John Papworth
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This biographical article is written like a résumé. Please help improve it by revising it to be neutral and encyclopedic. (August 2010) |
John Papworth (Born London, England, 1921)
After being reared in an orphanage, the Reverend John Papworth has been at various times a baker, journalist, economist - London University graduate, ecologist, a self proclaimed 'futurist' and Church of England priest. He was under licence to officiate from the Bishop of London until his remarks about the non-sinfulness of shoplifting in giant stores attracted global media attention and caused him to be sacked from his non-stipendary post. (He was, he says, "concerned with the way the giants were destroying local community life" and argued, "Jesus taught we should love our neighbours" - he had said nothing about loving Marks & Spencers).
With the help of 'Fritz' E.F. Schumacher and Sir Herbert Read, he founded and edited Resurgence magazine (now edited by Satish Kumar).[1] He has also been: a parliamentary Labour candidate, 1955; for nine years personal assistant to the then President of Zambia, Dr Kenneth Kaunda; consultant to Greenpeace; associate editor for The Ecologist magazine; President of The Academic Inn (a debating society), Leopold Kohr's ideal; founder of the Village Industry Service (Zambia); founder and editor of the Fourth World Review (for a world of "small nations, small communities and the inalienable sovereignty of the human spirit") a bi-monthly with an international circulation. In the 1960s, he was imprisoned along with Bertrand Russell for anti-nuclear protests, and also was placed in Albany jail, Georgia, USA, for Civil Rights activities. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Papworth wrote regularly for the pacifist newspaper Peace News.[2]
He has starred in two BBC documentaries entitled 'No Man is an Island' and 'Turbulent Priest'. He has written the following books: 'The Economics of Humanism', 'New Politics', 'Small is Powerful', and 'Shut up and Listen'. His latest book is called 'Village Democracy'. Papworth's main political inspiration was the Austrian philosopher Leopold Kohr.
His international lecture tours promoting radical alternatives to current institutional approaches, have drawn capacity audiences. His French-born wife, Marcelle, died in 1995, and his children, Pierre, John-David and Marie, live in London.
He created village magazine Purton Today in 2004, a local ecological newsletter/magazine. The magazine contains his writing as well as contributions from local Purtonians, including Adam Crosland, Sid Walker and Duncan Butler.
He currently lives in Purton, Wiltshire.
[edit] References
- ^ E .F. Schumacher: His Life and Thought by Barbara Wood. Harper & Row, 1984. ISBN 0060153563, (p.348-349).
- ^ Articles of Peace : Celebrating Fifty Years of "Peace News", edited by Gail Chester and Andrew Rigby. Prism Press, 1986. ISBN 0907061907 (p.22).
