Friends ‘connect dots’
'The event was about coming together to take a step back and see the bigger picture.' (Kékéli Kpognon, QCEA human rights representative)
Friends gathered virtually to discuss interconnected European social issues highlighted by the Covid-19 crisis in an ‘online conversation’ set up by Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA). Andrew Lane, from QCEA, said that Friends came together for the event on 22 September to ‘discern the bigger picture when it comes to peace, justice and equality’.
‘Eighty Friends attended from sixteen countries, including all around Britain, and some Mennonites and Bahái,’ he told the Friend.
Kékéli Kpognon, the QCEA human rights representative, said, ‘When we work in silos, there is less space for empathy and we can feel helpless. The event was about coming together to take a step back and see the bigger picture: what can we do to fill the gaps and hear the silences, so that what Quakers value in justice, peace and equality no longer seem like radical ideas but become a lived reality for all of us.’
In the Meeting, Friends heard from Ed Dommen, from Switzerland Yearly Meeting, on ‘the gaps and the connections not made in European Affairs’; Tracey Martin, tutor from Woodbrooke, on ‘seeing and acting on the connections between our work’; and Terri Beswick from consultancy ikleltik, on ‘the parallels between social justice and peace, and the artificial lines between foreign and domestic policy’.
Laurel Townhead, from Quaker United Nations Office, and Edwina Peart, from Britain Yearly Meeting, also spoke on collective work, and diversity and inclusion.
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