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‘Graham’s prejudices would not allow him to appreciate the values informing the Indian way of life.’ A history lesson from Joanna Dales The typical nurse pays a higher rate of tax than those earning £10 million.

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A fairer national and global tax system Well-supported public services An end to tax dodging the INDEPENDENTFriend QUAKER JOURNALISM SINCE 1843 23 April 2021 | Volume 179, No 17 www.thefriend.org

News 4 ‘Shell Seven’ trial, COP26, and more Rebecca Hardy

Letters 6

Pain in the neck 8 Renewable resources? Jamie Wrench

Thought for the week 9 Breathing space Neil Morgan

Empirical evidence 10 A history lesson Joanna Dales

British Friends of QCEA 12 The relaunch Melanie and Andrew Jameson

Capital adventure 14 Future of London Friends Fred Ashmore

Writing wrongs 15 An essay from 1934 Nora Blake

Review 16 How You Can Save the Planet James Gordon

Poem 17 I learned: Trespass Dana Littlepage Smith

Friends & Meetings 18

‘A rich variety of expression and of practice is to be expected as the Life streams through disciples of every race and clime and condition… It does not press [people] into a rigid mould of thought or action; rather it would pour its own joy into every mould of humanity. We have sought unity through agreement in doctrines and institutions; and the track of church history, like some new road through the desert, is strewn with the parched skeletons of our failures.’

William Charles Braithwaite, 1919

Quaker faith & practice 27.15 Ian Bray at the Shell HQ, courtesy @ShellKnew on Twitter News [email protected]

Quaker co-founder of of the Stop Ecocide XR in court campaign and passed A Quaker co-founder of away six days later. Extinction Rebellion (XR) Huddersfield Quakers is one of seven people said they are upholding dubbed ‘the Shell Seven’ father-of-two Ian who appeared in court Bray who, like all the for action against Shell’s defendants, represented London headquarters this himself. Five other week. defendants pleaded not Ian Bray from guilty: Jane Augsburger, Huddersfield Meeting Senan Clifford, David pleaded not guilty to the Lambert, Sid Saunders charges of over £25,000 and another XR Friends take part in also took part: ‘We live of criminal damage to the co-founder Simon ‘Journey to COP26’ on either side of Loch building. The hearing at Bramwell. Quakers shared their Fyne, one of the longest Southwark Crown Court ‘I would never break favourite walks this sea lochs in Scotland, in London is the second anybody’s windows, but month as part of the in the Firth of Clyde, jury trial of an XR-related Shell are responsible ‘Journey to COP26’ so when “the journey” case and comes almost for murder,’ said Jane initiative on 10 and 11 was announced, we two years to the day Augsburger. April, which inspired thought it a great idea to since Shell was the focus Farhana Yamin, Paris people to make short meet up. This involved of nonviolent direct Agreement negotiator journeys to sacred places. Ed catching the first action during XR’s April and lead author on three COP26 is the twenty- ferry over from Tarbert Rebellion in 2019. of the five IPCC reports, sixth UN Climate Change to Portavadie, where During the protest was arrested in this protest Conference of the Parties, [we] walked through – which lasted over for gluing herself to Shell which will take place in a fragment of Atlantic twenty-four hours – HQ and was subject to Glasgow. Rainforest now owned activists poured fake oil, investigations but the St Andrews Quakers by the local community. glued themselves to the police decided not to bring joined the action, meeting The rainforest means so windows, and blocked charges. at the Labyrinth in the much to us: some of its the doors. They cracked There have been over local park, which the plant species are found several windows, climbed 3,600 arrests for XR UK Meeting gave to the nowhere else in the onto a roof, dropped actions since April 2019. town to mark its fiftieth w or l d .’ banners and painted the Nearly 2,000 have resulted anniversary a few years Friend Alison McCain exterior with ‘Shell Knew’, in minor charges, with ago. ‘It was a glorious shared her Cornish ‘Climate Criminals’ and around 1,000 prosecutions sunny day with cherry journey on social media. ‘Lies’. The activists also still in progress and 900 blossom and surrounding ‘Why am I walking sprayed ‘Stop Ecocide’ resulting in convictions. trees showing their green today?’ she tweeted. and ‘For Polly’ on the The ‘Shell Seven’ verdict shoots reminding us of ‘How many people won’t wall of the building. Polly had not been announced at the gift of the Earth and have a place to call home Higgins was founder the time of going to press. our need to treasure it,’ and food to eat as the Joyce Taylor told the temperature rises?’ Friend. ‘At the centre of Other Friends WORDS the labyrinth are two journeyed in their minds, benches made by a local with the Quaker Loving craft person which are Earth Project running carved with the words of two online events, one via ‘I’m acting on George Fox “be cool and Woodbrooke and another still in thine own mind” led by Linda Murgatroyd, with his name and dates.’ convenor of the Quaker behalf of life.’ Jane Mitchell and Ed Arts Network. ‘Physically, Simon Bramwell, one of the ‘Shell Seven’. Tyler from Argyll Meeting we were in places as far

4 the Friend 23 April 2021 apart as Donegal and is based in Sheffield. This NUMBERS Slovenia, and from many is a three-year legacy- parts of Britain,’ Linda funded project which is Murgatroyd told the due to finish this summer. Friend. ‘We travelled in The youth work has been our imaginations to the successful and there is 3,600 future of places we loved, a strong desire among ranging from a fast- Yorkshire Friends to find The number of arrests for XR UK actions since disappearing Swiss glacier ways for it to continue.’ April 2019. Roughly 1,000 are still in progress. to a city plagued by air BYM has since pollution to a coastline extended Lee Lester’s & Co in 1904. Historical records of pounded by increasingly exployment for another A statement from The Philadelphia Friends extreme storms and year. Rowntree Society says: digitised polluted seas, to beautiful The Adult School ‘Although we found no Records from parts of Donegal and Union funds of roughly evidence that the Rowntree Philadelphia Quakers’ Tyrone threatened by £25,000 will pay for family owned or traded Monthly and Quarterly gold mining. Jasmine about half a year of the in enslaved people or Meetings have been Piercy led us in a guided total annual cost of the benefitted from the digitised as part of a meditation to which we Yorkshire youth work. abolition compensation project to preserve responded in silence, BYM has announced that scheme, we have identified the records of early playing with images, Bridget Holtom is the five areas where we congregations in the state. words and colours, new development worker believe further research The records available exploring how we could for Yorkshire based in is necessary to create a to view include members respond.’ Carlton Hill Meeting fuller understanding of lists, minutes, and travel The Loving Earth House in Leeds. how Rowntree businesses certificates, and appear Project’s travelling benefitted from slavery, to date back to the late exhibition is planned to be Rowntree Society unfree labour and other 1600s, starting with on display at the COP26 explores slavery links forms of racial exploitation a list of members of gathering in Glasgow. A research project set up by during the eras of Philadelphia Monthly The ‘Journey to COP26’ The Rowntree Society into colonialism and apartheid.’ Meeting. The records are initiative was started by global supply chains has The trusts are Quaker held at Haverford and Faiths4Change. revealed histories of slavery, founded and have Quaker Swarthmore colleges. forced labour, colonialism connections. Paul Parker, Sharing the news on its Yorkshire Quakers put and racial injustice. recording clerk for Britain Facebook page on 1 April, £25,000 to youth work In a statement released Yearly Meeting (BYM), Friends House Library Quakers in Yorkshire on 15 April, The Rowntree said: ‘We welcome the staff said they were ‘very (QiY) trustees are Society said: ‘These have research being done by excited’ about the resource, re-directing £25,000 of profound implications for The Rowntree Society and that they have received funds to continue the the content and direction into the origins of the many enquiries about Yorkshire youth work of our work.’ endowments that formed the interactions between project. The trustees The research was these Quaker trusts. Quakers in the US and are following a ‘strong prompted by the Building a true picture of UK. They said that there desire expressed by prominence and urgency the history and legacies were many records Friends’ to reallocate of the Black Lives Matter of racial exploitation in available and that they remaining funds for the movement and growing Quaker companies is an were ‘well organised and Adult School Union, global recognition of long important part of owning easy to view’. The resource which closed in 2015. histories of systemic racism. and understanding can be viewed at https:// The money was given to The Rowntree Society our own history, and is tinyurl.com/pqmrecords. QiY to support Friends has been working with informing our ongoing Friends House Library to attend Woodbrooke its funders, the Joseph work to become an anti- in London will remain courses instead, but the Rowntree Foundation racist church. closed until late 2021 as take-up was low, with no (JRF), the Joseph ‘Quakers in Britain part of refurbishment new requests last year. Rowntree Charitable acknowledge that racism work in the building. David Olver, clerk of Trust (JRCT) and the today is rooted in the ‘We are giving the room QiY trustees, told the Joseph Rowntree Reform trade of enslaved people, a lick of paint, making our Friend: ‘The background Trust (JRRT), to explore forced labour, colonialism space more accessible and is that Britain Yearly the commercial origins of and racial exploitation. thinking about Covid- Meeting (BYM) employs their endowments. Each We owe it to those who secure measures,’ staff a Youth Development of the trusts was endowed live with that legacy to posted on the Library’s Worker, Lee Lester, who with shares in Rowntree take steps to redress this.’ Facebook page.

the Friend 23 April 2021 5 a ‘Meeting for Stillness’. In my the Friend Letters experience silence followed by 173 Euston Road stillness are means – but not ends London, NW1 2BJ – of experiencing the Christ or 020 7663 1010 Buddha within each person that www.thefriend.org prompts us for example to heal The Friend welcomes your views, the hurt of poverty and exclusion. to [email protected]. Please Subscriptions Worship – adoration – is what keep letters short. We particularly UK £95 per year by all payment happens in other churches. What welcome contributions from types including annual direct happens in a Quaker Meeting is children, written or illustrated. debit; monthly payment by awareness and enlightenment of direct debit £8; online only £74 Please include your full postal what we value most. per year. Contact: 020 7663 1178 address, even when sending Peter Jarman [email protected] emails, along with your Meeting York Area Meeting name or other Quaker affiliation. Advertising Prayer and practice In essentials unity, Contact During the Covid pandemic, I’ve in non-essentials liberty, George Penaluna: heard many Quakers say ‘I’m in all things charity. 01535 630230 praying for you’ – often people [email protected] whom I hadn’t expected to speak Safe routes to the UK of prayer. Editorial I was interested to read Peter We must all have learned so Articles, images, correspondence Kurer’s letter (9 April) about much about it over the last year! should be emailed to Quakers’ organisation to save the I’d love to read and hear what [email protected] Jews of Nazi Germany. we’ve found out. How has our or sent to the address above. I have often wondered practice and thinking grown, how exactly we organised the changed and developed? Editor Kindertransport, and now how we Beth Allen Joseph Jones organised a financial guarantee to Address supplied Journalist get someone a visa, and how and Rebecca Hardy where we sent advertisements for Thoughts, insights welcome certain unpopular jobs. John McConnell’s moving article Production and office manager Could we not organise similar Elinor Smallman (9 April) about the plight of things in order to offer sanctuary organisations like Scholarships Sub-editor in the UK to asylum seekers for Street Kids in Myanmar draws George Osgerby from war-torn countries – today’s our attention to our limits when Arts correspondent equivalent of persecuted Jews? conflict engulfs communities we Rowena Loverance (I have hosted an asylum seeker care about. Environment correspondent from the Democratic Republic Quaker Peace & Social Laurie Michaelis of Congo and am about to host Witness has recently reminded Clerk of trustees an Afghan refugee.) I for one us of the ‘historic and current Lis Birch would be willing to contribute to privileges held by Quakers in financial guarantees for people to Britain and the reinforcement ISSN: 0016-1268 offer them a safe route into the of power imbalances if we country. intervene in others’ struggles The Friend Publications Limited Judith Niechcial for justice without mandate or is a registered charity, South East London Area Meeting invitation, however well meaning. number 211649 This is especially important in ‘Meeting for Enlightenment’? international settings where our I agree with Jan Arriens (2 April) rinted by programmes must only operate P that ‘Meeting for Worship’ is an Warners where welcomed and where the inappropriate anachronism that Midlands Plc, contribution we make cannot be may deter people who consider The Maltings, better provided locally’. themselves to be spiritual rather Manor Lane, What does this mean as we than religious. Bourne, seek to support some of the However I would hesitate to Lincolnshire most vulnerable in deprived replace it as Jan suggests with PE10 9PH and difficult circumstances in

6 the Friend 23 April 2021 countries remote from Britain? As a long-term member of the alga then known as Conchocelis Who can legitimately articulate the ‘educated underclass’ I know only rosea: the two plants were the same mandate or offer the invitation? too well what life is like for the species! Quaker South Asia Interest millions of people on zero-hours Red seaweeds have complex Group (QSAIG), which will meet contracts in our neoliberal world life cycles consisting of two by Zoom on 24 April 2021, will of massive and growing inequality generations, one with twice the be giving thought to these issues. as we are lied, and lied, and lied to number of chromosomes as the Thoughts and insights welcome, by politicians who feature so often other. The Japanese read of her join us if you wish to do so. in The Assault on Truth! 1949 discovery and adapted their Martin Schweiger Noël Staples cultivation system to care for both Roundhay Meeting, Leeds Peterborough Meeting, stages of the seaweed’s life cycle. Cambridgeshire The nori industry was saved – and TIPA Kathleen became known as the Having read Peter Oborne’s book Overthrow of colonial slavery ‘Mother of the Sea’. The Assault on Truth (reviewed in The article in the Friend (5 March) My undergraduate course the 19 March edition of the Friend) about the ending of slavery in the was strictly academic and I did I totally agree that the Truth and British empire reminded me of a not know the nori story until a Integrity in Public Affairs (TIPA) trip I took to Zanzibar pre-Covid. history of the Manchester Botany committee needs to be rejuvenated. It was pleasing to see the role of Department was published circa I would also recommend reading Quakers recorded in the exhibition 1987. Nor did I know she was a James Bloodworth’s 2019 book in the former slave market in both Quaker – until an article in the Hired, which speaks of the world campaigning for the abolition of Friend in 2017. of zero-hours contract workers slavery and the support to those Brian Hopkins – a world I worked in for years. former slaves on abolition. Chichester Meeting, West Sussex I did work for two unscrupulous The history of this period employment agencies who would is complex and I do not think How we do things try to short pay you in any way sufficient weight is given to the Oh dear! I fear that ‘the loving they could. But mostly I worked agency of the enslaved peoples. embrace of racism’ (26 March) is for the Manpower Agency, a Slavery ended because of slave not a concept most Friends will buy reputable international company revolts and the challenges of into – I hope. Racism is violence paying sick and holiday pay. holding people in slavery rather and we should be against it. Even that failed to find me than any changes in the law. In Conflict is different, and we should enough driving work to live on many cases when it did end it was work with it as a peaceable society. at the end of 2009 when the 2008 replaced with indentured labour. I also strongly object to any credit crunch bit deep. Luckily Nick Matthews unjustified criticism of Friends my sister in London said come Rugby Meeting, Warwickshire House staff as a collective and drive London buses (I had bureaucracy. Writing as a former both HGV One and PSV all types Seaweed industry saved trustee with knowledge of how we licences) and we’ll put you up. I read with interest Sally Bramson’s do things, there is nothing about London buses have a twenty per article on Kathleen Drew-Baker being politically correct, only cent annual driver turnover, which (2 April). I had not heard of The being fair and lovingly concerned tells you something about the job. Seaweed Collector’s Handbook, for the welfare of our staff and It was 2012 before HGV work in but I did know the story of how carrying out our duties under right Peterborough picked up again Kathleen had saved Japan’s seaweed ordering. and I was able to get continuous industry. In the autumn term of Nick Francis employment with Manpower 1948 I was one of her students. Bradford on Avon Meeting, again. It was still a zero-hours Kathleen Drew-Baker grew the Wiltshire contract, though, and while I spores of the Porphyra laciniata was glad to be kept in reasonably (known as nori in Japan) on Introduction to three tomes well paid work as an artic driver microscope slides in tanks of I am very grateful to Jonathan (always in demand because of the sea water in the laboratory. Her Wooding and yourselves (19 £3,000-plus cost of training) the husband, Henry Wright-Baker February and 9 April) for continual uncertainty of exactly (a professor of mechanical introducing me to three books of when, or where, I might be engineering), made a device which Iris Murdoch’s, which I have now working tomorrow did get to me raised and lowered the slides to purchased. at times. Any kind of regular social simulate the tides. She found that Harry Edwards life was impossible. the spores grew into a filamentous Address supplied

the Friend 23 April 2021 7 t started aeons ago, before lockdown. Two people ministered in Meeting and I felt this Renewable niggle, somewhere at the back of my neck. It landed up at the base of my spine. This resources? Jamie journey took about three weeks, and it still resurfaces periodically, disturbingly. Wrench has a niggle What was so disturbing about these ministries? They were succinct and clear. The one followed the other logically, after a reasonable time for contemplation, building in a positive and uplifting way. What was there to niggle over? ‘What if even Love is The first ministry was a celebration of our diversity: Isome of us were theists, said the speaker, some were a finite resource?’ universalists; we had ‘Quanglicans’, Buddhist, Humanist, even Jewish and Catholic Quakers. Some of us were members, some attenders, some neither. All of us were Quakers. She rejoiced in this wide and inclusive family. The second was from a Friend who was moved to read Angela Nunn’s poem ‘Wellsprings’ (the Friend, 3 March 2017). ‘Come to the wellsprings. Bring only the real, authentic you. No qualifications needed. No imperfections excluded…’. It was a wonderful poem, beautifully read, deepening the message of the first ministry. I found myself remembering Dorothy Nimmo’s story in Quaker faith & practice (21.19) in which, finding herself ‘somewhat diminished, faced with demands I found difficult to fulfil’, she went to Meeting: ‘“Here I am” I said. “That’s all right.” “Just for a bit of a sit-down.” “Whatever you need.” “You mustn’t expect anything from me” I said, “I can only bring a need.” “Whatever you have”.’ And that’s when the niggle started. I’m not proud of it; I don’t think it reflects very well on me to have it. But a niggle shared is a niggle halved, perhaps. So here goes… What happens, says the niggle, if everyone takes the no-strings-attached option? What happens if everyone chooses to come to the wellsprings and drink, but nobody replenishes it? What if everyone ‘only brings a need’? What if we are all angry, depressed, tired or spiritually cold, asking for the prayerful support of others joined with us in worship? What if we all choose to be passengers, enjoying the company and the view? What if there is no one to drive the bus, fill it with fuel, keep the tyres inflated and the oil checked? One of my most respected colleagues was a deputy treasurer – a calm, supportive, diplomatic administrator, just the sort of person you would want looking after money. My esteem for him rose even more when I learned that his wife had contracted a debilitating disease that he had taken in his stride, devoting more time to her as her needs increased. He was amazing. But a decade later I met him at a funeral, and he said he’d had to leave his wife. ‘I’m all loved out’ he said, simply. I felt a chill in my heart. What if, I thought… what if even Love is a finite resource? If I were a proper Quaker, I’d tap into that great floodwater of the Spirit, and trust that the way would become clear. Perhaps the way revealed is to share this. n

Photo by Afif Kusuma on Unsplash Afif Kusuma Photo by Jamie is from Southern Marches Area Meeting.

8 the Friend 23 April 2021 reath is life. We need to take something in, on which we depend Thought for the for life. Covid has underlined this, of course. week: Neil Morgan’s In this latter case the science of molecular biology has stepped in, helping to produce vaccines. How breathing space wonderful! But such advances, and the ideologies around them, can lead us to believe that life is a mechanistic statistic that we can control. There is another aspect to consider, ‘Simple awe takes over however. For each of us, experiencing our own life, from Bthe inside, is a sheer miracle. Whom can we thank for from the preoccupation that? The probability of evolution? This is alien to many people’s souls, even atheist philosophers like Thomas Nagel, who struggles with the idea in his Mind and of being immersed in Cosmos: Why the materialist neo-Darwinian conception of nature is almost certainly false. science.’ There is a very striking picture in Ezekiel 37. ‘There were bones all over the plain – dry bones, bleached by the Sun.’ Ezekiel writes that God asked him ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ It is a searching question. Without ‘Just how do a response God continues: we breathe ‘Come from the four winds. Breathe on these slain bones. life? On what Breathe life!’ do we depend To hear this passage (as I did in the radio broadcast of to breathe? the Easter Sunday evensong Oxygen? Oxygen service from Manchester alone? Is that Cathedral recently) is to be knocked sideways. Simple really enough?’ awe takes over from the preoccupation of being immersed in the science of spike proteins. One shifts from one world to another, with a different vocabulary, a different response to the universe. One inhabits a different, but complimentary, perspective. Where does this idea of ‘breathing life’ come from? Life has emerged from the big bang, and from life has emerged first consciousness, and then self- consciousness. The mind-body problem remains just that. Can we really totally conceptualise it in terms of our present day understanding of science, and molecular biology? In Ezekiel God ambitiously claims: ‘I’ll dig up all your graves and bring you to life!’ This is the metaphor of Easter and the resurrection. What is it to be enthused? To take life in? How should we interpret that from the stance of twenty-first-century biology? Truth? Metaphor? Just how do we breathe life? On what do we depend to breathe? Oxygen? Oxygen alone? Is that really enough? With Covid and vaccines, I am very thankful to be alive. I am grateful to continue breathing. How do we breathe life? On what do we depend? I cannot breathe in a vacuum. It makes me think: where does that take us? n

Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash Darius Bashar Photo by Neil is from Luton & Leighton Meeting.

the Friend 23 April 2021 9 Empirical evidence: Quaker attitudes can be affected by the prevailing culture. Joanna Dales has a lesson from history ‘Graham’s prejudices would not allow him to appreciate the values informing the Indian way of life.’

t a time of soul-searching himself, co-discoverer of the principle of natural selection, about British, including wrote that the struggle for survival ‘leads to the inevitable Quaker, involvement in the extinction of all those low and mentally undeveloped slave trade, it is timely to populations with which the Europeans come into conflict’. consider historical questions So Graham wrote in 1890 of Britain’s ‘manifest destiny’, about Quaker attitudes to indeed her ‘duty of banishing half-famished barbarism and the imperial project itself. hopeless darkness from all the waste places of the earth’. How free are we now from India, however, was not a ‘waste place’. During the supposing that Europeans have years of Graham’s early adulthood, the ‘wisdom of the the right, even the duty, to impose on others our creeds, east’ attracted veneration among British people, as seen, our norms, our systems of law and government? I have for instance, in Helena Blavatsky and the theosophical been studying the life and thought of a Quaker from movement. The Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore Athe recent past, and find his developing views on British was lionised by WB Yeats and the London literati, and rule in India pertinent to these questions. acclaimed by Evelyn Underhill, specialist in Christian John William Graham (1859-1932) was prominent mysticism. Graham himself believed that the Inward Light, in the ‘Quaker Renaissance’, the movement whereby was also to be found among Hindus and Buddhists. British Quakers began to be the open-minded religious By 1912, when Graham’s book Evolution and Empire society we know. Graham went to India over the winter was published, it seemed that his political thinking had of 1927-28, prepared to respect the religion and culture come to match his universalist approach to religion. The of the Indians, but his liberalism was deeply shaken by book casts doubt on the ‘self-image’ of India’s rulers as what he found there. ‘the weary Titan serving mankind by manifest destiny of Graham’s thinking was permeated by his Heaven’. Although the British empire was ‘the best and understanding of Darwinian science as the guarantee wisest Empire known to history’, empire in general was of human progress. Different races and nations, he bad for both rulers and ruled, a ‘false step in evolution’. thought, were moving at different speeds towards an Yet Graham shared a vision with other liberal Quakers of era of universal peace and love, through the agency Indian religions becoming ‘permeated’ with enlightened of the Divine Indweller, the universal Inward Light. Christian, and especially Quaker, views. When he went Graham never lost his evolutionary optimism despite to India in 1927 with a commission from London Yearly the appalling set-back of the first world war. Self- Meeting to spread the Quaker message, Graham intended evidently for him Europeans, and especially the English, to preach a gospel based on the idea of the Inner Christ, were the people furthest advanced on the evolutionary which he thought could be incorporated into Hindu and path. How could he avoid a condescending attitude Muslim modes of thought. But what he saw in India made towards those unlucky enough not to be British? He him change his mind. was a child of empire as well as a lifelong Quaker. In 1927 India was in turmoil. The British government Certainly he knew that British rule was founded and was alarmed by the liberation movement led by maintained for purposes of profit and power, not for Mohandas Gandhi, with protests becoming increasingly the sake of the colonised, but British rule was also what violent. That year a US journalist called Katherine Mayo Darwinian science dictated. Alfred Russel Wallace produced a book called Mother India, expressly designed

10 the Friend 23 April 2021 John Graham, 1926,William courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery Rabindranath Tagore, 1916, of Congress; courtesy of the Library

to demonstrate the unfitness of the Indians for self- a cry for release from the iron hands of a machine-like government. It focussed on the supposed predatory system of government that was fettering her soul and her sexuality of the Indian male and the hapless condition of body’ (30 May, 1930). child brides. Several copies were circulating on the ship Graham, however, was by this time immune to Tagore’s on which Graham travelled to India, and Graham was spell. He spoke to the Meeting indignantly rejecting inclined to trust Mayo’s picture: his letters and despatches the sage’s rebuke, and warned Friends against putting home featured hapless ‘little mothers’ subjected to themselves ‘on the side of Gandhi and rebellion’. By now the tyranny of mothers-in-law and premature and he was an unapologetic advocate for the continuance of unremitting childbearing just as Mayo described. British rule in India. He was especially hostile to Gandhi, In Graham’s view such customs and other barriers to believing that his saintly posture and his advocacy of prosperity and progress were the result of ‘Brahminism’, satyagraha (or nonviolence) were fraudulent – for, of with its wasteful cult of the holy cow, crippling dowries, course, said Graham, his rhetoric was bound to result in and especially the caste system, ‘the most dreadful block violence. Graham never met Gandhi, but he developed of tyranny and human contempt on a large scale on a fierce antipathy to the man and all he stood for. After the earth’. Islam was not much better; Buddhism and his return to England Graham wrote a series of papers Jainism, though begun as for Quaker periodicals attacking Gandhi’s good faith and ‘He came to valid reforms, were hopelessly presenting him not only as an enemy to Britain but also ‘gone to seed’. He came to as an impediment to India’s advance. think that only think that only Christianity Graham’s prejudices would not allow him to appreciate Christianity could save India, by the values informing the Indian way of life: values at odds immunising the population with those that made Britain strong and prosperous. He could save against Brahminical tyranny. could not see that the wholesale destruction by an outside India.’ When Graham went power, if that were possible, of beliefs and practices to India he shared the underpinning Indian society, could only deracinate and widespread veneration for Tagore felt in some British fragment that society. Leaders like Gandhi and Tagore circles. He visited the sage at his spiritual centre of knew that reform was needed in India, but they knew Santiniketan, and was impressed by his ‘Tennysonian that it was best brought about by those who were rooted looks’. He took the opportunity to point out to him in the culture they sought to reform. British people like that his recently-published book, The Divinity in Man, Graham’s son-in-law, Horace Alexander, who became an included some of Tagore’s own poetry. Graham cannot ally and interpreter to Gandhi, knew that they needed then have known how deeply Tagore had come to hate to listen and to learn before they could help. Graham, the brutally materialistic ethos that, in his view, actuated although he was ready to admire from a distance the British rule in India. ‘wisdom of the east’, was unable at close quarters to Later, in Britain, Tagore was an honoured guest at the see past his ingrained prejudices. In his small way he Quaker Yearly Meeting of 1930. According to the report epitomised the well-meaning blunders attendant on in the Friend: ‘What this gentle, beautiful and saintly empire-building at its best. n figure had to say entered into the heart of the meeting with a sharp edge, for it was a cry from the heart of India, Joanna is from Craven and Keighley Area Meeting.

the Friend 23 April 2021 11 e may have left the British Friends of QCEA European Union but we are still part of was relaunched recently. Europe. What goes on there still matters. Melanie and Andrew Thank goodness we have a mouthpiece to Jameson were there. raise concerns across the continent, and to inform Quakers of important issues. Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA), based ‘QCEA does not just in Friends House, Brussels, does not just articulate the Wissues, it acts on them: drafting briefings to reach a wider articulate the issues, audience, forming alliances, convening meetings with key players, and participating in advocacy and policymaking forums. Furthermore, QCEA is a ‘pattern and example’ of it acts on them’ tried and tested Quaker approaches: respectful listening, inclusivity, providing a safe space to bring opposing groups together, nonviolent resolutions, allyship – all encapsulated as ‘quiet diplomacy’. Within its peace programme, QCEA is opposing the growing trend towards nationalism and militarism fostered by the shady world of the arms trade. Its human rights programme counters the myths and hate speech directed towards migrants, presenting a positive narrative, based on lived experience. The importance of gender equality is stressed. Sustainability is a thread running through all its work. Briefings on all these areas and more can be found on www.qcea.org. A statement ‘Covid has on renewing Europe post- Covid is due soon. disguised the These are messages that economic we need to disseminate more effectively. To this end a impact of relaunch of British Friends of Brexit.’ QCEA took place on 20 March under the title ‘Why Today’s Europe Needs Quaker Voices and How You Can Help’. The role of British Friends in our Meetings has evolved from, and includes, the former QCEA correspondents, in order to actively promote QCEA. A contribution from Jude Kirton-Darling, from a trades union perspective, pointed out that Covid has disguised the economic impact of Brexit. The final agreement on that was only a step away from ‘No Deal’. She warned us that our labour and environmental protections are now weak and at further risk from deregulation as we are drawn towards the United States market. Jude urged us to protest low-wage exploitative practices. In the section ‘How You Can Help’ it was pointed out that QCEA could not function without our support, relying on grants from Yearly Meetings (of British and European Quakers), the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, and at least half its funding coming from donations from Friends. If you believe we need to keep an effective and successful Quaker presence at the heart of Europe we must support QCEA. n

Melanie and Andrew are from Malvern Meeting. Details of how to donate to QCEA can be found at www.qcea.org.

12 the Friend 23 April 2021 wo weeks ago Friends met Capital adventure: Fred online to talk about Pan London Governance (PLG). In January, Ashmore attends a meeting PLG Steering Group proposals had been sent to all the Area Meetings on the future of London (AMs) of London, which were asked to examine them carefully Friends and discern a response. This 10 April meeting was an opportunity to talk it all through. London Quakers Property Trust (LQPT), the charitable ‘We wish this work to company which owns and manages the Meeting houses Tof London, has been closely involved throughout this proceed in an eminently work, and appointed members of the Steering Group and Working Group. practical way.’ Helen Drewery, clerk of the PLG Steering Group, and Alan Smillie, clerk of the Working Group, told the meeting about the background of the work. Bernadette O’Shea, clerk of LQPT, talked about the minuted responses provided so far by the AMs (not all AMs have finished their consideration, but they all expect to respond by May). Bernadette presented an outline of the issues raised by the AM responses received so far. These fall into four broad areas: spiritual, governance, money, and communications. Participants went into Zoom breakout rooms to give each other a good listening-to and report back with a summary of the main points. The meeting has given the PLG Steering Group and Working Group plenty to think about, with still more to come when the remaining responses arrive. A minute was agreed: ‘We have gathered with an active, seeking spirit – not with minds made up, but with open minds and hearts. We recognise the ongoing need to prepare, listen, receive and discern. Many issues have been helpfully identified. We wish this work to proceed in an eminently practical way – embracing the bottom-up views and experiences. We are mindful of the profound learning experience of the pandemic and recognise the opportunities this might now offer us in how we work together. George Fox had a vision for London Meetings, to sustain one another. Might we follow faithfully in this spirit? We encourage area meetings to discern the types of structures that might meet the needs of a changing Society. We desire future-proof/fit-for-purpose bodies that support our being Quakers in the world. We uphold the Working Group and the Steering Group as they serve us all in discerning opportunities for a renewed vision for London.’ So what next? PLG Steering Group will discern an answer to that. It seems likely that there will be further work, and development of a more defined set of proposals. Undoubtedly there will be another meeting of the same kind. The organisers have been thanked by several of the participants; but, writing on behalf of the organising group, I want to recognise and appreciate the serious Quakerly way in which the meeting proceeded, and to thank in particular our clerk for the day, Gill Sewell. n

Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash Laura Chouette Photo by Fred is from Kingston & Wandsworth Area Meeting.

the Friend 23 April 2021 13 In 1934, thirteen-year-old Nora Blake entered an essay competition for children of ex-servicemen. Her winning entry resurfaced recently in a local Lincolnshire magazine. ‘I wish one country would have the courage to tell the world “We will disarm”’

ar! The very word this end in view. Disarmament conferences have been makes me shiver. held and there has been much talk between nations. Although the But, while every country agrees that war should end, the great war ended nations have not been able to form any plans to satisfy before I was born, all. Every conference has closed without achieving any I know enough tangible result and this is a very disappointing state of about it to realise affairs. After 16 years of conferences we find that the that all countries nations mistrust each other and are afraid to put down concerned are still armaments. suffering from its results. We are all paying the penalty. Suspicion is the order of the day and we find nations No country can spend four years in destruction, arranging to spend more money on defence services. blowing millions of pounds in the air in the form of All are seeking security but will a competition in Wshells, without suffering from chaos. The whole of armaments give security? Let us consider this question. the industrialised world was disorganised, and as a This makes us think about the next war. I think that consequence many soldiers who survived from the war there will be as much difference in the next war and the without serious consequences came back only to find great war as there was between that and the Napoleonic it impossible to secure employment. Also, thousands of wars. I think death will come from the air in the form of families mourn the loss of loved ones, and thousands gas and poison bombs. Attacks will take us by surprise more have the care of those who were disabled, the and the result will be that large cities, with all their blind, the crippled, the insane. Truly war levies a terrible inhabitants, will be wiped out in a few hours. It seems toll. very possible to spend all our lives in defence and yet be Without dwelling unduly on the horrors of war, or unsafe. its far-reaching ill effects on the community, I think What is the alternative? Just this. All lovers of peace that all will agree that the great task of this generation must continue to work for gradual disarmament, even is to arrange international affairs so that another war is if their cause seems hopeless. All education should have avoided. Politicians during the war, I understand, talked this end view. Public demonstrations of a warlike nature a lot about it being a war to end war and since 1918 the should be avoided. Children should not be taken to League of Nations has had a meeting in Geneva with torchlight tattoos and boys should not be encouraged to

14 the Friend 23 April 2021 Nora’s Society winning medal, courtesy of Stamford Local History

play with toy soldiers. today, we should be optimistic for the future. Shades of An international army, having all the armaments the great reformers of all times encourage us to carry of the world, should keep peace in the same way that on with the good work and not to doubt the ultimate the police force keeps civil peace. It is very rarely that result. a policeman has to fight but the knowledge that he is It also seems to me that all nations are waiting for there, backed by the powers someone to take the lead. They are like children. I of justice, is generally frequently hear children say ‘I will if you will’ but no ‘Shades of the sufficient to keep us safe one wants to take the initiative. I believe that if France great reformers from robbery and violence would only begin, Germany would be glad to follow and of all times and I think that is the ideal vice versa. I wish one country would have the courage for all peace lovers, for the to tell the world ‘We will disarm by 1950’. If the country encourage us world to be policed. could be my own, I should be very proud. I for one to carry on Now, no idea was ever would be willing to take the risk. If I am to have a sticky realised easily. Rome was finish, I should like to know that my country has done with the good not built in a day and all the right thing. work and not the countries of the world If the world persists in arming, a future war is will not become suddenly inevitable. It may not be in my time, but as a good to doubt the reasonable. But if all people citizen, that is no consolation. ultimate result.’ who believe, as I do, will I am aware that all I have said is idealistic, but work and pray for ‘The Day’, nevertheless, all good peace-loving people must work it will come. It may not be in our time. But good citizens for peace on these lines, looking with the eye of faith are always content to work for a future generation. for the glorious dawn of the day when ‘Swords shall In our school we have a book on citizenship which be turned into plough-shares and spears into pruning has on the cover a figure of the head of Jesus. It has two hooks’. n faces. So, in school, we learn the history of the past. We find that great progress has been made and that the Nora survived world war two but died in May 2009. Her world is much better to live in than it was in the middle essay is republished with the permission of her family. ages. When we compare conditions with what they are Thanks to Xanthe Wells of Oakham Meeting for the tip.

the Friend 23 April 2021 15 hen young I read The Man who Planted How You Can Save the Trees by Jean Giono, a visionary work from Planet, by Hendrikus 1953. This was a decade before Rachel Carson’s van Hensbergen Silent Spring, widely seen as having launched the environmental movement. I remember the exhilaration of reading about this man who quietly and single-handedly reforested his Review by James land, and the sorrow when I realised it was fiction. I also Wremember thinking: ‘Yes, but it could be true. It could Gordon become true.’ In How You Can Save the Planet, it has. Lesein Metunkei, a Kenyan boy aged twelve, a keen footballer, vowed to plant a tree for every goal he scored. He upped it to eleven trees per goal, for the whole team. The idea caught on, and spread across Kenya. Now Lesein dreams of ‘Trees for Goals’ projects across Africa. Lesein wasn’t the first. He got the idea from Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan professor who started the Green Belt Movement. It planted fifty-one million trees in Kenya, and also spread. Robert Pierson (www.jstor.org/stable/24461937) has written of how Wangari’s story brings to life the Quaker Advice: ‘Let your life speak’, showing how she too may have been inspired by an ancient Taoist story. The word can become flesh, and it has. At fifteen, Londoner Amelia Lam was inspired to make birdfeeders out of old pencils. Again, her idea spread to her schoolfriends and beyond. Another Londoner, Kabir Kaul, used blogging techniques to create a map of wildlife areas across London, now a major resource. Deep Shah in Wales fought to stop a former military site, ideal for wildlife safehavens, being purchased by a property developer. He had worked hard to persuade the MP, who lost his seat at the last election. Deep is working on the new one… Each of these stories of dedication jumps off the page alongside smiling faces. Through them, and other practical tips from his Action for Conservation project, Hendrikus van Hensbergen has created a true manual for young people, inspired by examples of concrete actions. There are twenty-nine in total, spelled out in minute detail, with beautiful drawings by Anita Mangan. The reading age is given as nine to twelve, but it can be read by those over that – I am seventy-six! The actions are ones that parents, teachers and grandparents can become involved in. In every case in the book, the initial inspiration was a personal encounter. Aditya Mukarji found a turtle with a plastic straw stuck in its nose. Lily Macfarlane was charmed by a sea view but was galvanised by reading that, within thirty years, the sea could contain more plastic than fish. We can’t let that happen. Of course we have let it happen. It was on our watch (though the book is most courteous about saying so). These are young people living the truth, persevering in it, undeterred by indifference or even hostility. Change, Friends, is happening. This beautiful little book is both evidence and prescription. n

James is from Hastings Meeting.

16 the Friend 23 April 2021 Poem: ‘I learned: Trespass’ Dana Littlepage Smith

I learned there was not always this crack guttering through the meadowlands of days, through our restless minds and bodies.

I learned the welfare state once meant the right to forage hazelnuts in leaf litter, chanterelle and roots…

Sphagnum moss can heal a wound; I learned from my mother’s mother’s mother’s mothers which fallen oak burned longest, which birch spat flame into fire. I learned which wildwood held its spring like a sacred word tongued in fern, which fiddlehead unfurled might finger something green back into me.

If I lay still enough, long enough, I learned my thoughts might uncloud anxiety’s horizon.

I learned a silent green weaves its way through the rising and the falling of all things.

Now I learn there is no access to field or ridge where I can walk from this city space. I learn no bus will take me to the pines where I might sleep on the needlework of centuries.

I learn how easily the names are lost from recollection: the common haircap, the silky forklet and conkers cannot ferret their way back into our dreams through cemented meadows. I learn the crucified can have four legs or two wings and that the suffering of forests, wetlands, mountains, moors and ours will be forever woven in the way the wind is woven through the trees; I learn that if they cannot, then I will not breathe.

I lean that there is no real reckoning as yet for the years we have been harvesting this great sadness.

I learn that I must walk through upland, moorland again and again and again and that this is not, was not and never will be trespass. n

Dana is from Exeter Meeting. The Kinder Trespass of 1932, referenced in the poem, will be remembered in a new mass ‘trespass’ on 24 April. See https://bit.ly/3anisOd for details.

Photo by Mandy Naleli on Unsplash Friends&Meetings Memorial meetings REFUGEE WELCOMES 10.30am SAVING BEAUTY: CULTIVATING Saturday 24 April. London Quakers AN ABUNDANT HEART IN A Barbara BOWMAN Memorial meeting. Speaker Neil Jameson, TIME OF PANDEMIC meeting 11am Saturday 1 May, Emeritus Director of Citizens UK. From Oxford Centre for Spiritual primarily by Zoom but with a Register through the Event notice at Growth and Oxford Quaker Meeting. limited number of pre-booked places www.londonquakers.org.uk An online retreat with Mark in Settle FMH. To book a Zoom Burrows, Saturday 1 May, 2–6pm. invitation or to enquire about seats Keep in touch... Details/registration: email info@ email [email protected] ...put your family notices in the Friend! ocsg.uk.net or see www.ocsg.uk.net Diary

LONDON FRIENDS TOGETHER How You Can Quakers across London worship and Save the Planet talk together. 7pm Tuesdays. Hendrikus van Hensbergen 30 minutes of worship, a starter talk from an experienced Quaker, YOU have the power to help change 30 minutes conversation in groups. the world! Climate breakdown, species Zoom link via: extinction, environmental disasters - we www.londonquakers.org.uk know the planet is heating up and running out of time; but what can we do about it? QUAKER SOUTH ASIA INTEREST Th is book will break down exactly what GROUP Zoom Meeting to consider you need to do to make a diff erence. recent events on Saturday 24 April 2021 from 10am to 12 noon. All Easy step-by-step actions and inspiring Friends interested in South Asia stories of other children who stood up and welcome. Enquiries and invitations said ‘no more’, this is the defi nitive guide to from Martin Schweiger: creating a better world wherever you live. [email protected] ‘...a true manual for young people... Th e Actions are ones parents, teachers and grandparents can become involved in’ James Gordon, the Friend. Friends & Meetings Price £7.99 + £1.50 UK postage. Paperback. Pu n Books, March 2021. Personal entries (births, marriages, Spring Cannot be deaths, anniversaries, changes of address, Meeting up, etc.) charged Cancelled at £41.50 incl. vat for up to 35 David Hockney in Normandy words and includes a copy of the magazine. Meeting and charity Martin Gayford, David Hockney notices, (Changes of clerk, new Spring Cannot be Cancelled is an uplift ing wardens, new Members, changes to manifesto that affi rms art’s capacity to meeting, etc.) £34.58 zero rated divert and inspire. It is based on a wealth for vat. Max. 35 words. Three of new conversations and correspondence entries £83 (£69.16 if zero rated); between Hockney and the art critic Martin six entries £120 (£100 zero rated). DIARY NOTICES: £36 incl vat for up Gayford. Th eir exchanges are illustrated by to 35 words, £30 zero-rated. Three a selection of Hockney’s new, unpublished entries £72 incl vat, £60 zero-rated. Normandy iPad drawings and paintings 6 entries £108 incl vat, £90 zero-rated. alongside works by van Gogh, Monet, Bruegel, and others. Deadline usually 12 noon Monday. Entries accepted at the editor’s ‘I intend to carry on with my work, which I now see as very important. discretion in a standard house style. We have lost touch with nature rather foolishly as we are a part of it, not A gentle discipline will be exerted outside it.’ David Hockney to maintain a simplicity of style and wording that excludes terms of ‘... a lavishly illustrated record of the exchanges between the artist, in endearment and words of tribute. Normandy, and the critic, in Cambridge, during the past year’ Guardian. Guidelines on request. Price £25 UK post free. Hardback.  ames & Hudson, March 2021. The Friend, 54a Main Street To order by post send a cheque payable to Th e Friend to: Th e Friend, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL 54a Main Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL. Email: [email protected] To pay by bank transfer order by email, with your name and address, Telephone: 01535 630230 to [email protected] (bank details supplied on ordering).

18 the Friend 23 April 2021 Subscriber copies due for delivery 26-30 April

Issue two 2021 The future of Quakerism “The future of Quakers and Quakerism, as one of our writers notes, may feel like a bit of a tricky topic given how unpredictable life has been during the pandemic. We hope, however, that the four articles in this edition give you some food for thought as we all try to consider what may – or perhaps what should – lie ahead for the Society. We have authors writing on: • how technology can be a powerful tool for Quakers, now and in the future • how today’s trials may be an opportunity for faith, hope, and patience to develop in each of us • the importance of Quaker youth events in shaping and sustaining faith for one younger Quaker • the importance of listening, and how it means we can become more welcoming, especially to those whose stories we may not hear so often.” Contributors: Jon Martin, Freya Blyth, Peyton Lee and James McCarthy. Single copies can be ordered and paid for via the website: www.friendsquarterly.org, or send a cheque for £5 + £1 UK postage payable to The Friend to: The Friend, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL. Overseas postage £2 a copy. Add FQ to your UK Friend subscription for £16 a year by calling 020 7663 1178. Bulk orders of 5 or more copies for Discussion and Study Group use, are available at £4 each UK post free. Overseas orders £1 per copy postage. To pay by bank transfer: order by email, giving your name and address, to [email protected] (bank details supplied on ordering). To order by post: send a cheque payable to The Friend to The Friend, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL. Subscribe online at www.friendsquarterly.org

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Please Contract: 1 year initially. contact: [email protected] or 07856 About SFr. 1,900pm net (if housing Bilingual in English and French. 497878. provided). 1 September 2021 to 31 August 2022. Closing date: 30 April 2021. Open to Friends or those in close Hardship grants sympathy. Must be legally eligible for Grants Manager employment in Switzerland or the An experienced, reliable and available European Union. organised grant manager with solid The Marjorie McBain Trust Opportunities for young professionals previous grant management/ can, in a spirit of love, award to learn about/contribute to Quaker fundraising experience in a UK grants to members and attenders work at the UN in our unique, inte- charity. Working from home or of Britain Yearly Meeting who are grated, friendly small team. While (pandemic allowing) London offi ce. in need, hardship or distress. much of the work will build on your professional skills, willingness to Contract: 1 year initially. 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