Owen Jones Missing the Point

Owen Jones has wrote an article which derides some parts of the left for their dislike of the middle-class, Oxbridge educated socialists, using the example of an SWP article mocking the death of an Eton educated teenager and focusing on Class Wars banner which featured a picture of Jones himself with the caption "Fuck of back to Oxford".

The full article can be read here.

I am not going to discuss the SWP article here other than to say it is clearly in bad taste.

But the article itself, and Jones' criticism of Ian Bone, both reveal that Jones totally misses the point of why their is so much distrust of middle-class socialists in class struggle. Jones article focuses on the death of one rich boy and how that is used, but he ignores the thousands of deaths being caused by governments around the globe. He could have focused and drew attention to the deaths being caused by the austerity measures here in the UK, a thinly disguised attack on the working class, are pushing millions into poverty and resulting in the deaths of thousands.

Instead he draws attention to a small article that was maybe read by 5,000 people, and talks about the tragedy of one teenage privileged death. Nobody doubts his family and friends are upset by his death, but it barely compares to the tragedies and injustices being played out every day as a result of the policies of the privileged classes. He has a platform to talk about genuine tragedy and try to promote social change, and instead he diverts the debate in a manner that deflects from the real issues and seeks to prevent criticism of the middle classes.

It is this naked self-protection that causes hatred of "champagne socialists".