What Quakers say

A Poem, by our Friend JL

Meeting Minutes (Friends Meeting House, Rochester)

Hobbled by life, I searched for open doors

to escape this boastful, plug-in city.

Found one, just as the weather was coming fast. 

In here, my place was already set

with silence waiting, inviting me to sit.

Silence was a hail-fellow-well-met type

(of hitherto, I had not cared for), but

he had friends – each with eyes closed, 

messaging in their own private channels. I joined them

bringing only an elevated ear.

My blood clock listed the seconds, minutes. 

I watched shadows sit, stretch, then rise to leave – 

and then return like jealous agnostics.

Silence worked the room – a trainer breathing, 

train rails seething, the brush of frond on glass.

Silence told me, but I never asked.

Spoke with mailed fist – I considered leaving,

but silence invited me to sit.

Spoke with bare-knuckle – and I rose to leave, 

but silence invited me to sit.

With ten minutes left, silence left me to it

and when my ungummed, Wedgewood eyes opened,

something came on and came on unbidden.

Something much bigger than the rational,

something once buried, something once hidden.

Into drying weather and milk happy,

into once engraved streets (storm windows down),

into a human river – broad, boiling.

I heard nothing – and have heard nothing, since

the day silence invited me to sit.

One of the Tunbridge Wells members works for Quakers Nationally with Quaker Social Action. This is what she says:

' 'I’m the development worker on the Made of Money service at Quaker Social Action, which is managed by Carrie Comfort, who you may well have met in her previous role with Quakers in Britain. Made of Money provides financial wellbeing support for families and individuals on low incomes. Recently we’ve been designing and delivering a set of resources and training sessions for professionals and foster carers who work with young people in care, to help them develop the money learning they need to move into independent living. Over the next couple of years we’ll be delivering workshops to build awareness of financial scams. I love meeting all the people we work with and sharing tips and stories.' AS

Quaker Social Action

The Quaker UN Offices

As part of my doctoral research into complexity and peace in organisational change, I contacted two representatives from the Quaker UN Office, for a fascinating discussion about the role of the meeting houses, how silence and peace can be off-putting, and the importance of humanising the process of diplomacy.

The Quaker UN Office has many functions, working “with people in the UN, multilateral organisations, government delegations, and non-governmental organisations, to achieve changes in international standards and practice.” The Quaker Houses in Geneva and New York provide “a place where UN diplomats, staff, and nongovernmental partners can work on difficult issues in a quiet, off-the-record atmosphere, out of the public eye.”[1]

I spoke to two representatives from QUNO Geneva. They talked about their practices and how they use quiet diplomacy, grounded in Quaker Business methods, to help inspire efforts, de-escalate conflict situations, and to create structure and safety in the negotiation space. 

“Process” and “space” were two themes that came up a lot. The QUNO offices in NY and Geneva are based in beautiful homes near the UN, providing a confidential space to discuss and negotiate. The process of holding the space goes “beyond Chatham House Rules” as those facilitating don’t write reports or discuss publicly which countries attend. The Quaker Houses, a brownstone in NY and a large, prewar family home in Geneva, avoid a UN corporate space, offering diplomats and UN colleagues a calm, safe and warm space in which to relax. This is a powerful way to take people away from the work environment, seeing people – not their business cards. The space goes beyond hierarchy, beyond countries and alliances, where all contributions are welcome. The process of the meetings are important, and different too. “Quiet diplomacy” enables an ethical focus on issues, a focus on the human impact of decisions being made. While avoiding a pre-set agenda; conversations can emerge, as led, by the people who come. There is structure, however. Although Quaker Business meetings will start with silence, this can be too jarring for many, so in these meetings a question is asked. The question is a “personalising” one, for example “What fear have you brought with you today?”, or “What keeps you from being here?” This helps attendees be present, gets them away from anything that they’ve experienced before the meeting, and levels hierarchy. The facilitators encourage everyone to only speak once, before opening up the meeting to more free-flowing discussion, slowing down the process, and ensuring that everyone who wants to speak, speaks. The attendees are also reminded that some people take a while to gather and articulate their thoughts, so it’s recommended that a pause is taken between speakers. This structure serves to highlight diversity, alongside equality, giving everyone equal time to speak.

We talked about “peace” and my concern that it’s a strange word to use in corporate settings. In the area of climate change, the word “peace” too, could be seen as odd, out of place, jarring or distracting. In other areas, “peace” could indicate to people that there is no room for challenge, or creative conflict. The representatives explained that conflict wasn’t a negative. Violent conflict, however, is not a given, and that challenge is an important part of feeling heard. In the context of the QUNO, the term “human rights-based” is often used, which could also serve as to what I mean when I talk about peace. When making climate policy, for example, it’s important to respect rights – human rights, the rights of Indigenous Peoples, gender, youth, biodiversity, etc. It’s about making a “just transition” and doing due diligence to ensure meaningful participation, which results in a more sustainable solution. The outcome maybe the same as it would have been without this process, but there is importance in the “how” things are done. It’s not about creating an unrealistic paradise, but discussions and decisions need to centre around all people. 

The QUNO holds a space for people to listen and be heard; humanising the decision-making process, creating structure to ensure safety, encouraging conflict and resolution to promote growth, and ensuring that every person has a voice.

HA-W

[1]https://quno.org/about

Local Quakers are part of Medway Interfaith Association. Two of us went on their annual peace walk, where we visited a Sikh Gurdwara, a Hindu Temple, a Mosque and a Christian Church. JS

This article includes quite a lot of interesting Quaker history

Guardian Article on peace, from a Quaker