Singing in the dark
Oliver Robertson reports on the recent ‘Sanctuary Everywhere’ conference
How did Jews in Germany go from being deeply integrated into society in 1918, even serving in the German army in the first world war, to the pogrom of Kristallnacht twenty years later? This is a question that Marigold Bentley, from Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW), has asked herself – and others – many times. One answer, she told the ‘Sanctuary Everywhere’ conference in Brussels in December, came from a Holocaust survivor, who thought there were two factors: firstly, poverty and austerity; and, secondly, propaganda.
The question of how you deal with the populism that is threatening to upend European societies ran strongly through Sanctuary Everywhere, the latest in a series of conferences held biennially by QPSW and the Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA). Heather Grabbe, director of the Open Society European Policy Institute and an attender at Brussels Meeting, described populism as ‘an ideology in search of an enemy’. Populism says the people are pure and the elite is corrupt, it allows no dissent and brands alternative voices as ‘not the real people of the country’.
The ‘enemies’ can be ‘the elite’ above, an ‘enemy outside’ (like the EU or the United Nations), or an ‘enemy within’ (a minority group within the country). Populism is also deeply nostalgic, yearning for a golden age that has allegedly been taken away because of the actions of enemies. Populists say, implicitly or explicitly, that you cannot trust people not like you, an attitude that carries extra weight in the age of fake or bespoke news.
‘In a climate of unknown truth,’ said Heather Grabbe, ‘trustworthiness is not a necessity for politicians’ – they can survive and thrive without being trustworthy in a way they couldn’t in former times. ‘This is really dangerous for democracy,’ she added.
There was also a discussion of the language we use and the thoughts that lie behind it. One participant pointed out that populists are never described as ‘radicalised’. Another stated that we no longer trade in humans, but we can still consider people as commodities. A lot of the response to the ‘refugee crisis’ in Europe has focused on people as a problem or a threat to be kept out. But as Andrew Lane, director of QCEA, has said in the past: ‘When you turn back or destroy the boats that are bringing people across the Mediterranean from Libya, what you are actually doing is trapping people in a warzone.’ Seeing it in that way can transform your understanding of the situation.
Heather Grabbe advised Friends to interact with populists in a way that doesn’t advance their narrative: talk from your own experience and ask them about other issues they don’t normally discuss. She thought that Quakers were well-placed to resist populism, and listed five features of the Quaker way that can help this: the encouragement to think for yourself; Quaker discernment; the extended periods of silence in Meeting, which gives people a chance to process and reflect; community interaction, getting to know different people; and practice, meaning actively working to make changes, which can give a sense of agency and control and prevent the resentments that so often accompany populism.
While the conference highlighted the threats to safety and sanctuary in Europe, it also showcased what was being done – a session of five-minute presentations of projects by Quakers across Europe ran on for an hour and a half. Participants were reminded of the work being done for peace and human rights by QCEA and other Quaker agencies, and how this will continue post-Brexit. The importance of faith and continuing to do what was right was emphasised.
‘Hope is the bird that senses the light and sings before the dawn,’ quoted one Friend in worship on the final morning. ‘Singing in the dark is something we can do as Friends.’
Oliver is clerk of QCEA.
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