Amy Goodman Interviews former MP Tony Benn

Former Labor MP and longtime British icon Tony Benn was interviewed by Amy Goodman today. I encourage you to listen to or watch the interview. Benn is really a true symbol of British democracy (I believe he was recently voted Britain's most famous politician, and is commonly known as the "Best Prime Minister Britain never had", and he is currently the head of the Stop the War Coalition, which is taking part in G20 protests.


I found this part of the interview interesting:

AMY GOODMAN: Tony Benn, the issue of Main Street and Wall Street, who benefits, who controls where the money goes, how the money is lost, or who gets the most of what’s there—how would it be controlled democratically? What is your alternative?
TONY BENN: Well, you see, the United Nations was set up after the war, and the five permanent members have a veto. They were the victors in the last war. But if you look at a democratic world, if you look at drawing up a constitution for the world, like the American Constitution, you’ve got to base it on population. And, of course, China has 1.2 billion people, and they have the same vote at the United Nations as Luxembourg, with a population of a few hundred thousand. And then India has a population of 1.2 billion. So we’re talking about something that’s never really been contemplated before, that the world economy should be supervised by people we elect and we remove, and therefore act in our interests. And those who drafted the American Constitution are needed now, because “We hold these truths to be self-evident” is something that you’ve got to apply globally now. And it’s very exciting.
And, you see, young people are so well aware of this. I’ve just been talking at a conference of people—and they’re sixteen, seventeen years old—at a girls’ school in London, a huge national conference. And when I look at them, I think my generation made a complete muck of the world, and here’s a generation coming along that, through the internet and Facebook and all that, understand each other. They don’t have the hostilities about religion or race. They just know that they’ve got to put the world at rights, or we will end up with a nuclear war that will destroy everybody. I have huge confidence in the younger people. I’ve got ten grandchildren, and I have confidence in them, too.

Godspeed to this new generation (us).