This week will see tributes from parliamentarians to the former Labour Politician and political campaigner Tony Benn who passed away on Friday (Wintour & Mason, 2014). His passing is especially sad news for those who believed in the causes he fought for, whether it be for a constitution, for the recognition and representation of women, or for championing of democracy in political circles and amongst the people.
The world Benn hoped for was not contained in formal institutions, or in this or that form of social, governmental or economic organisation. It was an active, persistent and vigilant democracy, something generated by, and determined by, individuals able to actively choose for themselves how to live their lives and engage with the world around them.
'I think democracy is the most revolutionary thing in the world. Far more revolutionary than socialist ideas or anybody else's idea. Because if you have power, you use it to meet the needs of you and your community. And this idea of choice which capital talks about all the time, you have got to have a choice. Choice depends upon the freedom to choose. And if you're shackled with debt you don't have a freedom to choose. The people in debt become hopeless and hopeless people don't vote. So they will say that everyone should vote, but I think if the poor in Britain or the United States turned out and voted for people who represented their interests, it would be a real democratic revolution.'
It is sad that he did not live to see a democratic revolution become a reality in Britain.
What should however offer us inspiration, is that he never stopped believing it was possible. When he retired from his active career in politics, standing down as an MP and as a member of the Labour Party, he famously said he was retiring 'to spend more time on politics'.
It was ever Benn's belief that the institutions of power, such as parliaments, were only places to which power had been gathered, gained, won, or stolen. That people are the true source of power, and its rightful wielders. He challenged power wherever it was concentrated, with his 'five little democratic questions':
'If one meets a powerful person - Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates - ask them five questions: "What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?" If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system.'
Benn leaves behind him the causes he fought for, as tasks still left unfinished. But he also left us tools with which to challenge the powers and obstacles that obstruct progress, and lingering hope that success in those struggles is possible.
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References
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+ Patrick Wintour & Rowena Mason's 'Tony Benn, veteran Labour politician, dies aged 88'; in The Guardian; 14 March 2014.
+ BBC's 'Tony Benn'; on BBC History.
+ The Guardian readers and James Walsh's '10 of the best Tony Benn quotes - as picked by our readers'; in The Guardian; 15 March 2014.
+ Michael Moore's 'Sicko'; 2007.
+ Tony Benn's page on Wikipedia.
+ Articles covering Tony Benn's passing, obituary's and analysis of the impact:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/14/tony-benn-obituary
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/14/tony-benn-socialism-epitaph
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/14/tony-benn-the-history-man-editorial
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/14/tony-benn-rare-breed-idealism
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/14/left-after-tony-benn-bob-crow
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