Many of the towns and cities where there has been the worst violent and racist unrest in the past ten days have been in the North of England. We don’t currently have a programme on peacebuilding in our own communities, but do try to respond to new and emerging peace challenges facing Friends and wider society. Many of our members have been very shaken by recent events.
This week we have supported the QPSW Peacebuilding in Britain programme in bringing forward the launch of their Network and hosting a very well attended online meeting. During times of worship and discussion, Friends considered the roots of peace and of violence, of hurt and alienation, and approaches to witness and building bridges of understanding. Putting hope into action in the face of much fear and confusion is important, with others in our Meetings and with those in the wider community.
We shall continue to promote opportunities and resources for Friends and others in contributing to building peace. We hope that Friends, if they are engaged in joining with witness and protest in areas of conflict, will pay attention to their own safety as well as compassion for all affected.
One consequence for our work is that it has made clear that we need to step back from our use of the social media platform ‘X’, formerly Twitter, given its role – through its users and owner – in promulgating hateful messages and misinformation.
See the Quakers in Britain statement: Quakers call for peacebuilding in violent times