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1 Meeting for Sufferings
2
3 1 October 2016
4
5 Henry S. Thompson, SE Scotland AM representative
6
7 This meeting was almost entirely taken up with information being
8 shared with/via Meeting for Sufferings, what follows are a few
9 summaries of things Friends may find interesting and which some may
10 wish to pursue further.
11
12 All the papers for the meeting are available online at
13
14 http://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-october-agenda-papers-package-2016-v1
15
16 where much more detailed information about these and other matters are
17 available.
18
19 The new Clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting (Deborah Rowlands) and the
20 Recording Clerk (Paul Parker) reported on a recent visit to
21 Philadelphia and Baltimore Yearly Meetings, which was clearly a very
22 valuable trip for all concerned. A few highlights:
23
24 * In response to a financial crunch and a wide-ranging review (sound
25 familiar), Philadelphia YM concluded "we can't go on the same way"
26 and laid down _all_ central committees, replacing with a framework
27 for time-limited efforts, called 'Collaboratives' and 'Sprints',
28 largely carried out by Friends from constituent Area Meetings
29
30 * Responses to racism (in the nation at large) and a lack of
31 diversity (in the YM itself) were high on the agenda at
32 Philadelphia, under the title _Undoing Racism_
33
34 * The situation of "Young Adult Friends" (YAF) (18--35ish) was a
35 concern at both YMs, with the Epistle of YAF at Philadelphia
36 describing anger and frustration at their marginalisation, leading
37 to the creation of structures outside the 'official' ones:
38 http://www.pym.org/pym-young-adult-friends-epistle-2016/
39
40 We received our annual report from Quaker Peace and Social Witness
41 Central Committee, presented by its Clerk Charlotte Seymour-Smith and
42 by the relevant 'civil servant' Helen Drewery, now styled Head of
43 Worship and Witness (see my July report for details on the
44 restructuring of the staff at Friends House).
45
46 * Mention was made of two new booklets on 'The New Economy', which
47 are available via
48
49 http://www.quaker.org.uk/our-work/economic-justice/new-economy
50
51 and may be of interest to those looking for insight into what many
52 Friends see as the failure of our current economic structures
53
54 * Some sobering remarks were offered about the Ecumenical
55 Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI): "EAPPI is
56 an international World Council of Churches programme. EAPPI
57 UK/Ireland is a joint project of church partners, implemented by
58 QPSW." The situation in Israel/Palestine for Ecumenical
59 Accompaniers is dire, under constant review, with careful risk
60 management processes. "The problems [EAPPI] are having is a sign
61 that it's successful."
62
63 QPSW, using legacy funding, is about to appoint someone to a one-year
64 post from December tasked with identifying appropriate national-level
65 work that is best _for us_ in the areas of Forced Migration in
66 general, and help for refugees in particular. They will liaise
67 closely with Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN). Some actual
68 actions, maybe, but mostly planning/reporting. For those Meetings and
69 individuals wanting to do something _now_, the advice was to work
70 through QARN.
71
72 I have previously reported on the Vibrancy project -- this is now
73 underway, but only in south of the border. Four pilot 'local
74 development workers' have been appointed for a year in Devon, Cornwall
75 and West Somerset; The North West; Wales and Southern Marches and Sussex,
76 Surrey and Kent. Rachel Matthews is the Vibrancy in Meetings
77 Programme Coordinator at Friends House. She described the goal of the
78 exercise as supporting local meetings to thrive, defining vibrancy as
79 "being full of life". See
80 http://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/pages/vibrancy_in_meetings.html
81 for details.
82
83 Our attention was called to the Ammerdown Invitation, an _ad-hoc_
84 group including Friends who have some very interesting things to say
85 about the nature of (national/worldwide) security and how to go about
86 getting it. For an introduction as well as a detailed exposition see
87 http://rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/
88
89 A minute from GM Scotland was received which raises important issues
90 in connection with this AM's concern regarding militarism in schools:
91 The granting by the previous Chancellor of the Exchequer of monies
92 from fines levied against the banks to the Ministry of Defence for the
93 introduction of cadet forces in 500 state schools throughout Britain
94 bypasses Scottish oversight of education in Scotland, as well as
95 parliamentary oversight by both Westminster and Holyrood.
96
97 This is particularly concerning (and may come as news to AM as it did
98 to me), because it means that there's no straightforward way to ask
99 the Scottish government/parliament for equal time, as it were, for
100 peace education.
101