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What we are seeing on our streets is fascism. We need to name it and understand it, because only then can we defeat it. Why do I say this with such confidence? Because I have been aware of the methods and messages of this most odious ideology since 2017. Then, in the wake of the horrible referendum campaign, my EU parliamentary staff and I sat down to work out what was making us fearful and what we could do about it.
The Quaker Fellowship for Afterlife Studies (QFAS) is in its twenty-fifth year of existence, having come together at Ammerdown in 2000. QFAS has around 170 members and publishes a biannual newsletter, Reaching Out. We study evidence for the afterlife, including near-death experiences, afterlife communications, dreams, mediumship and channelling, angelic communication, and other related subjects. Despite our history and participation each year in the Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) fringe, people often approach us and exclaim that they have been looking for just such a group and didn’t realise we existed.
World Plenary is not like other Quaker gatherings, wherever you are in that world. As Friends from ninety-five Yearly Meetings (YMs) and worshipping groups met for the Opening Ceremony, they did so to the sound of electric guitar – a video of the South African singer Jonny Clegg ‘searching for the spirit of the great heart, under African skies’. The Meeting did quieten a little after that, but – joyously, gloriously – not for long.
At Business Meeting One, the various committees necessary for running a plenary (drafting the epistle, etc) were approved. At plenary, this included a ‘Weaving’ team, which was tasked with documenting – weaving together – the three thematic streams of the gathering. These were: ‘Care for creation’; ‘Ubuntu’; and ‘Healing historical and ongoing injustices’. Each of the themes would be considered over three sessions, and Friends were encouraged to pick one theme and stick with it. (You kind find our coverage of ‘Care for creation’ and ‘Healing historical and ongoing injustices’ in this week's issue. The plenary crossed two of our press cycles, so we’ll cover ‘Ubuntu’ next week, along with the worship and weaving.)
Tuesday night was given over to a celebration of George Fox at 400. The host was Gretchen Castle, the dean of Earlham School of Religion (and former FWCC general secretary). She was moved from the start: ‘How exciting to be here! It’s just extraordinary… What a great gift we are to each other.’
Friends began by singing ‘To God be the glory’, after which Gretchen talked of the range of celebratory events that had already taken place.
Thursday’s Business Meeting Two would have to play catch up after the ‘little occurrence yesterday’, said Simon C Lamb. A report from the Quaker United Nations Offices would have already been heard were it not for the fire. Saskia Kuhlmann and Rachel Singleton-Polser referenced the George Fox celebration by saying that they, too, tried to influence governments. They ran through QUNO’s main areas of work (peace and disarmament; climate change; human rights and refugees), which they said was ‘a bit more behind the scenes’ than the agencies represented on yesterday’s keynote panel. But its quiet diplomacy – and quiet advocacy – were successful in amplifying marginalised voices.
The preparatory reading for this stream included a stark acknowledgment: ‘We confess that we have fallen short of our commitments in the Kabarak and Pisac calls [for ecojustice].’ Friends were called to reflect on what action is needed to arrive at true sustainability.
For the first session in this stream, David Niyonzima, from Burundi YM, said it was imperative ‘to face and reflect’ on the issues raised. The theme was ‘very interesting’, but can be ‘hard and difficult to digest’. Urging Friends to respect people’s different cultures, he said ‘these dynamics have been here for years’ and are not instantly fixable, but it was ‘a time for listening’.
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