Meeting for Sufferings

1 October 2016

Henry S. Thompson, SE Scotland AM representative

This meeting was almost entirely taken up with information being
shared with/via Meeting for Sufferings, what follows are a few
summaries of things Friends may find interesting and which some may
wish to pursue further.

All the papers for the meeting are available online at

  http://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-october-agenda-papers-package-2016-v1

where much more detailed information about these and other matters are
available.

The new Clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting (Deborah Rowlands) and the
Recording Clerk (Paul Parker) reported on a recent visit to
Philadelphia and Baltimore Yearly Meetings, which was clearly a very
valuable trip for all concerned.  A few highlights:

  * In response to a financial crunch and a wide-ranging review (sound
    familiar), Philadelphia YM concluded "we can't go on the same way"
    and laid down _all_ central committees, replacing with a framework
    for time-limited efforts, called 'Collaboratives' and 'Sprints',
    largely carried out by Friends from constituent Area Meetings

  * Responses to racism (in the nation at large) and a lack of
    diversity (in the YM itself) were high on the agenda at
    Philadelphia, under the title _Undoing Racism_

  * The situation of "Young Adult Friends" (YAF) (18--35ish) was a
    concern at both YMs, with the Epistle of YAF at Philadelphia
    describing anger and frustration at their marginalisation, leading
    to the creation of structures outside the 'official' ones:
    http://www.pym.org/pym-young-adult-friends-epistle-2016/

We received our annual report from Quaker Peace and Social Witness
Central Committee, presented by its Clerk Charlotte Seymour-Smith and
by the relevant 'civil servant' Helen Drewery, now styled Head of
Worship and Witness (see my July report for details on the
restructuring of the staff at Friends House).

  * Mention was made of two new booklets on 'The New Economy', which
    are available via

    http://www.quaker.org.uk/our-work/economic-justice/new-economy

    and may be of interest to those looking for insight into what many
    Friends see as the failure of our current economic structures

  * Some sobering remarks were offered about the Ecumenical
    Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI): "EAPPI is
    an international World Council of Churches programme. EAPPI
    UK/Ireland is a joint project of church partners, implemented by
    QPSW." The situation in Israel/Palestine for Ecumenical
    Accompaniers is dire, under constant review, with careful risk
    management processes.  "The problems [EAPPI] are having is a sign
    that it's successful."

QPSW, using legacy funding, is about to appoint someone to a one-year
post from December tasked with identifying appropriate national-level
work that is best _for us_ in the areas of Forced Migration in
general, and help for refugees in particular.  They will liaise
closely with Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN).  Some actual
actions, maybe, but mostly planning/reporting.  For those Meetings and
individuals wanting to do something _now_, the advice was to work
through QARN.

I have previously reported on the Vibrancy project -- this is now
underway, but only in south of the border. Four pilot 'local
development workers' have been appointed for a year in Devon, Cornwall
and West Somerset; The North West; Wales and Southern Marches and Sussex,
Surrey and Kent.  Rachel Matthews is the Vibrancy in Meetings
Programme Coordinator at Friends House.  She described the goal of the
exercise as supporting local meetings to thrive, defining vibrancy as
"being full of life".  See
http://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/pages/vibrancy_in_meetings.html
for details.

Our attention was called to the Ammerdown Invitation, an _ad-hoc_
group including Friends who have some very interesting things to say
about the nature of (national/worldwide) security and how to go about
getting it.  For an introduction as well as a detailed exposition see
http://rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/

A minute from GM Scotland was received which raises important issues
in connection with this AM's concern regarding militarism in schools:
The granting by the previous Chancellor of the Exchequer of monies
from fines levied against the banks to the Ministry of Defence for the
introduction of cadet forces in 500 state schools throughout Britain
bypasses Scottish oversight of education in Scotland, as well as
parliamentary oversight by both Westminster and Holyrood.

This is particularly concerning (and may come as news to AM as it did
to me), because it means that there's no straightforward way to ask
the Scottish government/parliament for equal time, as it were, for
peace education.