White poppies. Photo: Trish Carn.
White poppies for parliamentarians
Scottish Friends reach out with white poppies
Scottish Quakers have helped send white poppies to members of the Scottish parliament and Scottish members of parliament in Westminster.
‘Militarisation in Scottish society’ is a concern of General Meeting for Scotland, Elizabeth Allen, convenor of the General Meeting Scottish Parliamentary Liaison function group, told the Friend.
She explained that Scottish Friends want ‘to introduce our politicians to a nonmilitary concept of remembrance, which reflects the dignity and worth of all people who died as a result of war – an act of remembrance which does not glorify war but concentrates on the need to build peace’.
Friends worked with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Edinburgh Justice and Peace Centre, sending out 188 white poppies. Each poppy was sent with an information card about the white poppy, explaining its background and meaning, and a letter from Quakers in Scotland.
‘In sending a poppy to each politician separately, we were treating them as individuals and hoping that our communication might speak to that of God in each of them,’ Elizabeth said.
