Skip to Content

Update for Friends on 'Occupy London Stock Exchange'

Home

News release - 17 November 2011

As the City of London Corporation gives notice to the Occupy London Stock Exchange activists to clear the "public highway" by 6pm on 17 November, Quakers in Britain have made a public declaration of support for the protesters.

 

Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) staff are keeping in close touch with the protesters who are currently camping outside St Paul's, London, several of whom are Quakers. Turning the Tide, a programme of QPSW which provides training in active nonviolence, has run a strategy workshop for the protesters, at their invitation – see article on page 4 of The Friend (an independent Quaker journal), 28 October 2011. 

In considering how to respond to the protest, Friends may find it helpful to refer to a 'statement of Christian solidarity' with the Occupy London movement, at www.occupylsx.org/?p=388. Quaker Meetings may want to consider the extent to which they can support this.

In doing so, they should bear in mind the following minute, agreed by Yearly Meeting Gathering (YMG) in August:

Minute 23: Economic Justice

How can we renew our commitment to our testimonies of truth, justice, integrity and equality, and discern action to take our witness forward?

We have heard today of a number of initiatives in which our Yearly Meeting and its members are involved: the Ethical Trading Initiative and the work of Quaker Social Action. We have shared something of our experience, ideas and discernment from around the Yearly Meeting.

There are many small steps we can all take, as individuals and as meetings. But we also feel called to work on a larger scale. The global economic system is posited on continued expansion and growth, and in its pursuit of growth it is often unjust, violent and destructive. Several Friends have said, "we must move out of our comfort zone", and we have heard that rage and passion may also have a place in our responses.

We need to continue to learn more about how we are influenced and constrained by the economic system. We need to ask the question whether this system is so broken that we must urgently work with others of faith and good will to put in its place a different system in which our testimonies can flourish.

As individuals, and in our meetings, we must return to the place from which testimony comes, to open ourselves to the Spirit and to wait humbly in the light. Together, we can help one another to overcome our inertia.

We rededicate ourselves to a corporate discipline of waiting and opening to the leadings of the Spirit on the issues before us at this yearly meeting. We ask Meeting for Sufferings to keep this in view over the coming year.

Epistle of Yearly Meeting Gathering (YMG) 

It is also worth recalling the Epistle of YMG, one sentence of which reads: "We are called to challenge the values of consumer capitalism."

The full text is here – www.quaker.org.uk/2011-epistle-britain-yearly-meeting-gathering

The 'Quakernomics' blog provides one way to discuss economic issues with other Quakers – see www.quaker.org.uk/quakernomics

Another recently formed forum is the Facebook group 'Politically engaged young Friends' – they interpret 'young' quite flexibly!

Other web references


12 January 2012