Mitch Benn – There Are Things Worth Rioting About Right Now

I’ve been listening to a podcast called Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4. Last Friday it was The Now Show, a satirical tilt at just about anything in the British media.

I was really enjoying the program and then, about seven and a half minutes in, I was captivated by a brilliant biting contemporary folk song written and performed by Mitch Benn. It comes in the wake of civil unrest associated with the brutal murder of a soldier in London.

While extreme right groups like the anti-immigrant English Defense League stir racist hatred, Benn tells the rioters there are much more important things to protest about, as the conservative government dismantles social welfare in Britain.

It’s set to a dramatic marching tempo reminiscent of Russian workers’ songs and “Do you hear the people sing?” from Les Miserables. The power of the song takes me back to the protest movements and the folk scene in Sydney in the ’60s and ’70s. Heady days!

To listen to the song press the play button:

If you’d like to subscribe to Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4, plug this into your podcast application:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/fricomedy/rss.xml

Here’s Mitch Benn’s website:
http://www.mitchbenn.com/