An imprisoned Friend
You may know that our Friend Gaie Delap, who is aged seventy-seven years, has been jailed for twenty months for her controversial action with Just Stop Oil in November 2022. With five others, she climbed the gantry over the M25 to protest further oil exploration in the UK.
Stopping such exploration in the UK has subsequently become government policy. Gaie spoke truth to power, in the only way she considered available to her.
A couple of months ago, I asked Gaie that if she had known she would go to prison for her action would she still have done it? She thought for a moment and responded: ‘Absolutely, yes.’
Here is a quote from Gaie as reported in The Guardian on 1 August 2024. ‘I’ve had to read the evidence of people who were stuck in traffic, it hurts me. I’m sorry I had to do this. But we really have no other option. They didn’t listen to the scientists, they didn’t listen to their constituents, so we had to cause disruption in order to communicate the seriousness of humanity’s predicament.’
We may not all agree on this method but James Nayler and John Woolman spring to my mind. Nayler was criticised for his behaviour and imprisoned but remained firm in his principles. John Woolman urged: ‘Be diligent in seeking the truth and following it, no matter the cost.’ Not all Quakers agreed with their actions either. Whatever our personal opinion we can be sure that Gaie has acted with the good of all in her heart and mind, and it is now our responsibility to support her in whatever ways we can.
Gaie is in membership of the Society, attached to the Redland Meeting in Bristol. Many Redland Friends have formed a support group for her and we have come up with fifteen different things we could do to uphold her, with more ideas probably yet to follow.
Perhaps your Meeting might consider doing something similar?
Fran De’Ath
Britain Yearly Meeting
I have not had much experience of Yearly Meeting, though I have been familiar with Quakers all my life, and joined as a member five years ago. I expected to hear more in this year’s sessions about current national and international issues, as I know that Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) does great influential work being involved in such affairs and making statements. But I was disappointed. The biggest issue today, the climate and nature crisis, was hardly mentioned.
I, personally, would like to have seen a better balance between BYM sorting out our own structures, and paying attention to these important issues which are affecting us all now. I know it’s important to get the structural changes right, but I would like to have talked more about what we do, resisting those who are making it all worse, and how we behave when the crisis hits us more and more, how we talk to other people, offering our essential testimonies and resources to build resilience and see how to care for people affected in future.
Perhaps there could be a series of articles in the Friend on important topics, summarising past minutes and information from BYM. Perhaps I would have felt less sad and frustrated if, after one session on the structure, we could have opted for more of the same, or for another room with a different topic. With much appreciation of all who were able to contribute to BYM, I look to the future.
Sue Clarke
