Remember, Remember.....

Remember Remember, the Fifth of November
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.
I see no reason, why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

A little ditty, burned into the brain of every child in England. But what are we remembering?

It is now 406 years since Guy Fawkes - possible the only man to ever enter Parliament with honest intentions - failed in his attempts to blow up Parliament. He was a man determined to bring about Political change. He was also a terrorist, a fact I have never disputed. He believed that the only way to achieve change was through violent action.

But if this year has taught us anything its that violence isn't neccerssarily the answer. We have seen that change can be achieved through peaceful means. We just have to look at Egypt where the only violence was that inflicted upon the protestors. Yes some of the Occupy protests have ended in violence. But this is as usual caused by those that came out determined to cause trouble and is also by and large a result of the supposedly "democratic" governments attempting to remove people exercising their rights to protest by force. Governments essentially silencing protestors.  On Thursday the Home Secretary Theresa May said the Government was looking into ways to "deal with" the protestors both outside St Pauls and in Parliament Square. A phrase that automatically brings to mind black bags and gulags.

The world is changing. People are starting to realise that if their governments are going to be truely democratic, truely representative  they have to answer to all the people, not to a small minority of them. Change is coming. I can feel it in the air. I just don't know what things will be like when we reach the other side.

But maybe, just maybe in 2417 - 406 years from now - people will look back and remember the fifth of November, not for gunpowder, treason and plot. But as the day the world began to change for the better.