An olive branch Photo: Robert Hume / flickr CC
Building partnership and trust
Ruth Tod offers some reflections on a recent conference
On 15 June I attended an open conference in Friends House, London, on Time for Change: New Approaches to National Security. It was organised by Rethinking Security, a network of organisations, academics and activists who share a concern about the current direction of national and global security. The conference was hosted by Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) and billed as an invitation to take part in a conversation and come up with new ideas. The publicity for the event reminded us that security matters to us all, and that everyone has a stake in helping to build it at home and abroad.
We need a whole new outlook that builds bridges not walls. Seven excellent presentations and eleven workshops gave us insights into different fields that included: human rights, climate change, disarmament, the Prevent strategy and feminist foreign policy. At the end we were exhorted to come together in solidarity, for it is through connection and trust that we build true security.
On the train coming to London I reflected that each person has their own understanding of security and that this depends on their life experience from childhood onwards. Some of us look for safety in an ordered society and/or a welfare state that provides a safety net. Others look first to the network of family and friends that they trust. Some people rate defence and protection as the highest purpose of government, whereas others focus first on social justice for all. If we are to have a useful conversation about security, I think these kinds of questions need to be considered. Everyone needs to feel secure. How each person understands security depends on what they have learnt from life. To engage together on this issue we need to start by recognising these facts and respect our differences.
In the UK many of us have a fear of the future. We were reminded that after the second world war the national narrative was ‘we will look after your security, so you can have the freedoms you fought for’. That idea has now been reversed and we are ‘seeing our freedoms sacrificed in order to preserve our security’.
We heard how our government’s Prevent strategy is eroding the confidence of Muslim students to speak out in universities, so there is a danger that some of them will become radicalised out of frustration and disappointment, as much as from anger. In this and other ways, government policies are in danger of creating more insecurity rather than less. Yet many people continue to support these policies, simply because the more fearful we are, the more our instinct is to look for protection.
In the morning we explored why and how this is happening. For me the overall message from all our speakers was that our national security policy is not here to make us safe, but to maintain the power of corporate interest. We acknowledged that the wealth of the North was built on the resources of the South and that this drain is still eroding societies and resources, through unfair trade and finance practices. Migration is the visible tip of the iceberg; we fear it and fail to deal with the environmental and social causes that lie beneath. In order to manage the crises that lie ahead, we urgently need to cooperate and support one another. It is time to name the underlying control paradigm that shapes what is being done ‘on our behalf’, to open our eyes, and to reclaim democracy at all levels.
In the afternoon we explored opportunities and challenges. As we hear more and more about climate change, water shortage, migration, inequality, so-called ‘terrorist activities’ and wars it is clear we cannot go on burying our heads in the sand. In the workshop I attended we heard that the essence of Rethinking Security is grounded in wellbeing and human rights; everyone has the right to freedom from want, violence and other threats.
Building common security will take time and patience; it must be a shared responsibility with democracy at its heart. One of the best things we can do, therefore, is to support civil society organisations wherever we can. In Syria conflict first flared up because of famine. Had western governments looked at the situation through this alternative perspective they could have offered aid and support for local groups. War might well have been averted. There still is a strong civil society that western governments could work with; instead, they continue to feed the conflict and exacerbate it.
Rethinking Security invites us to build a consensus around a new narrative of cooperation, a narrative to share with global and national decision-makers, as well as people on the ground. QPSW is a member of the network and supports its multi-layered, multi-faceted approach by working in different ways on a range of issues, including peace education and campaigning, economics and sustainability, migration and restorative justice. Abroad, QPSW puts partnership with civil society organisations and faith groups at the heart of its work, going where invited, offering support and expertise on a basis of mutual respect.
The work in Israel/Palestine supports Palestinians by accompanying and living alongside them in their daily lives. In East Africa, Kenyan Friends asked us to help them develop a programme of nonviolence training, which is now being taken up in other African countries. From my experience, one of our strengths as Quakers is that we are good listeners. We are recognised for our ability to bring people together to find common ground. We do not jump in and judge, but instead seek first to understand.
Locally, as well globally, we can use our gifts and resources to build trusting partnerships and to help people find their voices. We can offer safe spaces for people to contemplate the possibility of change and take small steps in new directions. Through simple actions like these, we can demonstrate that building partnership and trust is, indeed, the best way to create security.
Rethinking Security, formerly known as the Ammerdown Group, is an initiative of religious and secular organisations, academics and activists who seek to promote new approaches to security.
Further information: rethinkingsecurity.org.uk
Comments
It would be interesting to know if there was any discussion of the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula or of the growth of Chinese military power.
By frankem51 on 28th June 2018 - 9:27
Facing the lack of peace and witnessing to social ills is dangerous. I’m glad that QPSW has activists willing to do this. Relying on military strength only encourages others to do the same. Ditto relying on prisons and other punishments: I’m also glad that QPSW continues to work in partnership with others - even those not of like mind.
By john0708 on 5th July 2018 - 11:05
“We acknowledged that the wealth of the North was built on the resources of the South and that this drain is still eroding societies and resources, through unfair trade and finance practices”
Really? I thought it has been the other way round for at least a century…
By john0708 on 15th July 2018 - 15:44
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