William Morris (Next Century Foundation)

William Morris is Secretary General of the Next Century Foundation.

William Morris
William Morris in Ninevah Province, Iraq 2006
NationalityDual (UK/US)
Known forNext Century Foundation
Partner(s)Veronica Harding
ChildrenTwo sons and one daughter

Early life

He is the son of Cornish author and publisher Claud Morris and Patricia (née′ Holton), an American writer and broadcaster. Educated variously at the Bible College of Wales, Grenville College in Bideford, North Devon, City of Westminster College, London College of Printing, Royal Agricultural College, Exeter University Department of Lifelong Learning, all in the United Kingdom.

Formerly a journalist and publisher, William Morris is an expert on Arab Affairs with close family connections with the Arab world. At one time William Morris edited "Voice", a periodical on Arab Affairs. He is a dual national (UK/US).

William started his career as a publisher in the late sixties founding a number of publications including the now defunct London Law Quarterly. William left publishing in the early eighties to set up a sheep farm in South Wales and became a volunteer Prison Visitor at Swansea Prison (eventually becoming local National Association of Official Prison Visitors secretary). He was then elected as a County Councillor for West Glamorgan County Council and served on the Public Protection and Industrial Development Committees, as well as variously being appointed a primary school, secondary school and university governor. Following an ill-fated venture in the Mining Industry (Founded Carreg Goch Mining in the Swansea Valley in 1988) William moved to the Middle East in 1991.

William Morris then worked as the Special Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Sultanate of Oman, in which capacity he lived and worked in the Sultanate where he was based at Sultan Qaboos University for six years from 1991 to 1996. In this role he advised the Deputy Premier on a range of issues, particularly with regard to launching a series of academic journals at Oman’s newly established university. He also established the Sultan Qaboos University Press.

Next Century Foundation

William returned with his family to Cornwall in 1996 and soon after he was appointed as the Secretary General of the Next Century Foundation, an organization whose founders included the journalists Claud Morris (William’s father) and Jon Kimche and Lord Arnold Weinstock, with backing from Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire and the then Crown Prince of Qatar.

He then worked closely with the incoming Labour Government in Britain. At the behest of Derek Fatchett MP (then Minister at the Foreign Office) he produced a report on Kashmir in consultation with the Mirpuri community in Britain. In October 2000 William Morris helped set up a war avoidance team to carry messages back and forth between the then Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Peter Hain, and Iraq Deputy Prime Minister Mr Tariq Aziz (a matter then confidential which has since been put on public record in an interview with Mr Hain by the Today program and in responses to questions from news reporters).[1]

He subsequently shifted the emphasis of work at the NCF which had been (and indeed still remains) a confidential dialogue group, to that of a campaign group working behind the scenes to implement strategies for peace and foster freedom from fear, talking to all possible parties in order to do so. In which context he initiated the NCF’s work in liaison between governments in arenas such as Gaza and Israel. The NCF describes itself as a “think-and-do tank”.

He has led four electoral monitoring delegations to Iraq (the NCF is the only accredited international election- monitoring organisation traveling extensively in the interior of the country, operating in both the Green and Red zones).[2]

In more recent years he established the Iran unit of the NCF which produced regular reports on developments in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In April 2011 he worked closely with the Libyan opposition to facilitate the relief of Misrata.

In June 2012 he established the Syria unit of the NCF, which produced regular reports on developments in the Syrian war, and continues to lobby the international community to promote a peace that leads to substantive post-war reform. The Syria unit also recorded casualty figures in the conflict from June 2012, reporting these figures monthly, but this work has now been discontinued. The Syria focus of the NCF has however, if anything, increased with the emergence of ISIS on the international scene, and William frequently addresses focus groups on the subject.[3] William Morris resumed his personal travels to and direct engagement with Syria in late 2016.

William Morris was a speaker at The Policy Studies Organization's Middle East Dialogue 2012 "The Middle East Today: The Arab Spring, The Syrian Summer".[4] He spoke again on the Syrian issue in the 2015 Washington conference of the Policy Studies Organization.[5] In June 2016 he coordinated a four-day conference partnered with Initiatives of Change, titled "The Middle East Migration Crisis - Genesis and Responses".[6]

In 2016 he and his team established the Facebook-based Khawatir movement in an attempt to offer a response to all forms of violent extremism.[7]

International Media Council

In 2003 he was appointed as chairman of the International Council for Press and Broadcasting based in London (now amalgamated with the International Communications Forum).[8] In this capacity he has led press delegations to Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Egypt and Syria. The professed goal of the Media Council is to counter xenophobia and disinformation in the press of the Middle East and the West. The International Media Council holds an annual International Media Awards in London. A number of prominent Israeli journalists have been recipients of its media awards in London including Ari Rath, Danny Rubinstein and Yoav Stern. Arab recipients have included Sami Abdul Shafi and Jihad al Khazen.[9]

Police and Crime Commissioner Election

William Morris ran as an independent candidate in the England and Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Elections 2012 for Devon and Cornwall Police but lost to the Conservative candidate, Commander Tony Hogg.[10][11] He also declared himself a candidate in 2016, however lost again to the Conservative candidate Alison Hernandez.[12]

Voluntary

William Morris is a trustee of Sanghata Global,[13] a non-profit organisation for transformational change that designs and implements breakthrough conceptual models focused on serving humanity. It is a charitable company incorporated in the United Kingdom. He is also an active member of Initiatives of Change, a Swiss-based peace charity that emerged from the closure of the controversial Moral Re-Armament movement;[14] as well as serving on the Board of the Aramea Foundation which works for peace in the Levant. In recognition of an "Outstanding Contribution to Foreign Policy, International Dialogue and Peace", William Morris was awarded an honorary LL.D. (doctorate of laws honoris causa) by the Earl of St Andrews on the occasion of the Earl's installation as Chancellor at the University of Bolton in March 2017.[15]

Personal life

He married Veronica Harding in 1978. William Morris has three children, Joseph, Loveday and Samuel, and three grandchildren, Florence, Paloma and Gabriel. His personal religious beliefs are eclectic. He has been ordained both as an elder in the United Reformed Church and a lay reader in the Anglican church in Cornwall. William successfully underwent major surgery in 2019 following being diagnosed with cancer in late 2018.[16]

Broadcasting

Since 2014 William has been a prolific broadcaster but takes no personal payment for broadcasts, his fees going to the Next Century Foundation in lieu. Broadcasts include irregular appearances on channels such as Arise, e.g. Africa Wrap on Libya,[17] Channel 4, e.g. one of those interviewed on the election expenses issue,[18] Al Gad TV, e.g. reviewing the news with Adel Darwish,[19] PBS USA, e.g. discussing Iran and Syria on Connecting Point,[20] Press TV, e.g. the 'Iran Nuclear Deal',[21] and Arab News Network (ANN Satellite TV), e.g. various interviewees including former US ambassador to Lebanon, Hon Mark Gregory Hambley.[22] He broadcasts on television less frequently since being diagnosed with cancer in late 2018[23] but still continues with his regular blogs and vodcasts, e.g. Crimean, Ukraine, Russia and the West.[24] In May 2019 he joined the team at the new Arabic peace radio channel, Hala London,[25] but left them in 2020 and now podcasts on buzzsprout.[26]

Political opinions

International terrorism

Standing for the Police Commissioner elections, Morris opined: "Defending our homeland is vital. But as a Christian I am also deeply concerned about our response to terrorism at another level. My friend Bishop Angaelos of the Coptic Church was an example when so many young Copts were slain in Libya by ISIS and he tweeted 'Father Forgive'. Our response to terrorism must be resolute and powerful. But we must guard against the hatred the terrorists wish to inspire. Lack of respect of the other is the key cause of international terrorism. This 'philosophy of us and them' is the key cause, the concept that you are either with us or you are against us. We need to respond to this problem with compassion for those areas in the Middle East out of which these terrorists have come. We also have a duty to be compassionate to the stranger in our midst, not to be infected with the same disease."[27]

Drone strikes

Morris has repeatedly expressed his view that drone strikes are counterproductive. Speaking on Iran's Press TV Morris stated: "If people resent America in countries like Pakistan it is because of these drone strikes. The same applies in Yemen. There should be some judicial process rather than using these assassins in the sky. They increase terrorism. It must be terrifying even to think that these things would be flying above your nation. This policy was fostered by Obama and was one of Obama’s major failings. Drone strikes are grossly counterproductive."[28]

On crime

Morris expressed sympathy with those who are criminalised because of social conditions: "The vulnerable in our society, the very old and the very young, need special care. The vulnerable are also those who are unemployed. We have rising crime in areas of social deprivation. We need to be aware and be more thoughtful about these issues. Crimes like family abuse, husbands beating wives, are often associated with poverty. Social conditions are relevant to increases in crime rates."[29]

On drugs

Speaking to back the decriminalisation of drugs in the event he was elected Police Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall in 2016, Morris stated, "Clearly drugs are a major problem. There are those that believe it would be better to stop prosecuting the small time drugs users and pushers. I believe we should experiment with the decriminalisation of drugs. Drugs abuse is in essence a health issue. What people find it hard to tolerate is disorderly behaviour by drugs users and this should be cracked down on. The biggest problem in regard to addiction and crime is with alcohol related crime. We must not let our understandable concern about drugs blind us to this key issue."[30]

On morality

Speaking in 2016, Morris stated, "I take comfort in the fact that none of us is perfect. However I believe we all have to set the bar somewhere, to set a benchmark somewhere. And that benchmark is summed up in the word compassion. We should set an equal value on all, whether they are gay or straight or transgender, rich or poor, Christian or Moslem. But we have a particular responsibility for the vulnerable: The old, the young, those that are impoverished or in ill health as well as the refugee and the criminal; and most particularly the young. As young people we all got into trouble. We have an obligation to the young in a society from which we take so much."[31]

Works
  • The Qwerty Gloop, London, privately printed nonsense verse, 2014
  • Springfield the Novel, Washington, Westphalia Press, 2016[32]

References
  1. "Peter Hain". politics.co.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  2. NCF Election Monitoring in Iraq on YouTube
  3. World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts Discussion, February 25, 2014 on YouTube
  4. Video on YouTube
  6. "The Middle East Migration Crisis - Genesis and Responses". Eventbrite. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  7. Al Khawatir
  8. Video on YouTube
  10. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19521181
  12. http://www.williammorris.org/
  13. Sanghata Global
  14. http://angwinack.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/where-i-stand.html
  15. https://nextcenturyfoundation.wordpress.com/2017/04/11/secretary-general-awarded-doctorate/
  16. On Cancer
  17. Africa Wrap on Libya
  18. On election expenses
  19. Reviewing the news with Adel Darwish
  20. Mark Hambley and William Morris on the Arabian Peninsula, Yemeni Civil War
  22. Mark Hambley
  23. Cancer: the morning after
  24. Crimea and Ukraine
  25. Broadcasting on Hala
  27. On international terrorism, YouTube 1 May 2016
  28. The Debate - US suspends security assistance to Pakistan, Press TV 5 January 2018
  29. William Morris talks about the social conditions that engender crime, YouTube 21 April 2016
  30. Discussion between PCC candidate William Morris and drugs campaigner Peter Dannheisser on the drugs issue, YouTube 5 April 2016
  31. William Morris on the issue of Morality, YouTube 18 April 2016
  32. Morris, William (23 November 2016). Springfield: The Novel. ISBN 978-1633913851.

See also
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