the Friend - Mayors and morals

25 September 2009

Comment

Before being elected as a local councillor in 2007 I had never attended a Remembrance Day parade

I felt strongly in the 1980s that the ceremonies were used by the government then to whip up cold war paranoia and to weaken the peace movement

One year I made and distributed large numbers of red poppies with the words ‘Remembrance is not enough’ printed on them

I faced a dilemma in November 2007

I could have just stayed away, but as an elected representative of the community I decided I should attend and find out first hand what it felt like

I chose to wear a white poppy alongside the red one

I found the whole occasion very moving, much more so than I had expected

I live near an RAF base and the reality of involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is very close to many people’s lives

Robin Waterston

In this week's online edition...

cover

Alternative economies?
Joe Mugford
Saving the bees – an update
Philip Barron
News round-up

For better, for worse
T J (Bill) Schaeffer
Mayors and morals
Robin Waterston
Friends Provident
Lyn Wilson
Letters

Woolgathering: having no goal in mind
Ian Wright
Three special places
R N Clarke
Talk and tango
Fiona Foulkes
Friends at the forefront of City of Sanctuary movement
Craig Barnett
A new landscape
Sarah Alldred
Q-eye: a Quaker look at the world

q-eye
eye@thefriend.org

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