Voice Of The Voiceless...?

Some claims to be the voice of the voiceless - from animal rights activists, over NGOs working in Africa - to Rage Against The Machine.

The NGO I work for doesn't claim to give voices to the voiceless, it claims it gives influence to the poor. I am sceptical about both, I don't belive in the 'giving' thing. I prefer people claiming it themselves.

But I haven't been able to put right words to it in the way one of my Ugandan colleagues did today during a discussion on how to deal with advocacy; He suggested that we changed focus to unblocking the ears of the people who seem not to listen. He argued we can empower (and poor out money) people with voices or speak on behalf of them, but we will keep shouting and shouting, if no one is listening.

Point taken.