Soul music
Alastair McIntosh’s Thought for the Week (‘On song’, 14 March) had me dusting off my CD collection.
I’ve been a fan of Leonard Cohen since my teens, nearly sixty years ago. I knew him as a devout Jew, but only recently discovered his work supporting Israel while campaigning for justice for all in Israel-Palestine – a narrow, stony path that wins few friends.
Amnesty International declined his US$1million donation from his 2009 Tel Aviv concert, intended for peace groups. In response, Cohen established the Fund for Reconciliation, Tolerance and Peace to help break down the deep-seated psychological barriers that perpetuate conflict. Besides funding research into reconciliation efforts, it has supported initiatives such as the Peres Centre for Peace children’s medical program, Combatants for Peace (bringing together Israeli Defence Force veterans and former Palestinian militants committed to nonviolence), the Palestinian Happy Child Centre in Ramallah for children with special needs, and Parents Circle – Families Forum, uniting bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families.
Cohen also helped establish The Road to Recovery, connecting Israeli volunteers with Palestinians needing transport for medical care in Israel. The murdered hostage Oded Lifshitz was such a volunteer, and his funeral was held at Nir Oz kibbutz on 25 February. Despite the events of 7 October, volunteers continue assisting Palestinians in need. Friends can support this charity by donating online: www.theroadtorecovery.org.il
Ol Rappaport
Feeling the benefits
While I prepare to lead a discussion group on benefits for my Local Meeting, perhaps the below introduction I wrote is worth sharing nationally?
Shared experiences can enhance the establishment of empathy, whereas being lied about in mainstream mass media makes socio-economic disadvantage ever more isolating. In August 2024 there were: 6,936 households claiming Universal Credit (UC) in Hereford and South Herefordshire, representing 18.3 per cent of working age households; and 5,361 households claiming UC in North Herefordshire, representing 15.8 per cent of working age households.
People in this situation must be feeling very isolated: their time is micromanaged, and UC penalises low incomes rather than low wages. Meanwhile housing costs are soaring due to excessive rents, and state benefits consistently lag behind inflation.
Further, the ‘right to buy’ depletion of social housing stock has increasingly disadvantaged successive generations.
We also need to consider the costs of living with a disability.
Meanwhile, the chancellor (who is part of a double six-figure household) is intent on slashing and burning Personal Independence Payment entitlements for the sake of increasing Gross Domestic Product – a measure that favours armaments expenditure, disregards unpaid care as worthless, and was devised in the 1930s to gauge a nation’s capacity to mobilise for war.
In my experience and understanding, the phrase ‘The help you need, when you need it’ is the most bogus benefit claim of all, especially now that the average caseload of a UC ‘work coach’ is 400 ‘live’ cases and 1,000 ‘dormant’ ones.
What can we do as Quakers to help resolve UC and other claimants’ isolation and ‘speak truth to power’ as we seek to increase our collective socio-economic equality and diversity as building blocks for the future of Quakerism?
Alan Wheatley
