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Dear Friends,
Our
obviously over-ambitious plans to produce this bulletin on a fortnightly
basis have been reviewed - quite possibly to the relief of many Friends,
already suffering from information overload! But we do hope to keep
it going on an occasional basis, as a way of bringing topical issues, options
for action and Friendly reflections to the attention of Friends.
This issue has a round-up of some of the recent Quaker writing and work
in relation to 'the war on terrorism' , and a focus on nuclear disarmament
concerns. At Faslane this coming weekend a three-day-long blockade
will be commencing, protesting against Trident. Many people have
always regarded nuclear weapons as instruments of terror on a massive scale.
Disarmament may seem a distant prospect, but there are always openings
for positive change.
Quakers and 'the war against
terrorism' continued...
In the 21 December
issue of 'The Friend', Deborah Padfield writes:
"Where is the good news? What
can we do? Not give up. Now, above all now when governments
are feeding the anger, ordinary citizens have no right to give up.
Keep talking to each other; keep working to affirm a rule of law which
respects the rights of all as human equals; keep reminding power that it's
there in the service of all, not in the service of self; that it's steward
of global wealth and well being, not its master."
Out of sight,
out of mind?
"AN EYE FOR AN EYE MAKES THE WHOLE WORLD
BLIND" was the quotation from Ghandi used on many banners over the past
four months. It has been estimated by Professor Marc Herold, a US
academic who has used and cross-checked dozens of media reports, that at
least 3,700 civilians had been killed by 'allied' military action against
Afghanistan up to the middle of December. The bombing has continued
since then, and the death toll has risen with the passage of time.
How many have died from hunger, with aid not reaching much of the country
for most of the autumn months of bombing, is not known. US President
Bush reminded his fellow citizens in his State of the Union address that
they see this as just the beginning. We must keep our eyes open and
keep asking questions. Marc Herold's dossier can be found on the
web at: http://www.cursor.org/stories/civilian_deaths.htm
The human face of war
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC),
via it's "Peace Response" web site: http://www.peaceresponse.org/face.shtml
"As a peace community,
we need to get out the messages about war that the Bush Administration
dismisses and obscures. The costs of war need to be made clear to the public.
The National Coalition for Peace and Justice has picked "the human face
of war" as a theme for our peace response throughout the month of February.
The Peace Response website will help share ideas for action along that
theme from the American Friends Service Committee's regional and national
offices and our coalition partners."
Is this a focus that groups in the
UK might use to keep this in front of people's minds?
Peace Pledge
AFSC, with the Fellowship of Reconciliation
and others, is also promoting a peace pledge, the text of which follows:
"I support peace for Iraq. I grant permission to use my name and city publicly
as an opponent of the ongoing economic and bombing war on Iraq, and of
any escalation of that war.
I will communicate my support for peace
to my elected officials and consider other actions to work for peace with
Iraq and other nations. " http://www.peaceresponse.org/pledge/index.shtml
Common security
At a conference in December that AFSC
helped to put on, it's organiser, Joseph Gerson contributed a paper stating:
"... as we reel from the September 11 attacks and the national mobilization
for war, we need to be thinking about the roots and implications of this
war (not the least of them being the socialization of our young for future
cycles of war and violence), about a politics of repentence, and about
the fundamental importance of common security - that ancient truth that
we or the world's nations cannot be secure if others are not."
International nuclear disarmament
Feed the Wolf
Janet Bloomfield and Pamella S. Meidell
have written, for Atomic Mirror, a document entitled: "Feed the Wolf: A
Rough Guide to Global Security", reflecting on the past year's progress
towards the goals of the international Abolition 2000 network, and the
wider context. http://www.abolition2000.org/Feed%20the%20Wolf.pdf,
also available from:-
25 Farmadine, Saffron Walden, Essex
CB11 3HR Tel/Fax: +44 (0)1799 516189 e-mail: info@atomicmirror.org
They write:
"What
if, instead of preparing for and using military force, we prepared for
and used truth-force? What if we prepared for the massive redistribution
of wealth and power that would equalize the global north and the global
south? What would that mean? Locally, regionally, nationally, globally?
Would that enable us to "feed the wolf?"
"This
is a moment to seize. The Kaleidoscope has been shaken. The pieces are
in flux. Soon they will settle again. Before they do, let us re-order this
world around us." --Tony
Blair, British Prime Minister, October 2, 2001
The
horrific events of September 11 awakened America, and the whole over-developed
world, through pain and suffering, to the knowledge of our common humanity,
our common heart. Whether it is the heart of darkness or the heart of compassion
is up to us. ... Now is the time to push for complete
nuclear abolition, not just because it is sane, or legal, or moral, or
economical, or practical (though it is all of these things). But most importantly,
because it will make us all safer, more secure."
Non-Proliferation
Treaty Commitments
A specific opportunity to contribute to this push is coming up in April.
Parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference are meeting in
New York over 8-19 April. For information about this treaty and about
the 13-point action plan agreed in 2000, visit: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/npt/nptindex.html
or send a SAE to the NFPB office. Why not use this as an opportunity
to contact your MP to remind them of the UK government's commitments expressed
in the action plan, and to ask for a report on progress since May 2000.
Coming up:
Dialogue with Decision
Makers - workshop
On 16 March in Lancaster NFPB is running
a day workshop with Janet Bloomfield, looking at the skills of working
for change through dialogue, drawing on the experiences of the Oxford Research
Group and focusing in particular on US Missile Defence, Nuclear Weapons
and the Arms trade. If you are interested, visit our web page at:
www.gn.apc.org/nfpb/dialflyr.htm
or contact the NFPB office.
Peace
by Peace at Woodbrooke
NFPB is teaming up with Woodbrooke to
run this event over the last weekend in April. Led by Marion McNaughton
and Philip Austin, it will be an opportunity for Friends to meet to work
together...in looking widely - at the context in which we are working for
peace; in looking deeply - at the source and nourishment of our Quaker
peace witness and in looking specifically, at some of the key peace and
disarmament challenges facing us today. For details, contact Woodbrooke
on: 0121 472 5171, email: enquiries@woodbrooke.org.uk |
