Quakers have the centuries of form in “speaking truth to power”, a phrase that was coined by a Quaker. Paul Parker, Recording Clerk, writes on the British Quakers web site why the 2013 Lobbying Act is a problem for us and other charities.
This comes as the Sheila McKechnie Foundation publishes research on how the law is affecting charity and voluntary sector campaigning.
Fear of non-compliance is making civil society cautious, when we should be bold. It isolates charities from one another when we should be building movements for change. It makes charities quiet and compliant when we should be noisy and challenging. That’s not what our stakeholders want of us. A weakened civil society voice weakens us all.
Multi-faith protest before the introduction of the so-called gagging law in 2013 (Photo by Jessica Metheringham via British Quakers web site)
Bath Quakers 