TRIBUTES have been paid to a ‘deeply kind’ human rights activist and local politician who was well-known for standing up for his beliefs such as pacifism and EU membership.
Pete Squire, who died in his sleep at his Tavistock home over the Easter weekend, was a Quaker and peace campaigner, Tavistock Town Council member and West Devon borough councillor.
He often found himself a lone voice when speaking up for staying in the EU when he was often seen in Tavistock town centre waving placards with slogans against leaving. He also felt he had to step down as a borough councillor when he voicing largely unpopular support for the Palestinian victims of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Although he had a worldwide view of life, the former social worker strongly appreciated the value of local democracy as a resident and councillor and played an active role in the creation of Tavistock Town Council’s neighbourhood development plan (NDP). The plan has a legal basis in planning law – laying out locals’ priorities for the future of the town.
Former town and borough council colleague Ursula Mann, who has spearheaded the Tavistock Neighbourhood Plan, said: “Obviously Pete was a huge supporter of the NDP and the second longest serving councillor on the group.
“He was really proud of our community engagement and always mentioned that it was the most public engagement he’d seen while serving on the council.
“Pete was willing always to show up for NDP public engagement stalls, events and shared the word widely as part of our team. I truly appreciated his input and support and missed him in the last year when he resigned from the town council. He was also deeply kind and principled, putting human rights front and centre in all he did.”
Pete and his wife Maggie Squire (who has a Czech Jewish father) travelled extensively in the Middle East seeing close-up the realities of life lived by Israel and Palestinians which most of people have only seen through the prism of conflict.
Pete visited Israel several times since the seventies, including the disputed territories on the West Bank, the Golan Heights (annexed by Israel) and worked in an Israeli Kibbutz picking fruit, visited a synagogue and went on patrol with a Jewish soldier on the former Syrian Golan Heights. The couple said it is too easy to split the view of the current and other conflicts into Jews v Palestinians, but there are Jews worldwide who are appalled at the conflict and see the responsibilities on both sides.
As a Tavistock Quaker, with a peaceful ethos, Pete helped out at a non-religious Quaker-supported school on the West Bank and joined weekly Tavistock Peace Action Group vigils in the town centre calling for a long-term ceasefire in Gaza.
Speaking to the Times last year, he said: “I am a Quaker and advocate peace as a longer term solution to disputes. Military action does not solve anything.”
