10 November 2017 £1.90 thediscover the contemporaryFriend quaker way

Conscience and dissent

Interview: Gillian Allnutt the Friend Independent Quaker Journalism Since 1843

Contents VOL 175 NO 45

3 Thought for the Week: Do not kill War is not the answer I am more and more Oliver Robertson a Christian… Suffer 4 News dishonour and disgrace, but never resort to arms. 5 Conscience and dissent Be bullied, be outraged, be Jane Dawson killed: but do not kill.

6 Peace and war Wilfred Owen Bob Johnson Letter to his mother 7 The white poppy May 1917. Jane Mace 8-9 Letters 10-11 Nuclear weapons are BAD, aren’t they? Paul Ingram 12 Poem: Dust to Dust Bill Bingham 13 Taking a stand Ian Kirk-Smith

14-16 Interview: A wreath of knitted, crocheted Gillian Allnutt and fabric white poppies. Jonathan Doering Assembled by Barbara Curtis, of Nelson Meeting, New Zealand. 17 Friends & Meetings Photo: © 2016 Barry-Martin/FWCC.

Cover image: Woodland near Les Éparges, France – the site of a fierce battle during world war one. Photo: Antonio Ponte / flickr CC.

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2 the Friend, 10 November 2017 Thought for the Week

War is not the answer

t Remembrance, when the British nation’s focus is so intently on the fighting (mainly) men and the victories and prosperity they helped provide, even voicing another opinion – or wearing another colour poppy – can be an act of resistance. AThis is important to remember, because very often a large step for peace, such as attempting to disarm warplanes at a BAE Systems base or sailing into a nuclear test zone to try to prevent a nuclear detonation, is a long way along a path that began with the simple step of refusing to go along with the crowd. Nonviolent resistance is all about achieving your goals without resorting to violence. It is often assumed to be idealistic and unrealistic, as the situations that tend to get raised when discussing alternatives to military action are at the very extreme end of the spectrum, where nonviolence seems useless: enemies with no limits to their brutality and no willingness to compromise. Nonviolent resistance is also assumed to be idealistic and unrealistic because people don’t know much about it – ask them and they may be able to name the Indian campaign for independence led by Mohandas Gandhi or the American Civil Rights Movement, but they probably don’t link these all together (even though Martin Luther King Junior took direct inspiration from Gandhi’s example) and almost certainly don’t give them the title of ‘nonviolent action’. This is a pity, because nonviolence works. In a book analysing every violent and nonviolent resistance campaign between 1900 and 2006 (and there were 323 of them), Erica Chenoweth and Maria J Stephan found that nonviolent campaigns were significantly more likely to achieve their outcomes than violent ones – over half of all nonviolent campaigns were successful, with almost eighty per cent at least partially successful. In contrast, just one quarter of the violent campaigns were successful. Nonviolent campaigns, also, tend to involve a far larger number of people than violent campaigns, so there is less risk of a minority imposing its ideas on the majority. In contrast to assumptions about nonviolence being useless against repressive regimes, successful nonviolent campaigns have taken place in countries all along the freedom- repression spectrum. And nonviolent campaigns are considerably more likely to lead to stability after victory, and avoid a relapse into conflict or civil war. Some of this may seem like common sense – if you use participatory methods that empower the masses in your campaign, people are probably more likely to support and be familiar with democracy as a legitimate way of resolving differences; if you are trying to change the hearts and minds of the population, rather than cow them with weaponry, then they are more likely to want to stick with whatever you set up afterwards. But it is valuable to have the numbers and the figures to back up the ideas, and to show that this isn’t something that has just happened once or twice over the last century, but a method that has been used, successfully, again and again and again. So, whatever we remember on Armistice Day or at any other time, let’s remember not just what happened, but also what worked.

Oliver Robertson Mid-Thames Area Meeting

Oliver is development manager at the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the ecumenical Christian peace charity

the Friend, 10 November 2017 3 News reported by Harry Albright [email protected] Quakers send white poppies to Scottish politicians Quakers in Scotland have joined with the inevitable. It is important to hold witness to the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, devastating effect of war on all nations, as well as to the Peace Pledge Union, and the Edinburgh Peace and civilians, communities, children and families – the Justice Centre to send nearly 200 white poppies to white poppy represents this.’ Scottish MEPs, MSPs in the Scottish Parliament and Britain Yearly Meeting said in a statement: ‘Quakers Scottish MPs in Westminster. have compassion for all those affected by war, Mairi Campbell-Jack, Scottish parliamentary including injured and disabled military and civilians engagement officer for Quakers in Britain, said: everywhere, and their families… In these sombre days ‘Quakers are led by faith to believe that war is not of Remembrance, many wear red or white poppies.’ Paul Oestreicher to Banner kits Northern Friends give peace lecture Peace Board (NFPB) member Allison Challen has put together a new Quaker Paul Oestreicher will be giving the set of one-person peace Lord Mayor’s Annual Peace Lecture on 13 November banner kits that include at Coventry Cathedral. The lecture is entitled ‘Justice the fabric and instructions. and peace – can we have both?’ The kits are available for Paul Oestreicher, who is also an Anglican priest, £10 each from the NFPB. is a former director of the International Centre for Reconciliation, based at Coventry Cathedral. Remembrance In 2011 he gave the keynote speech on the abolition of war at the World Council of Churches International peace vigil Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) in Kingston, Jamaica. FRIENDS will be among A lifelong pacifist, he was co-founder of the those joining a silent vigil Anglican Pacifist Fellowship in New Zealand. on 11 November (11am David Fish, of Coventry Meeting, said: ‘Coventry to 11:45am) in London’s Quakers are so pleased to welcome Paul back to Trafalgar Square outside Coventry to give this keynote annual lecture. the National Gallery. The ‘The lecture will be part of the annual Coventry vigil, offering a witness to Peace Festival and is timed to coincide with peace, will follow on from Remembrance Sunday and a visit to Coventry by the two-minute silence delegates from Kiel city council as part of the ongoing at 11am organised by the

reconciliation work.’ Royal British Legion. Allison Challen. of one the peace banners. Photo courtesy An example ‘Quaker Quicks’ for 2018 QUNO’s ‘Negotiator’s Toolkit’ John Hunt Publishing is The Quaker United experts voices in a number of launching a new series of Quaker books, Nations Office (QUNO) has climate change-related sectors. called ‘Quaker Quicks’. The first three created ‘A Negotiator’s Toolkit’ The summaries are based on titles will be Quaker Roots and Branches to support climate negotiators in presentations given at a side event by John Lampen, What do Quakers their work to engage government in May 2017, during the climate believe? by Geoffrey Durham and The officials with reasons for urgent, change conference in Bonn. The Guided Life by Craig Barnett. The rights-based action on climate toolkit, which is a working draft, series will be launched at the Quaker change. The booklet offers can be downloaded from the Bookshop in 2018. eight summaries compiled from QUNO website.

4 the Friend, 10 November 2017 Report

Conscience and dissent

Jane Dawson writes about the ‘Remembering Muted Voices’ symposium

ansas City, Missouri was once the western those who died, in every nation’. Quaker silence and frontier of the United States. The sprawling Mennonite prayers were included. Mississippi flanks its border with the state of Initially America was reluctant to enter the war. The KKansas. It marks a boundary, the former division explosion of the military infrastructure during and between the Northern states (the Union) and the slave- immediately after the war fuelled an economic boom. owning states of the South. This overcame the natural isolationism of the US, As the gathering point for pioneer trails out to the making it politically expedient to become a player on west of the US, Kansas City has always been a melting the world stage. As in Britain, anti-war resistance was pot of hope, religious zeal and military might. Today largely written out of US history. While in Britain up to the city is the home of Hallmark cards and American 20,000 COs are recorded, in the US 64,700 Americans football’s Kansas City Chiefs. Less benign is the wealth registered as conscientious objectors to the draft. As created from the production of depleted uranium. This the symposium unfolded it became clear that world product contributes to a significant proportion of the war one resistance groups were seedbeds of the later US nuclear weapons programme. civil rights movement. Faith organisations inspired and It is no surprise to find at the heart of the city the supported the early formation of such groups. Quaker nation’s largest memorial to those who fell in world war influence and involvement was clearly evident. In the one. Standing high above Union Station in Kansas City face of great adversity peacework can sometimes feel it is easy to imagine the impression it made on the rail futile. Looking back over the century with a long view travellers of the ‘roaring twenties’. Egyptian sphinxes of history, it is possible to see the genesis of a century with wings covering their eyes in horror flank a torchlit of change. tower. The National World War I Museum is housed The stories of British conscientious objectors, beneath this impressive monument. Howard Marten, Corder Catchpool and Percy Leonard, In 1917 America entered the first world war. It mirrored the story of three Hutterite brothers. Tortured is currently marking the anniversary. The Museum in Alcatraz, two of them eventually died in Fort recently hosted a symposium, ‘Remembering Muted Leavenworth military prison. The lack of respect for Voices: Conscience, Dissent, Resistance and Civil deeply held views and basic human dignity generated Liberties in World War I Through Today’. Attendees a palpable sense of horror and sadness amongst came from peace groups and churches around the symposium participants. world. White poppies from the Peace Pledge Union Time and again throughout the symposium speakers were included in all 250 delegate arrival packs. I referred to the violation of the first amendment, was among the speakers along with Simon Colbeck, drawing parallels with today. The first amendment another British Friend defends religious expression and free speech. The Music framed the symposium, opening with the National World War I Museum must be commended words of Quaker MP John Bright set to Dona noblis for showcasing military history alongside the history pacem, the cantata by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and of resistance. It respectfully allows everyone a voice. It closing with hymns sung by the Hutterite children’s was a lesson for us all – to consider how we engage with choir. Ecumenical worship was held ‘to remember all those who hold opposing views before war breaks out. who died in world war one of whatever race, people, gender and country; all COs [conscientious objectors]; Jane is head of external communications for Britain those known and unknown; those who survived and Yearly Meeting.

the Friend, 10 November 2017 5 Opinion

Peace and war

Bob Johnson considers ‘distorted revenge’ n Saturday 1 August 1914 the German kaiser This type of illogical self-destruct occurs widely, telegraphed his cousin George V: ‘The troops so it is instructive to see how it played out inside the on my frontier are in the act of being stopped minds of sixty UK murderers. What emerged was Oby telephone and telegraph from crossing into France.’ a clear model of ‘distorted revenge’, together with a practicable pathway to eliminate it, which, though Helmuth Johann Ludwig von Moltke, chief of simple enough, is far from easy. general staff of the German army and Otto von Bismarck’s favourite general, witnessing the collapse A serial killer in the making could not have put of his entire war strategy, was ‘crushed’. ‘Your majesty, it more succinctly: ‘Having a tantrum aged four it cannot be done,’ he pleaded, ‘the deployment of means stamping your foot on the floor. Have one millions cannot be improvised.’ aged twenty-four and somebody dies.’ Or, in the case of kaiser Wilhelm, who was then aged fifty-five, Helmuth von Moltke went back to general staff uncounted millions die. headquarters and ‘burst into tears of abject despair… I thought my heart would break… I never recovered Clarity is the first essential for human understanding. from the shock of this incident. Something in me Children, I would argue, are powerless and entirely broke and I was never the same thereafter.’ impressionable, so obviously they can become enraged . That is clear enough. What is less obvious is the impact So, what was going on inside the mind of kaiser this ‘bottled rage’ can have in later life. Wilhelm? What pressed him to think this way? Unless we better understand this twentieth century cataclysm I once worked in Parkhurst, then the UK’s flagship of violence, psychopathy and war, we’ve no chance of prison, from 1991 to 1996. Once a serial killer in the preventing the next one – it’ll be worse. making, who I treated, had clarified his childhood, he rescinded his entirely believable plan to murder First, Wilhelm orders his army not to invade someone every two years (including me) – and since Luxembourg and later France – a move we would now 1993 he has never again expressed any desire to pursue profoundly welcome. But then, just as whimsically, he such a course of action. reverses it. As Helmut von Moltke all too dramatically confirmed, such a cancellation of the first world war In Parkhurst I spent time convincing murderers was well within Wilhelm’s power. Indeed, as Robert K that their wounded childhoods were over and could Massie, the historian, notes in his book Dreadnought: heal. I filmed, on video, 700 hours that I spent Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War, coaxing crushed people to blossom. They responded the kaiser had already ‘without consulting Moltke… by eliminating violence. No alarm bells were rung in commanded his own military aide to telephone the the prison for three years, down from twenty a year headquarters of the Sixteenth Division and halt the previously. It became obvious, to me, that all violence operation’. (including war) is ‘distorted revenge’ – and also curable. Thus, contrary to conventional wisdom: ‘Free While there are many and varied antecedents to this lunches stop wars.’ So: ‘Drop white goods, not bombs.’ mass destruction of Europe’s wealth and civilisation, It would be cheaper. How about that? here, clearly, was one man who not only could, but actually did, cancel world war one – if only too briefly. Bob is a member of Hampshire & Islands Area Meeting.

6 the Friend, 10 November 2017 Comment

The white poppy Photo: José Luis Culebras / flickr CC. Luis Culebras / flickr Photo: José

Jane Mace reflects on red and white poppies

ost of us probably think we know what the red others in conflicts since. The white poppy asks us to poppy stands for: but what’s all this about the remember these, but also a much wider range of war white poppy? As summer turns to autumn and victims, not only from the British armed services Mthe month we give to ‘remembrance’ in this country, it’s but also the many others from all over the world – a question that begins to need an answer. civilians as well as military – for whom armed conflict White poppies go back nearly as long ago as red has meant death, disaster and despair. ones, but the two have somewhat different origins. Perhaps there is now a need for both red and white The ‘poppy appeal’ launched in 1921 by the Royal poppies. Global warfare has dramatically changed. British Legion aimed to help military veterans with During the first world war eighty per cent of the employment and housing. Its focus was on the victims were military personnel and just twenty per veterans – the surviving soldiers returning home, cent civilian. Some reports suggest that in the world trying to rebuild lives shattered by war. we live in today the figures for those harmed or killed When in 1933 the Co-operative Women’s Guild by war are reversed: ninety per cent of the victims are began to sell the white poppy, on the other hand, they civilian and just ten per cent are in the armed forces. wanted to give a slightly different message. After the Throughout the world, war brings slaughtered victims, ‘war to end all wars’ and the years of public victory survivors wounded for life in mind and body, millions parades and private hardship, they felt there was made sick or homeless, families and communities torn a widespread wish to have a symbol of something apart – and many killed or imprisoned for refusing to else: the determination to work for peace. The idea, fight. which was later taken up by the Peace Pledge Union, Wars begin with ‘us’ and ‘them’. History teaches us was to express the urgent need for international that they do not bring peace. Armistice Day gives us peacebuilding. a chance to reconnect with our energies to prevent While they differ in origin, there is something them. It’s a reminder to grieve for all victims – the two have in common. Both poppies are combatants and noncombatants alike. It’s also a day to about remembering and both were prompted by remember, support and honour the courageous work Remembrance Day – originally set to mark the date of peacebuilding: nonviolent resistance, negotiation (11 November 1918) of the armistice between warring and reconciliation. countries in Europe at the end of the first world Both red and white poppies have messages we can war. Wearing the red poppy shows a commitment to listen to. remember and honour the British servicemen and women who died in both world wars and the many Jane is from Gloucestershire Area Meeting.

the Friend, 10 November 2017 7 Letters All views expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Friend

Red and white poppies It would be wonderful to see peace activists invited On 11 November I will be wearing both a red and a to speak in schools, instead of military personnel. white poppy; white as a general declaration against all May peace be upon us all. wars, the red, blood-coloured poppy as a reminder of Miriam Ryan physical damage to bodies and the red poppies native Monkstown Meeting, Dublin to the Flanders Fields. However, the wearing of the red poppy does far Martin Luther more than commemorate. It raises money for the Royal I wondered about the question mark after ‘Friends of British Legion, an organisation set up to support those Martin Luther?’(27 October), written by Stuart Masters, injured physically and mentally during the first world which tells you what the author thinks of Luther even war. At first it was helpful in assisting families deprived before you read the article. of the bread winner. Latterly the Legion has addressed The article itself was very informative and interesting. a need: providing opportunities for those who retire The fact that Quakers have been more influenced by after a career of service and who are feeling lost. Wesleyan beliefs, which developed much later and in The camaraderie and total support given by England, is understandable but should not take away the armed services can suddenly evaporate. The from the importance of Luther and the early Protestant Legion halls provide a place for social intercourse movement. for those used by our country – and then discarded The cover photograph on the front of the Friend, and abandoned. The Legion also organises which shows Luther from the back, can also be seen as interdenominational commemoration services, such as questioning his influence. the annual Cenotaph parade. Luther was the first person to reform the Church, The Peace Pledge Union has been criticised by the which at that time had absolute power over people. British Legion for attacking the ‘glamorisation of war’ He was also the first to make the Bible available in through the sale of red poppies. Is there a single person the tongue of the people. This was, of course, possible who wears the poppy to glamorise war? because of the invention of the printing press. Selling 100,000 replacement poppies, ostensibly Luther suffered greatly for his beliefs. Other to stop the sale of red poppies, seems to me to reformers followed, Quakers among them. This be misguided, provocative and mean. To avoid development of beliefs can be seen as a continuum in confrontation, should not we Quakers have the how we see ourselves and the world in relation to what courage to wear the white poppy throughout the year is sacred and divine. – as a sign? Margarete Briggs Peter Boyce North East Thames Area Meeting [email protected] Many congratulations for the content of the Friend A Quaker Friend tells me that in her Meeting she reflecting on Martin Luther. I have photocopied the opposed the wearing of white poppies because it explanation by Stuart Masters of Martin Luther and diminishes our respect for those who died in the past the Protestant Reformation, and I expect to reflect and wars. However, in our Meeting we wear both red and refer to this for years to come. white poppies, the red in remembrance of the past and And what a wonderful quote of the week by Martin the white as our hope for the future. Luther! ‘Faith is permitting ourselves to be seized by Harry Underhill the things we do not see.’ Polegate Meeting, East Sussex That is so Quaker. Thank you. David Fish Peace activism Coventry Meeting, West Midlands I want to thank Sam Walton along with Daniel Woodhouse who, in their wisdom and spirituality, Skills and experience were moved to attempt to disarm warplanes being sold Writing about supporting communities Paul to Saudia Arabia (3 November). Henderson (27 October) omits one key group of people The sincerity of their actions is to be admired. It is from his list of professionals with relevant skills and so wonderful to see people who are prepared to put experience. Those are public relations practitioners, themselves in these situations when they know that who now have their own chartered professional body the official response will be court appearances, but with skills and knowledge on a par with those of the who care more about the sacredness of human lives. lawyers, accountants and journalists he mentions as Thank God they were found not guilty of criminal essential to effective campaigning. charges. Theirs are the skills needed to draw up effective

8 the Friend, 10 November 2017 [email protected]

campaigns: identifying objectives, target audiences from material that had been dyed as the dyes were and messages, and developing plans that can be produced by slave labour.] implemented, utilising affordable methods which Second, quietly, in love, speak truth to power. John include effective communications whether written, Woolman, who was amongst the first to campaign visual or audible. against the slave trade, started by lovingly persuading Many people have a natural talent for this, but it is slave-owning Quakers that they were wrong. those qualified both by experience and formal exams Third, and as Jamie Wrench suggests, be aware who can best marshall the necessary expertise to of the damage done and the people affected by that deliver campaigns that work. damage, and do what can be done to mitigate that Jane Brown damage, offering ‘quiet help to the helpless in a spirit Rochester Meeting, Kent of pragmatism and love rather than despair’. Walter Storey Eco-Church awards Central Yorkshire Area Meeting I was interested to read the letter from Alan Vernon in the 20 October edition of the Friend. Several Zoological lexicon Quaker Meetings have achieved Eco Church awards. I am grateful for the letter from Anne Adams on In West Wiltshire and East Somerset Area Meeting climate change and capitalism (13 October), and agree two Meetings, Bradford on Avon and Devizes, have a with much of it. bronze award. In particular, I am fascinated by her description Although the format is not well geared to Quaker of the not so rare ‘elephant in the room’. I had always Meetings, here in Devizes we did not find it difficult assumed that it was a mammal but apparently its to reach the bronze level, having begun on the Quaker babies are ‘spawned’ – from which it appears that it materials already existing. may be reptilian. This is backed up by the fact that it is We contacted two other Meetings that had already ‘slippery, elusive and insidious’. achieved the Eco Congregations award, which However, Anne says that this creature ‘spreads preceded Eco Church, and found that encouraging. its tentacles,’ which suggests that it is also aquatic; The next stage will be more tricky, having done the perhaps a kind of octopus which evolved millions of easy things! years ago. The reason for moving to the Eco-Church scheme Having perused a zoological lexicon, it seems that was so that we could cooperate with other local it is classified as a ‘Pythoctopusic Elephantasy’, of the churches to promote sustainability. This is a slow genus ‘Mixtus Metamorphosis’. process, but five churches have agreed to work on the Paul Honigmann scheme and representatives meet to exchange ideas Jordans Meeting, Buckinghamshire and experiences. I would encourage any Meeting to look at the scheme because it does provide a way to keep track of achievements regardless of the award. Devizes Meeting hosts meetings of the local sustainability group, so is also working with the wider community. In essentials unity, Jacky Thomas in non-essentials liberty, Devizes Meeting, Wiltshire in all things charity. Advice from John Woolman The article by Jamie Wrench (1 September) has occasioned in me, as it was meant to, considerable The Friend welcomes your views. thought. I essentially agree that a great deal of time is given to ‘vigils and marches’, as well talking and Do keep letters short (maximum 250 words). ministering about the damage that is happening to the environment. I agree that ‘none of it does any good’ Please include your full postal address, even and we do little good. when sending emails, and specify whether you I would suggest that we take advice from John wish for your postal or email address or Meeting name to be used with your name. Woolman. First, do not contribute to the problem. [John Letters are published at the editor’s discretion Woolman refused to purchase goods produced by and may be edited. slave labour. He also refused to wear clothes made

the Friend, 10 November 2017 9 Peace

Nuclear weapons are BAD, aren’t they?

Paul Ingram writes about the need for international dialogue and mediation

riends have always had strong and clear leadership development. My simple message was: political messages. How we best engage with the when tackling complexity, see the bigger picture and political process is less clear. Do we prioritise include all perspectives in the process. I used to Fcommunicating our established position with clarity, say that the best way to persuade someone to work focusing on our tradition of witnessing, or ‘speaking alongside you was to shut up and listen to them, truth to power’? This is an attractive approach, coming develop a clear understanding with them of what their directly from our discernment of truth. It marks us perspective was, and then explore it further. out, ensures our messages are simple and easy to understand, and is great for outreach. Knowing I was a politician, one person came up to me and said how valuable he thought our teaching In some respects it is essential in building any was to running major government departments. But kind of effective political movement. And when our he then expressed curiosity about how I applied this discernment is really clear – say, that nuclear weapons approach to political situations. I knew in that instant are immoral and our country should ditch them as that I had been teaching the stuff I most needed to soon as possible – it feels right and consistent. After learn myself. I set about transforming my approach all, nuclear weapons are bad, right? from one based upon clear positions and traditional advocacy to one based upon building relationships The Peace Testimony and understanding.

I am a Friend who has been prioritising the effort to The Trident Commission achieve nuclear disarmament for the last thirty-odd years (for the last sixteen years with BASIC – the I set up the Trident Commission and populated British American Security Information Council), from it with people I disagreed with, nine members of breaking into nuclear bases in my early years to more the British establishment, to explore British nuclear recent talks with global leaders; and, increasingly, weapons policy. After over three years of deliberation, I have become suspicious of a ‘purist’ approach to increasing trust and respect, I published a report that the problem. This is not only because I believe it is stuck with Trident, but highlighted the critical need less than effective, but also because it goes against for the UK to do better in promoting global nuclear our discernment regarding the Peace Testimony and disarmament. That report has opened doors and inclusion. steered BASIC’s work into areas of achievable reform in nuclear weapons policy. We take officials’ intent to Let’s start with effectiveness. I used to teach senior achieve security at face value, and work with them to civil servants ‘systems thinking’ as part of their find improvement.

10 the Friend, 10 November 2017 We are challenged to discern, articulate and engage with others in a continual exploration of complexity. It demands of us humility and understanding… Photo: U.S. Pacific Fleet / flickr CC. Fleet / flickr Pacific Photo: U.S. A Trident missile lifts off after being launched from a submerged submarine.

Recently I was at the United Nations in New York by Their position, one of challenging the unfairness of the invitation of the German government to propose the situation, had some merit, even if their approach a new international norm whereby all nuclear armed was sometimes threatening and counterproductive. I states would promise never to threaten nuclear attack often found myself explaining the Iranian perspective on states without nuclear weapons. This is not only at meetings in Whitehall, whilst being clear that I did achievable, but could help to stabilise the current not necessarily agree with it. By developing empathy fears in Japan and South Korea. And there are useful for and sympathy with their views and the basis benefits in such an approach for North Korea too for them, we were building the bridges that would – something I was talking about with senior North contribute to the nuclear agreement that president Koreans in Moscow last month. Donald Trump now loves to hate.

Iran Dialogue and mediation

Whilst the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear As Friends, we understand the need for international Weapons could certainly help in articulating the need dialogue and mediation. So, why is it that we seem for progress, nuclear disarmament will not be achieved so uncomfortable accommodating those we disagree by bashing the nuclear armed states over the head with closer to home? Articulating our truth in a with a legal instrument. They have to be coaxed into manner that communicates inflexibility deepens recognising that nuclear weapons do not serve their divides between us and makes the political conflict security interests. more inevitable. That’s not peace.

But what about my extraordinary claim that an We are challenged to discern, articulate and engage inflexible approach to nuclear weapons goes against with others in a continual exploration of complexity. our Peace Testimony? During the so-called Iran nuclear It demands of us humility and understanding, with crisis from 2003-2013 the peace movement was calling an emphasis on building open relationships. It also for talks and understanding with Iran. I was involved demands of us that whilst we articulate our truth, we in direct and sometimes secret talks involving the do so knowing that it is dynamic, and can change. Iranians, and visited Tehran on a number of occasions. After all, if we are not willing to be open to change, how can we expect those we dialogue with to be open? I felt clear that whilst, personally, I thought it would be better if Iran were not to engage in nuclear fuel Paul is executive director of the British American cycle activities, and said so to Iranians, I also believed Security Information Council (BASIC). He is from they had every right to do so, if under safeguards. South East London Area Meeting.

the Friend, 10 November 2017 11 Poetry

Dust to Dust

When the dust has settled, and battle it is o’er, What say ye then o’ sons o’ men? What say o’ bloody war?

The earth is torn and ravaged, young bodies lie around, The cannon’s roar is silenced, And sullied is the ground.

The victors now they gather, to claim their just reward, Broken are the lances, Shattered is the sword.

Widows cry and children weep, and brothers mourn their loss, The flags that proudly fluttered, Lie scattered in the moss.

Politicians argue, and try to solve the crime, ‘We are right, and you are wrong!’ They shout across the line.

But men are fools and fail to hear, the laughter of the gods, Great Mars has had his triumph, His servants dig the sods.

Black flag is seen in distance, with vengeance proudly held, ‘We are the Lord’s grand army. Crusaders are repelled!’

Cruel, cruel, is the world of ego-centred self, To gain your life’s to lose it, Leave ‘triumph’ on the shelf.

When the dust has settled, and battle it is o’er, What say ye then o’ sons o’ men?

published in 1917, via Wikimedia Commons. via published in 1917, News War Illustrated The From trench. A French Photo: What say o’ bloody war?

Bill Bingham Glasgow Meeting

12 the Friend, 10 November 2017 Review

Taking a stand

Ian Kirk-Smith considers two films on conscientious objection here have been many responses to the centenary large Meeting Room that hosted Yearly Meeting. of the first world war and it is worth reflecting, The second film, Whatever the Penalties: Taking a at this time of remembrance, on the distinctive Stand, focuses on an event held in Devonshire House in Tperspective offered by Quakers. April 1916 that has been largely ignored by historians. One of the more creative Quaker responses has been It brought 2,000 people together for a gathering that in the form of two interesting and well-crafted films has an important place in the story of the right of that tell the story of some of the men who refused to the individual to stand up for the sake of conscience. take up arms and of the consequences this decision had The meeting was an ‘Emergency Convention’ of the on their lives. They, also, need to be remembered. No Conscription Fellowship (NCF), and the agenda Watford’s Quiet Heroes: Resisting the Great War is a posed a clear challenge for those in attendance: should thirty-minute film that focuses on the story of three members of the Fellowship agree to an ‘absolutist’ men who refused to fight: Percy Leonard, Lionel position with regard to their opposition to war? Penrose and Howard Marten. The key challenges The Fellowship had been started at the beginning of faced by conscientious objectors are clearly conveyed the war. The Military Service Act, which became law in the film, and archive photography, illustrations on 27 January 1916, was in force from midnight on 1 and interviews are used very effectively to convey March. This presented a test for NCF members. How their experience. The film is researched, written and would they respond? Would members accept any form presented by Simon Colbeck and filmed and directed of alternative service? by Chris Pettit. The seventeen minute film – again written and The story of the three men – their background, presented by Simon Colbeck and filmed and directed motivation and experience – is well told and excellent by Chris Pettit – tells the story of the Emergency use is made of quotations. Some, taken from a Convention and how a group of men remained firm recording of Howard Marten, are particularly affecting. in their determination to stand by their religious and There is a sense of quiet frustration in his voice when political beliefs, whatever the consequences. he recalls those who felt conscientious objectors were The filmmakers, with limited resources, have brought shirkers and cowards. He says: ‘They couldn’t get the story of the meeting to life and it is available as through their minds that we were acting on principle.’ a DVD and online. The story combines pieces to Howard Marten’s recollections of events in France – camera by Simon Colbeck, narration, and some strong told in a clear, unemotional voice – are very moving. interviews. Excellent archive photography has been He talks of being led to a parade ground with some obtained and it is used very effectively. other absolutist conscientious objectors and, then, of As Simon Colbeck says in his resolution, the witness how an officer read out his offences and the appropriate of conscientious objectors during the war, which sentence: to ‘suffer death by being shot’. These words, his two films convey admirably, had ‘shattered the he says, were followed by a long pause and, finally, the infallibility of militarism’. words ‘commuted to penal servitude for ten years’. The viewer is left with a sense of the quiet conviction, courage and sense of purpose of these three men. Ian is editor of the Friend. Simon Colbeck sums up their resolve at the end of the film: ‘They had a vision of a world in which killing Watford’s Quiet Heroes: Resisting the Great War would have no place in human conflict.’ is available on DVD for £5. To order contact 01923 Devonshire House in 1916 was located off 269599 or [email protected] Bishopsgate in central London – for several hundred years the centre of British Quakerism. It was a rambling Whatever the Penalties: Taking a Stand can be viewed complex of rooms, corridors and open spaces with a at: http://bit.ly/WhateverThePenalties

the Friend, 10 November 2017 13 Interview

Gillian Allnutt

Jonathan Doering talks to Gillian Allnutt about her background, poetry and Quakerism Photo © Phyllis Christopher. Photo © Phyllis

s a poet, teacher and editor, Gillian Allnutt has Gillian, when we were setting up this meeting you been a clear, singular voice in British poetry said that you’re not attending Meeting currently, but since her first collection, Spitting the Pips Out, your connection with Quakerism isn’t over. Aappeared in 1981. She followed that debut with other remarkable collections, her role as one of four editors It seems so, yes. of the controversial New British Poetry anthology of 1988, and more recently with her new and selected How did you first come into Quakerism? poems, How the Bicycle Shone, and the 2013 collection indwelling. To read her poems is to be struck by I discovered international student work camps when their elemental, worn, limber intelligence, what Adam I was eighteen. I wanted to travel alone, and that was Thorpe, the poet, playwright and novelist, praises as a good combination of independence and protection. their sense of ‘half-revealed mystery’. Her startling, I discovered a Quaker one, on the edge of the Vienna beautiful, mythic work was recognised earlier this year woods, run by an Englishman. We spent a month with the award of the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. decorating this children’s home. Then in August the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia. We arranged to meet near her home on the north east coast of England, where she moved from London Due to the Prague Spring and their more liberal at the end of the 1980s in a kind of self-imposed exile, regime, many Czech citizens had been able to travel and which has proven such a fertile place for her outside of the country, and there were lots of Czechs work. Gillian was for five years a regular attender at in Vienna, anguishing about whether to go back or Durham Meeting. Although she has now moved on not. We ran a ‘check point’ for them, offering coffee from Quakerism she still feels herself in sympathy with and rolls, pointing them in the direction of various Quaker values and experience, and this can be seen in embassies – the Swedish, the Australian and the her work. American, and quite a few went to those countries.

We met at Alnmouth Priory, overlooking the bay, That was amazing, watching people deciding which seemed an eminently fitting place to discuss her between everything and everything. In a way that life, work and relationship with Quakerism: so many of framework was already there in me, but it’s carried me her poems appear to grow organically from the land, through all those decades as a question. How do you the sea, the whisper of wind on stone. decide between everything and everything? And what

14 the Friend, 10 November 2017 is everything and everything? I’ve worked with asylum so I do my own exercises; for a long time virtually all my seekers much more recently. It’s kind of a through- poems started in the workshop situation. thread. So that was my first contact. We went to a Quaker Meeting in Vienna, the first one I’d ever been Are teaching and writing joint vocations? Does the to, and the only one for years and years and years. I’ve dialogue in teaching feed your writing? only got one visual memory of a large circle of chairs. Yes. I suppose it keeps my poems with their feet That was 1968, just before I went to Cambridge. I’d on the ground. In 2005 I received a Northern Rock stopped going to church, but said to myself that if I Foundation Writer’s Award. They suggested you ever went back to Christianity, it would perhaps be to relinquish some of your paid work so other writers the Quakers because they didn’t tell you what to think. could benefit, and being an all-or-nothing sort of That’s important for a creative person, I think. person I gave up all my teaching.

Had the church been important to you as you were All my life my writing has attached itself to things. growing up, or did it always feel constricting? First feminism and left-wing politics, then teaching and, since 2005, meditation. When I found myself in That’s a really interesting question. My father had those years without teaching, without that structure, grown up in the Baptist chapel, and came reluctantly that was what the writing did, it attached itself to to the Anglican church that we attended. But I went to meditation, becoming more spiritual in some ways. Catholic convent schools until I was eleven. I escaped And recently working with asylum seekers, no one by passing the eleven plus. knew what a writer in residence did. I fell back on my role as teacher, working one-to-one with people. Then, I raged all my adult life that if I had a daughter she last year, I thought ‘I’m going to go out and find some wouldn’t go to convent school, but a lot of that had to more teaching,’ not because I needed the money, but do with what had come with me from before in my life. because I do really like it.

Are there particular themes that you’ve worked with You use spaces on the page to powerful effect. in your writing? I equate space on the page with silence. For years My father didn’t join up [in world war two] until late I’ve been walking towards silence. That’s not a very because he was an architecture student, then went over good thing for a writer to do, but that’s how it’s with the D-Day landings, in a flame-throwing tank seemed. Actually, in the context of this interview, I regiment, which was horrible in itself, but they were was thinking about Quakers and how the structure of also sent in to burn down Belsen. Quaker Meetings is both open and closed: wide open for the Spirit, but also there’s the Meeting discipline, He never talked about it. I realised it would be a the group attempt to discern individual inspiration violent thing to ask him, but I wrote poems about it and keep on the straight and narrow. As with writing, because I needed to imagine. In my third collection I it’s about being both open and closed, trying to keep used those war poems, including one about a swastika that balance, in a communal way. spoon he brought back. In his photo album there were two photos side by side, one of that book cover and Would you say it succeeds overall? the other of the swastika spoon, like he was saying: ‘It’s alright, it’s fine’. Quakers are so good at language; the formulation says ‘we are an organisation with our roots in Christianity’, Is there a particular writing process that you employ? which is exactly right, but the experience of that where one half of the room thinks Christian and the other I’ve got to the point that I know exactly what I’m doing doesn’t… although I wouldn’t say that I’m a practising when I write a poem, and I don’t know. I started to Christian in a conventional sense, I observed myself teach creative writing when I was still in London, but feeling quite hurt by negative attitudes towards teaching and writing really came together in the North Quakerism’s Christian roots. East. The whole of western culture is so materialistic, I always get people to write during sessions, and we’ve lost touch with the spiritual. That’s probably hopefully read out, and I subject myself to that process the main reason why I left Quakers, because I found as well. I think it’s important to lay yourself on the line, that people don’t seem to understand what letting the

the Friend, 10 November 2017 15 Interview

Spirit speak through you is. I don’t mean to write it off: to move back in your late thirties. Does the North there’s so much that’s good about Quakers, and what East act as a lodestone? Was there a need to move they do really well is social witness. away from the metropolitan part of Britain?

I’m grateful for the gift of a word like ‘discern’, it’s so Yes, after about fifteen years I needed to go deeper into useful, and ‘holding in the Light’. That’s so helpful with myself. It was a very violent thing to do in a way; I felt friends to whom I’d never dare say, ‘I’ll pray for you’, like a plant being torn up. I went choosing exile, and but to whom ‘I’ll keep you in my thoughts’ is too thin. I I found it, it’s a good exile. It’s a very spiritual part of also got a much more helpful conception of ‘the Spirit’ the country. as a being, a personification. Is there anything you’d like to say about your new What about historical figures in Quakerism? book?

George Fox was amazing. I read the Journal and really This one is somewhat longer than indwelling. I usually liked it. He got better and better as a writer, which was do forty poems, but there are fifty-four, fifty-five in nice because it’s terribly long! There’s the charisma, the this one. The book strikes me as being a mixture of the spiritual energy and power. old, fragmentary style and a new, more conversational style. It’s called Wake, in both senses: watching over I don’t know if he was arrested for it, but he was the dead, over my old life, and waking to the new. certainly accused of being a witch, and that was interesting, that men could be accused of witchcraft. I 2012 was the worst year of my life, but I knew that I think that there’s a lot there about our fear of certain would come out bearing good fruit, come out different. kinds of spirituality. I think perhaps Quakers have I had worked for twenty years with a woman called to be especially careful, because they have in the Nansi Morgan in Newcastle [to whom indwelling is past been open to accusations of wrongly-powerful dedicated] who was a naturopath and osteopath, but spirituality. was really a spiritual healer. She was the person I most needed to meet in this incarnation. She unstuck me, Are there any Quaker texts that you’ve found and she died last summer, at eighty-eight. We finished particularly interesting or useful? working together in 2012, when I was sixty-three, and that plunged me into a horrific space. When I first read Advices & queries, it was a bit of number eighteen that leapt off the page: ‘Seek to It’ll take me the rest of my life to work out what it know one another in the things which are eternal, was all about, but I remember that December standing bear the burden of each other’s failings and pray in the kitchen, thinking: ‘Well, I’m not mad, I’m not for one another.’ I absolutely needed that. I’d never dead, and I’m standing.’ It sounds ridiculous but it had thought about the necessity of the ‘bearing the burden’ been such a dreadful experience. of another person’s failings and weaknesses. I was indignant at the thought of it. By now, though, I Then later I was doing a U3A [University of the have pondered my way into an understanding and Third Age] modern poetry session and they requested acceptance of it, and I think: ‘Of course’. we look at Geoffrey Hill’s work, which I love but is very difficult. He used the word ‘climacteric’ and when I Is that notion of the Spirit as a being with you still? checked the entry in the Shorter Oxford, it referred in passing to ‘the grand climacteric’, and I thought ‘I’ve Yes. My conception of the Spirit was mediated through heard this somewhere’. Seven is significant in some being part of Quakers. It was a shared, collective thing. circles and nine as well. Nine sevens are sixty-three, so I did have one or two experiences in Meeting when this is your grand climacteric, your grand watershed, it happened as it says in Faith & practice. But to me and it was, it actually worked like that. the Spirit is a great joker, he has a wonderful sense of humour, he’s a trickster. His capacity with words is Jonathan is a member of Barnsley Meeting. absolutely brilliant. Sometimes I will ask for guidance: ‘What’s the best way to put this?’ and I’ll be given the Gillian Allnutt’s latest collection of poems, Wake, will be words. That’s the Spirit. published by Bloodaxe Books in May 2018.

You’ve spent significant periods in both the South This is the fourth in a series in which Jonathan Doering and the North East. You made a conscious decision talks to Quakers working in the arts.

16 the Friend, 10 November 2017 10 Nov 6/11/17 16:54 Page 7

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