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comparison Sufferings/2019-10-04/report.txt @ 181:9f75965cd550

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author Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
date Sat, 07 Dec 2019 16:23:41 +0000
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1 *Meeting for Sufferings*
2
3 4--6 October 2019
4
5 Henry S. Thompson, SE Scotland AM representative
6
7 All the papers for the meeting are available online at
8
9 https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-2019-10-agenda-papers-package
10
11 The minutes and other follow-up material are available from
12
13 https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-2019-10-follow-up-package
14
15 This was a residential weekend meeting, at Woodbrooke, which was
16 welcoming and peaceful as always.
17
18 We heard a number of reports (all in the linked-to documents above),
19 and had some thoughtful deliberation, but very few actual actions were
20 taken.
21
22
23 *Court & Prison Register*
24
25 We spent rather a lot of time agreeing guidelines for what does and
26 doesn't count as "suffering for the faith".
27
28 It surprised many that there was a presumption that any Friend setting
29 out on a course of action likely to result in arrest should test their
30 concern with their Meeting in advance if at all possible.
31
32 *Sustainability*
33
34 "How might we be called to act next?"
35 - Eldership
36 "All creation was being set free to be true to itself" Eden Grace 2019
37 "Right purpose, right use, right relationship" Ditto
38 - Oversight
39 Action depends on community, acting alone is too hard
40 Enable and support us: changing community norms [wrt energy use]
41 Economic growth vs. finite resources
42 - Living Faithfully
43 Think about energy _as part_ of a decision, not a retro-fit
44 Is the Eco-church movement a possible source of guidance?
45
46 Some anger was expressed about the narrowness of our witness: "too
47 neat, too tidy": impact needed on wider community (i.e. not just the
48 "white, middle-class")
49
50 In a small group, I heard the phrase "Just transition" ['just' as in
51 'justice'] for the first time: to bring the less privileged with us on
52 sustainability, we need to show there is a way forward that does not
53 destroy what little livelihood they may have. See [1] for an
54 introduction to this idea as included in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
55
56 Trees came up a lot in discussions of action that can be taken
57 locally, and the suggestion of creating Quaker burial grounds to grow
58 trees and save the huge energy costs of cremation.
59
60 *Trustees*
61
62 We returned to the topic of structural changes in Britain Yearly Meeting.
63
64 "Meeting-centred support" [2] is the new buzz phrase, 'vibrancy' is no
65 longer mentioned.
66
67 Woodbrooke: numbers down over several years. Need to renew purpose to meet
68 Friends' and peoples' needs. A survey was done, main points noted were:
69 * Woodbrooke needs to come to Friends;
70 * But it's too expensive (particularly when compared to getting someone from Friends House 'for
71 free').
72 The planned changes are an opportunity for renewal. JW Rowntree said
73 "Woodbrooke should not be a privilege for the rich".
74
75 *Quaker Stewardship Committee*
76
77 We learned about this little-known body, which works to help Meetings
78 take proper care of their resources, principally but not exclusively
79 property.
80
81 "We are a bottom-up organisation, and I don't know of any other" [a
82 member of Sufferings]
83
84 "The bottom _is_ the top" [Ursula Fuller, Clerk to the Committee]
85
86 "Yearly Meeting decisions are taken with care because they are
87 understood to be, as a matter of our faith, decisions by _all_ of
88 us." [ditto]
89
90 *Assisted dying*
91
92 This has come around again from in concerns sent to Sufferings from
93 several English AMs. We attempted to focus on what we _as Quakers_
94 have to say. My memory of our experience in Scotland is that we are
95 unlikely to reach unity on the question, but might that in itself may
96 be a worthwhile contribution to the wider public discussion?
97
98 "Not reaching unity is not a failure" [Paul Parker, Recording Clerk]
99
100 MfS session reflected a wide range of positions.
101
102 Studied neutrality is also a possibility [3].
103
104 We were usefully reminded that even _considering_ assisted dying is,
105 at least currently, very much a possibilty only to the privileged.
106
107 *Speaking out*
108
109 We were reminded that there is a policy governing "public statements
110 and comments" from, among others, Area Meetings (typically having been
111 agreed in an Area Meeting for Business and published over the name of
112 the Clerk), and individual Friends, particularly in the context of
113 marches/vigils/protests where any of us may find ourselves confronted
114 by a microphone and camera [4].
115
116 That there is a moderated Facebook group was brought up, see topic
117 *Post-truth world* at MfS 2019-02-02, and in particular my take:
118
119 Finding the courage to challenge lies is hard enough to do in
120 person, it's even harder to do on social media, where the response
121 may well be both many-fold and obnoxious, the latter particularly in
122 response to challenges from women.
123
124 Can we find ways to provide safe online spaces [perhaps taking EAPPI
125 as a model]?
126
127 [1] http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/publication/climate-change-and-the-just-transition-a-guide-for-investor-action/
128 [2] https://quaker.org.uk/our-organisation/support-for-meetings/meeting-centred-support
129 [3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3505400/
130 [4] https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/speaking-out-briefing