Read this from start to finish - it's that good [View all]

[malaise]

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/benjamin-zephaniah-brexit-donald-trump-racism-christmas-interview-a7437171.html
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Leonard Cohen’s recent death meant a lot to him. His first experience of Cohen’s music was someone giving him a copy of his track ‘Last Year’s Men’, at a time when Zephaniah rarely listened to music by white people.

"The same thing happened with Bob Dylan, with his song about a black boxer ['Hurricane']. And I thought ‘my gosh, this white Jewish guy is writing about a black guy who was wrongfully imprisoned'. And it might sound naive but at the time I was like, ‘white people care about us!'."

One of the most poignant things Zephaniah remembers about Cohen was an interview where he spoke about splitting rhymes, and noted that the people who were doing that best at the time were rappers and hip hop artists.

"And I thought that was very great of him just because he noticed… there’s a kind of intellectual type that complains and says people aren’t engaging in poetry like they used to.

Zephaniah has been put off mainstream politics of late - and what that political system delivers to the public - after recent events in Britain and in the US.

"You’ve got a lot of people who don’t understand politics themselves... so when someone similar comes along and starts blaming the blacks, the Mexicans, the lesbians… you’re gonna vote for them."

"I think the bottom line is… Trump does not know much about politics," he adds, becoming more specific. "He can shout slogans and have ideas like the man in the pub - someone who doesn't think about politics unless it’s over a pint at the weekend. But he doesn't really know what he’s doing.

"Sometimes people say to me, why don’t you get involved in politics properly? And I say absolutely not - I’m an artist, and when you go into political office, the reality is that you have staff and… it’s different from campaigning.

Since the EU referendum, Zephaniah says that he has experienced the kind of racism that he hadn’t since the 80s - an incident where, days after Britain voted to leave the EU, a man driving past shouted: "The Europeans are going and you’re next n****r."

And it’s troubling to watch the documentary that he made 11 months ago, where he speaks about Enoch Powell and the National Front. Because you realise that the rhetoric they used sounds awfully similar to certain politicians today.