The world according to George Monbiot

Firebrand journalist and environmental activist George Monbiot has been sentenced to life imprisonment in Indonesia, shot at in Brazil and pronounced dead in a Kenyan hospital. So what’s he doing in Mid Wales, wonders Matt Thomas

ALTHOUGH he is used to making headlines, George Monbiot says he is choosy about giving interviews.

He gives them about as often as he apologises for his direct-action protests, which is to say very rarely indeed. This one is going ahead because next month sees the release of a new environmental documentary, The Age of Stupid, which he’s very excited about. The film looks at contemporary climate change issues through interview and documentary footage – and Monbiot is one case study featured – being watched by Pete Postlethwaite, playing a lonely man living in the devastated future of 2055.

Unusually, the production was funded by selling 228 shares to individuals and groups, raising £450,000 in exchange for a percentage of any profit made for the film.

“The fund raising was almost as creative as the film making,” says Monbiot, who lives in Machynlleth.

But it wasn’t only the unique finances that attracted him to the project.

“Franny (Armstrong, the director) and Lizzie (Gillett, producer) are people who have been making films that I have been following for a while.

“It was their previous work (on films like McLibel, which was nominated for several prestigious documentary awards) that made me agree to their pitch and I was interviewed for the film.”

Characteristically he’s not afraid to share his opinion of the documentary, which receives a special European Parliament screening in February.

“My own feeling is that perhaps the stories being told in the film are strong enough to stand on their own, that they don’t need the framing narrative but I can understand why they did it.”

It’s this forthright attitude which has got him into trouble on more than one occasion. He’s as well known for his activism – which last year included him attempting to arrest a visiting US politician at the Hay Literature Festival last year who Monbiot believes was responsible for triggering the invasion of Iraq – as his journalism, and he is the author of the bestselling books The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order and Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain. This suits him just fine however.

“I see myself as a campaigner and a campaigning journalist,” he says.

He spent most of his younger years ricocheting around the world, railing against injustice and exploitation wherever he could find it.

One of his most recent campaigns involved the open-cast mine at Ffos-y-fran, near Merthyr.

“That was an interesting experience because although we might not have managed to prevent the mining going ahead, we managed to get the Welsh Assembly Government to debate a 500m buffer zone for future mining sites.”

Wales, he says, has a rich heritage of protest and community action.

“Of course South Wales was instrumental in the growth of the Labour party, Merthyr Tydfil was one of the first places in Britain to see modern industrial action, and here in Machynlleth we had one of the last enclosure protests in Britain.

“The fishing rights to the river were owned by a corporation in London and the townsfolk went out, netted the river and strung the fish from the clock tower as if to say ‘You’re next’.”

Even though he’s not currently involved with any protests touching on Welsh issues, the 46-year-old is as outspoken as ever.

In a recent column for the Guardian praising Wales for its history of radical politics and protest movements, he also criticised its train service, sparking a flurry of commentary on the internet.

Luckily, he doesn’t feel the need to travel much any more.

“I moved here because my wife, who is a Welsh speaker wanted our daughter, Hannah, to grow up in a Welsh speaking environment.

“Sadly we’re not together any more, but I liked it so much I decided to stay.

“Here I can grow my own vegetables, go sea kayaking, catch my own fish and concentrate on my writing.”

It’s this last activity which is taking up much of his time at the moment, when he’s not looking after Hannah.

“I am working on a new book but I’m contractually obliged to keep the subject secret,” he says.

“Sorry, that’s not much good to you is it?”

An apology from George Monbiot? Best wrap this up here. It’s not going to get much better than that.

The Age of Stupid is receiving a special preview next month, followed by release at selected UK cinemas. Visit www.ageofstupid.net for more information.