‘Peace begins with me’
Quakers in Kyiv have thanked international Friends for their support and ‘Friendly prayers’
Quakers in Kyiv have thanked international Friends for their support and ‘Friendly prayers’, describing them as ‘very encouraging and comforting’. The situation in the country is ‘very difficult’, they told the Friend. ‘There is a war going on. There are many civilian casualties. However, Ukrainians have rallied and are working with full dedication to save Ukraine, save peace on the European continent and throughout the world.’
The comment follows a tumultuous week in which the World Council of Churches called on Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyayev (the patriarch of Moscow and all Russia) to mediate so that the war between Russia and Ukraine can be stopped. ‘War is a choice, and so is peace,’ Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) said in a statement. ‘A myriad of peacebuilding tools’ are available, it added, referring to its Building Peace Together report. ‘We call for immediate intensification of diplomatic efforts, as they are the only way to resolve disputes between states. Leaders should refrain from rushing to assert their military superiority and providing military support, instead focusing on expanding spaces for dialogue, enabling a peace process that is people-centred and ensures meaningful participation of all parties involved.’
QCEA also pressed for all people displaced from Ukraine to be ‘granted protection as long as their safety is not guaranteed, and irrespective of their nationality’. Other Friends highlighted the need for action against the Nationality and Borders Bill currently in parliament, which, according to Central England Quakers (CEQ), ‘could severely restrict the rights of those fleeing from Ukraine, and other conflicts around the world, to seek sanctuary in the UK’. Meetings can support the Together with Refugees campaign to oppose this bill by displaying an orange heart. The CEQ website also shares resources such as: the Ukraine Humanitarian appeal from the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), a ‘Help refugees fleeing Ukraine’ local fundraiser on Go Fund Me; and Coventry Quaker Andrew Rigby’s reflections for the Rethinking Security website on ‘Unarmed Resistance to Occupation: Lessons for Ukraine’.
Up and down the country Quakers held vigils and shared resources as, in the words of the Northern Friends Peace Board (NFPB), events in Ukraine escalated ‘quickly and frighteningly’. The Quaker Bootham School in York held a collection and vigil for those in Ukraine with students bearing banners saying: ‘Peace begins with me.’ Several Friends took part demonstrations on Sunday and others wrote to MPs urging them to enforce stricter economic sanctions and ease visa requirements.
Others sent short messages of support to the Ukrainian pacifist movement or Russian peace activists, via the Peace Pledge Union.
Quaker Peace & Social Witness staff member Ellis Brooks wrote for the University College of London on what peace education can offer in such a time, highlighting ‘compelling real stories of the people experiencing conflict, including journalists risking it all to tell the truth, Russian conscripts or Ukrainian conscientious objectors like Ruslan Kotsaba. What would we do in their shoes?’
Several Friends took to the Quakers in Kyiv Facebook page to offer messages of support, with one US Friend saying that they were keeping a chain of prayer for Ukraine going all through Ash Wednesday. In one of the last posts before the Friend went to press, Ukraine Quakers described a salvo bombardment of the city of Kharkiv, including cruise missiles in residential areas: ‘The past 24 hours were terrible for our people… In all, more than 80 social infrastructures have been attacked in Ukraine, and 16 children have been killed.’
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