Voices of Conscience

In our troubled times, some groups and individuals stand out against the waves of greed and self-interest of the powerful (and maybe against the apathy of others?)
UK Uncut and UK Uncut Legal highlight the huge amounts that should be paid in tax (allegedly!) by major corporations such as Vodafone.
See their blog here.
The Occupy movement has also hit the headlines across the world.

Student campaigners such as Ed Bauer at Birmingham Uni challenge the orthodoxy of raising fees, as well as the injustice of low paid staff being given low pay increases while the salaries of Vice- Chancellors and other Senior university Managers go stratospheric.
Note: Birmingham Uni managers don't like protests, as their injunction on student protests on campus shows ... (Read the Guardian article linked here)

It is individuals and newly-formed groups who are leading the way, not the established political parties.

Globally of course, protestors in Syria show that Conscience really can be a matter of life and death - and huge respect is owed to those who risk their lives daily around Syria and elsewhere.
Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma demonstrates that peaceful opposition can be possible, even in the harshest circumstances and against the least peaceful and democratic of regimes (with the possible exception of Syria).

What will 2012 bring?



Picture: Unions' demonstration against the cuts in Birmingham in 2011.