George Monbiot: Pull No Punches

He has received an award from Nelson Mandela. He has been sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment in Indonesia. He’s built a reputation in Britain that’s comparable to Noam Chomsky’s, but is George Monbiot ready to face the Glasgow comedy audience?

“Whenever I’ve spoken in Glasgow it’s been fantastic,” he tells us. “People are very engaged in political issues there, more so than other areas.” Gentleman George Monbiot’s Left Hook is not actually a comedy show but a group discussion. The format is this: Monbiot will speak for 10 minutes on something that’s topical that week and then debate it with the audience, before opening the floor for other topics. “We did the first one last night in Warwick and it seems the format does work. I sensed almost a relief in the audience at having a chance to speak with a big bunch of strangers, to know that they weren’t alone in what they were thinking and have a chance to test their ideas. We spilled over into the bar afterwards and continued the discussion over a few beers.”

All of which sounds like fun, but we now live in a world where the internet allows everyone to express any opinion they like. How is this different? “I’m constantly involved in debates on the internet which are largely frustrating because you can’t see each other. When you’re in the same room, you can fiercely disagree with someone but you tend to work together more in trying to resolve your differences. And I learn things too from these debates. It helps to stimulate my thinking and I hope it stimulates others too.

“We’re seeing a chance now in this country to reinvigorate political debate. We’ve emerged from a miserable period of politics and there’s an enormous level of public anger which stretches from pissed-off students to Daily Mail readers angry that the bankers are paying less tax than they are.”

This is also a time when grassroots action is toppling governments in the Middle East. Could that ever happen here? “I don’t see why it couldn’t,” he replies. “The government has very few public supporters now and there’s a political denouement brewing. This government has gone so far, so fast that I think people are open to questions about the underlying agendas. And I think that’s a period of great hope.”

Could George Square be the next Tahrir Square? It will if George Monbiot has anything to do with it.