Quakers mark Conscientious Objectors Day
'The annual event at Tavistock Square on 15 May also saw a choir singing songs of conscientious objection, and the names of eighty-five representative COs were read out.'
Quakers heard from an Israel peace activist this week at International Conscientious Objectors (COs) Day.
The annual event at Tavistock Square on 15 May also saw a choir singing songs of conscientious objection, and the names of eighty-five representative COs were read out. These included ‘one from every country where we know brave people have made a stand’, said the Quaker Faith in Action newsletter.
An Israeli CO who spoke at the live-streamed service also gave a talk at Friends House on 7 March. At the event, organised by Britain Yearly Meeting and War Resisters International, the activist ‘Or’ said that peace activism in Israel has become much harder since October. People face losing their jobs or being threatened by right-wing groups for saying that they don’t support the war, or even for saying that children are dying in Gaza, said Or, who works with feminist anti-militarist organisation New Profile.
Israel is a highly-militarised society, with even young children exposed to the military in schools, she added, but it has also been home to peace activism since 1948, including in collaboration with Palestinians.
Elsewhere Friends marked the day at local ceremonies and vigils, including at the Quaker Service Memorial, at the National Memorial Arboretum, where Staffordshire Area Meeting held a Meeting for Worship.
