Letters - 10 October 2025
From making a case to the business of history
Making a case
Thank you, Marigold Bentley, for the sensitive reflection on the spectacle of some in a far right-led march, parading while using Christian language and imagery (Thought for the week, 26 September).
Quakers once helped challenge oppressive ideas such as slavery, segregation and apartheid, by showing that the Bible does not justify injustice. I worry that today we are losing our ability to articulate our case in that way.
I’ve been watching the British far-right for years, including taking opportunities to talk to people about why they are taking part. I’m always startled by the religiosity of the answers I get. Many have a religious impulse. By exploiting this, and fostering fear of our neighbour, far-right organisers are like wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Quakers can and should speak out, as we have done, alongside leaders of other churches. But the real work is to provide and promote an attractive alternative, with the Greatest Commandment – love God and love your neighbour – at its heart.
Tim Gee
Channel crossings
Quaker testimony demands that we are sympathetic to those seeking relief from persecution, war or dire poverty, such as those being ‘smuggled’ across the Channel.
But our testimony to truth-telling demands that we recognise that this is not a smuggling operation at all. Smuggling can be defined as the conveying of goods or persons across international borders clandestinely, undetected by the destination state.
In the present case, there is no attempt at concealment. Migrant hopefuls are housed in transit accommodation or tent cities in preparation for their journey across the Channel. Charities provide food and other material support. Trucks carrying inflatables arrive regularly. The French police observe and film departures but normally make no effort to intervene.
Covert transit organisations make all relevant arrangements for their services, and collect payment. The French state, which I believe could terminate these operations in a day, does not do so because it sees the process as mitigating the burden on France.
The system is so unregulated that a migrant wishing to escape persecution might find that his persecutor has followed in the next inflatable, or indeed could be on the same one.
The first duty of a democratic government is to maintain order, without which chaos prevails. UK citizens wonder why they should be required to produce detailed evidence of identity and other data simply to cross their own national border, when others can do so with no more than a wish to reside in the UK.
Our government’s inability, or lack of will, to bring the situation under control has led to the widespread anger and despair we see in our streets.
Clive Ashwin
