7-1 A New Brand of Politics

Protests

Young people protesting against an unfair distribution of wealth.

Part One: Discussion

Discuss the following questions with in pairs or groups:

Does your country have a fair distribution of wealth? What percentage of people are poor? How big is the middle class? What about the wealthy? Does this concern you?
How many political parties have a realistic chance of winning your country's national elections?
Do you feel that your government is doing the right thing to ensure you have good chance for success in your life? Do you think the people in power in your country care about your interests?
Do you feel that your country's government is overly influenced by money? Is it corrupt?

What was Occupy Wall Street? What does the expression "We are the 99%" mean? Do some quick online research on the Occupy movement and answer these questions:

How did it start?
Where did it start and where did it spread?
What were some of the frustrations that led to the movement?

Part Two: Vocabulary

Ensure your understanding of the following vocabulary. Open the exercise and complete Part One before watching the video:

disparity
apathy
indifferent
fever pitch
disillusioned
despondent
complicit
impoverished
facetious
erroneous
duplicity
elite

Part Three: The Interview

Russell Brand is a successful British comedian and Hollywood actor. Known for his unusual fashion style and zany antics, he has in recent years become outspoken about socio-political issues and critical of government. You are going to watch an interview Brand gave the BBC's Jeremy Paxman after Brand served as guest editor for The New Statesman, a British political magazine.

Russell Brand

Russell Brand is a successful British comedian and Hollywood actor.

Exercise

Watch the interview and answer the questions in the exercise.

Here is a full transcript of the interview.

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