Petitions

If you are concerned with a particular policy, or there is a matter that you think is insufficiently addressed, then it is possible to try to change this by use of petitions. They work by gathering signatures of people who agree with the motion you are putting forward, and if enough signatures are gathered then things can start to happen.
In recent years the capabilities and possibilities of petitions have been underestimated, most recently in the decision not to privatise Britain’s forests, when the outcome of so many signatures against the measure was totally unexpected.

Petitions can be used in all kinds of circumstances. A number of petitions were used to demonstrate people’s opinions of Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment, and while they had no legal effect as such, the signatures of millions of people represented the people’s moral values against apartheid. Other types of petition do have legal and political influence, such as a petition to stop the closure of a local swimming pool. Chances are that the council would benefit financially from the closure, but the local community would suffer as a whole.

Non-government organisations such as Amnesty International often use petitions in order to support various cases, as they lend a degree of moral authority to the proceedings. While many petitions hold little legal value, they represent the moral values and political inclinations of all that sign them, and as such they can be seen to be representative of people that are not always given a voice in a political sense.