Forleden døde den danske politiker Jesper Langballe fra Dansk Folkeparti. I Storbritannien sørger de over tabet af den gamle socialist Tony Benn, der døde forleden i en fremskreden alder af 88 år. Der var fandens til forskel på de to politikere. Langballe var en borgerlig original helt ind i sin kerne. Tony Benn var en af de sjældne ægte socialister i det engelske arbejderparti Labour. I avisen The Guardian ha r man samlet en række citater af Benn, der fortæller læserne – os! – noget om, hvordan en socialist tænker. Og efter at have læst dem, kan man ikke lade være med at tænke: Findes der blot en socialist af det format i det danske folketing?

1) “If we can find the money to kill people, we can find the money to help people.”

2) His “Five questions” for the powerful.

Tony Benn’s final speech to the House of Commons as MP was an appropriately eloquent farewell, in which he talked widely on his view of the role of parliament and the wider question of democracy. As Hansard records, he said:

In the course of my life I have developed 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.

3) “Making mistakes is how you learn.”

4) “I now want more time to devote to politics and more freedom to do so”

5) “The House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians.”

6) “I think there are two ways in which people are controlled. First of all frighten people and secondly, demoralise them.”

7) “Hope is the fuel of progress and fear is the prison in which you put yourself”

8 ) “We are not just here to manage capitalism but to change society and to define its finer values.”

9) “There is no moral difference between a stealth bomber and a suicide bomber. Both kill innocent people for political reasons.”

10) “A faith is something you die for, a doctrine is something you kill for. There is all the difference in the world.”

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