On 10th March the Human Rights Council held an Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on the human rights of migrants in the context of large movements. Read the QUNO article on this by clicking the link below
Click below to read the article.
http://www.fwccafrica.org/about/history/
American Quakers honouring unnamed African American Quakers buried in Quaker graveyards. Part of larger dialogue on racism within Yearly Meetings in America.
From Friends Journal:
In 2015, the Quaker project Honoring Those Known Only To God (the Honoring Project) convened itself for the first time. It brought together a multiracial, class-diverse group of Friends who want to remember the lives of nearly forgotten African Americans, both Quaker and non-Quaker, buried in Quaker burial grounds.
To read more of this article, please visit the Friends Journal website. Click the link below.
https://www.friendsjournal.org/honoring-project/
Quakers have a unique way of approaching children’s spirituality and religious education.
View the clip on the Friends’ Journal site.
Information from Nancy Fee:
Here is a new Quaker podcast, which people might be interested in. It is from the American Programmed tradition, and broadcasts about twice a month, for about 30 minutes.
For those not into podcasts, these are like internet radio shows. You can subscribe to these (for free), and they can be downloaded to your phone or Ipad, or listened to from a website. There are a number of apps that collect and organize these for you on your phone, laptop or Ipad. For example, I use icatcher, which collects up all the new broadcasts for the podcasts I am subscribed to. These are great to listen to when you are driving, working around the house, etc. I often listen to BBC news, etc this way. Polity is a good podcast on South African news.
Some other Quaker podcasts are:
Clearly Quaker, from the American programmed tradition. About every 2 weeks, for 30 minutes
Q: Witness, from BYM, generally weekly, about 30 minutes
Holy Ordinary: the Sacraments of Everyday Life; Brent Bill from the American programmed tradition. provides a link to articles on his website.
I haven’t seen Quaker podcasts emerging from other parts of the world, but this will probably happen with time.
Of course, there are many other religious podcasts. Plus many on news, human rights, justice, etc.
Click the link below to access these items.
Friends Journal in the US has given open access (non paid) to their most popular articles of 2016, and previous years.
Quakers in Britain join together with other Churches to request the UK Government to implement their commitment to child refugees.
Alf Dubs, a member of the UK House of Lords, was on the Kindertransport, which saved Jewish children from the Nazis. He says he owed his life to Quakers and others who got him out of Germany.
http://www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-events/news/churches-say-don-t-drop-the-dubs-amendment
“I … most certainly want to associate Quakers with [it]. It fits right in with our ethos …” — Helen Holleman, Clerk of C&SAYM
Click the SACC logo at the right to download the PDF file of the statement, or read the text below:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
24 February 2017
JOHANNESBURG: The scenes of organized community protests leading to violent attacks, arson, looting and intimidation of foreign nationals are to be condemned without equivocation! The Churches of South Africa condemn these acts without reserve!
These campaigns are mounted with the explanation that some foreign nationals engage in drug and human trafficking. While there is reason to be concerned about crime, drugs and human trafficking, there is no justification for chasing after every fellow African who is non-South African simply because there are some who are believed to have conducted criminal offenses.
Crime is not new in South Africa, has there ever been a profiling and branding of whole communities with a negative and objectionable brush, except in apartheid South Africa where for being black you were suspect until proven otherwise? Is that how we black South Africans today choose to act against our sisters and brothers from the rest of the continent? God forbid! Where is our cultural ethos of Ubuntu/Botho? Law enforcement and the justice system should deal with criminals, and we should seek to strengthen those agencies of our constitution, and uphold the human rights of all people.
We are a Constitutional Democracy based on Human Rights and the dignity of all human beings. The violent scenes of organized activism against foreign nationals that spread across the world are a disservice and a disgrace for a society that is 75% Christian with the values of ‘love God with all you are’ and ‘love your neighbour as you love yourself’ they are a shame to a country that is 80% black African with the foundation of we are because others are – motho ke motho ka batho! Umuntu ngumuntu ngomunye umuntu!
Where has our humanity gone when we mobilize for this shameful and inhuman violence? Where are the anchors of our faith when we roar for the innocent blood of people we don’t even know, just because they were born in another African country? Have we considered what this might mean for everything South African in the rest of the continent? Have we considered what it might mean for South Africa to be branded an outcast in the continent? Have we considered how this tendency endangers our sports clubs and national teams in continental campaigns?
We call on all faith communities, church leaders, community leaders, sports clubs and federation leaders, as well as government and political parties, to make a collective call on our communities to refrain from these actions. We should not and just cannot countenance an inter-African war in the streets and work places of South Africa.
The SACC is calling on all churches to commit prayers for the Spirit of love, peace, kindness and self-control to prevail over the spirit of strife, enmity, fits of anger, rivalry and dissension. Let us work together for peaceful coexistence.
Phansi ngodlame phansi!!
ENDS
For the artists among us, FWCC is partnering with Linda Murgatroyd to produce an arts calendar for 2018 celebrating Quaker Peacemaking around the world. We are keen to
include artworks reflecting Quaker peacemaking around the world, and of different kinds, in a variety of high quality media. This will be a fundraising and outreach project for FWCC.
At this stage we are putting the word out and hoping to get works for which we can easily get copyright permissions and high quality images; we will need to make our selection in April. We’d like to include diverse artworks commemorating different kinds of peacemaking in different times and places, and at the moment Linda is researching what might easily be available.
Obviously the curating group will need to discern a balanced selection of artworks, but Linda needs initial suggestions (photo, some draft text) by 16th March if at all possible.
For further information contact Linda Murgatroyd. Her email address is secured behind the C&SAYM password. Kindly contact your Clerk for the password if you do not know it.
