See what the Quakers have done!

Peter Speirs reports on the recent Adam Curle Centenary Symposium: ‘Peaceful Relations and the Transformation of the World’

I am as much concerned with the human condition in general as with specific conflicts, which represent only the tip of a pyramid of violence and anguish… I am concerned with all pain and confusion that impede our unfolding and fulfilment. Often, of course, circumstances force us to focus on extreme examples of unpeacefulness. However, if we were to limit our attention to these, we would be neglecting the soil out of which they grow and would continue to grow until the soil were purified. In this sense the social worker, the teacher, the wise legislator, or the good neighbour is just as much a peacemaker as the woman or man unravelling some lethal international imbroglio.

Adam Curle, 1981
Quaker faith & practice 24.35

‘See what the Quakers have done!’ These words were offered in ministry during the Meeting for Worship held recently at the University of Bradford, during a symposium to mark the centenary of the birth of Adam Curle. It was in 1971 that a small group of Quakers, with the support of the Yearly Meeting, established the Quaker Peace Studies Trust (QPST), with the principal aim of creating a school of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford.

The school opened in 1973, with Adam Curle as its first professor. He was passionate about ‘affective education – education of feelings and actions as well as thinking, education which is, in fact, affective or behavioural rather than solely intellectual’. This was his philosophy at Bradford.

Some 300 attended the Symposium on 5-6 September, including past and present students, local people, Quakers and peacemakers from around the world. The speakers alone represented more than twenty different countries. The Symposium opened with an event at the National Media Museum: ‘The Past is Not History’. The focus was on how communities who have suffered war or oppression might keep the story alive for future generations. Yoshiaka Furuzawa, of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, described the debate taking place in Hiroshima now that there are few survivors still alive. A war photographer and a museum director spoke about their respective roles and the dilemmas they experience in representing conflict and war, both during and after the event. A short film of a number of Syrian refugees recently arrived in Bradford, describing their experience of the ongoing war in their country, brought the session to a close.

John Paul Lederach, professor of international peacebuilding at the University of Notre Dame, in his keynote speech, ‘Quo Vadis: Horizons for Peacebuilding in our Unravelling World’, began by reminding us of Adam Curle’s message – that we are all peacebuilders, whoever we are and whatever we do. This was the essence, the heart, of what this conference was all about. It was less about high-powered, jargon-speaking, peace intellectuals, but more about the human condition – how people get on with one another, how we communicate together and how we care for each other.

John Paul highlighted three issues to be addressed in the present century: movement – of people, food, money and resources; the limits of the nation state; and the need to recognise that we are all part of the global family and, as such, to recognise the need to respect communities unlike our own by valuing and building on local knowledge and traditions rather than imposing external solutions on them. He emphasised the importance of ‘being’ with others, learning to listen, not to gather information but to try to understand the experience of others. He stressed the importance of recognising one’s own strengths and weaknesses, of developing awareness of and respect for the other, and of developing an awareness of context and culture. We need to work with patience and persistence.

This theme of ‘being with others’ was reiterated in a moving talk by James Thompson, professor of applied and social theatre at the University of Manchester, ‘The Art of Peacebuilding and an Aesthetics of Care’. His emphasis was on the importance of loving, caring relationships with one another in all situations and at all times. Everything we do can be related to peacebuilding – how we treat each other and the world, how we travel, what we buy; all ‘good’ action is valuable. We need to be critical and professional in order to be effective.

There was a strong Quaker presence throughout the Symposium, and there were specific Quaker contributions: Ellis Brooks, peace education and engagement coordinator for Britain Yearly Meeting, gave a short but dynamic presentation on ‘Responding to Militarisation in Schools’. He outlined causes of tension and conflict and how the establishment, and the military, respond to this. His work takes him into schools where he deals individually with pupils teaching them to respect each other, to love each other and to trust each other – all so important in creating a peaceful world. Other Quakers, including Goran Bozicevic, Hilary Browne, Hilary Cremin, Claire Feehily, Helen Kaplinsky, Celia McKeon and Lindis Percy, presented papers, sessions or events.

Alongside the Symposium, QPST presented the Quaker Peace & Social Witness exhibition ‘This Light that Pushes Me – Stories of African Peacebuilders’. At the exhibition opening, hosted by QPST, around sixty Friends and friends from local peace communities attended to hear African students giving short readings from the individual stories of African peacebuilders. One student then told his own story – a story of horrendous violence, which led to his commitment to peace activism. All present felt deeply moved by his experience and his courage in sharing his story with us. Around 200 people visited the exhibition over a five-day period, some returning more than once to sit amongst the pictures in what, to many, felt like a Meeting for Worship with our African Friends. This exhibition was an appropriate complement to the academic talks, showing how peace is achieved in conflict situations by ordinary people who are moved to action.

At the university’s invitation, a well-supported Meeting for Worship was held as part of the Symposium; for many present it was their first experience of Quaker worship.

Two books were launched during the Symposium – Adam Curle, Radical Peacemaker, by Tom Woodhouse and John Paul Lederach, and Irregular War: Isis and the New Threat from the Margins by Paul Rogers.

Bradford offers two other places to visit, each owing its presence to peace studies: the Commonweal Collection, housed in the University’s J B Priestley Library, with its extensive collection of peace literature, covering all aspects of peace study; and the Peace Museum, which holds a fascinating collection of papers, artworks and artefacts. It is currently showing an exhibition of the work of Maggie Glover (see ‘Maggie Glover: Painter of honest portraits’).

The Quaker Peace Studies Trust continues to support students, research, publications and special events at Bradford. Last year the Trust launched an ‘Eva Pinthus Award’ to support a Quaker student in peace studies, in recognition of Eva Pinthus’ enormous contribution to work for peace.

This article was written with help from Hilary Browne and Chris Butler, members of Brighouse West Yorkshire Area Meeting.

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