2009-2010 Report

George and Jean Farebrother carried the Flame of Hope to New York for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. The dossier was presented to several members of state missions at the UN, as well as to the Secretary General, the Under-Secretary General and UN Peace Messenger Michael Douglas. George Farebrother has written a detailed review of the conference itself and his thoughts about the outcome which is available here >

At present we are planning an Open Forum on Afghanistan on 25 September in the friends’ Meeting House. We intend this to be in the nature of exploration rather than confrontational and we hope for a wide audience and involve the attenders in discussion discussion groups.

Continues >

EPAL contributed fully to the Flame of Hope relay in April, carrying the torch from Eastbourne pier to Seaford. The event was supported by a wide age range and fully reported in the local press. Greg Szanto, mayor of Eastbourne joined three Parliamentary candidates for the send-off, Stephen Shing (Independent), Nigel Waterson (Conservative), and Stephen Lloyd (Liberal Democrat). The event was well reported and recorded in a 20 page dossier which covered the whole relay from Dover to Portsmouth. The dossier has been submitted for publication by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs as an example of Peace Education.

During the lead-up to the General Election Dorothy Forsythe wrote to all the Eastbourne candidates about Trident Replacement and the Nuclear Weapons Convention. George Farebrother wrote to the Wealden candidates. We had replies from Stephen Lloyd, David Brinson (Labour), and Stephen Shing, all three supportive of the Convention and opposing Trident Renewal. Nigel Waterson followed his party’s policy in support of the UK’s nuclear weapon policy but had nothing to say about the Nuclear Weapons Convention. The candidates’ comments received a short item in the newspaper.

As far as the Wealden candidates were concerned, Charles Hendry (Conservative) fully supported Trident Renewal and has no doubts about its legality. Chris Bowers (Liberal Democrat), believed that “it is absurd to invest considerable sums of money and considerable human resources in a device that could hardly be used lawfully”, and took the trouble to consult colleagues on the legality issue. David Jonas (Green Party) had no time for nuclear weapons. Dan Docker (UKIP) approves of replacing Trident but later correspondence has shown that he is now willing to approach this matter in a spirit of thoughtful enquiry.