Earlier this week Stop the War organisers in Muswell Hill, North London were forced to postpone a public meeting following a last-minute cancellation from the Friends Meeting House in the area.
For over twenty years Stop the War Coalition has had a fruitful relationship with Friends Meeting Houses, run by local Quakers, across the country. In fact, the founding meeting of the Stop the War Coalition was held in Friends House, Euston in 2001. So, we were extremely surprised that earlier this week the Friends Meeting House in Muswell Hill decided to cancel our meeting titled ‘How Do We End the War in Ukraine?’ at very short notice.
We understand that pro-war individuals from the area had been putting pressure on the venue to cancel the meeting, but we are very surprised that the organisation would give in to such pressure, given its own well-known commitment to peace and against war. We hope and believe that this local decision, which goes against principles of democracy and free speech, is not representative of the organisation nationally.
Stop the War will continue to organise public meetings locally and nationally to call for peace in Ukraine. We believe it is incumbent on all who believe in peaceful outcomes not to give in to pressure and to stand up for the right to oppose war and militarism.
