Letters - 09 September 2016
From caring to goodness
Who do we care about?
I am both saddened and, yes, angered, by the article by Peter Staples (2 September). As far as I know, Friends try to seek that of God in everyone. That includes people we disagree with. Peter asserts that the people who run the EU ‘aren’t remotely interested in individual liberty or justice, compassion or equality’. How does he know? I have met quite a few of them while working in Brussels (for the Quaker Council for European Affairs). They are caring, honest people, in the main. They are not power hungry for themselves. They care deeply about peace and prosperity in Europe. Some of them are Quakers. If we care to, we can hear their names and see their faces.
I fully understand that there are many reasons why people voted to leave the EU – some of them might well have been understandable, even good reasons. And no doubt, the EU needs reform – much as our own government does. But that sweeping judgement on a number of institutions and the people who work there does Quakers and their reputation no favours.
Martina Weitsch
No human is really a faceless bureaucrat, and, if their work or circumstances make them appear so, we must try to see beyond that to the child of God beneath, and to change their situation so that their humanity becomes visible.
Oliver Robertson
Clerk, Quaker Council for European Affairs
I was fascinated to read the anguished piece by Peter Staples in last week’s Friend. Having just come back from a week sorting the archives of the Quaker Council for European Affairs in Brussels, I feel as if I inhabit a different world. The openness to Quaker values of the Commission and Parliament over time are a stark contrast to Westminster and Whitehall – I worked in the UK Treasury with the task of stopping people spending public money on projects which I knew to be in the public interest.
In 1999 the European Parliament forced the resignation of Jacques Santer’s entire Commission because it had collectively condoned corruption by a member. Over the last four years the Commission has been running its ‘REFIT’ programme to give directives back to the discretion of national governments, only to find that they prefer to blame the EU for safety measures that might annoy some voters. For the EU’s sensitivity to the ‘little people’, which ‘Brexit the movie’ pretends are marginalised, see the videos by our Quaker MEPs on the web site www.quakersforeurope.com and click ‘Links’. I could go on.
I agree that the issues and untruths were never faced up to by British Friends at the Britain Yearly Meeting level. Nor did we speak out on the prospects of Brexit for the island of Ireland.
Richard Seebohm
Peter Staples, refers, disparagingly, to the institutions of the European Union and those who work in them.
We would remind Friends that among the EU’s ‘bureaucratic and technocratic’ staff are several Quakers and attenders. We would not be working for the EU if we felt it was in any way incompatible with our Quaker values. We believe the founding goal of the European Communities – to preserve peace by binding the peoples of Europe together in a common aim – is laudable, and Quakerly. William Penn first proposed the establishment of a European Parliament where, through dialogue, people of opposing views could reach a mutual understanding. The challenges facing humankind – the protection of the environment, the promotion of human rights and so on – cannot be solved by individual countries seeking their own national interests. We are certainly committed to liberty, justice, compassion and equality. We are not in the habit of ‘manipulating’ or ‘coercing’; we are bound by codes of professional and ethical standards, as well as our Quaker values.
Nor are we ‘remote’ or ‘faceless’ compared with our UK counterparts. Look up any European Commission department on the Europa website and you can find the contact details of every official, their phone number, office address and even a handy map of how to get there. You can contact directly the staff member working on any topic that concerns you. Try doing that with a Whitehall department, or even your local council!
Paul Holdsworth (European civil servant)
Richard Condon (retired European civil servant)
Peter Staples’ polemic on the EU referendum is certainly challenging to Quaker ‘Remainers’. He feels regret for his own vote without explaining why he decided on it. He references Ernst Schumacher without explaining how Brexit serves the critique and principles outlined in Small is Beautiful or the interests of the ordinary citizens he wants us to care about.
Perhaps some Quakers have been too sanguine about the European status quo or the altruism of the EU. It might be even more naive to imagine that political detachment from Europe can give an effective voice to ‘those less well off than ourselves’ against the ‘megalomaniacs’ of global capitalism.
Simon Colbeck
The civil servants in the Commission are not faceless bureaucrats. They are not megalomaniacs; many of them are deeply concerned about ‘liberty… justice… compassion… and equality’. The European Commission is streets ahead of the Council of Ministers (for example, the politicians sent by the member states to make the decisions) in this respect; the investigations and proposals of the civil servants in the Commission are often enlightened and would contribute to making the world a better place – if only the Council of Ministers did not water down their proposals. The Commission seeks the cooperation and support of a broad range of NGOs – for example, the ongoing work on tax avoidance and tax evasion reflects the thinking of campaigning groups across the member states.
The European Parliament is an independent body with a strong will of its own – it cannot be manipulated by the Commission. National governments cannot be coerced – in the end it is the ministers of those governments who make the decisions.
If Peter Staples wishes to find people whose ‘one ambition [is to acquire] more and more power for its own sake’, he could look no further than the transnational corporations, whose grasping strangulation of countries not just in Europe but in other parts of the world leads to injustice, war and impoverishment. The Commission has an honourable record in unmasking and trying to rein in the activities of these corporations.
Barbara Forbes
Inner peace
I’m so glad to have become a member of Quakers, though I have been wondering how my particular way of ministry and service might manifest itself.
Early this morning I awoke and pondered on my relationship with the world – my worldview – and allowed a sense of inner peace and openness to guide me. This sense of an intrinsic over-lighting intelligence is something I’ve been aware of for some years now and this presence is available when my mind is still and receptive.
The input I received this morning showed me that the more we ‘see’ ourselves and whoever, wherever in a really creative light of healing, compassion and hopefulness, the greater will be our impact on what is at-odds with the natural flow of Life Energy.
I have always felt my inner path to amount to, simply, ‘Win-Win Solutions Unlimited’ (W-WSU). It is simply this, with no religious or spiritual labels! Maybe this describes our Creator?
One source and example of ‘W-WSU’ for me is the reporting in the cooperatively owned magazine Positive News. Since its inception in 1993 it has been steadfastly reporting, through its constructive journalism, manifold successful and opportunistic schemes, solutions and upbeat, compassionate stories from all around our special and beautiful world in so many areas of human and environmental life.
Romany Buck
On goodness
The ancient Chinese philosopher Mengzi believed that within every human being was a seed – or ‘sprout’ – of goodness. This seed, if watered and tended to properly, would grow and bloom into a plant of virtue. Thus, he believed that within us all was the innate potential for goodness, and that sometimes through outside influences, whether by upbringing or certain events and circumstances, this ‘sprout’ of goodness may become stunted and not develop.
The parallels between this very ancient way of thinking and the (relatively speaking) more modern Quaker views on human nature and potential. seem obvious. But it also tells us something else: that goodness is a muscle.
Goodness isn’t simply something that you had to have been born with. Yes, certain people may be more naturally kind or compassionate than others, but for the large part it is something that can be trained, through exercise and reflection. So, what does it tell us? For one, a rather uplifting idea that we can all become good people if we are willing to exercise and tend to our ‘sprout of virtue,’ but also a warning; that if we don’t make sure to teach our young people properly and set an example to follow, then their ‘sprouts of virtue’ may, too, become stunted and not develop.
Catherine Warr
