Direct action on nuclear weapons, and remembrance rethought
Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser

Forward

Read Later

White poppy wreath laid by Friends House Meeting at Euston. Photo: Anne Van Staveren

Dear <<First Name>>,

We send this edition at what feels like a difficult moment. The United States presidential election result has spread uncertainty and fear. It is a reminder to us all of the fundamental role that peace must play now and in the future. We have a counter narrative to explore and share that is life affirming and generous.
The election was followed by Remembrance Day, reminding us that this feeling is a familiar one to peacemakers across the generations. Indeed, it is what impelled many to act. From those who refused to kill in World War I to those today in Afghanistan, Burundi, Columbia or Cyprus striving for peace in their communities, the courage to stand up for peace and justice continues to inspire us.

We'll be back in contact next year, so go well until then!

In Peace,

Tim and Sam, Ellis, Marigold and Izzy,
The Peace Education & Disarmament staff team

DisarmQuaker

PeaceEduQuaker

Featured story of witness:

Direct action against nuclear weapons

"How did I come to be lying there at 6am on the cold hard concrete outside a factory in Berkshire that makes weapons of mass destruction, my left hand superglued to an 88-year-old man called John, my right hand protected within a lock-on tube linked to a chain of four others lying down next to me?"
Sam Donaldson

Read more in Our Stories...

Download PDF

Book now
Quaker activist gathering

3 December, Friargate Quaker Meeting House (York)

Facebook Event

Peace education with EAPPI
Book a speaker for a school or youth group

Contact Ellis to book a speaker

NEW: ‘Toolkit for Action’ to help Quakers take more effective action on issues they care about
View toolkit

Remembrance rethought?

One of the Royal British Legion's slogans for this year’s Remembrance Day was "Rethink Remembrance". Many Quakers did just that, by engaging in acts of remembrance while refusing to support war.

In Stevenage, Quakers coordinated with the mayor and the local British Legion to lay a wreath of white and red poppies during the official Remembrance Service. The local meeting at Friends House, London, together with staff working there, laid a wreath of white poppies at Euston station war memorial, separate from the official service but with the permission of both the mayor and the station manager. In Cheltenham, Friends were advised by the Royal British Legion that a white wreath would be accepted provided its flowers were not poppies, and if they were interspersed with red poppies.

Leeds Quakers gave away more than a thousand white poppies to passers by, while Exeter Friends held a peace vigil in the town centre after Meeting for Worship on Remembrance Sunday. Quakers in Brighton, Kilmarnock, Bradford and elsewhere joined with other peace groups to mark the day with silent vigils, street stalls, anti-war songs and poetry readings. In London, some Quakers joined the Peace Pledge Union’s alternative remembrance ceremony in Tavistock Square; others supported Veterans for Peace as they laid their white poppy wreath at the Cenotaph. Still others attended the Movement for the Abolition of War’s annual peace lecture at the Imperial War Museum. Some London Quakers did all three!

Altogether, Quakers held Remembrance events in at least 22 towns and cities across Britain this year. More than 6,000 white poppies were sold through the Quaker Centre. Friends took the opportunity to remind each another, as well as people in their communities, that war is failure, and that we remember war in order to honour those to whom a promise was made at the end of "The war to end all wars": never again!

Take a tour of remembrance for peace

Peer mediation: opportunities for growth

Friends from Hammersmith Meeting, Denise and Kathy, have delivered peer mediation training at Drayton Park Primary School. The peer mediators from Years 4 and 5 are at work right now, helping other students in conflict. Denise and Kathy will be back to evaluate in January, but the initial feedback has been excellent. This is one example of Quaker witness in the classroom, and is part of our goal to make peace education mainstream.

We're also seeing new members of the Peer Mediation Network in Mid Wales, Edinburgh, Hackney, Ipswich and Cambridge, which you can check out on this Map.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Alternative Dispute Resolution recently heard about peer mediation from two students of Bacon's College, Southwark. Have a listen to what they said here. Christine Rees MP chaired, and said she would like to see every school in Wales using peer mediation.

We're now seeking ways to capitalise on this momentum, to make conflict resolution education the norm for schools everywhere.

Scottish politicians questioning militarism

In Scotland, our parliamentary engagement officer, Mairi Campbell-Jack, sent white poppies, and an explanatory leaflet, to MSPs, Scottish MPs and MEPs. While one Scottish Conservative returned her poppy, Mhairi Black MP wore hers on national TV while being interviewed by Robert Peston. Another MP called to find out where he could find a white poppy wreath to lay at a local school's remembrance service.

A petition on military recruitment in schools continues to move through the Scottish Parliament. Several organisations have now responded to the Public Petitions Committee queries on the issue, including some local authorities. You can see how your local authority responded (or didn’t respond) here. Mairi Campbell-Jack, and her colleagues from Forces Watch, will be appearing before the Committee to address the responses on 24 November. Tickets are available to the hearing from the Scottish Parliament, or it can be watched on Parliament TV.

Medact, a health charity, has released a report on the health disadvantages faced by those recruited while under 18. After Mairi Campbell-Jack and Elizabeth Allen had a meeting with Christina McKelvie MSP, the convener of the Equalities Committee, and Deirdrie Brock, the MP for Edinburgh North and Leith, at the SNP Conference, Christina and Deirdrie agreed to table a motion in their respective chambers to raise awareness of the report among politicians. Quakers in Scotland, and the rest of the UK, can support this piece of work by writing to their MSPs or MPs, asking them to support the motion or read the report. You can find out who your MSPs are and how to contact them here, and about your MPs here.

Tell MSPs to support the motion to engage with Medact's report

Survivor stories for a nuclear-free world

Southbank Academy Students with Hibakusha and Peace Boat representatives

The Japanese NGO Peace Boat visited London in October. On board the boat were Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors), travelling around the world to give personal testimonies about the effects of atomic bombs on their lives and calling for nuclear abolition. In less than 24 hours, five survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki connected with 100 people in an audience at Friends House (supported by QPSW’s Peace and Disarmament Programme), 20-30 people in the House of Lords, and, with the help of the Peace Education team, they spent the day with 90 children (aged 13–14) at Oasis Academy South Bank. The students there spent time with the Hibakusha in small groups, listened to their experiences, enjoyed lunch together and learned how to make origami peace cranes. The students were deeply engaged by the personal stories, asking questions such as "What was it like to lose so many people? How did you survive? Was anyone you know affected by the radioactivity? Were you able to forgive the USA for what they did?" Anna Richardson, the deputy head, described the visit as “an overwhelming success, our children have not stopped talking about it all week. Our students really did appreciate the sense of privilege in being able to meet such incredible people.” This project is held annually on board Peace Boat's global voyages. As the average age of the Hibakusha is now close to 80, the time remaining for them to directly send out their urgent message is very limited. To find out more go to: peaceboat.org

CND peace education recruiting!

Our friends at the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament are looking for a new peace education officer to lead on engaging schools and young people. CND needs a passionate and highly-organised person to expand the CND Peace Education School Speaker Network, together with increasing the demand for educational resources. The successful candidate will help develop those resources as well as the overall CND peace education strategy.

They're also after volunteer speakers to go into schools, if you have time to give.

Read more

Apply to be CND's peace education officer

Lucas Plan conference: creating a very Quakerly alternative

With the parliamentary approval of trident renewal, those for nuclear disarmament are looking for a new way forward. A conference in Birmingham this month will be the launchpad for that new path. Drawing on the inspirational model of the Lucas plan, its sessions and workshops will show how people can construct a radical, democratic and green alternative to militarism in all its form, and build a future that embraces our peace testimony to its fullest extent.

To get involved, get tickets and get more information check out http://lucasplan.org.uk/

Laurence Hall, Wandsworth Meeting

Peace Exchange events

Peace Exchange features events and updates for Quakers who wish to be involved in the wider peace movement. Many of the actions listed are not organised by Quakers. Some of the actions listed may involve the risk of taking part in arrestable offences – those considering participation need to be aware of this.

Submit an event to Peace Exchange | Other Quaker events

Nov 2016–Jan 2017 | ‘The Men who said no': Quakers in WW1 Exhibition
York Castle Museum

Focusing on the centenary of the Military Service Act, which introduced conscription, the exhibition will include displays on York's conscientious objectors, and on individuals such as Alfred Martlew, imprisoned in Richmond Castle, for their refusal to take any part in the war effort.

14 Nov | Introducing restorative approaches in primary schools

Create a more peaceful school community that helps teaching and learning.
A public event by Peacemakers, the Quaker Project in Birmingham

www.peacemakers.org.uk | more info

14–20 Nov 2016 | International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth

War Resisters' International is organising the third International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth during 14–20 November this year.

The week is a concerted effort of antimilitarist actions across the world to raise awareness of, and challenge, the ways young people are militarised, and to give voice to alternatives.

If you would like to join the activists all around the world taking action against the militarisation of youth, contact us via cmoy@wri-irg.org. See our call out here and visit www.antimili-youth.net for further updates and information.

https://www.wri-irg.org/en/node/26718
www.antimili-youth.net

26 November | Lucas Plan 40th Anniversary Conference

BVSC, 138 Digbeth, Birmingham, B5 6DR

The Lucas Plan was a pioneering effort by workers at the arms company Lucas Aerospace to retain jobs by proposing alternative, socially-useful applications of the company’s technology and their own skills. It remains one of the most radical and forward thinking attempts ever made by workers to take the steering wheel and directly drive the direction of change.

Today, in 2016 — 40 years after the Lucas Plan — we’re facing a convergence of crises: militarism and nuclear weapons, climate chaos, and the destruction of jobs by automation.

These crises mean we have to start thinking about technology as political, as the Lucas Aerospace workers did.

Our conference will aim to re-open the debate about industrial conversion and democracy.
http://lucasplan.org.uk/tickets/

3 Dec | Quaker Activist Gathering | York

Quaker Peace & Social Witness

This is a day for Quakers taking action for social change to connect, share ideas and inspire each other. This year we'll explore our place and role in movements, and give time sharing the skills we use to make change happen.

Friargate Quaker Meeting House (York)

Facebook Event
http://www.quaker.org.uk/events/activist-gathering

20 Jan | Peace Jam training | Friends House, London

PeaceJam UK works with schools and youth groups all around the UK. This training is to equip educators to use the Peace Jam curriculum, inspiring action through the lives of Nobel Peace Laureates.

50% Discount for Quakers

Download Flyer

18 Feb | Voices: valuing young adolescents in education
15 places | £55 per person

This day course is designed for teachers of KS2 and KS3 to support their work in listening to students in and out of classrooms. The course will provide space and time for teachers to share ideas about transformation for older children and young adolescents through enabling them to become articulate about the values and principles that can shape their lives and schools and classrooms. This course has a professional accreditation pathway and is also free standing.

This course can each provide a starting point for professional accreditation through the Teaching and Learning Academy for teachers and others working in education.

Further details can be requested from Ben Pink Dandelion: b.p.dandelion@bham.ac.uk.

Tutors: Don Rowe and Anne Watson.

http://www.woodbrooke.org.uk

1-6 March | CPT European Convergence

The next Christian Peacemaker Teams European Convergence will be in Yorkshire.

Delegates will be joined by the director of CPT International Sarah Thompson and there will be time for fellowship, updates from the Lesvos project and other CPT work, and lots of time for both contemplation and fun!

cpt.org/

11 March | Quaker values in RE teaching and curriculum
15 places | £55 per person

This one-day course is for teachers of Religious Education in primary and secondary schools. Drawing on participants’ experience of the current situation in RE, it will consider how Quaker values can inform both the content and method of teaching. It will include workshop time to develop ideas cooperatively.

This course can provide a starting point for professional accreditation through
the Teaching and Learning Academy for teachers and others working in education.

Further details can be requested from Ben Pink Dandelion: b.p.dandelion@bham.ac.uk.

Tutors: Anne Watson, Janet Scott and Gerry Winnall

http://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/

21 March | Fly A Kite for Peace

Nao Roz: Persian New Year

Fly A Kite for Peace in solidarity with people affected by armed drones around the world.

www.flykitesnotdrones.org.uk

Copyright © 2016 Britain Yearly Meeting, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this e-mail as you are signed up to the QPSW Educate & Disarm e-mail list.
Our mailing address is: Britain Yearly Meeting, 173 Euston Road, London, United Kingdom, London, NW1 2BJ, United Kingdom.

Unsubscribe from this list I Update subscription preferences