A
Quaker Vision of Europe
(Adopted
by the Quaker Council for European Affairs on 2 December 2001)
We
see a Europe that is striving to become a peaceful, compassionate,
open, and just society.
Fully
aware of the deficiency of our understanding, the weakness of
our resolution, and the imperfection of our contribution, we pursue
these goals with love and compassion.
We see
Europe as a community of peoples that acts towards itself and other
peoples as it would have others act towards it.
Genocide,
slavery, and ethnic cleansing have always been with us. We Europeans
have industrialized them, made them political instruments, and
are abetting others in their savagery.
We see
a Europe that has found an alternative to the inevitable self-destructiveness
of imperialism. Europe's
immediate past is an agonizing series of tragedies wrought by ambitions
of expansion and delusions of glory. We acknowledge and must share
the burden of righting the wrongs inflicted on other continents,
on other peoples. We are working to lay finally to rest all the
self-serving and fanciful racial myths that have been served up
by flawed science along with all the competitive nationalisms and
murderous ideologies that have so scarred our last century. We
recognise and rejoice in the diversity of the world's peoples and
cultures and strive to assure the fundamental right to cultural
integrity.
We see
a Europe where success is measured by conflicts resolved peacefully
and justly, not by wars won or vengeance taken.
Europe
is a continent of war cemeteries, mostly forgotten, and new ones
are even now being dug. May we never forget these cataclysmic insanities
when whole nations have run amok. We abhor and radically reject
war as a way to resolve international conflict. Our ambitions
must shun dominance and aim rather for harmony, equity, reconciliation,
and shared prosperity.
We see
a Europe, shorn of arrogance, that accepts its responsibility for,
and dependence upon, the global environment, that looks on our small
planet as one ecosystem, one equitable economic system, one home for
all. We
recognize our interdependence and realize that our success can be
secured only by the success of the entire world system. We seek
an earth restored and respected. We reject an economy in which
there must inevitably be exploitation and losers. We will
strive to convert to constructive activities those parts of our
economy that produce the means of destruction.
We see
a Europe where its governments are at the service of their communities.
They must also transcend private and limited interests, look wisely
and prudently beyond the next quarter, the next annual report, and
the next election to the long-term good.
A
government can liberate, create opportunity, assure security,
provide the rule of law necessary for civilization, for any human
relationship. It can protect us from chaos, from our own selfishness,
from our own shortsightedness. While a government may not be
able to convince us that our economies and lives should be driven
by something other than greed -- for this is something we must
discover for ourselves -- it can mitigate the effects of that
greed.
We
are keenly aware of what a government cannot do for us.It cannot
give our lives meaning, make us happy, or absolve us from the
need to make our own choices in the worlds in which we live our
private and public lives. What formal law does not prohibit is
not necessarily permitted. We are also keenly aware that governments
can often make us unhappy and force moral choices upon us we should
not have to make. Governments and social structures can stunt
and inhibit our souls and minds and bodies.Life in community must
not blind us to the divine in ourselves and in the other.
We see
a Europe that recognizes the fundamental, inalienable sanctity of
each individual. Our
law must be and be felt to be liberating and protective, not repressive
or exploiting. The strong need not protection but regulation;
the weak need law for their very survival. Our laws must be of
service to all.
We see
a Europe that is hospitable to those who would seek shelter in it.
We
are a continent of refugees, many of us and our families having
taken flight ourselves. If history is to be a gauge, we may well
do so again. Therefore, let us be sensitive to the plight of the
stranger in a strange land. Let us also honestly recognize and
prudently deal with the problems that may be generated by flows
of refugees and immigrants. The newly arrived must not be marginalized
but must be allowed to integrate into our communities as we have
done.
We see
a Europe that recognizes all the myriad forms its citizens use to
express themselves and gives hearing to them. The right of the free
exercise of religion and political association must be guaranteed
and fostered. The
right of free association is essential for the proper functioning
of a society. Individuals must be able to combine together to foster
their interests lest they be overwhelmed by the sheer mass of complexity.
However, the associations they form must also recognize the essential
right of others to associate and compete under the rule of impartial
law. What we claim for ourselves we must grant to others. Organized
religion, too, must finally put behind itself the perennial temptation
to impose rather than invite, to compel rather than convince.
We see
a Europe of just and equitable structures, a Europe that is governed
transparently, a Europe where the principle of subsidiarity gives
substance and form to democracy, where information is freely accessible,
where institutions and individuals are accountable, where integrity
is rewarded. We
know that there will never be a system so perfect that no one will
need to be good. Moral decisions will always have to be made by
individuals in the realization that their personal responsibility
can never be shifted to an organization.
The
citizen must be enabled to exercise judgement if democracy is
to be more than an empty shell. The right to free expression is
empty if it cannot be exercised intelligently on the basis of
adequate information. Truth is as crucial as it is elusive. The
media, the monopolization of which by global conglomerates is
cause for real concern, and the informational organs of governments
have a vital role that needs independent monitoring lest their
attempts to inform degenerate to mere public relations and propaganda.
We see
a Europe in which the private corporations strive not only to make
profit but also to contribute to the society that makes those profits
possible. They have a rightful place in civil society and must contribute
to it according to their means, abilities, and talents.
Commercial
companies have an obligation to the society that provides the rule
of law that makes their profits possible. Their obligation is not
satisfied by the mere payment of taxes. Society is much more than
an arena for exploitation: its well-being is the very reason for
their existence. They, too, are held to the obligations of justice,
compassion, and honesty, particularly toward their employees and
stockholders. Human beings are not commodities, not resources to
be bought and sold, to be plugged in, burned out, and discarded.
The products and services they sell must not only be able to be
sold but also be worthy of being sold.
Finally,
we, European Quakers, see our Europe at peace with itself and with
all others on our very small planet, and we take to heart the counsel
George Fox gave us in 1656:
"Be
patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations,
wherever you come, that your carriage and life may preach among
all sorts of people, and to them; then you will come to walk cheerfully
over the world, answering that of God in every one."
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Priorities
for a Presidency
January
in Brussels heralds not just a new year but also a new Presidency
for the EU. New Year’s resolutions take the form of the Presidency
priorities, published at the start of each six month term. For the
first half of 2002 Spain will hold the reins. We look below at the
Spanish priorities in social and foreign affairs. Social
Cohesion and Sustainable Development vs. Economic Growth
The
spring meetings of the European Council, this year to be held in
Barcelona, review progress made towards the strategic goal “to
become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy
in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and
better jobs and greater social cohesion” agreed at Lisbon
in March 2000. At Göteborg in June 2001 an environmental dimension
was added to the Lisbon strategy and progress on this will also
be assessed at the Barcelona Council.
A conference
held in the Commission in November on ‘The European Social
Agenda and the EU’s International Partners’* focused
on whether the goal of economic growth and liberalisation really
can be reconciled with greater social expenditure and what the impact
of the EU’s social agenda is at the global level. In the current
economic climate the balancing of economic, social and environmental
priorities will be an interesting test for the EU. If this balancing
act is pulled off in Barcelona it will prove the strength of the
EU’s social model, a model which could provide insight into
how to improve global social and environmental regulation in the
context of economic globalisation.
Bronwen
Thomas
* Conference
Report: http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/intcoop/news/sum_report.pdf
Conflict
Prevention Sidelined?
Unfortunately
the Spanish Presidency, unlike the previous two (Belgium and Sweden),
does not pay much lip service to conflict prevention. One of its
main Presidential concerns is to make the EU’s External Policy
more visible and effective. The Presidency would like to achieve
this by giving the EU the civil and military capacity to fulfill
its ‘peacekeeping’ and crisis management role (the Petersberg
Operations) by 2003. This inevitably means putting more money into
conventional, military means of solving conflicts.
On
a more positive note, in its response to terrorism the Spanish Presidency
intends to give more time to existing priorities like the Middle
East Peace Process and the Euro-Mediterranean Barcelona Process,
a trade related initiative with political and human rights objectives.
The Presidency would like to see the ESDP adopt the fight against
terrorism as one of its objectives. However, could this be a slippery
slope to the type of interventionism we have seen in recent months?
The
Presidency acknowledges the importance of working in cooperation
with the United Nations regarding Afghanistan and more generally
in the field of conflict prevention and crisis management. Improving
relations with Russia and the former Soviet Republics of Central
Asia as well as a re-examination of the EU’s relations with
Pakistan, India and Iran have also been prioritised.
Despite
the Presidency’s commitment to foreign affairs, it seems that
the policy framework developed by the Swedes and the Belgians in
the field of conflict prevention may be sidelined, a great shame
when giant steps have been made in a positive direction.
David
Ferrard
Website
of the Spanish Presidency: http://www.ue2002.es
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The
Soul of Europe
Anita
Wuyts reports on a symposium to discuss the future
of religions and humanist organisations organised in November by the
policy advisors to the President of the European Commission under
the Soul of Europe initiative: Despite
general decline within the EU, religiosity is on the increase in
most parts of the world. Research has shown that the fastest growing
group of believers in Europe is the young. For most ethnic minorities
in the EU, religion is an important factor in identity and ethics.
Religious values therefore have to be taken into consideration and
there is a need for education to deal with prejudice and ignorance.
In its relations with the different religions and humanist bodies,
the EU cannot adopt one of the existing national law systems as
its own. It has to develop its own legal system that guarantees
each member state and religion its identity. Religious values need
to exist in all institutions of the member states.
European
public life needs a voice that speaks for the basic values of our
societies and speaks for solidarity with the vulnerable of the world.
People look to religious authorities for ethical guidance on complicated
moral issues like biogenetics, euthanasia etc. There is a great
need for inter-faith dialogue within and beyond the EU. The Commission
is proposing to set up a Forum for Inter-Faith Dialogue, reserved
for religious authorities and humanists. As Quakers we warmly welcome
such an opportunity.
Full
Report on the Soul of Europe symposium available from the QCEA
Office.
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QCEA:Two
Important Developments
Neville
Keery, Clerk of QCEA, reports on the Council Meeting held
in December 2001: Two
significant decisions of great importance to the work of the Quaker
Council for European Affairs were taken at the Council Meeting of
1-2 December 2001.
First,
a Selection Committee has been appointed to begin the search for
a new Representative and Head of Office to replace John Welton,
who completed his work for QCEA on 31 December.
I should
be glad to hear from Friends who may be interested in the Representative
and Head of Office post. All inquiries or suggestions relating to
possible candidates and sent to me will be forwarded to David Barkla
of Britain Yearly Meeting, Clerk of the Selection Committee.
The
second important decision was the Council’s approval of a
project entitled The
Future of Europe: Spiritual Values and Citizenship. It
offers an opportunity for Friends in Europe to contribute to the
reflection on the future of Europe launched at the Laeken Summit
in December 2001. The project will include dialogue with Friends
and Yearly Meetings throughout Europe.
The
project is being co-ordinated by Bronwen Thomas, one of QCEA’s
Programme Assistants, and I shall be working with her towards the
completion of a report following a conference on the project to
be held in the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, near Birmingham,
on 18-20 October 2002. Although primarily a Conference for QCEA
Associate Members, the input and participation of other interested
Friends is invited. Again, I would welcome ideas and suggestions.
I am
very pleased to announce that the Council agreed a text re-stating
in the context of today’s world A
Quaker Vision of Europe. Translations into a number of
European languages are being prepared. The full text will be published
as a pamphlet and in postcard format. Other Council decisions included
the adoption of guidelines for future work and fund-raising, for
the management of Quaker House, and for launching a project focussed
on economic justice.
The
Council has not yet found an Assistant Clerk to replace Martina
Renz, who has asked to be released from the post for family reasons.
Where my own responsibilities as Clerk are concerned, I advised
the Council of my readiness to continue to the completion of the
Spiritual Values and Citizenship project. The Council has encouraged
me to continue.
The
Council enters 2002 well prepared to meet the challenges ahead and
the new Representative and Head of Office appointed should find
that foundations have been laid for more ambitious programme and
project work.
May
2002 be a year in which people seek to work together in peace for
a better future.
More
information on The Future of Europe: Spiritual Values and Citizenship
project
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