I am writing to you with a full heart after a summer spent with friends on Cornish cliff paths, at Buddhafield Festival and on a farm in Denmark. What a glorious summer it has been so far. This sits in stark contrast with the recent escalation of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Still, the moon is made brilliant by the dark night and we savour our sweetest moments more when we’ve known hardship. Though the suffering in Gaza is beyond my understanding, when it visits me in morning meditation, I thank it for diminishing my own trivial complaints and moving me to relish the otherwise mundane pleasures of my simple life.
It has always struck me how the writer Mary Oliver – who famously asks, ‘what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?’ – seemed to experience the beauty of this world in a manner so profound, that it invites us all to look again and fall in love with our own lives. Recently, in Howarth, I found a small collection of hers called ‘Dream Work’ which I hadn’t come across and in it she reveals that she was abused by her father as a child. In one poem she uses the metaphor of a swimmer ’trailing a mossy darkness … hinged to your wildest joy like a shadow.’ Of course, being present with suffering (our own or that of others) is hard, we prefer distraction. But it has much to teach us, not just about compassion, but also about savouring moments of joy in our own fragile, fleeting lives.
Peace by Sylvia Ostertag, Rin’un Roshi
Sitting in silence
you should simply
let yourself fully arrive.
Let yourself fully arrive
in the peace
of this moment.
How can you actually do that,
let yourself arrive in peace,
given there are so many people
who tragically
have to suffer
from the lack of peace in the world?
Given there are so many people
who, in one way or another,
find themselves
in overwhelming need
and unspeakable suffering?
Can it do them good
if – with them in mind –
others
let themselves arrive
in the peace
of this moment?
I love this poem, but it comes to mean more and more in these warring times. As do our shanti mantras, which we chant with a deeper yearning these days.
I wanted to share that me and my mum are off to the demonstration this Saturday in London to protest our government’s insufficient response to the genocide in Gaza and their clamp down on freedom of speech. Thich Nhat Hanh said that ‘Compassion is a verb’ suggesting that caring means taking action, not simply feeling empathy. It is one of the tenets of of Buddhism I find most compelling that enlightenment is envisioned not as calming the mind, rather the enlightened being or bodhisattva goes back into the world to ease the suffering of others and teach compassion. We are only truly free when we are all free – Free, Free Palestine! I am sure if you have the capacity, you are doing some of the following, but here are just a few simple ways to turn your empathy into action:
1) Write to your MP demanding they lobby the government in parliament to do more. Mine is below if you want ideas on wording, lots online too
2) Find out about protests in your area and exercise your dwindling right to protest
3) Do a fund raiser or donate to humanitarian organisations in Gaza like Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres)
4) Donate to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign who are lobbying our government on our behalf
5) Meditate, pray or chant for peace regularly and practice peace in your relationships
My letter to local MP Perran Moon
Dear Perran Moon,
Whilst this email comes from me, I am writing with my family (copied in) and we would appreciate a response to us all. We believe you are a good man and will want to be on the right side of history on this, so this is a full email explaining why we believe this is important. In practical terms what we are asking is that, as our MP, you call on the government to:
1) Recognise Israeli genocide in Gaza
2) Recognise the Palestinian state
3) Institute a full arms embargo, closing the loophole allowing parts manufactured in the UK to reach Israel via third parties
4) Institute comprehensive trade sanctions on Israeli goods and services akin to those on Russia
5) Begin an immediate large scale humanitarian aid effort with military support to ensure aid makes it to the remaining people in Gaza
6) Repeal the proscription of Palestine Action; which conflates protest against terrorism with terrorism
We are currently considering how to further support local and national groups who are protesting regarding our government’s lack of action on the genocide in Gaza, their continued military support for Israel and the proscription of Palestine Action as a terror organisation. Labour needs to acknowledge Israel’s war crimes. There is an ICC arrest warrant out for Netanyahu and in Nov. 2024 the UN stated that the occupation of the West Bank was unlawful, describing it as an apartheid and genocide. The Labour government also needs to join the 147 (of 193) UN member states to recognise Palestine as a state as soon as possible.
Netanyahu has made it clear that he is aiming at a complete ’siege’ of Palestine and there is evidence he will not stop there; this is an escalating situation and the government is just not taking a stand. In his own words to the UN, Netinyahu said, ‘There is no place—there is no place in Iran—that the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that’s true of the entire Middle East.’
We understand that there is a lot of fear of the label of anti-semitism in the Labour Party, but supporting the Palestinian people now is so clearly not anti-semitic, it is the only moral action. Medecins Sans Frontieres have shared that their front line staff are finding that Israeli military are clearly targeting children and even whistle blowers from the IDF have shared how they were told to target civilians.
We are disappointed in Labour and whilst we think you are a good MP, we are also considering how to vote at the next election. Keir Starmer and the Labour Party will lose many of their core voters at the next election over their handling of Gaza so far. Whilst swing voters have their attention, their stalwart members are walking away shaking their heads in disbelief. Also, history will not look well on anyone in your party watering down the message that there is a genocide happening and standing in the way of protesting genocide through non-violent civil disobedience in this country.
We were first appalled that in December 2023, when the genocide in Gaza was well underway and the IDF were already targeting civilians, aid convoys, schools and hospitals, the UK government abstained when the UN voted overwhelmingly for a ceasefire in Gaza. They abstained again in 2024. Though there has been hand wringing and virtue signalling, there is no clear message for Israel, the UK has continued military supplies, delivered no sanctions, offered insufficient aid and shown little understanding of the frustrations of their own population who are crying at home as they watch this play out. This is the worst human rights offence we have seen in our lifetimes and we hope we don’t live to watch anything worse. What are our government doing to prevent it?
I went to an early protest on The Moor in Falmouth not long after all this began and a Palestinian academic at the University said at the end of his talk. ‘If you know Palestinians, then do remember us to the rest of the world when we are gone and tell them we were a good people.’ At that moment, I thought it was maybe hyperbolic, but now I feel he saw what I didn’t, just how far this would go. Please, we are sure you feel there are more pressing issues, but really nothing is more important than this right now.
We respect you and were all happy to see you speak passionately about Gaza, but were therefore really saddened when you voted for the proscription of Palestine Action. The UN has stated this is a misuse of terror legislation. It is a terrible decision. We understand that protestors who damage property have to pay for that and be taken to court, but we already have laws for that. It was an awful bill putting Palestine Action (a non-violent civil disobedience group) on the same list as a couple of far right groups who engage in (at the least) hate speech. Why you didn’t abstain from the vote we have no idea, but we imagine that decision might plague you down the line. It is not too late for you to be on the right side of history on this.
Again, in haste, as our MP we ask you to call on the government to:
1) Recognise Israeli genocide in Gaza
2) Recognise the Palestinian state
3) Institute a full arms embargo, closing the loophole allowing parts manufactured in the UK to reach Israel via third parties
4) Institute comprehensive trade sanctions on Israeli goods and services akin to those on Russia
5) Begin an immediate large scale humanitarian aid effort with military support to ensure aid makes it to the remaining people in Gaza
6) Repeal the proscription of Palestine Action; which conflates protest against terrorism with terrorism
In this we appeal to the UK’s obligations as a member of the United Nations to take every effective action possible to uphold international law in the matter of genocide in Gaza. See the UN’s account of our obligations on their website here: https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/09/1154496
Likewise, we request that you consider the ICC has arrest warrants out for Netinyahu, see here: https://www.icc-cpi.int/defendant/netanyahu
Also, consider the UN’s statement that Israel is conducting a genocide, see here: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/11/un-special-committee-finds-israels-warfare-methods-gaza-consistent-genocide
If you feel unable to support any of these six points then please sit down with us to talk this through.
Best wishes,
Amy, Jessie, Lynden and Phil Hughes