in which his determination to relinquish his title won popular support, British law was changed to allow members of the nobility to renounce their titles. In Benn’s case, it meant that he was free to return to Parliament as a commoner. (Lords–peers–can be in government, but they can’t sit in the House of Commons.)

Benn served in both Harold Wilson’s and James Callaghan’s Labour governments, but has since moved leftward. And while that trajectory may have cut short his ministerial career, he has remained an enormously popular figure with Labour activists. Indeed, the adjective “Bennite” has been used for years to describe the small number of left-wing Labour MPs, and the much larger number of unhappy Labour supporters, who have nonetheless maintained their loyalty to the party.

.....(snip).....

What do you tell the Occupy movement in London when you speak to them?

This movement has been taken quite seriously, much to my surprise. The establishment normally deals with new ideas by first ignoring them, and then, if you go on, saying you’re mad, and, after awhile, saying you’re dangerous.

Occupy has hit at exactly the right moment. There’s a major economic crisis in Europe and in the world. And these people are asking, “What would Jesus do?” That registers quite well. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/12510/tony_benn_a_voice_from_labours_left