FRUITS OF THE MARAZION QUAKER LIBRARY (22) - STEPHEN GROSZ (2025) 'LOVE'S LABOUR'

 Around forty years ago, I had my quiet conversion experience and accepted what I understood to be the essence of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. My training as a historian left me in little doubt that there was much in the biblical account that was not what we call literal truth - but it seemed to me that the sayings of this historical Jesus had a power and insight that made me want to follow his path for a more fruitful way of understanding myself and the art of living well with others. I found this truth encapsulated in the biblical text: 1 John 4:16 - "God is Love."

Stephen Grosz, psychoanalyst

Stephen Grosz' book, 'Love's Labour', makes no leap to connect love with God but it is about the nature of love - and there are insights that can deepen our understanding. Grosz is a psychoanalyst who has worked with patients for more than forty years. Protecting their confidentiality, Grosz presents the details of some of his most revealing cases that amply bear witness to a quotation from Rainer Maria Rilke that prefaces the book itself: "For one person to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the work for which all other work is but preparation."

Grosz began his own psychoanalysis - the necessary precursor to becoming a psychoanalyst - aged 31; his listing of the things he didn't understand about himself at that time tell a powerful story of what he

FRUITS OF THE MARAZION QUAKER LIBRARY (21) - JEANETTE WINTERSON (2025) 'ONE ALADDIN TWO LAMPS'

 Jeanette Winterson was born in Manchester in 1959 to a 17 year-old mother who looked after her for six weeks in a mother and baby home. Jeanette was then adopted by Mr and Mrs Winterson whose home was in Accrington. They were Pentecostal evangelical Christians who brought up Jeanette to be a Pentecostal missionary. That did not work out, as you can discover by reading Winterson's magnificent first book - Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit - published when she was 26. In 1975 when she was 16, Jeanette fell in love with another girl, a convert to the local Pentecostal church; her parents found out; Jeanette left home and somehow supported herself through A-levels at a local technical college. By the time she was 19, she had been accepted at my Oxford college, St Catherine's (Catz), to read English Literature. Three years later, she emerged with her degree. 

Jeanette Winterson

The story got even more personal for me as I watched a TV documentary about this contemporary star of English Literature who is now the Professor of New Writing at the University of Manchester. The camera shot half-way through the programme took the viewer into the inner quad of the college. This was the view from her room at college. I swear it was my room in my first year, back in 1967-68: Room Number 4:12. I had a definite frisson of recognition and excitement.   

Jeanette spins her tale around the stories in The Arabian Nights, including Aladdin and his Magic Lamp. The Nights begin with a Sultan called Shahryar who discovers that his wife and his brother's wife have both been unfaithful. In an appalling act of misogyny, Shahryar decrees he will marry a fresh virgin every night and then execute her the next morning. And so the slaughter goes on until it's Shahrazad's

FRUITS OF THE MARAZION QUAKER LIBRARY (20) - RICHARD LANNOWE HALL (2021) 'SAILADAY OK - RECOVERY FROM ADDICTIONS THROUGH MARINE-BASED ADVENTURE PSYCHOTHERAPY'

 Richard Hall is a member of the Marazion Quaker Meeting and he recently gifted our library a copy of his inspiring account of a remarkable new venture in psychotherapeutic practice which he pioneered so successfully he was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM). Over a period of a decade and more, Richard employed his skills as a sailor and psychotherapist to help small groups of recovering addicts to develop their own self-esteem and resilience through learning how to sail, aboard his boat and under his supervision in a programmed period of several days. For Richard, the essence of being at sea was that everyone on board was immersed in being in nature, in the natural world - and therefore within its healing power. His book is a cry from the heart - so many forces are at work in the modern world that alienate us from nature, from what makes us whole. Here, at sea, wounded souls could mend and recover.

Richard Hall's account of his own life and recovery from addictions - and his development of marine-based adventure psychotherapy.

The success of Richard's approach is vividly represented in the pages of the book which relate scores of feedback responses from participants who experienced these days and nights at sea. As Sue Parker Hall, his partner at the time, says in the Foreword: 

'What Richard doesn't mention are the occasions that he would receive... some time later...  a postcard or an email thanking him again for all his help and telling him that their experience with him had literally saved their life.'   

Richard explains his insight and practice here:

'The essence of adventure therapy... is making this connection with nature and tuning in and adapting to what we have been given and making this work for us, to help in our growth. This is not something you

FRUITS OF THE MARAZION QUAKER LIBRARY (19) - FRED MURFIN (1965/2026) 'PRISONERS FOR PEACE'

 Six weeks ago at the Marazion Meeting House, I was handed a folder which contained the printed account of Fred Murfin's three years in prison as a C.O. (Conscientious Objector) during World War One. I had not seen this treasure in the Marazion Quaker archive before and now I was being asked, as the Meeting's librarian, to do whatever I felt fit with this document. The pages had been punch-holed and fixed together - but out of sequence at one point - and there was no proper cover. It had been written by Fred Murfin in 1965, six years before his death in 1971, and first published through the Tottenham Meeting House in 1965. At some point in his later life, Fred Murfin became a member of the Marazion Quaker community and worshipped here with Wilfred Tregenza, another C.O. who served time in prison for refusing to kill in World War One (see my earlier blogpost here by pressing this link). When our most senior member today, Tony Fitt, first attended the Marazion Quaker community with his wife, the late Moira Fitt, in the 1960s, he had the privilege of knowing both these gentlemen.

Fred Murfin (1888-1971) - a Quaker C.O. during WW1 and author of PRISONERS FOR PEACE

It has now been my privilege to bring this invaluable historical document to fresh life through the services of PlusPrint at Long Rock, Penzance. I cannot be sure how many copies were in existence before this reprint at the end of last year but apart from the Marazion copy there are only four others recorded: one in the Cornwall Area Meeting (CAM) library (CAM have the copyright); one in the Euston Road Quaker library in London (their catalogue card says "the original is with Bertha Fox"); and one in the Liddle Collection of the University of Leeds library. I have had 25 copies printed of this new

LIVING THE GOOD LIFE - MEET BERYL BROOKMAN, A MARAZION QUAKER

 

Beryl Brookman is now 83. Louise and I have known Beryl as a Quaker of deep faith and strength of character for the four years we have been attending the Marazion Meeting. I interviewed Alan Newton, her husband, and wrote up the outline story of his extraordinary life last year (see the blogpost here); now it is Beryl’s turn .

 

Beryl and Alan in their Gonewoods home in April 2024

Beryl Brookman was born in 1942 in Lancashire. Her guardian angels sprung into action immediately. Unresponsive, the doctor resorted to giving Beryl, the newborn baby, the ‘kiss of life’, a technique then new to the world. Beryl had had her first lesson in the art of survival and passed with flying colours.

 

Beryl was born into adversity. She was the second child of her mother, Betty and her father’s first and only child. Mum had married Jack who worked on the Manchester Ship Canal and they lived in Manchester. Then in 1939 came a tragedy which was to have such ripple effects. Jack suffered a broken neck in an industrial accident when a load fell on him. As he lay on the ground dying, he turned to his best mate, Henry Tobin, and said: ‘Look after Betty’. Betty was eight months pregnant. Henry was a

FRUITS OF THE MARAZION QUAKER LIBRARY (18) - NICK LOWLES (2025) 'HOW TO DEFEAT THE FAR RIGHT - LESSONS FROM HOPE NOT HATE'

Gordon Brown, prime-minster of the UK from 2007-2010, has described Nick Lowles' book as 'Brilliant and challenging'. I agree. Within its pages, Lowles outlines the history of the rise of the far right in Britain. This is such a useful reminder of the key events that have happened in our own lifetime. We all risk being swamped by the sweep of news that hits the headlines and then fades from memory. Our capacity to manage the future depends on our understanding the patterns that can be traced in the past. Lowles is a good historian and provides that outline - and of course he is also an activist who has been campaigning against the far right for three and a half decades. We need the knowledge that Lowles' book provides - and we also need the spirit of hope that has shaped Nick Lowles' activism. 

Nick Lowles - activist, journalist and researcher

The Hope Not Hate movement began life in 2004. Here is part of the Wikipedia entry:

Hope not Hate was founded in 2004 by Nick Lowles, former editor of the anti-

DISCOVERING THE AMERICAN-BORN BRITISH ARTIST, LILIANE LIJN - HER TATE ST IVES EXHIBITION IN 2025

 

Last year, in 2024, Louise, our friend Stephen Vranch, and I attended the exhilarating exhibitions of three female artists: Outi Pieski from Finland; Beatriz Milhazes from Portugal; and Malgorozata Mirga-Tas from the Roma community in Poland - see my earlier blogposts. Earlier this year, 2025, the three of us attended the exhibition celebrating the work of Ithell Coloquhoun, a British artist born in Imperial India in 1906 - and last week we saw the Liliane Lijn show a few days before it ended. At first, I thought that the Lijn show was only working for me at the cerebral level. How wrong I was. Once I was fully exposed to the wonders of kinetic art, I was hooked - especially when wrapped in the darkness  of a Tate chamber where all light has been excluded apart from the rays emitting from the exhibits themselves.   

Liliane Lijn is a ground-breaking American-born artist working in the field of kinetic art - (any art form that incorporates motion as an essential element of its design). 

Liliane Lijn in Vienna, April 2025

 

Liliane Lijn was born in New York City in 1939, four months after her mother and grandmother arrived by boat from Antwerp. Her parents were from Russian Jewish families and they separated when Liliane was 9 years old. By the time she was 15, Liliane was with her father and brother in Geneva. Soon she was living with her mother in Lugano and attending school there where she became fluent in French and Italian. She became friends with Nina Thoeren whose mother was a Surrealist painter - and that changed the direction of her life. By 1958, she was a student at the Sorbonne studying archaeology and at the Ecole du Louvre she was reading Art History. Now she began to draw and paint on her own and take part in meetings of the Surrealist group where she met Andre Breton.

In 1961, Lijn was back in New York and married to the Greek artist Takis. Here she started working with

FRUITS OF THE MARAZION QUAKER LIBRARY(17) - HUGH MCGREGOR ROSS (1998/2010) 'SPIRITUALITY IN THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS'

 I have already written about the Gospel of Thomas and referenced the writings of the Quaker computer scientist and theologian, Hugh McGregor Ross, who made his own study of this gospel and produced a translation from the Coptic of the Sayings of Jesus discovered in an earthenware jar in 1945 - see these earlier blogposts:

https://robdonovan.blogspot.com/2024/08/fruits-of-marazion-quaker-library-10.html

https://robdonovan.blogspot.com/2024/09/fruits-of-marazion-quaker-library-11.html

https://robdonovan.blogspot.com/2024/01/fruits-of-marazion-quaker-library-hugh.html

In this blogpost, I explore the insights in 'Spirituality in the Gospel of Thomas' by Hugh McGregor Ross (1998/2010). I believe that these sayings of Jesus examined by McGregor Ross are profoundly important for all of us. George Fox never knew the gospel of Thomas but our Quaker founder was tuned in to the wavelength of these sayings of Jesus, memorized by Thomas his disciple and then most likely written down by a scribe as Thomas dictated.  We as Quakers, following the inspired teaching of George Fox, believe that the Light is in all of us; we do not need priests and churches to guide and shelter us. We find the Spirit inside us. We listen in silence together and our souls are awakened to the deep Truth that is the heart of our humanity. 

Front cover, showing a 6th century icon of Jesus in the monastery church of St Catherine, Mount Sinai

Read the sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas and you will find that such Quaker spirituality is wonderfully akin to the spirituality revealed by Jesus according to Thomas. But be prepared to reassess the orthodox understanding of the teachings of Jesus that we have grown up with. To varying degrees, we have all been shaped by the teachings of the church and the accepted canon of Christian revelation in the New Testament - and not all of this orthodoxy is necessarily as true and certain as it may once have seemed. I am reminded that George Bernard Shaw, the atheist playwright, remarked that Paul's teachings were 'a monstrous imposition upon Jesus' and fundamentally distorted the original message and purpose of Jesus. Hugh McGregor Ross, more kindly, remarks that 'Paul never met Jesus in person to have his abundant ahamkara burnt up' - but Thomas had had that advantage. 

The connection between Thomas and India is referenced in this AI piece below:

Evidence for St. Thomas's arrival in India comes from ancient Christian traditions, including texts like the Acts of Thomas and writings of early church fathers like Ephrem the Syrian, and local folklore in India such as the Thomma Parvam and Ramban Pattu. While direct archaeological proof is lacking, supporting factors include the presence of well-established Christian communities by the 6th century in India and the potential historical connection through the Indo-Parthian Kingdom.

Few of us will be familiar with the concept of ahamkara. I certainly was not. Yet it is vital in understanding the spiritual significance of the teachings of Jesus which point to the necessity of quenching ahamkara. No European language has a word for this concept so McGregor Ross has borrowed this Eastern word - ahamkara, meaning the dominance of the body, and of the mind and

CANADA THROUGH THE EYES OF HERCULE POIROT AND AGATHA CHRISTIE

The maple leaf is a national emblem for the state of Canada. Here in our own local area the grounds of the Anglican church, St John's in the Fields, contain a driveway flanked by a row of ornamental maple trees. The borders of the grounds are planted with a mixture of ash and sycamore trees. The sycamore is also called the English maple tree; their leaves are a similar shape. The maple emblem is one I know and enjoy. 

Canadian Red Maple

Canadian flag sticker 

Canada is a nation we have never visited but we have important friends who have made their lives sing more sweetly by moving to that country. John Reid, a contemporary of mine at Catz in Oxford (1967-70), moved to Canada to follow an academic path of distinction that now sees him a professor emeritus at SMU - Saint Mary's University, Nova Scotia. Mel and Dan Read are a couple we knew when we lived in East Anglia who moved to Canada with their two young boys to start a new adventure - and over twenty years later have reaped such rewards. 

This blogpost is therefore dedicated to John and his wife, Jackie, and their extended family, and Mel and Dan and their two sons, Jake and Finn. 

The trigger to create it came when the inimitable Sir David Suchet who played the part of Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, for around twenty-five years made a BBC series shown this year, 2025, which traced in five episodes the journey around the world undertaken by 

FRUITS OF THE MARAZION QUAKER LIBRARY (16) - MOIRA FITT (2022) 'THE GOLDEN THREAD IN MY LIFE - A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY WITH QUAKERS'

 In the last year of her life, in late May 2022, Moira paid a visit to our Stennack home in St Ives to thank us for a message of support we had sent. 2022 was our first year as Quaker attenders, not in person but through Zoom because we were fearful of the threat of Covid infection. When Moira came, Louise was gifted with a half-hour meeting; I was walking our dog. Moira left a handwritten card thanking us for holding her in the Light of God's love and healing. She wrote: 'The Meeting House is a very special place for me, somehow it has a "spirit of place" where the 330 years of Quaker worship seems to emanate from the walls and seep into us as we worship. Thank you for joining us.' That card has a permanent place on our mantelshelf.  

Moira's story of her spiritual life was the fruit of her last years as she sought to pull together her experiences so she could share her journey with others. In 2022, dying of cancer, she never gave up writing and editing to the very end. Her daughter, Penny, and husband, Tony, have published this book as a tribute to her passion and out of deep love. 

Moira Fitt (1940-2022) wanted to share her spiritual journey with others. 

Moira was convinced that her life experiences were linked by a single 'golden thread' which was a 'leading of the spirit'. In that odyssey, specific places helped nurture the development of Moira's faith over a span of sixty years, drawing her closer to understanding the mystic roots of the core Quaker belief: We, being human, all have access to that of God within. 

Moira was a bright child who passed the 11plus exam to gain a place at Watford Grammar School for Girls. Unfortunately, she was stricken by illness in her teens, suffering from both T.B. and meningitis. Slowly recovering but missing a whole year of school Moira passed her O-levels and went to secretarial college. Around this time she met her husband-to-be, Tony Fitt. He had started to attend Watford Friends Meeting and Moira began to attend too. A Quaker wedding followed in 1960 in Watford and Moira and

FRUITS OF THE MARAZION QUAKER LIBRARY (15) - ALTERNATIVE DEFENCE REVIEW (MAY 2025)

 This Alternative Defence Review was proposed and undertaken by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in response to the RMT union's decision to convene a labour and peace movement summit to work out the basis of a new foreign policy which would promote peace and social justice.

The Alternative Defence Review, published in May 2025

 

It is so refreshing to read a document that offers a new vision for peace, justice, and security - and challenges the war narrative that is becoming louder and louder, played out by the political elites, the military-industrial complex, and the mainstream media.

In summary, the Review shows how militarization:

• distorts national priorities
• fuels global instability
• undermines international law
• harms the environment
• diverts investment from public services and social infrastructure. 

Increased military expenditure will be economically inefficient, environmentally destructive, and socially regressive, offering limited job creation while stifling a more sustainable and just economy. 

We need a significantly demilitarized defence strategy rooted in human security and common security - prioritizing diplomacy, global cooperation, conflict prevention, and investment in health, education, climate resilience, social care, and the creation of well-paid, secure, unionized and socially useful jobs. 

We call for:

•  a significant reduction in military spending
• an immediate halt to arms exports to countries involved in active conflict or human rights abuses (including Israel and Gulf states)
• a Just Transition for defence-dependent workers and communities.

Unfortunately, the present Labour Government plans to increase defence spending from 2.3% to 2.5% of GDP, financing this escalation by cutting international aid and domestic welfare - directly undermining

FACTS OF LIFE FOR YOU AND KEIR STARMER'S LABOUR GOVERNMENT TO PONDER

 I am grateful that Tax Justice has been created and that we still live in a society where its truths can be disseminated. Here is its latest mailing - but first an image that illustrates the first cycle of austerity this country was compelled to endure between 2010 and 2015 under Cameron, Osborne, and Clegg.

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Dear Rob,   The Times Rich List just revealed how much wealth is concentrated in the hands of a tiny number of people. Let’s unpack what it showed. Firstly, the number of billionaires in the UK has increased from 15 in 1990 to 156 in 2025. Secondly, the scale of their wealth is comparable to nation states’ economic output: the 350 richest individuals and families on the Rich List hold combined wealth of £772.8 billion, more than the GDP of countries like Belgium, Argentina or Ireland. Thirdly, wealth inequality is surging: the UK’s 50 richest families hold more wealth than 50% of the population. Our partners at The Equality Trust analysed the rich list and found that billionaires have become ludicrously more wealthy since the rankings have been published. Their research found that over half of total billionaire wealth comes from property, inheritance and the finance sector – all sources of wealth that significantly contribute

ITHELL COLQUHOUN - A RADICAL VISIONARY ARTIST'S EXHIBITION - 'BETWEEN TWO WORLDS' - AT TATE ST IVES IN 2025

The Ithell Colquohoun exhibition at Tate St Ives will finish soon and move to London; I am very glad to have had the opportunity to see it but emotionally I was more gripped by the three major exhibitions in Tate St Ives during 2024 featuring the Sami-Finnish Outi Pieski, the Portuguese Beatriz Milhazes, and the Polish-Roma Malgorzata Mirga-Tas - see these blogposts below:

https://robdonovan.blogspot.com/2024/05/exploring-new-worlds-outi-pieski-at.html 

https://robdonovan.blogspot.com/2024/07/beatriz-milhazes-at-tate-st-ives.html

https://robdonovan.blogspot.com/2024/11/malgorzata-mirga-tas-polish-roma-artist.html

These three women had visions of colour and shape that took my breath away at times and always excited. Ithell Colquohoun is an English artist who came to Cornwall in search of spiritual understanding. I can admire her work but she only thrilled me with her vision occasionally. My response remained at a cerebral level most of the time.

Ithell Colquohoun (pronounced Eyethal Kerhoon) - born in British India in 1906 and died in Cornwall in 1988, aged 81 - educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and the Slade School of Art - Surrealist painter and writer.

 

Her story, though, is fascinating. She was an important figure in British surrealism during the 1930s and 1940s who brought her own twist to artistic work through her belief in occultism. She experimented in unconscious picture-making. Seeing the world as a connected spiritual cosmos, she came to Cornwall to explore the ancient landscape with its Celtic traditions and sacred sites. Sexual identity became a major

FRUITS OF THE MARAZION QUAKER LIBRARY (14) - MARCUS REDIKER (2017) 'THE FEARLESS BENJAMIN LAY - THE QUAKER DWARF WHO BECAME THE FIRST REVOLUTIONARY ABOLITIONIST'

Marcus Rediker, the biographer of Benjamin Lay, is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh and Senior Research Fellow at the College d'etudes mondiales in Paris. He is from a working-class background and the first in his family to attend university but dropped out in 1971 unable to cope with the elitism he encountered. Already the protests against the Vietnam war were shaping his radical activism which was further honed by three years working in a cellophane factory. When he was laid off, he enrolled on a university course and graduated in 1976. After his doctorate, Marcus Rediker emerged as an outstanding advocate of a 'history from below approach' shaped by a Marxist awareness of the nature of capitalist society. His main focus has been on slavery and the slave-trading ships, showing the influence of the sea in the history of countries bordering on the Atlantic. He is the author of The Slave Ship as well as The Fearless Benjamin Lay. 

The response to his biography of Benjamin Lay has been very positive:

The Publishers Weekly review states that the book "successfully rescues Lay from obscurity" and that Benjamin Lay "deserve[s] to be remembered."^[12] The Guardian included the book on their list of the best biographies and autobiographies of 2017 saying that the book is "micro-history at its best".^[13] Christianity Today commented on the book saying that it "brings vividly to life a near-forgotten figure".^[14]   Benjamin Lay's life story unfolded in England, the Caribbean and the American colonies in a remarkable fashion in the course of which he emerged as a critically important figure in the turn against slave ownership. Lay was a radical, free spirit abolitionist. 

I am impressed with Marcus Rediker. He is a fine historian. As for Benjamin Lay, I find him truly inspirational, as does Marcus Rediker. Lay deserves a prominent place in the larger drama of American history and we Quakers need to know about his remarkable life and learn lessons from his fortitude and spirit. Benjamin Lay embodied a set of principles that fit well with American and Western ideals of democracy and equality too often breached in the real world. Benjamin Lay cared for the world and all its creatures. He wrote on the margin of one of the two hundred books he kept in his cave: "Dear souls, be tender hearted." 

Benjamin Lay - this portrait by William Williams in 1758 depicts Lay in front of his cave in Abington but makes no reference to his deep commitment to the cause of abolitionism. Benjamin Lay would not have given his approval for such a portrait; he would have seen it as an expression of vanity. 

Benjamin Lay's family had lived in the small village of Copford in Essex, around sixty miles from London, for several generations. His grandparents, William and Prudence, joined the Quaker movement sometime after 1655, towards the end of the period that encompassed the civil war from 1642 to 1649, the execution of the king, Charles I, in 1649, and the Cromwellian Protectorate that came to an end in

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM - THESE ARE THE POLICIES NOBODY IN THE LABOUR GOVERNMENT IS TALKING ABOUT

TAX JUSTICE has published a paper on how to manage our economy and be true to the values of social justice. Here it is below; it's well worth a read. I shall print it off and inwardly digest and spread the word. Just a couple of pictures this time:

Osborne was the chancellor between 2010 and 2015; he and Cameron followed policies that meant the poor, weak and vulnerable bore the brunt of their plans to reduce the size of the state. Now Reeves and Starmer are also targeting the most needy in our society - and yet there are billions of pounds of surplus wealth waiting to be redistributed in the interests of a fair and decent society. Why are they not following

FRUITS OF THE MARAZION QUAKER LIBRARY (13) - AKALA (2018) NATIVES: RACE & CLASS IN THE RUINS OF EMPIRE

I am very grateful to Jo Wren, a Quaker in our Marazion Meeting House community, for recommending Akala's book for inclusion in the library some weeks ago. I am also humbled that I had never heard of Akala - an award-winning hip-hop artist, writer, educator and social entrepreneur - before. Shame on me. I try to keep up with what is important in the political and social spheres - but Akala's name and work remained unknown. 

Akala in 2014

Here is a section of the Wikipedia entry for Akala:

"Kingslee James McLean Daley (born 1 December 1983),^[1] known professionally as Akala, is a British rapper, writer and activist from Kentish Town, London. In 2006, he was voted the Best Hip Hop Act at the MOBO Awards^[2] and has been included on the annual Powerlist of the 100 most influential Black British people in the UK, most recently making the 2021 edition.^[3][4]"

Make no mistake - Natives is a vital book for understanding our society and our history. David Olusoga (see my blogpost link here: Rob Donovan - Author: FRUITS OF THE MARAZION QUAKER LIBRARY (8) - DAVID OLUSOGA (2020) 'BLACK AND BRITISH - A SHORT, ESSENTIAL HISTORY') wrote in the Guardian: 'Part biography, part polemic, this powerful, wide-ranging study picks apart the British myth of meritocracy'. The Independent noted that Akala's 'Natives' was 'A potent combination of autobiography and political history which holds up a mirror to contemporary Britain.  

Akala explains that the purpose of his book is to examine how the seemingly impersonal forces of race and class have impacted and continue to shape our lives, and 'how easily I could now be telling you a very different but much more common story of cyclical violence, prison and part-time, insecure and low-paying work'. 

In Chapter 1, Akala provides a devastating analysis of Britain in the 1980s, the decade of his birth. We were and are a racist society and he lays the historical reasons bare. Such racism cannot be understood without grasping the power of class. In short, 'whiteness', to quote James Baldwin, 'is a metaphor for power'. Those who have exercised power in the world have been and still largely are white. Blackness is bad; whiteness is good. This was why, in spite of all the sufferings of poor people in Britain, there was a 'Keep Britain White' campaign that sections of the working class supported. Akala's maternal granddad

FRUITS OF THE MARAZION QUAKER LIBRARY (12) - SHEILA HANCOCK (2022) 'OLD RAGE'

 Jo Wren, a Quaker Elder at the Marazion Meeting House, donated a copy of Sheila Hancock's latest book to our Marazion Quaker library a couple of weeks ago, saying that since Sheila was a Quaker her story should be of interest. Jo had just finished reading her own copy and was impressed. I have now finished reading these 258 pages and agree. This is a work that many will find inspiring. Joan Bakewell, reviewing the book in the Guardian, wrote: 'Her gift for directly communicating the open-heartedness and spirit of adventure with which she confronts her life ... is the stuff of bestsellers'. 

Sheila was born in February 1933 and is now 91 years old. 'Old Rage' is structured around diary entries from January 2016 to June 2021 which serve to relate events from her life during that period and present her commentary on national matters that are shaping the wider world. Within all this, there are many reflections back to other episodes in her past - these are the thoughts of an octogenarian weaving together the threads of her long life. The book, however, starts in November 2020 when Sheila receives the official communication from Downing Street telling her in strictest confidence that she has been recommended for the honour of DBE - she will become a Dame of the British Empire if she accepts the offer. 

Sheila Hancock, aged 90

I was hooked straightaway. Sheila writes: 'I feel sick with inadequacy. A lifetime of getting away with it does not merit reward ... Should I turn it down? It's hardly in keeping with my Quaker belief of equality.' I am thinking: Please, please, do turn it down - as Benjamin Zephaniah did'. I turn to Wikipedia and discover that Dame Sheila had accepted the honour. Alas! I return a little disappointed to the story of her recent and past life - but then I am a paid-up Republican and a proper 21st century socialist in the Corbyn tradition. I find in later pages that Sheila loves the royal family and has no time for Corbyn. Well, we are all shaped by our experiences and influences. And there's still much to admire, enjoy,

REVOLUTIONARY NONVIOLENCE - WITH THANKS TO MILAN RAI, NOAM CHOMSKY, AJ MUSTE, AND PETER LE MARE

Milan Rai is nearly 60. I have come to appreciate him through his work over the last seventeen years as editor of Peace News, the newspaper I used to sell on the corner of Carfax in Oxford on Saturday mornings in 1968 and 1969 as a member of the Oxford University Peace Action Group. In September this year he wrote his editorial goodbye:

'I first bought, and started selling, Peace News when I was at school. Its vision of revolutionary anarcha-feminist nonviolence has had a deep and lasting impact on me.

It has been an enormous honour to have been co-editor, with Emily Johns, and then the sole editor of PN. Emily, you’re a star. 17 years have flown by.

It has also been an honour to be the first sole editor of colour.

I’m so glad to have carried the banner of revolutionary nonviolence alongside Emily, Emma Sangster and Gabriel Carlyle and, earlier on, Claire Poyner, Rebecca Dale, Nik Górecki and John Mcallister. I’m grateful to Ippy and to all the previous PN staff for having built the paper and for having kept this show on the road.'

Milan Rai

Milan Rai had earned his credentials as a nonviolent activist:

Rai first became politically active in the campaign against Pershing II and Ground Launched Cruise Missiles - nuclear weapons scheduled to be deployed in Western Europe in the late 1980s.

Along with fellow activist Maya Evans, he was arrested on 25 October 2005 next to the Cenotaph war memorial in London, for refusing to cease reading aloud the names of

MALGORZATA MIRGA-TAS - A POLISH-ROMA ARTIST OF DISTINCTION - HER TATE ST IVES EXHIBITION IN 2024/5

We visited the exhibitions at Tate St Ives celebrating the work of  Outi Pieski and Beatriz Milhazes earlier this year - see my earlier blogposts: 

Rob Donovan - Author: EXPLORING NEW WORLDS - OUTI PIESKI AT TATE ST IVES - AND REDEFINING BOUNDARIES

Rob Donovan - Author: BEATRIZ MILHAZES AT TATE ST IVES - A PORTUGUESE CELBRATION OF LIFE

Our friend, Stephen Vranch, took us round the latest show at Tate St Ives which is celebrating the art of Malgorzata Mirga-Tas on the morning of 1 November. It was a birthday gift for Louise. Stephen took the photographs that appear in the second part of this blog-post - they tell their own story. 

Malgorzata Mirga-Tas

In the first part below, I am indebted to the Guardian newspaper for the following insight into the artist and her Roma identity, as told by the Guardian's Charlotte Higgins:   

"Her dazzling textile works caused a sensation at Europe’s two most important art events. Mirga-Tas talks about defying centuries of anti-Roma prejudice – and turning her mother’s old dresses into art.

Małgorzata Mirga-Tas is the sort of person who hugs a visitor even before she says hello. She welcomes me into her home in the village of Czarna Góra, at the foot of the Tatra mountains in southern Poland, with a high-wattage smile. The artist’s house is right next to her aunt’s and her mother’s. The modern buildings huddle together, facing each other protectively round a flower garden. Mirga-Tas loves being close to so

MARK WAISTELL, QUAKER SINGER/SONGWRITER FROM DEVON - A CREATIVE VOICE

 A couple of weeks ago, I attended a concert given by Mark Waistell, a Devon Quaker, at the Penzance YMCA which is where the Penzance Quaker Meeting is held. There were around 30 Quakers in the audience. My new hearing aids found it difficult to cope with the acoustics of the room and the sound system seemed too loud but heh that sounds a grumble and what Mark was able to communicate through his playing and voice was poetic and thought-provoking. He took as his theme the wisdom to be found in the Quaker Advices and Queries, linking these with his own songs. I was inspired enough to buy a couple of his CDs at the interval and the all-important collection of his lyrics: Without Music (2020).  

Mark Waistell - the image from the CD cover of 'Latecomer'.

I am a writer and I was already realizing that Mark has the feeling and skill to shine as a word magician. Here's a taste of what we experienced - this song is called 'My England of Long Ago' and Tom Carroll