Letters - 12 June 2026

Ongoing torture

Torture is still always wrong.

This summer it is fifty years since, at the world gathering of Quakers in Canada, the Hamilton Declaration stated that, ‘The Religious Society of Friends declares itself to be utterly opposed to the use of torture and determined to spare no effort to bring it to an end.’  

From then on, there have been Quakers working with this aim, whether as individuals or through the Quaker Concern for the Abolition of Torture (Q-CAT) which was laid down in 2023 after twenty years of awareness-raising and lobbying.

The particularly-Quaker approach has always been the recognition of the common humanity and sacredness of all individuals, and that torture damages not only the victims but the torturers, and those who give the orders or collude in its use.

Torture is still going on, and indeed, in these days of increasing worldwide ill-treatment of people and calls for loosening of human rights obligations, may be worsening. It is rife across the globe, ranging from examples (cited by the UN) of abuse by security forces in Russia and Israel, to the continuing use of torture under the State of Emergency declared in El Salvador in March 2022, to the rampant torturing of civilians in the ongoing civil war in Sudan – the list is seemingly endless. Closer to home, the High Court recently ruled that the UK government is acting unlawfully in its treatment of asylum-seekers who are survivors of torture.

Although there is no longer a dedicated Quaker group working on this concern, let us continue to do what we can through the many organisations dedicated to the eradication of torture and support of survivors.

Juliet Morton, Michael Hutchinson, Barbara Forbes, Jane Laxton and John Cockcroft, former trustees of Q-CAT

Bhopal

I took particular note of the flyer sent with the 29 May issue of the Friend. It was from the Bhopal Medical Appeal. Time has passed since 3 December 1984, when the toxic gas was released. It is easy to forget this tragedy. We now know that there were problems on the Union Carbide site beforehand, and they were effectively ignored. 

Since the tragedy, the ground water contamination has steadily got worse, with a wider area being contaminated over time. The methyl isocyanate remains toxic, and is still causing children to be born with serious abnormalities. The Bhopal gas tragedy is a witness to what can go wrong with overseas investments. The US companies involved, Union Carbide and its successor Dow Chemical, are effectively saying that it is an Indian problem to sort out. The government of India is leaving the problem for the companies to deal with. When the UK invites foreign investment, does it seek guarantees that liabilities for problems will be properly addressed? 

An issue for Quakers in the UK to be aware of is that there is a longstanding Quaker community in Bhopal. Friends there were affected by the disaster, with deaths and ongoing harm. Bhopal Quakers have done what they can to mitigate problems both within the Quaker community and in the wider community.

The Quaker South Asia interest Group (QSAIG) does enable UK-based Quakers to maintain contacts with Quaker-related activities and projects in South Asia. The next QSAIG meeting will be on Saturday 10 October, with some Friends present in Leeds and others joining on Zoom. Anyone interested in the links between UK-based Quakers and those in South Asia will be welcome. 

More information is available at: https://qsaig.co.uk.

Martin Schweiger
on behalf of QSAIG

Act accordingly

Many years ago, when I was a student at Dorothy Heathcote’s acting course at Newcastle University, I attended a workshop during which we were given an exercise to try in pairs.

My partner was a Danish student, a friend. We were to take turns to lie on our backs and use our hands above our heads as if they were independent entities.

Our hands were to meet; get to  know each other; like each other; argue; make up; leave each other; come back; fight.

My friend took the first go, and I watched as instructed.

She was an amazing actress, and her hands were very expressive. At the end her hands came to a halt, seriously shy, and frightened of each other.

That was when a thought struck me somewhat forcibly: they were shy and fearing each other, yet they were joined together through her body. It seemed rather sad.

Since then, I have had the thought that, as her hands were joined together through her body, we all are joined to everyone else.

I thought of wars; destruction; torture; misery. I thought of loneliness and isolation, poverty and homelessness.

 I thought of people suffering all this, sometimes at the hands of others, sometimes because of the thoughtlessness of others. Meanwhile, the perpetrators, insensitive others – sometimes you and me – are inflicting pain not on others, but themselves; ourselves.

I realised the nitty gritty of us all being one, all joined, one.

Aggressors in war are killing themselves. The person who ignores a request for help is refusing help for themselves.

This is the reason I intend fighting – not wars, but to fight against wars (as was said long ago by various punk bands). This is my reason to reflect on the plight of others and think of it as my own plight and act accordingly.

Pennie Barfield Gillis 

Shared humanity

Thank you Harvey Gillman for your balanced and searching review of the book The Truth About Antisemitism (29 May). It was helpful to know that this comes from your own deep struggles with this issue as a Jewish person.

I have a good friend from Gaza, many of whose close and wider family have been killed in the bombing there over the last couple of years. He has been going through hell with his own inner struggles. Yet he is a big enough human being to say that, ‘We Palestinians and the Israelis are both trapped in our own narratives.’ 

This is true of so many situations in the world, from international conflicts right down to family disputes. 

There is always a temptation to simplify disputes as between goodies and baddies. Yes, evil needs to be confronted. But Harvey’s review highlights for us that there are many sub narratives. Let us recognise this as we strive to foster the spirit of our shared humanity.

Howard Grace

World upside down

I am aware that some Friends have expressed reservations about our desire to turn the world upside-down. I would sympathise with this concern if the objective were to encourage social upheaval and conflict. However, from a traditional Quaker perspective, the world as it is currently organised, is a deeply disordered world in which, for example, the rapacious human desire to gain wealth and power leads to terrible violence, injustice and destruction. To turn this world upside-down, therefore, means for all things to exist under the ordering of love and truth which leads to peace, justice and right relationship. At root, this is what we seek together in worship and what early Quakers meant by the term ‘gospel order’.

Stuart Masters

Being certain

I attended Yearly Meeting this year and, like the Friend mentioned in the letters of 29 May, have felt battered by other people’s certainties. To me, the individuals who do the most harm (albeit unintentionally) are those ignorant enough to think themselves infallible. They then go round accusing people they don’t trust of being guilty until proven innocent. This means that certain people feel as though they are easy scapegoats.

Friends do not need to be subject to those with such a hidden agenda. Think it possible you may be mistaken. Love one another, warts and all. Let those without sin cast the first stone.

Max Evens