The Big Issue founder John Bird has declared his intentions for the Big Issue from remonstration to participation, calling for a cognitive democracy for change. A political “movement” is being instigated and planned for next year’s launch.
John Bird said: “Most of the world, from Bush to Blaire, to Gordan Brown, to every registered charity, are largely involved in maintaining people in poverty; it’s time to tackle the real problems and create social mobility, create social change! We have to stop maintaining people in poverty.” He added: “Protest politics tends to die almost like fashion. No one really tends to engage. I want the magazine to reflect that we have come up with an alternative… not just complaining.”
He expressed his reasoning for no longer pursuing the role as mayor in elections next May “I do not want to get into that field of politics which requires me to be an apologist; the bigger movement is dismantling poverty.” He added “Why do I want to manage a decline? When I can work dutifully for a better cause?”
Bird expressed his sympathy for the homeless, “When you are poor, you have the mentality that comes with being poor and more often than not this culture is created around destitution. I want to give the poor the opportunity to enlarge their culture and their culture cannot just be a culture of ‘just hanging in their.’”
The magazine sold by homeless people to the general public will be used “as a vehicle to connect to the general public” says John Bird.
According to Bird, “The bigger movement is dismantling poverty. Wouldn’t it be nice if all homeless people had the chance to make their own living and earnings?"
Acknowledging the need for new journalists, Bird said: “We need journalists who are going to bring about change. Not just to expose… we want the answers. We intend to hit people with stories that have content but also inspire action to fight against the prejudices that the poor suffer.”
“Radical movements we would die for cause… we have to find a way where we can live the for cause. Make poverty history- we have a duty to think our ways out of this.”
Bird ended with “To me… the accumulation of knowledge is not passive… I want to use knowledge as a weapon for social change. I defend the truth.”
John Bird launched The Big Issue in 1991, enabling homeless people to make money by selling the news and current affairs publication on the streets.
