Statement

We are appalled by the violence shown by demonstrators who stormed the U.S. Capitol today.

The people have spoken through the ballot box. The efforts of some Republican members of Congress to undermine certified state election results is a shameless attempt to subvert the will of the majority in a fair election. The people have overwhelmingly elected Joe Biden as president, not only by popular vote but through the Electoral College.

Our FCNL community grieves the loss of Tommy Raskin and we are holding his family, and the wider community he loved and continues to inspire, in the Light. Tommy passed away at the end of December 2020.

This statement was developed by American Friends Service Committee, Britain Yearly Meeting, Friends Committee for National Legislation, Quaker Council for European Affairs, and Quaker United Nations Office. It draws on their Quaker foundations and work with migrants and on migration.

We, the people, have spoken. It is clear that Joe Biden, even with final votes still being counted, has won a majority of the popular vote and over 270 electoral votes, securing his election as our 46th president.

As a Quaker organization seeking a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) strongly opposes the Trump administration’s recent decision to allow the expenditure of U.S. taxpayer funds in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

FCNL opposes the administration’s efforts to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran and to undermine and formally kill the Iran nuclear deal.

I was deeply moved to visit the Supreme Court last Sunday, along with hundreds of others paying tribute to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The mood was solemn and reverent for this woman who let her life speak—as an attorney working for civil rights, as a Supreme Court Justice, and as a family woman.

As we confront systemic racism, climate change, an economic crisis, sharpening political divisions and the threat of a pandemic, I welcome the International Day of Peace as an opportunity to reflect and recommit to global cooperation and peace.

Sept. 21 marks the International Day of Peace and 2020 is the 75th anniversary of the signing of the UN charter. To mark the occasion, the Quaker United Nations Office led FCNL and more than 170 peacebuilding organizations from around the world in calling on the international community to recommit to the founding vision of the United Nations: international peace and friendly relations among nations.