DOCSLIB.ORG

Ethical Record the Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society Vol

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ethical Record the Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society Vol Ethical Record The Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society Vol. 106 No. 1 £1.50 Jan-Feb, 2001 AN AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY THE ETHICS OF CITIZENSHIP On 14 December 2000 at Conway Hall, the 74th Conway Memorial Lecture entitled Ethics and Citizenship - A New Agenda for the Twentyfirst Century was delivered, beautifully and wittily, by the eminent writer on and professor of politics, Bernard Crick. Professor Crick was introduced by Gabby Rowberry of the Council for Education in World Citizenship. Photo: Martin Harris Gabby also chairs the Coalition for Conway Memorial Lectureh Emeritus Professor Citizenship, whose members are Bernard Crick and Chainnan Gabby Rowberrv at Conway Hall on the 14 December 2000. working with Professor Crick to implement the new citizenship order in education. The audience consisted of keenly attentive members of the Society and the general public, some of whom were former students of Professor Crick. Professor Crick set out five principles which, he felt, underlie the curriculum of the citizenship order. They were: freedom (without which we won't know what other people's moral views were); toleration (I accept you, as a person, but not all your views and practices as being beyond criticism); fairness (preferable to 'the rule of law' - are the laws themselves just?), respect for truth (not truth as such); respect for reasoning (do not respect those who do not give reasons). For those whose appetite may have been whetted by the above themes and would like to hear Professor Crick's exposition in full, a recording of the lecture will be played as part of the Ethical Society's Sunday programme on 25 March 2001. THE ABORTION LAW STRUGGLE Diane illunday 3 R.M. HARE'S PRESCRIPTION Chris Bratcher 9 CHASING THE HARE: SEARLE & GEACH Chris Bratcher 14 ORIGINS OF GENIUS - Book Review Leslie Jones 18 DARWIN'S BLACK BOX - Book Review Roy Silson 21 PAT POTTLE MEMORIAL AT CONWAY HALL Barbara Smoker 23 ETHICAL IRONY Jennifer Jeynes 23 ETHICAL SOCIETY EVENTS 24 SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY . Conway Hall Humanist Centre • 25 Red Lion Square, London WCIR 4RL. Tel: 020 7242 8034 Fax: 020 7242 8036 website: www.ethicalsoc.org.uk email: [email protected] Officers Chairman of the GC: Terry Mullins Hon. Rep of the GC: Don Liversedge Registrar: Donald Rooum Editor, Ethical Record: Norman Bacrac SPES Staff Administrative Secretary to the Society: Marina Ingham Tel: 020 7242 8034 LibrarianIProgramme Coordinator: Jennifer Jeynes. Tel: 020 7242 8037 Operations Manager: Frances Hanlon. Tel: 020 7242 8033 Lettings Manager: Peter Vlachos. For Hall bookings: Tel: 020 7242 8032 New Members Hyman Frankel, London SE17; Simon Hardman, Chorlton, Manchester; John James, London SE13. SPES MEMBERS OPEN DISCUSSION MEETING, 25 FEBRUARY 2001 At 3pm on 25 February 2001, the General Committee invites members of the Ethical Society to engage in informal discussion on any matters of concern to do with the management of the Society and Conway Hall. RUSSIAN HUMANIST VISITS LONDON Victor Shchekochikhin, of the Moscow branch of the Russian Humanist Society, visited London for a fortnight in January. He came with his wife, Irina, and children Maxim (11) and Anna (10). Besides SPES, Victor had talks with all the Humanist organisations here: IHEU, RPA, BHA and the NSS. He assisted in the production of the 1993 the Russian Constitution. now wishes to encourage every citizen to take an active part in the social life of the country, which was not possible under communism, where one could not say what one thought. Victor believes strongly in the value of international contacts and would welcome visitors to Moscow, where he is organising a conference in April 2001 on the 40th anniversary of the first man in space. SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY CONWAY HALL HUMANIST CENTRE 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL Reg. Charity No. 251396 Founded in 1793, the Society is a progressive movement whose aims are: the study and dissemination of ethical principles based on humanism, the cultivation of a rational and humane way of life, and the advancement of research and education in relevant fields. We invite to membership those who reject supernatural creeds and are in sympathy with our aims. At Conway Hall the the programme includes Sunday lectures, discussions, evening courses and the renowned South Place Sunday Concerts of chamber music. The Society maintains a Humanist Reference Library. The Society's journal, Ethical Record, is issued ten times a year. The annual subscription is £18. (£12 if a full-time student, unwaged or over 65). 2 Ethical Record, Jan-Feb, 2001 THE PERILS & PLEASURES OF HUMANIST CAMPAIGNING: THE ABORTION LAW STRUGGLE Diane Munday Lecture to the Ethical Society, 3 December 2000 In 1967 when standing for election to Hertfordshire County Council, my Tory opponents were out on the pavements the night before with posters and loud hailers declaring `she is anti-Christ and pro-abortion'; indeed in 1969 when I was appointed a Justice of the Peace, the local newspaper had headlines on the front page to much the same effect. That, I suppose (except for the fact that I am pro-choice but not and have never been pro-abortion - an important difference that the anti abortion lobby has never been able or, more likely, willing to recognise) just about sums my life up from around 1960 to 1990. Looking back - and preparing this talk has provided me with an unexpectedly vivid trip down memory lane; apart from the small matters of running a home, caring for a husband and bringing up three small sons, campaigning for a liberal abortion law and promoting Humanism dominated those three decades of my life. However this talk is very different from the thousands of others I have given. It is somewhat ironic, after 40 years of stonewalling attempts to write about me personally, that now - among friends - I am talking about ME. I have always insisted that it is the subject that matters and have deplored the cult of the personality and here I am about to deliver what my notes suggest is a highly egotistical monologue! Abortion Law Reformand Humanism Linked Certainly in the early days. abortion law reform and Humanism were closely linked (to my sorrow, less so today). You did not have to be a humanist to believe in reproductive choice - a number of religious people campaigned with us and many actively supported us (even more actually had abortions but that is a different story) I never met anybody calling themselves a humanist/rationalist/freethinker who did not believe the law should be changed to abolish the 1861 prohibition on 'all attempts to procure miscarriage'. Indeed, resolutions passed at the conferences of various of our kindred bodies helped considerably to swell the numbers we were truthfully able to claim supported our standpoint. Interestingly, the first meeting to discuss abortion that I ever attended was here in this building when Harold Blackham spoke on the subject in what then was the Small Hall. I would have been very heartened if, at that time, I had known how far society would move - both in adopting Humanist ideas and stances as well as in accepting legal abortion as a humane necessity - in the subsequent forty years Equally I would have been disappointed if I had been able to foresee the continuing high number of abortions as, naively at that time, I thought, easy access to contraception and education about its use-was all that was needed to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. Also I suppose, it is true that I am disappointed about the lack of ground gained by Humanism in general in this increasingly godless society. Conversely, the opposition to legalised abortion came almost 100% from those believing human life to begin at conception, to be God given and therefore sacred. Ethical Record, Jan-Feb. 2001 3 If I were asked to sum up my memories in one word, the word that comes immediately to mind is IRRATIONALITY - with HYPOCRISY closely behind - and I fear there is still a lot of both around. However this is not going to be an academic treatise on irrationality but a series of anecdotes which I suspect (and hope) will entertain rather than enlighten you. My Abortion The story really starts when I was offered thalidomide during my third pregnancy - although there was a prologue. In the fifties 1 had known a young mother of three who had died as•the result of a back street abortion. During that pregnancy I came to the strong conclusion that, had I taken the drug, I would have wished to have an abortion rather than knowingly increase the risks of having a handicapped child. So I joined the moribund Abortion Law Reform Association. When faced with a fourth pregnancy in four years I decided I would end it - but I survived because I could wield a cheque book in Harley St. As I could not thank God I vowed in my muzzy state to spend the rest of my life campaigning for those who did not have a cheque book, or information. I went to my first public speaking engagement in fear and trembling. This was the Townswomen's Guild, an audience of elderly ladies in hats and gloves. I admitted I had recently bought an abortion. The talk was met in absorbed silence but I did not sense hostility. At teaiime one by one these ladies came to me and said words to the effect - 1 have never told anybody before but 1 had an abortion in the 30s. Indeed some years later my mother told me that she had nursed her sister who had been to the backstreets in the 30s when she was the only bread winner in the family.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • British Domestic Security Policy and Communist Subversion: 1945-1964
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Apollo British Domestic Security Policy and Communist Subversion: 1945-1964 William Styles Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge September 2016 This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy William Styles British Domestic Security Policy and Communist Subversion: 1945-1964 This thesis is concerned with an analysis of British governmental attitudes and responses to communism in the United Kingdom during the early years of the Cold War, from the election of the Attlee government in July 1945 up until the election of the Wilson government in October 1964. Until recently the topic has been difficult to assess accurately, due to the scarcity of available original source material. However, as a result of multiple declassifications of both Cabinet Office and Security Service files over the past five years it is now possible to analyse the subject in greater depth and detail than had been previously feasible. The work is predominantly concerned with four key areas: firstly, why domestic communism continued to be viewed as a significant threat by successive governments – even despite both the ideology’s relatively limited popular support amongst the general public and Whitehall’s realisation that the Communist Party of Great Britain presented little by way of a direct challenge to British political stability. Secondly, how Whitehall’s understanding of the nature and severity of the threat posed by British communism developed between the late 1940s and early ‘60s, from a problem considered mainly of importance only to civil service security practices to one which directly impacted upon the conduct of educational policy and labour relations.
    [Show full text]
  • Prison Escapes 5
    PRISON ESCAPES 5 CONTENTS Redoine Faid (2013) George Blake (1966) Julien Chautard (2009) Prison Transit Van Escapes Pentonville Colditz Bizarre Escape attempts Many Others – Summaries for Discussion Redoine Faid escapes: It wasn't the first time that Faid, an armed robber being held in the death of a police officer, had gone on the lam. Here are a few other notorious prison escapes. • A special police officer stands guard in front the jail of Sequedin near Lille, northern France, April 14. Redoine Faid, an inmate, used explosives and took hostages to escape out of jail on Saturday morning, local media reported. PARIS Redoine Faid's escape from a French prison landed him on Interpol's most wanted list Monday, two days after he took four guards hostage and used explosives hidden inside tissue packets to blast his way out of a prison in Lille. Faid freed his hostages along his getaway route. It wasn't the first time that Faid, an armed robber being held in the death of a police officer, had gone on the lam. He was arrested in 1998 after three years on the run in Switzerland and Israel, according to the French media. Faid was freed after serving 10 years of his 31-year sentence, then swore he had turned his life around, writing a confessional book about his life of crime and going on an extensive media tour. "When I was on the run, I lived all the time with death, with fear of the police, fear of getting shot," he told Europe 1 radio at the time.
    [Show full text]
  • Fill the Jails': Identity, Structure and Method in the Committee of 100, 1960 – 1968
    A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details 'Fill the Jails': Identity, Structure and Method in the Committee of 100, 1960 – 1968. Thesis submitted by Samantha Jane Carroll D. Phil. in Life History Research University of Sussex September 2010 I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature:........................................... Contents. Summary. Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1 Chapter One: Methodology. 29 Chapter Two: Middle-Class Radicals? Make-up and Motivations. 67 Chapter Three: Non-Violent Direct Action. A Contentious Issue. 98 Chapter Four: 'Fill the Jails'. Committee of 100 in Action. 122 Chapter Five: Imprisonment. Gender, Class and Entitlement. 158 Chapter Six: A Libertarian Spirit? Organisation and Values. 182 Conclusion. 213 Bibliography. 222 Appendices. 232 UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX D.PHIL. IN LIFE HISTORY RESEARCH 'FILL THE JAILS': IDENTITY, STRUCTURE AND METHOD IN THE COMMITTEE OF 100, 1960 – 1968. SUMMARY The Committee of 100 (C100) (1960 – 68) were a British anti-nuclear protest group who campaigned for mass non-violent direct action (NVDA) in an effort to force the government to revise its defence policy.
    [Show full text]
  • Interview with Michael Randle
    Interview no. 27 Michael Randle interview transcript 17th June 2015 After Hiroshima project Interviewee: Michael Randle, DOB 21.12.1933 Interviewer: Ruth Dewa (0:00) MR: Yes, I er it is RD: So this is Ruth Dewa recording on the 17th of June and I’m interviewing Michael Randle. Would you mind spelling your name and telling me your date of birth? MR: Right, its Michael, normal spelling M-I-C-H-A-E-L and Randle is R-A-N-D-L-E. I was born on the 21st December 1933 erm what else we-we-well in Bradford [laugh]. RD: Lovely and this is for the After Hiroshima project at London Bubble. So could you just start by er telling me what you were doing towards the end of the Second World War? MR: Well I was er still a child at the end of the Second World War and I had lived the previous five years with er my aunt and grandparents in Dublin. So I was – I was in London at the beginning of the Blitz but then, the oldest of what were eventually nine children erm was sent to-to live in Ireland with er in Dublin and I went to a-a convent school in Dublin. Erm so we came back just after the end of the war and then we lived in Surrey er Cheam that Cheam Sutton, that sort of area. RD: And what was your experience of Ireland towards the end of the war? Was it kind of - someone else that I’ve interviewed said they kinda felt very detached from it and that they were rather untouched there.
    [Show full text]
  • Blake Escape
    1966: The Blake prison escape A short history of the miraculous prison break of Soviet double-agent George Blake from a British jail, organised by two libertarian activists. In 1966, the most notorious prisoner in Britain was sprung from jail. George Blake was a British double- agent serving 42 years for spying for the Soviet Union. At the time this was the longest jail sentence ever imposed by a British court. For 22 years the truth of his escape remained a secret. Common wisdom held that it must have been a professional operation masterminded by the KGB, the IRA or even the British security services. However in 1988, two radical peace activists revealed that they had rescued Blake from prison and smuggled him out of the country to Eastern Europe. Michael Randle and Pat Pottle were founder members of the Committee of 100 anti-nuclear direct action group and describe themselves as libertarians and “quasi-anarchists”. In 1962, at the height of the Cold War, they had both been sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for conspiracy to organise the Committee of 100 demonstrations at the nuclear base USAF Wethersfield in Essex. They both had first hand experience of prison and it was their outrage at the “vicious” sentence imposed on Blake that led them to attempt to free him. They believed the sentence was “unjust” and that “helping him was a decent human response.” Being ex-cons in the same prison Blake was in not only enabled them to empathise with Blake, but also gave them contacts on the inside who could help with the escape.
    [Show full text]
  • North West Wales History
    This document is a snapshot of content from a discontinued BBC website, originally published between 2002-2011. It has been made available for archival & research purposes only. Please see the foot of this document for Archive Terms of Use. 27 February 2012 Accessibility help Text only BBC Homepage Wales Home The man who loved liberty Last updated: 22 February 2008 The last chapter of an amazing story involving Cold War more from this section espionage, and the Olympic athlete who inspired Chariots BBC Local History of Fire, has ended with the Maritime memories North West Wales sale of a printing firm. Broadcasting Things to do Family history Celtic heritage People & Places Gwasg Eryri in Porthmadog was sold recently to Liz and Jim Castles Nature & Outdoors People in History Mowatt by Gwyn Davies, who revealed when he retired that History Industrial heritage he'd bought the firm - then known as Snowdonia Press - from Religion & Ethics Telford's legacy a man called Pat Pottle in the early 70s. The Romans Arts & Culture Black History Music Very few of the people working around him in North Wales World War II TV & Radio Abolition of slavery knew that Mr Pottle had an astonishing tale to tell. Restoration Local BBC Sites More treasures News He was one of the 'Lavender Hill Mob' who sprang convicted Useful links Sport Soviet spy George Blake from Wormwood Scrubs in 1966. Weather more from North West Travel He was a friend and helper to the great philosopher Bertrand Wales Russell who also retired to North Wales. Neighbouring Sites Mid Wales History North East Wales And Mr Pottle was married to the daughter of the Jewish The Romans sprinter Harold Abrahams, who won a gold medal at the 1924 Find out what the empire- Related BBC Sites Paris Olympics and who inspired the multiple-Oscar winning building legions got up to.
    [Show full text]
  • Civil Resistance
    Movements and Ideas - Series editor, Justin Wintle Michael Randle Civil Resistance Copyright Michael Randle, 1993 This pdf file has been generated from Michael Randle’s original text, making an effort to have the page numbering of Chapters 1-7 roughly corresponding with the book published in the Fontana Movements and Ideas Series in 1994. A pdf of the index from the Fontana edition can be downloaded separately. DEDICATION To Anne Randle And to the men and women of the jury at No. 1 Court at the Old Bailey, 17-26 June 1991, without whose independence and courage the writing of this book would have been delayed by several years ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my particular thanks and gratitude to the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust who provided me with a grant to carry out the research for this book. Special thanks are due also to Ian Paten, former editor of Paladin Books, who first suggested my writing this book; to the series editor, Justin Wintle, for his suggestions and corrections; and to Anne Randle for her help and patience during an exceptionally busy year. I am grateful to Mrs Paula Anderson, widow of the late Mr Stanley Alderson, for giving me access to his unpublished manuscript Non-Violence and the Citizen. My thanks, too, to my colleagues on the Social Defence Working Group – Howard Clark, Christina Arber, Owen Greene, Bob Overy, Carol Rank, Andrew Rigby Walter Stein and Tim Wallis- Milne – who, in the course of many meetings and discussions over the last several years, have contributed to, and helped clarify, my ideas on civil resistance.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Other Prison Esapes
    SOME OTHER PRISON ESCAPES Redoine Faid (2013) George Blake (1966) Julien Chautard (2009) Others - Summaries Redoine Faid escapes: It wasn't the first time that Faid, an armed robber being held in the death of a police officer, had gone on the lam. Here are a few other notorious prison escapes. • A special police officer stands guard in front the jail of Sequedin near Lille, northern France, April 14. Redoine Faid, an inmate, used explosives and took hostages to escape out of jail on Saturday morning, local media reported. PARIS Redoine Faid's escape from a French prison landed him on Interpol 's most wanted list Monday, two days after he took four guards hostage and used explosives hidden inside tissue packets to blast his way out of a prison in Lille. Faid freed his hostages along his getaway route. It wasn't the first time that Faid, an armed robber being held in the death of a police officer, had gone on the lam. He was arrested in 1998 after three years on the run in Switzerland and Israel , according to the French media. Faid was freed after serving 10 years of his 31-year sentence, then swore he had turned his life around, writing a confessional book about his life of crime and going on an extensive media tour. "When I was on the run, I lived all the time with death, with fear of the police, fear of getting shot," he told Europe 1 radio at the time. Here's a look at other notorious prison escapes: HIGH-RISE CRIME Two bank robbers, onetime cellmates at a downtown Chicago lockup, used a rope made from bed sheets tied together to drop 20 stories to freedom in December 2012.
    [Show full text]