Quaker statement on Occupy movement
Quakers express support for the Occupy movement
British Quakers have formally expressed their support for the ‘Occupy’ movement as controversy continues over the protest camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral. The decision follows strong support for the movement from individual Friends, and several calls for Quakers to give their backing at a national level. A statement from Quakers in Britain declared on 17 November that Friends ‘share the concern for global economic justice and sustainability expressed by the Occupy movement’.
The Quaker statement, signed by Paul Parker, recording clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM), continues: ‘We agree with the statement of Occupy London Stock Exchange that our current economic system is unsustainable. It is undemocratic and unjust.’
Meanwhile, the Quakers and Business Group have also offered their support to Occupy. They pulled back from criticising the economic system as a whole, saying instead that they ‘are concerned about aspects of the global economic system that divide people from the environment and from one another’. They point out that ‘Quakers began as a grassroots protest movement’.
Three Local Meetings – Bury St Edmunds, Ditchling and Stevenage – have added their signatures to a ‘Statement of Christian Solidarity with the Occupy Movement’. A ‘Statement of Jewish Solidarity’ has now also been published. Other Meetings have minuted their support. In addition to backing the protest, Oxford Meeting have decided to write to the bishop of London, offering loving support in discerning the way forward. A Meeting for Worship is taking place at Occupy London every Sunday.
An ‘update’ on Occupy London had previously been issued, which did not take a position on the rightness or otherwise of the protests. The ‘update’ led to calls for a firmer stance to be taken in support of the movement (see ‘Friends and St Paul’s’, 11 November).
The statement goes so far as to welcome the methods as well as the views of the occupiers. It declares: ‘Those of us who have visited have been welcomed, and found the Occupy sites an exceptional learning experience.’
It continues: ‘We honour the values and positive ways of working within Occupy communities: without hierarchy, based on care for others, open to the contributions of all and searching for the truth.’
The statement was welcomed by Quakers involved in the Occupy movement. ‘It’s important that Friends recognise that what the camp is doing is modelling our testimonies,’ said Jill Segger of Bury St Edmunds Meeting, ‘their business method is as close to the Quaker business method as non-Quakers are ever going to get’.
