Showing posts with label Johann Hari. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Johann Hari. Show all posts

Monday, 1 November 2010

Protest Works - Just look at the proof

Excellent article by Johann Hari in today's Independent he reflects on the success of the Vodaphone protests over the last few days (stimulated by a comment he made about Vodaphone's tax avoidance in one of his columns):

"Protest raises the political price for governments making bad decisions. It stopped LBJ and Nixon making the most catastrophic decision of all. The same principle can apply to the Conservative desire to kneecap the welfare state while handing out massive baubles to their rich friends. The next time George Osborne has to decide whether to cancel the tax bill of a super-rich corporation and make us all pick up the tab, he will know there is a price. People will find out, and they will be angry. The more protests there are, the higher the price. If enough of us demand it, we can make the rich pay their share for the running of our country, rather than the poor and the middle – to name just one urgent cause that deserves protest."