Photo: Courtesy of The Peace Hub.
Friends mark ten years of the Peace Hub
‘Over tea and birthday cake, we caught up with familiar faces…'
Birmingham Friends celebrated ten years of the Peace Hub last month. Over thirty-five people gathered at Priory Rooms in Birmingham, where the centre is based.
Pete Doubtfire, coordinator of the Peace Hub, told the Friend: ‘Over tea and birthday cake, we caught up with familiar faces… and networked with new people who care about peace and social justice. A slideshow of photos from the past ten years brought back memories and inspiration. Creating a relaxed atmosphere where conversations can happen over a cuppa is one of the key parts of Peace Hub, which we’ll definitely be carrying forward into our new work.’
He added: ‘Many of the seeds we planted in the early years, around resisting the arms trade, economic equality, solidarity with refugees, and climate action, have grown into the heart of our work, and the basis for our strongest partnerships.’
At the gathering on 26 February, Friends also reminisced about creative activities that had caught people’s imagination over the years, including peace posters created by children which appeared on Birmingham buses, in a project organised with Peacemakers.
Participants also shared their own experiences of peace, what keeps them hopeful, and set out the centre’s current vision around three strategic priorities: partnership, participation and empowerment. ‘We want to take people on an activist journey from disempowered to empowered,’ said Pete, citing the environmental researcher Panu Pihkala’s process model of eco-anxiety. ‘It gives an idea of the stages we go through when confronted with the violence and injustice in the world – looking away; feeling overwhelmed; throwing ourselves into action with risk of burnout. Panu describes reaching a state of balance between action, emotional engagement and self care (we might say community care).’
