Russell Brand Calls For Revolution to Help the Poor [VIDEO]

Russell Brand has criticised the present voting system, saying: "We are creating an underclass... genuine problems are not being addressed."

During a recent interview, Jeremy Paxman of the BBC's Newsnight questioned the actor about his stint as guest editor of the New Statesman, asking him: "What authority have you to tell us about politics if you couldn't even be bothered to vote?"

Brand replies: " It's not that I'm not voting out of apathy, I'm not voting out of absolute indifference, and weariness, and exhaustion from the lies, treachery, deceit of the political class that has been going on for generations now and has now reached a fever pitch, where we have a disenfranchised, disillusioned, despondent underclass that is not being represented by that political system, so voting for it is tacit complicity with that system."

Paxman calls Brand "a trivial man," and Brand later says, without "a flicker of doubt," there is possibilty of a political revolution.

Among other points made in the 11-minute conversation, Brand proposes a "socialist egalitarian system based on massive redistribution of wealth, heavy taxation of corporations and massive responsibility of energy companies and any companies exploiting the environment".

At one point in the conversation, Paxman provokes: "You don't believe in democracy, do you?"

Brand retorts: "The planet is being destroyed, we are creating an underclass, we are exploiting poor people all over the world, and the genuine, legitimate problems of the people are not being addressed by our political class."

According to the Daily Mail, Brand put forward his revolution theory with a Robin Hood-like ideology. Except that, instead of robbing the rich, he wants to see them taxed heavily to help the poorest in the country.

"David Cameron says profit isn't a dirty word, well I say profit is a filthy word," the comedian says during the interview.

Watch the full interview on the BBC's official Newsnight YouTube channel below: