Letters - 26 January 2024
From Laying down of Q-CAT to Disappointed
Laying down of Q-CAT
We are saddened at having to lay down Quaker Concern for the Abolition of Torture (Q-CAT), which has acted on behalf of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) for many years, recently as a linked recognised body, but has now become unsustainable because of the low level of direct engagement from Friends.
We wish to say a big thank you to those who have assisted and supported us, and for the encouragement we have received in our endeavours.
Those on our mailing lists have been with us upholding the concern and hopefully will continue to do so personally. Torture is still rife in the world. Laying down the charity involves right disposal of remaining funds. We have sent donations to Freedom from Torture, Redress and Reprieve, as organisations dedicated to the alleviation of suffering as the result of torture and to campaigning for its abolition. The remainder will pass to BYM, as required by our constitution.
It is important that records of the work and activities of Q-CAT be retained, as much as to show what has been achieved over the years as to be a source of background in the event of the concern becoming a major Quaker issue again at some time in the future, as we hope. An archive of these records has been deposited in the Friends House Library and once catalogued will be available to searchers.
Our choral work A Knock on the Door is one of the ways that the message about the iniquity of torture can be conveyed and if you belong to a choir you might consider putting on a performance of this. Q-CAT has thirty-nine scores to lend to Quaker groups. Contact Juliet Morton at julietmorton0@icloud.com if you would like to borrow some (only the cost of return postage is charged). Juliet will also be able to give you a link to a copy of the film of the first performance, which can be made available for rehearsal purposes.
Michael Hutchinson
Is eight billion sustainable?
I have raised in a couple of letters recently the question of whether Friends think that a population of eight billion is sustainable. No one has expressed an opinion.
I wonder if this video would help. It is about the likelihood that sources of fuel become exhausted, and the consequences for humanity. It is called ‘Civilization is running out of gas’.
Note that it makes no mention of climate change. It is on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5z5R6xqEG0.
Roger Plenty
Pacifism obsolete?
Tim Gee [general secretary of Friends World Committee for Consultation] states in his December article for the Quakers in Britain website that he is still a pacifist. Has pacifism then become a minority conviction among Friends?
Gerard Bane
Henry Stanley Newman
I was interested to read of the extraordinary Friend Henry Stanley Newman in Maggie Waldman’s article (1 December 2023).
I had, a few weeks previously, been looking in the old books section of the library at Preston Patrick – I suspect many Meetings have a collection like this of ‘out of date’ books, but which may contain treasures.
What I found was a book called Palestine Lessons to my Class by HS Newman and, since Palestine is much on my mind, I pulled it out.
It’s a series of chapters about a lengthy visit to Palestine which Newman made in 1887, which are illustrated by biblical stories and some beautiful sepia colour plates of life in the Middle East.
He used it as a teaching aide to his adult school classes which he taught for fifty years, alongside all his many other activities.
It was published by the Orphans Publishing press in Leominster.
Meg Hill
British and Houthis
Genocide appears to be happening in Gaza. Houthis in Yemen have tried to aid the Gazans by targeting container ships. Outrageously, British ministers are planning to take ‘direct action’ in support of Israel by killing Houthis (The Guardian, 31 December 2023).
Unarmed people are being killed by sophisticated weapons. Gazan forces seek to retaliate but the British and US governments are taking the side of the oppressors.
War – primarily against civilians – cannot resolve the conflict.
People had lived in Palestine for generations before the state of Israel was created in 1948. Conflict was inevitable and, largely for colonial reasons, the US and the UK provided settler Israelis with weapons.
As well as deaths, 750,000 Palestinians were displaced into Gaza.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others claim biblical authority for their ruthlessness.
Moses wrote on tablets of stone: ‘You shall not murder. You shall not steal [thy neighbours’ land, thy neighbours’ crops, nor thy neighbours’ water resources]. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. You shall not covet your neighbour’s house… nor anything that is your neighbour’s.’
The consequences of British military involvement could be: a drift into world war three (with Britain on the ‘wrong’ side); the acceleration of the climate catastrophe; Arab hatred of the British as well as Israelis; short-term profits for the military-industrial complex.
We must tell our politicians to work for peace.
Joe Burlington
GET challenged
I agree with Moyra Carlyle that counselling is important for anyone considering gender transition, and that this should not be prevented by laws banning conversion therapy.
The problem is that ‘Gender Exploratory Therapy’ (GET) is often intended to delay or prevent transition rather than as a genuinely therapeutic process.
Typically, GET seeks to locate the causes of gender dysphoria in past trauma or in other conditions such as autism. This therapy can take years exploring these issues; meanwhile no form of transition, even including social transition, is allowed.
Such ‘watchful waiting’ is itself not a neutral act. It can be extremely distressing, and can mean that physical changes make transition more difficult. Some who have received this counselling and later transitioned have described it as ‘gaslighting’ and ‘conversion therapy’.
GET is promoted in the UK by organisations which seek to restrict gender transition, such as GENSPECT, which seeks to prevent transition under the age of twenty-five.
I would suggest that if such therapy becomes illegal under a conversion therapy ban, it is not because the legislation is ill-thought out, it is because to all intents and purposes this therapy is conversion therapy under another name.
Cherry Lewis
Disappointed
This morning I listened to the 5 January 2024 edition of the Friend on USB, via the Talking Friend, and was very distressed and disappointed by the third section of the ‘Q Eye’ item.
This featured two elderly gentlemen with memory loss, and was entitled ‘Senior moment’. One of the two needed time to remember his name; this was regarded as a joke.
It could be reasonably assumed that the reason for the forgotten name was dementia, which is no fit subject for hilarity, especially in a respected magazine such as yours.
For years I watched the deterioration of my husband from dementia, and feel that even a hint of amusement at such memory loss is unworthy of a Quaker publication.
Eileen Mignot
Editor’s note
Many apologies. This was thoughtless of us, and we’ll endeavour to take more care in future. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.
