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Peace tax  Over sixty people gathered in Norway earlier this month to explore conscientious objection to war-related taxes. At least eight Yearly Meetings were represented at a Meeting for Worship.  The conference was opened by the Quaker ecophilosopher Per Ingvar Haukeland speaking on ‘New Earth, New Peace: Listening to the voice of conscience’. See full report below.

Army recruitment

Quakers have called for the upcoming Armed Forces Bill to raise the minimum age of army recruits from sixteen to eighteen. Over a quarter of recruits in the last year were under eighteen and were required to sign on for six years.

The government has said that the Bill will increase support for soldiers and veterans.

Same-sex unions

Equalities minister Lynne Featherstone has said that she will push ahead with implementing a decision to allow religious elements in same-sex civil partnerships.

Parliament made this provision in the Equality Act in April, but there were fears that the new coalition government would be slow to put the plans in the new Act into practice.

International Peace Tax conference report:

The 13th International conference on War Tax Resistance and Peace Tax Campaigns took place at Skiringssal folk Hostel in Sandefjord, Norway from 2 nd to 4th July 2010.

The international conference is a biennial event which draws together national war tax resistance and peace tax campaigns from 16 different countries with Conscience and Peace Tax International (CPTI) , an NGO officially recognized by the UN.

The conference purpose is to achieve worldwide recognition and acceptance of the right for conscientious objectors to payment of taxes for war or the preparations for war. We meet for mutual support, exchange of ideas and experiences and to coordinate our campaigns on the international platform.

The participants, numbering over 60, included Friends and attenders from at least 8 different Yearly Meetings.

The program opened in Sanderfjord church at 15:00 on Friday, with a welcome from Sanderfjord community and a lecture titled New earth, new peace: Listening to the voice of conscience, given in English and Norwegian by Per Ingvar Haukeland, a member of Norway Year Meeting who teaches ecophilosophy at Telemark University.

The lecture was preceded and followed by short ballet style dances to JS Bach St Matthew Passion and Johannes Brahms Sonata No3 D Minor.

After supper back at Skiringssal folk Hostel there was discussion on the lecture with Per Ingevar and consultation with CPTI about its work, following the CPTI General Assembly which had been held immediately prior to the conference.

After breakfast on Saturday, the conference received reports from the national campaigns, In Britain from Conscience, TAXES FOR PEACE NOT WAR, and an update of the Peace Tax Seven case from the 3 of the 7 present, including 2 of the 4 Friends. This was followed by a Lecture on Taxes for peace, not war – a human rights perspective by Nils Butenschøn, Director of the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, and in the afternoon by a presentation of ‘Peace Tax 2010, The issue, the history, the Movement’, a study produced for the Norwegian Peace Tax Alliance.

After refreshments, we broke into workshops, Derek Brett of BYM, currently based in Geneva, leading one on protecting conscientious objection to military service as a freedom of thought conscience and religion issue and how this might eventually be expanded to the tax sphere.

After dinner we had entertainment from ‘Odd Georg Murud’ – well known folk and protest songs which we joined in and sang in English, German and Norwegian.

Early on Sunday Morning and outside the programme, Penny Heymans of Norway YM had arranged a short meeting for worship for the Quakers at the conference, about 20 Friends or attenders from at least 8 different Yearly Meetings were present, Britain, Denmark, Germany, New England, New York, North Carolina, Norway and Sweden.

After breakfast there was a group discussion on moving our campaigns forward and looking to the future, including the location of the next conference in 2012 – after discussion it was agreed to try and hold it in somewhere in Latin America, probably Buenos Aires, particularly as visa problems had prevented the attendance of South American delegates at the conferences more than once over the years.
Roy Prockter

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