Thought for the Week: People and principles
Ian Kirk-Smith reflects on people and principles
For centuries Quakers did not celebrate any religious holidays because of a deeply held belief that all days are ‘holy days’. Public fasts and feasts were ‘devised in man’s will’ and, therefore, not ‘in God’s will.’ The same emphasis on inner spiritual life over outward ceremony was behind the early Quaker rejection of baptism.
The recent controversy over Easter eggs that became a lead story on many media outlets has little to do with Quakerism, Jesus Christ or a religious festival. It has everything to do with marketing, materialism and a conception of capitalism.
John Cadbury, the founder of Cadbury’s, had a very different conception of capitalism. He was an inspiring Friend with a profoundly Christian vision. We are told that he would be ‘spinning in his grave’ at the recent news story. I suspect he might be angry, not about eggs and names, but about people and principles.
When Kraft took over Cadbury’s in 2010 most Friends in Britain and Ireland were left with a rather sour aftertaste – a bit like eating, for some, its processed cheese. Promises made to workers had been broken. People were betrayed. Thousands lost jobs. The actions of those responsible did not reflect the values of John Cadbury.
A Sunday Times investigation later revealed that ‘legal’ arrangements enabled Mondelez, which currently owns Cadbury, to pay no UK corporation tax in 2014 despite accounts showing that Cadbury UK, its subsidiary, made profits of £96.5 million in 2014 and £83.6 million in 2013.
John Cadbury would, perhaps, be more concerned about this and also be rather bemused to discover that Theresa May was being questioned on a recent visit to Saudi Arabia about the vital world issue of Easter eggs. He might have asked, as someone whose family refused to profit from war, a different question to the head of the British government: why is Britain arming an authoritarian regime that has repressed some of its population and acted aggressively towards its neighbours?
Is this not a compelling ‘Christian story’ to put on front pages? Britain sells more arms to Saudi Arabia than any other country in the world. The kingdom presently leads a coalition of Middle Eastern nations in trying to put down a Houthi insurgency in Yemen. More than £3.3 billion worth of exports have been licensed since the Yemen offensive started in March 2015 – sales that included drones, helicopters, aircraft, bombs, missiles, grenades, armoured vehicles and tanks.
The Saudis are accused of bombing multiple international hospitals in Yemen run by the charity Médecins Sans Frontières, as well as schools, wedding parties and food factories. UK weapons, it is alleged, have been used to crush democratic protests in Bahrain.
John Cadbury, with his ethical and principled approach to making money and supporting a community, might also find another fact interesting. Analysis of HM Revenue and Customs figures by Greenpeace show that in 2015 eighty-three per cent of UK arms exports – almost £900m – went to Saudi Arabia. Over the same period, the UK imported £900m of oil from the kingdom.
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