News and Updates
| Friday, January 29, 2010 |
New Report on Climate Justice Consultation - Indonesia 2009
The Report of Asian Ecumenical Consultation on Climate Change 2009 Salatiga, Java, Indonesia, 10 November – 13 November is now available. Please follow the link here to view/access the file. [NOTE: Please wait 2 minutes for the document to load.]
posted by Freddy at Friday, January 29, 2010
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| Friday, January 08, 2010 |
Global Ecumenical Network on Migration
Global Ecumenical Network on Migration (GEM)
and European Churches’ Response to Migration
24 – 28 November 2009 Budapest, Hungary
Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe
World Council of Churches
Introduction
Migration is not merely a reality today but a challenge to the whole world. Research indicates that billions of people are crossing boarders today for many reasons. People are forced to migrate because of economic, social and political reasons, while there are others who voluntarily migrate in search of better prospects in life and the countries they move into accept them as they are professionals. It is in this light that Asian, African and Latin American ecumenical Councils need to reflect together with the European Churches on the challenge and opportunity which migration poses doing mission which is not divorced from the ministries of justice, peace and compassion. The national, regional and global factors integral to the whole issue of migration or movement of people either voluntarily or forced should also be considered.
All Africa Council of Churches
Prior to the conference the GEM Group met to discuss the issues related to the conference. The All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) presented a paper highlighting local migrant issues and regional migrant ministry plans and activities. Migration is a major concern that the churches in Africa are faced with, and being addressed within the context of a globalized world characterized by free trade, open markets, and free flow of capital. Powerful and rich nations want the poor and powerless nations to open their markets and for capital to move freely into and out of these countries. However, poorer nations are experiencing more restrictions when it comes to movement of people, especially in areas of work permits, visas, living and health needs.
Many churches in Africa have a long and painful history of labor migration. However, many churches are also silent when it comes to the suffering and inhuman treatment of migrants whether in Africa or elsewhere. It is important for the African churches to break the silence and demand for justice and human dignity in the name of the God of justice and life.
Christian Conference of Asia
The main task of the CCA Justice, International Affairs, Development and Service (JID) is to accompany Asian Churches and National Councils on Asian Migrant Workers issues. In this regard CCA has the following objectives:
o To break the silence and to raise prophetic voices within churches on issues related to migrants o To facilitate sharing and exchange of relevant information regarding migrants among Asian Churches
o To build coalitions (networks) at local levels to protect and guide migrants, and to draw up advocacy campaigns
o To organize groups at national level to pressure governments and local authorities to protect migrants.
According to a study by the International Labor Organization, Asian women are now the fastest growing category of international migrant workers. Therefore, they need special protection because as migrants and non-national workers they are vulnerable to various forms of discrimination, exploitation and abuse.
Very recently media has focused on extreme cases of abuse of Filipino and Sri Lankan maids. Media also revealed the daily work environment and exploitation of these workers, and the lack of adequate international laws to safeguard these women.
It is true that migration provides productive labour and an economic lifeline for millions of Asian men and women. But, wages are earned amidst many risks and insecurities. It is thus important to highlight the plight of unprotected female migrant workers. Lately this issue has become a public concern.
Human rights and women’s groups pointed out that women should have equal opportunities in areas of immigration and emigration policies. Furthermore, women should have equal access to international labour markets regardless of their status as migrants or non-nationals. However, these concerns have been ignored by authorities, consequently making women more vulnerable to discrimination, exploitation and abuse. Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand who send out women in large number looking for employment must take note of these concerns. At the same time receiving countries in the Gulf States, particularly Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei must make every effort to honour the dignity and humanity of these women.
Latin American Council of Churches
A country which faces major humanitarian crisis is Colombia. Millions of Colombians are forced to flee from conflict zones in the countryside to the poorest areas of the cities, or to seek refuge in the borders of neighbouring countries. Today the Colombian government recognizes that it has 3.2 millions Colombians on the move classified as forced migrants and who suffer violence and human rights abuses. The UNHCR has received the commitment of other Latin American nations, such as Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay, to collaborate with refugee services.
The Ecumenical organizations such as the WCC, Latin American Council of Churches, and the ACT Alliance have decided to support Colombian Churches and social organizations to respond to this crisis as early as possible.
European Churches’ response to migration
The European Churches’ response to migrant issues focused on the aspect of UNITY. Three areas of concern highlighted are a) migration as opportunity and challenge for the Unity of the Church; b) migration as an opportunity for the churches to witness; and, c) migration as an opportunity for advocacy work.
Some theological reflections
I was happy to be there and to hear about the ministry of the churches in Europe to those who have come to their countries looking for shelter, security, employment and better living conditions for them as well as for their children. Some fled violent situations and wars to save their lives. It is these vulnerable people we lump together into the category of migrants. More than 75% percent of these people fall into the category of forced migrants.
Voluntary migration is nothing new in the history of humankind and we could see such movements of people right through history. To such people borders of rich and powerful nations are not closed but open and they feel welcomed. Concern is for those who flee their countries to escape hunger, malnutrition, and death, effects of climate change, violence, war, sexual exploitation and human rights violations. They leave their families, friends and their own countries not because they are eager to leave but because conditions prevailing in their countries force them to. To such people boarders in affluent and countries where there is security and protection are often closed. Even if they manage to cross the borders and enter these countries, they end up either spending long years in prison or refugee camps where living conditions are inhuman and horrible. The cries of these people who languish in camps are almost the cries of the psalmist who lamented, “How long, O Lord? Wilt thou forget me for ever? How long wilt thou hide any face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my soul,..” (Psalm 13:1; 35:17).
One has to acknowledge and commend the ministry of the European churches to migrants at their borders. It is a caring, sharing, healing and a ministry of being a Good Samaritan. These churches are also driven by their own Christian conviction informed by the words of Jesus who said “I was hungry, naked imprisoned…” Mt. 25:31f). While the caring ministry of the churches in Europe is appreciated, it is also important to engage these churches in a deeper dialogue by raising some critical questions such as: Why are there migrants and why do they leave their countries and who should take responsibility for their forced migration?
The dominant view which prevails in many of the receiving countries is that migrants want to come to their countries because they want to enjoy the privileges of affluent countries. The saying is that they are looking for “greener pastures”. Because of this pre-conceived notion there is so much prejudice and resentment against the stranger at the boarder. Often, the migrant is also a person of different colour, culture and class. Therefore, the discrimination and rejection of the migrants are also rooted on issues of race, colour and class prejudice combined with fear. Although we are well versed with the saying of Paul which says, “ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3: 28), we find it difficult to live this out in our daily lives. The stranger and the other, who is a person of colour is always a problem to deal with for many of us, and hard to live by as a Christian spirituality. When it comes to the issue of migration we see these deep seated prejudices and how the Church identifies itself with the dominant cultures which go against the spirit and the mind of Christ.
If the churches in receiving countries are to comprehend the issue of migration at its depth, then they will have to listen and dialogue with critical voices, especially the voices which are raised within churches and civil society groups in sending countries. The sending countries must accompany the churches in receiving countries by telling their story of suffering and crucifixion. In other words, to listen to the critical voices form sending countries is to listen to migrant stories of suffering, pain and crucifixion.
The story of most of the sending countries is a story of colonization, divide and rule conquests, plunder and rape of their cultures, religion, wealth and resources for more than 500 hundred years. Furthermore, with neo-colonialism and the rise of globalization, collaboration has taken place between the rich and powerful minorities within receiving countries with the rich and powerful within colonizing and powerful nations. Those who oppose these alliances are branded as enemies of the state, communists or terrorists. Such branding gives powers-that-be the license to kill, imprison or banish who question or oppose the status quo. They end up at the boarders of other countries and become migrants themselves.
Those in affluent countries should realize that they are affluent not because God is biased towards them but because over the centuries they have raped and reaped the resources of the sending countries. They have become rich by making others poor. The time has come for these countries to repent and say and live the words of Zacchaeus “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold” (Luke 9: 8). Repentance can come only when the rich and the powerful realize that for the world to be just and fair, they must go beyond charity and practice justice. Those who are at the boarders are not beggars seeking pity and mercy but are crying for justice and reparation. They are asking them to return all what was stolen from.
Some churches and groupa in receiving countries see migrants in their midst as an opportunity to evangelize or to proselytize, which is a wrong understanding of mission and evangelism. Rather than trying to evangelize the other in one’s midst, is it incumbent to recognize the broken and wounded Christ amongst migrants. Then the response becomes not evangelism or conversion but witnessing to the Gospel of Jesus Christ by being a community that accompanies victims and advocates in their just cause. In that accompaniment they will be able to see the face of Jesus as the disciples saw the face of Jesus when he accompanied them on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13f). Can the Jesus community in these affluent nations be like the one who accompanied the disciples on the road to Emmaus? It is this kind of doing mission and evangelism which is needed today.
One should not think that the one at the door has come only to take away things, but also to share many gifts and cultures. Without them one’s culture will be dull and economics stagnant. The migrant is not merely a recipient but also a giver. It is acknowledged that in 2008 alone Australia managed to earn almost 4 billion Australian dollars from the migrants who are in their midst. Therefore, the churches in all nations have a golden opportunity to prophecy to the nations to look at the issue of migration with new insights and humane spirit for the healing and reconciling of individuals, communities and nations.
Rev. Freddy de Alwis
Joint Executive Secretary
JID
posted by cbs at Friday, January 08, 2010
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| Wednesday, December 16, 2009 |
PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS CALL TO END THE OCCUPATION
The call, issued at a 11 December meeting in Bethlehem by a group of Palestinian Christians representing churches and church-related organizations,, comes at a time when many Palestinians believe they have reached a dead end. It raises questions to the international community, political leaders in the region, and the churches worldwide about their contribution to the Palestinian people's pursuit of freedom. Even in the midst of "our catastrophe" the call is described as a word of faith, hope and love.
The authors of the Kairos Palestine Document, among them Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Lutheran Bishop of Jerusalem Munib Younan, and Archbishop Theodosios Atallah Hanna of Sebastia from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, have raised the challenge of the urgency for peace with justice to religious and political leaders in Palestinian and the Israeli society, international community, and to "our Christian brothers and sisters in the churches" around the world. They believe that current efforts in the Middle East are confined to managing the crisis rather than finding pertinent and long term solutions to the crisis.
Decrying empty promises
Expressing their pain, the signatories of the call decry the emptiness of the promises and pronouncements about peace in the region. They remind the world about the separation wall erected on Palestinian territory, the blockade of Gaza, how Israeli settlements ravage their land, the humiliation at military checkpoints, the restrictions of religious liberty and controlled access to holy places, the plight of refugees awaiting their right of return, prisoners languishing in Israeli prisons and Israel's blatant disregard of international law, as well as the paralysis of the international community in the face of this tragedy.
Rejecting Israeli justifications for their actions as being in self-defence, they unambiguously state that if there were no occupation, "there would be no resistance, no fear and no insecurity."
Declaring the occupation of Palestinian land as a sin against God and humanity, they steadfastly adhere to the signs of hope such as "local centres of theology" and "numerous meetings for inter-religious dialogue", recognizing that these signs provide hope to the resistance of the occupation. Through the logic of peaceful resistance, resistance is as much a right as it is a duty as it has the potential to hasten the time of reconciliation.
Asserting that this is a moment demanding repentance for past actions, either for using hatred as an instrument of resistance or the willingness to be indifferent and absorbed by faulty theological positions, the group calls on the international community and Palestinians for steadfastness in this time of trial. "Come and see [so we can make known to you] the truth of our reality", they appeal.
Poignantly, they conclude, "in the absence of all hope, we cry out our cry of hope. We believe in God, good and just. We believe that God's goodness will finally triumph over the evil of hate and of death that still persist in our land. We will see here 'a new land' and 'a new human being', capable of rising up in the spirit to love each one of his or her brothers and sisters."
The authors are:
• Patriarch Michel Sabbah
• Bishop Dr Munib Younan
• Archbishop Theodosios Atallah Hanna
• Rev. Dr Jamal Khader
• Rev. Dr Rafiq Khoury
• Rev. Dr Mitri Raheb
• Rev. Dr Naim Ateek
• Rev. Dr Yohana Katanacho
• Rev. Fr Fadi Diab
• Dr Jiries Khoury
• Ms Sider Daibes
• Ms Nora Kort
• Ms Lucy Thaljieh
• Mr Nidal Abu Zulof
• Mr Yusef Daher
• Mr Rifat Kassis - coordinator of the initiative
CCA is a member of the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum and is actively engaged in the campaign to end the occupation and to stop all settlement expansion programs, starting with East Jerusalem. Asian churches also support the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program on Palestine and Israel and the World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel 2010.
posted by cbs at Wednesday, December 16, 2009
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| Thursday, November 26, 2009 |
The Women’s Loy Pai Statement
Asia-Pacific Women’s Hearing on Poverty, Wealth and Ecology
The Women’s Loy Pai Statement
Preamble: Loy Pai
As women of faith from Asia and the Pacific, accompanied by sisters from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and Europe, we have gathered in Chiang Mai, Thailand between 02-03 November 2009 to reflect on the devastation of the planet and the lives of those most vulnerable in our world. We have come to hear each other’s stories and commit to actions to overcome poverty, redistribute and re-define wealth and defend ecology.
Inspired by the Buddhist Loy Krathong (‘Floating’) Festival, an occasion for giving thanks the River Goddess, we say: loy pai. In Thai, loy means ‘float’ and pai means ‘go’. At the festival, small flower ‘boats’ with lighted candles in the centre are floated on the river, symbolising the people’s relationship with the water.
From the stories we shared in Chiang Mai, we see the journey towards justice and sustainability in Asia and the Pacific as an ecumenical boat embraced and pushed forward by the currents of the Living Mother Water.
Women’s Lament (after Lamentations 5)
Before the light of day we women rise
to serve our families and communities;
we trudge to fields, factories, workshops
to toil like animals treading hay.
In the fields and streets we are raped
in villages and towns, our daughters are abused.
Baby girls, abandoned, killed, aborted in the womb.
Too many of us denied education,
learning only to care for the home,
fetching water and fuel under the hot sun,
paying for the water of life.
Remember, O God, what is happening to us.
Before the light of day we women rise
to see our rivers and streams polluted, dammed and flooded
our oceans filled with toxic waste,
fish dying,
waters rising;
to see our lands raped and exploited,
our forests destroyed
to see the creatures of the Earth and skies
disappearing from our planet.
Remember, O God, what is happening to us.
Before the light of day we women rise
in militarised zones,
landmines taking the limbs of our children,
destroying our fields;
in places of conflict
people displaced, villages destroyed.
Remember, O God, what is happening to us.
Before the light of day we women rise
to a globalised world
to a world driven by neo-liberal economics,
policies to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.
Palm oil plantations, agri-businesses,
driving farmers from their homes.
Tourism bringing casinos to our towns,
golf courses to our countrysides,
driving our families from the lands of our ancestors.
Remember, O God, what is happening to us.
Before the light of day we women rise
to see our children in the cities,
struggling to find work,
tossed about like chaff with every wind of change;
as forced migrants in strange lands,
working jobs dirty, dangerous and difficult,
no rights, no protections from abuse and exploitation.
Remember, O God, what is happening to us.
Before the light of day we women rise
to see our sisters trafficked for sex,
commodities to be used, abused and discarded.
Remember, O God, what is happening to us.
Before the light of day we women rise,
in the shadow of cultures, traditions, religious teachings:
shouting at us,
“You are inferior! You are less than men!”
taught to be good daughters, good sisters, good wives,
silent and submissive,
battered by husbands for speaking our minds.
Remember, O God, what is happening to us.
Before the light of day we women rise
to see Mother Earth dominated by humanity,
domination legitimised by our cultures, traditions, religions;
Mother Earth
crushed and damaged,
strangled and destroyed.
Before the light of day we women rise.
Remember, O God, what is happening to us. A Litany of Hope
In spite of miserable sufferings and violent oppressions,
we women never give up hope.
And the signs of our hope
sparkle and enlighten the darkness,
here and there, around the world.
Signs of hope: Women farmers
sowing indigenous seeds and using green manure to nourish Mother Earth;
building compost toilets and biogas plants
to sanitise and light their homes and,
to cook their food.
Women in the islands of the Pacific, in the low-lying places of Asia,
adapting to climate change,
calling for action from those who owe the debt. Signs of hope: Counselling and support for those left behind –
the families of migrant workers –
helping those families stay together in their homes and on their land.
Centres serving migrant women workers:
Namyangju Women's Centre for Migrant Workers in South Korea
and the Mission for Filipino Migrant Workers in Hong Kong. Signs of hope: The Church of Christ in Thailand
supporting prostitutes to leave their trade,
girls and women helped towards a better future
out of violence and prostitution. Signs of hope: The Australian shopkeepers of Bundanoon
banning the sale of bottled water,
saving our streams, earth and air;
A Chinese woman pastor in Exi leading her community,
together building their small church,
irrigating their lands
and building village roads. Signs of hope: The Asian Women’s Religious Leaders Summit:
women rising to lead in places where women are expected to follow,
building peace based on justice;
Women all over, learning and sharing from each other
raising awareness, building capacity, training and educating
empowering women and enriching communities. Signs of hope: Hands outstretched to neighbours near and far
women working in solidarity
for justice in factories,
for rights upheld:
marching, organising, calling out. A Chinese saying tells us that woman is water:
water is lively and pure, joyful and clean,
water is gentle but persistent, soft but strong.
yes, that is woman.
We are women who are
faithful, which makes us hopeful,
hopeful, which makes us strong.
We can do all things through God who strengthens us. Statement of Commitment
As women from the Asia-Pacific region, in the light of our lament and born of our hope, we call on the member churches of the World Council of Churches, Christian Conference of Asia, the Pacific Conference of Churches and worldwide ecumenical movement to: - resist and reject economic structures and paradigms founded on the exploitation of women’s bodies and Mother Earth;
- defend all life; and
- weave and nurture eco-just and inclusive economies based on the sustenance of all life.
As women from the Asia-Pacific region, we recognise only too well that culture, customs and religion often suppress and justify violence against women. We believe that it is critical that churches renew a commitment to a transformative Christian formation that upholds the dignity of all women as people made in God’s image, loved by God, through such strategies as: - re-reading the Bible using gender, economic and ecological justice lenses; and
- educating congregations, church groups and seminary students on the intersections between gender, economic and ecological justice.
As women from the Asia-Pacific region, we commit ourselves and call on our churches and the worldwide ecumenical movement to examine and transform Church life and mission with a view to: - analysing the fundamental links between patriarchy, poverty, wealth accumulation, ecological destruction and militarisation so that we better understand our own lives and the influences that shape the politics and economics of our world;
- ensuring and valuing women’s participation and contribution in church policy- and decision-making processes, especially in the work on economic and ecological justice;
- learning from women’s wisdom and traditional knowledge in developing and practicing eco-just consumption and production within our churches and communities, particularly in the use of church land and other resources;
- examining and, if necessary, re-shaping partnerships between churches in South and North and South and South to ensure that they are based on equity, respect, solidarity, generosity and compassion;
- challenging and holding accountable international institutions, governments, corporations and financial institutions for policies that cause gender, economic and ecological injustice; and
- accompanying and supporting women’s and other grassroots movements in their struggles to build just and sustainable communities.
We women from the Asia-Pacific region have shared our stories and from the stories of oppression, struggle and hope, we have identified the following issues as priorities for the advocacy of the churches and the worldwide ecumenical movement: - recognition and protection of migrant workers’ rights, just livelihoods and decent work for women and men;
- recognition and support of women’s central role in upholding food sovereignty, and women’s rights to land and water (including through campaigns promoting community-based organic farming and composting toilet systems); and
- climate justice, recognition of climate debts and ensuring that women’s perspectives are brought to bear on negotiations on climate change and strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
posted by cbs at Thursday, November 26, 2009
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The Youth Declaration
Asia-Pacific Youth Hearing on Poverty, Wealth, and Ecology
The Youth Declaration
We, the young people of Asia and the Pacific, representing an overwhelming majority in our respective countries, guided by our diverse faiths, confronted by common issues of poverty, wealth, and ecology, have gathered to exchange stories and experiences.
Our region is endowed with tremendous beauty and abundance with the capacity to sustain its people for generations to come. Several of our economies are held up as “Asian tigers,” examples of the right path to development. Yet, the adoption of neoliberal capitalist policies by many of the governments of Asia and the Pacific has given rise to ecological, socio-economic and cultural problems which adversely affect us, as youth, and the population as a whole.
We witness mass impoverishment created by predatory, corporate-led globalisation. We observe the growing inequality between the global North and the global South, and between the rich and the poor within our countries. There are few employment opportunities, even for those who get the privilege to obtain university degrees. When we do find work, wages are low, working conditions are inhuman, there is no job security and there are limited benefits.
As poverty increases, we move from one irregular employment or short-term contract to another. We leave the countryside and go to the cities to look for work to support our families. We migrate overseas in the tens of thousands in search of jobs and a better life. We are pushed into prostitution, the drug trade, crime, and human trafficking, among other social vices.
We want to go to school, but the majority of us cannot afford it. When we can go to school, schools are overcrowded and it is hard to learn. Courses are designed to fill the needs of the profit-driven, private corporations; therefore we study to get work, not to better ourselves nor society. We are witness to the continuing collapse of any meaningful social welfare system that could respond to these multiple crises.
We weep at the destruction of ecology on a daily basis. We see how the forests and water systems have been ravished by profit-oriented logging and mining operations. We are aggrieved about the increase in unnatural disasters caused by climate change: droughts, floods, sea-level rise, wild-fires, tsunamis, cyclones, tropical storms and other calamities.
This destruction is caused primarily by development projects financed by the multinational corporations with the blessing of our governments, backed by the military. The current profit-oriented economic system upholds and encourages deforestation, top-soil erosion, toxic waste and uncontrolled emission of greenhouse gases. It leads to the take-over of local agricultural economies by big agribusiness, undermining domestic and community lifestyles. All of this is reinforced by the environmental racism practiced by the global North and governments of the global South against our peoples.
We are afraid that there will be nothing left to sustain life for us and our children.
We oppose the unjust practices and seek alternatives, but our governments react with oppression. We continue to fight the exploitative policies of our governments and corporations, and we will continue to support social movements upholding justice and peace.
Our Vision
We the youth, envision a world where sustainable practices are the norm; where the environment is treated with respect and cared for because we understand ourselves to be part of it; where all work is valued and meaningful; where everyone has freedom of expression and organisation. We yearn for a lifestyle that is peaceful, safe and prosperous. We envisage an Earth where economies are driven by human need, and not human greed. We conceive of a world where wealth is measured by happiness, contentment and an abundant community life. We dream of a future in which young people have the freedom to choose their own paths and develop full human potential. We desire a world that is just and sweet.
Our Strategies and Actions
The current times call for urgent action. We call upon the youth:
- to reject consumerist mono-culture, and uphold the positive aspects of our respective cultures that affirm the community over the individual;
- to critically engage with church institutions and other organisations to hold them accountable to practice what they preach; and
- to build principled alliances with other social sectors like the Indigenous Peoples’ movements, trade unions and women’s movements, nurturing social movements that uphold justice and peace.
We call upon all churches:
- to take immediate action on climate change because of the grave threat posed to our brothers and sisters in Asia and the Pacific; and
- to create projects supporting those who are fighting for socially disadvantaged people, affordable education and all forms of positive inclusiveness.
We will work to raise awareness on these issues by:
- creating “cafés of consciousness” and other alternative forums where youth can discuss issues and outline plans of action, as well as find alternative entertainment and education;
- launching boycott and divestment campaigns;
- supporting and creating unbiased media that offers alternative news and information, through such means as internet and pamphlets; and
- forming prayer circles that give support and hope to communities and instill the need to fight for a just cause.
We will start today by:
- not buying products of multi-national/transnational corporations that are made from processes that exploit natural resources and human labour;
- making every effort to buy products produced locally and from fair trade, that affirm that we are part of Creation entrusted to us by God; and
- reducing our consumption, recycling and reusing resources.
In summary, as youth motivated by our faith, we realise that prayer alone is insufficient. In order to bring about the changes we long to see in the world, we must be models. We must live the lifestyle that we want the people of Asia and the Pacific to adopt.
“So when Jesus heard these things, he said to him, you still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven. Come and follow me.” (Luke 18:22)
“A new world is not only possible, she is on her way, and on quiet day you can hear her breathing.” (Arundhati Roy)
Declared by the youth delegates from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Philippines, Pakistan, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Australia, and also Kenya, South Africa, and the United States to the AGAPE Consultation on Poverty, Wealth, and Ecology on 05 November 2009.
posted by cbs at Thursday, November 26, 2009
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The Indigenous Peoples’ Declaration
Asia-Pacific Indigenous Peoples’ Hearing on Poverty, Wealth, and Ecology
The Indigenous Peoples’ Declaration
We, Indigenous Peoples and church-based workers and organisations from Australia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, and Thailand, have gathered together in Chiang Mai, Thailand for the AGAPE Consultation on Poverty, Wealth and Ecology organised by the World Council of Churches (WCC), Christian Conference of Asia and Pacific Conference of Churches. As part of our right to self-determination, we affirm a collective process of self identification complemented by the recognition of other groups. We are identified with, and have a close affinity to, our land, our oceans, our rivers, our forests, our air, our territories, our resources, our distinct languages, as well as our cultures and our beliefs. It is worthy to note that the Asia-Pacific region is home to approximately 280 million Indigenous Peoples of diverse religions or two-thirds of the world’s indigenous population.
Historically, Indigenous Peoples have suffered colonisation, subjugation, integration and assimilation by merchants, traders, states and churches. All of which were aimed at eroding our identity.
The activities of merchants and traders had deprived and alienated us from our access to, and collective ownership of, natural resources, undermining our cultures, our languages and our religions. Governments have exacerbated the negative impacts on Indigenous Peoples by colluding with and advancing the interests merchants, traders, corporations and financial institutions.
The introduction of Christianity as a dominant religion impacted indigenous faith systems, values, traditions and cultures. Similarly, the education system introduced by missionaries, and thereafter by states, destroyed traditional indigenous languages and excluded indigenous history in textbooks, thereby undermining indigenous knowledge as well as the role of indigenous women in transferring traditional wisdom and communitarian values.
Today Indigenous Peoples continue to be the most marginalised, discriminated and exploited. For us the land and oceans are sacred. Yet, we are being driven out of our lands and oceans in the name of development that does not benefit us but, rather, causes the destruction of cultures, identities and life support systems. Community resistance is being met with violations of our collective rights. Further, neoliberal economic policies are promoting individualism and greed for profit for only the few. The dominant neoliberal development paradigm has resulted in ethnocide for many of our communities worldwide.
Our sustained struggles for the defence of our land, ocean, rivers, forests, life and resources had led to the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in 2007 and the establishment of other mechanisms and procedures for Indigenous Peoples at the international, regional and national levels. In solidarity with Indigenous Peoples’ movements, our issues are being taken up by civil society, churches and other faith-based groups.
We believe that poverty, wealth and ecology are very much interrelated and interdependent. We regard wealth in terms of our abundant resources and the produce from our lands that we share with our communities. Our understanding of wealth comprises our values, our close relations with our kin, our traditional leadership capabilities and our children who will ensure the continuity of our cultures. Furthermore, our understanding of ecology is based on our high regard for Mother Earth, our provider and a central element of our integrity. Taking us away from nonmaterial wealth and disregarding the spirituality of Mother Earth will make us poor. Our belief in the fullness of life includes both material and spiritual resources and our common heritage.
We need to hasten and strengthen our efforts to protect and improve our ways of life for our future generations. We will resort to spiritual activism as a means to being heard and will remain resolute in our struggles for the recognition and implementation of our rights.
We, the Indigenous Peoples of this consultation, call upon nation-states and churches in Asia and the Pacific, the ecumenical movement and international community to:
- Promote, recognise and implement Indigenous Peoples’ rights consistent with the UNDRIP;
- Establish an independent mechanism which includes Indigenous Peoples and civil society to monitor the implementation of UNDRIP;
- Endorse and use the UNDRIP as a minimum framework in dealing with Indigenous Peoples’ issues;
- Ensure the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples through the implementation of the right to free, prior and informed consent in all development programmes, projects, legislations and policies;
- Recognise Indigenous Peoples’ sovereignty and ways of life consistent with indigenous cultural values. This will include the promotion of indigenous worldviews, knowledge, wisdom, and practices to meet the needs of all;
- Advocate for self-determination and food sovereignty;
- Respect and recognise Indigenous Peoples as custodians of Mother Earth;
- Strengthen solidarity among Indigenous Peoples and between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples based on non-discrimination, equality and mutual respect, social equity and peaceful coexistence;
- Advocate for the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples’ issues within the various reference groups, advisory groups, commissions, and other relevant governance bodies of the WCC and other ecumenical organisations;
- Maintain financing and re-sourcing and strengthen the role of the Indigenous Peoples desk as a priority at the WCC;
- Convene a WCC working group to develop the terms of reference and scope for an Indigenous Peoples Christian Action Forum;
- Promote self-understanding and recognition of Indigenous Peoples as going beyond nation-state boundaries;
- Advocate the re-reading of the Bible with a strong justice and peace orientation;
- Promote holistic, indigenous language-based education systems, including through integrating Indigenous Peoples’ oral and expressive traditions of transfer of knowledge into current curricula; and
- Promote indigenous principles of caring and sharing, acknowledge Indigenous Peoples’ contribution to the sustenance of ecology and ensure equitable distribution of resources as integral to genuine development and as an alternative to the dominant neoliberal economic paradigm.
posted by cbs at Thursday, November 26, 2009
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| Tuesday, November 10, 2009 |
On the AGAPE Consultation on Poverty, Wealth and Economy
November 2-6, 2009
Forced by extreme poverty, political repression and ecological destruction, people migrate to developing countries like Thailand. An estimated 2 million migrant workers are in Thailand. Migrant workers are the most vulnerable to human trafficking and exploitation.
The ‘sufficiency economy’ model aims to make a community produce sufficiently to support its members. It also assumes that the community or a family owns a piece of land to cultivate to be able to be self-sufficient.
For a newly industrialized economy which is agriculturally-based, land constitutes the basic requirement for self- sustainability and sufficiency.
Janejinda Pawadee, coordinator of the Mekong Ecumenical Partnership Program, says that this alternative model of ‘sufficiency economy’ remains abstract, for example to the indigenous Lahu people who migrate to the city. “They lost land to tourism development investors they do not have anything to start on. The model remains abstract for the common Thai people.”
Additionally, the model would also be challenged by self-sustainability. Would a community be able to sustain self-sufficiency in the face of aggressive forces of globalization?
Asia, whose vulnerability in terms of climatological features is further aggravated by poverty showcases the poverty-wealth-ecology links, according to the research report presented by IBON Foundation, a research think-tank based in the Philippines.
The research was conducted at the most critical times in Asia, in a context of grave ecological and economic crisis. More than one-half of the Third World’s poor live in Asia. Viewed as a dynamic and promising place to invest, Asia plunges deep into poverty, thus reducing the resilience and adoptability of Asians to sharp climate changes.
Grassroots people who live everyday in poverty see poverty not as a problem, but a phenomenon within an exploitative system. The challenge therefore to the church is to aspire together with the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized of the earth, to get out of an exploitative system into a just and sustainable one.
posted by cbs at Tuesday, November 10, 2009
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Chiang Mai Declaration
WCC-CCA-PCC
AGAPE Consultation on Poverty, Wealth and Ecology in Asia and the Pacific
Chiang Mai Declaration
Preamble
1. We, people of faith and church leaders from Asia and the Oceania, with the accompaniment of our sisters and brothers from other continents, have gathered In Chiang Mai, Thailand, from 02 to 06 November 2009 to reflect deeply on the fundamental links between impoverishment, wealth creation and accumulation, and ecological crisis according to our Christian faith, in dialogue with other faiths, and from the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples, women and young persons. We met at the time of the Buddhist Loy Khratong Festival – when people offer flowers and light candles and incense to give thanks to the River Goddess. The festival became for us a symbol of our coming together in the common search for the River of Life.
A world and region in peril
2. Our planet, and particularly the nations and islands in Asia and the Oceania, are confronted by unparalleled and multiple catastrophes.
3. Asian nations, which account for more than half of the global population, have often been held up as a successful application of the neoliberal economic model, described as “economic tigers and dragons” and a “global factory”. But our region’s wealth is being siphoned off in the form of corporate profits squeezed from cheap, predominantly female, labour; external debt payments to international financial institutions made at the expense of massive cuts in social expenditures; the privatisation and commodification of land; and exports of people, lumber and other “raw materials” from poor to wealthier nations. We listened with heavy hearts to stories of: Burmese migrant workers fleeing political and economic oppression only to encounter other forms of oppression in Thailand; tens of thousands of farmer suicides in India; Asian students falling into debt because of spiralling tuition fees; women in the Mekong region trafficked into prostitution…
4. Because Asia’s system of wealth creation is centred on the global economy, our region has been heavily battered by the current global financial and economic crisis caused by heightened “financialisation” (or the de-linking of finance from the real economy). Factory workers in export processing zones have been retrenched in large numbers. The monies sent home by our migrant workers are dwindling. Many of our governments are too indebted and cash-strapped to respond with even the barest of social protection.
5. In the pursuit of super-profits, the neoliberal system of wealth creation and accumulation in Asia has not only produced poverty, it has generated tremendous social and ecological debts – debts owed to Mother Earth; to the impoverished, Indigenous Peoples and women who bear a disproportionate burden of adjustment to drastic changes in the climate and the rest of ecology; and to young people and forthcoming generations whose very futures are endangered by dominant production and consumption patterns that fail to respect the regenerative limits of our planet. We listened with heavy hearts to stories of: forced ecological migrants as sea waters rise and threaten to inundate Oceania islands and archipelagic nations like Bangladesh; Indigenous Peoples dispossessed of their ancestral lands by mining corporations and mega-dam projects, resulting in the ethnocide of indigenous communities and cultures; villages facing famine and water shortages across the region…
6. In Asia and Oceania as in elsewhere, violence has often been used by the economically and politically-powerful in securing the planet’s “natural resources”. Imperialist terror and greed desecrate both Mother Earth and women’s bodies. We listened with heavy hearts to stories of: church people gunned down in the Philippines for defending ecology and farmers’ and workers’ rights; communities dying from toxic pollutants in military bases; intensified violence against women in their own homes in times of economic hardship and in militarised zones…
Asia-Oceania spiritualities in response to impoverishment, greed and ecological destruction
7. We believe that the interlinked economic and ecological crises are manifestations of a larger ethical, moral and spiritual crisis. For it is in putting absolute faith in “free markets”, in worshipping wealth and material goods, and in following a gospel of consumerism and mindless expansion that human beings have exploited their own sisters and brothers and have ravaged their only home.
8. Therefore, overcoming the crises requires nothing less than a radical spiritual renewal. We reaffirm, according to our Christian tradition, that such a transformation must be founded on the Biblical imperatives of God’s preferential option for the marginalised (justice) and the sacredness of all Creation (sustainability).
9. At the same time, we draw important learnings from the deep wells of Asian traditional wisdom. “When you unite wealth, you divide the people. When you divide wealth, you unite the people.”
10. From the peoples of Oceania, we learned about the peoples’ intrinsic connection with lands and oceans and all life therein in affirmation of God’s presence in all Creation. It is in this understanding that the peoples of Oceania are striving to regain a spirituality of the ecology in which we “live and move and have our being”.
11. From the spirituality of Asian and Oceanic Indigenous Peoples, we learned to expand the greatest Biblical teaching to “love our neighbours” to “Mother Water”, “Brother Kangaroo”, and “Cousin Tree”.
12. From eco-feminism, we learned about the falsehood of dichotomies between mind and body and between humans and nature that translate into inequitable relationships.
13. From the vibrant indigenous, women and youth movements in Asia and Oceania, we learned about the spirituality that is found in resistance and political engagement. We derived hope from stories of: indigenous women transferring traditional knowledge and communitarian values and contributing to sustainable economies; and young people playing a leading role in preventing land grab by Arcelor-Mittal, a multinational steel company in the state of Jharkhand in India.
14. From other ancient faiths and religions birthed in Asia, we learned about Buddhism’s “middle way”; Hinduism’s ahimsa (nonviolence) towards ecology and all human beings; and Islam’s injunction to fight oppression in all its forms.
15. Genuine faith and spirituality entail action. We assert that the multiple crises we confront today urgently demand radical and collective responses, not only from Asia and Oceania, but also from the worldwide faith community. United in God’s love, we can and must begin to construct flourishing and harmonious economies where:
_ all participate and have a voice in the decisions that impact on their lives;
_ people’s basic needs are provided for through just livelihoods;
_ social reproduction and the care work done predominantly by women are supported and valued; and
_ air, water, land and energy sources that are necessary to sustain life are protected and preserved.
In short, we can and must shape Economies of Life and Economies for Life.
Our commitments and calls
16. In view of the foregoing, we, the participants of the AGAPE Consultation on Poverty, Wealth and Ecology in Asia and the Pacific, commit to the following:
a.. Build and strengthen a faith-based network or networks advancing social, economic, and ecological justice in partnership with civil society organisations and social movements in the region;
b.. Share widely, communicate creatively (e.g. through websites and videos), discuss deeply, and teach consistently the Chiang Mai Declaration together with the Asia-Pacific Indigenous Peoples’, Women’s and Youth Statements on Poverty, Wealth and Ecology to our constituencies, congregations, seminary students, and partners; and
c.. Be living alternatives that promote sustainable communities beginning with practising eco-just consumption.
17. We further call on our churches in Asia and Oceania, and global and regional ecumenical organisations to:
a.. Emphasise research and advocacy efforts on redistributive economic policies, especially land reform, and alternative consumption and production systems in the Asia and the Oceania;
b.. Support Oceania churches’ initiatives and advocacy efforts on resettlement plans, adaptation and reparations to small island states in Oceania and other Asian countries rendered victims by ecological and climate change to address the ecological and climate debt owed to them;
c.. Accompany member churches of the WCC and PCC in Oceania in:
_ Developing local, national, sub-regional, regional and international plans to ensure respect for and protection of the rights of forced climate migrants;
_ Promoting research on prospective resettlement plans and on instruments such as ecological audits to ascertain the costs of resettlement; and
_ Developing the framework for a new Convention or Protocol on Resettlement to cater for forced ecological migrants; and
_ Commissioning studies on the links between poverty, wealth and ecology in the Oceania region with a view to presenting the findings in the 10th Assembly of the Pacific Conference of Churches in 2012
d.. Allocate more resources to WCC’s programmes on ecological debt, climate change, and water in order to address the incredibly pressing challenges in these areas;
e.. Empower women, Indigenous Peoples and youth – who bring a wealth of wisdom and energy – to participate fully in policy – and decision-making in church processes, especially in the urgent work on economic and ecological justice;
f.. Conduct ecological debt and gender audits to account for the social and ecological costs of church initiatives and activities;
g.. Strengthen and provide a platform for Indigenous Peoples with adequate financing and resourcing of the existing Indigenous Peoples’ desk at the WCC and immediately convene a working group to develop the terms of reference and scope for an Indigenous Peoples’ Christian Action Forum;
h.. Participate in alternative lifestyle cultures that reject consumerist corporate cultures through regenerating common public spaces of dissent and creation, and engaging in public awareness and education especially among young people; and
i.. Organise a dialogue on poverty, wealth and ecology with multi-faith communities to bring meaningful solidarity.
posted by cbs at Tuesday, November 10, 2009
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| Thursday, November 05, 2009 |
AN EMPTY BOWL OF SOUP
“Mother, when will father be back?” Seven-year old Rosalie often asks this question to her mother.
Patiently, her mother would reply, “He works on the other side of the island. When he returns, he will bring us some rice.”
Hearing these words makes Rosalie happy. She would fall asleep and dream of her father.
One morning she woke up late. On her hand was an empty bowl of soup. Feeling very heavy while walking even without her school things on her shoulder, she felt cold and her knees shook. She was in a hurry to queue in line for a bowl of soup in her school’s feeding program. On her way she just fell on the ground and died.
On that day, Rosalie went to school not to study her lessons, nor to learn how to read and write. She went just for a bowl of soup.
Not long ago, a typhoon devastated Rosalie’s hometown, Rapu-rapu, an island in Albay, Bicol region. Waste chemicals from a mining company flowed to the river and to the sea. The river became smelly and the water yellowish. Fishes died and floated over. Waters were contaminated and polluted.
In another island, a palace shimmered in gold décor. There was a bountiful feast for foreign guests. Their stomachs were full and they were drunk.
Rosalie’s not-so-known yet so common story is given a hearing at the youth hearing of the AGAPE Consultation on Poverty, Wealth and Ecology in Asia and the Pacific, currently taking place in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Through Rosalie’s story, Jonathan Sta. Rosa, a young man from the Philippines, portrays how globalization impacts the people especially the poor in the Philippines. “Poverty is the result of exploitation and monopoly”, he said.
Jonathan’s brother, Isaias Sta. Rosa who is a United Methodist pastor, was gunned down by military elements in 2006. “Exploitation is coupled with violence”, Jonathan explains the killing of his brother who actively resisted corruption and exploitation in the country.
Young people in the hearing agree that children and the youth are hardest hit by globalization. Though they also say that not many young people today are critically aware of the various issues that globalization brings.
Youth participants from the Pacific note that poverty has even been defined by the West for the rest of the world. Now poverty means incapacity to send children to school, or not being able to own a cell phone, for example. While in the Pacific, wealth is measured by the level of community relationships, sharing and happiness.
Jessica Tulloch locates herself “in the middle of the Pacific.” Having lived and adopted Filipino ways for already seven years, still many things remain ‘American’ in her.
As a young woman from the United States nurtured in the church and in the ecumenical movement, she gracefully allowed herself to be ‘ministered to’ by the poor and the struggling people. Witnessing the resilience of people living day to day and struggling despite risks, adversities and threats to life, Jessica learned that in engaging in the process of change one also is changed.
In Asia and the Pacific, neo-liberal globalization has taken a stronger hold in urban centers especially with the young people. The pressure to consume, to own, to conform and to remain in one’s comfort zone is enormous.
Rosalie’s story is not just another one to be heard. Stories like hers should not be ever heard again.
Meanwhile, Jessica and Jonathan, two young people coming from two different worlds, offer the youth another way of being in the world. Their message to today’s youth: “One is transformed when one lives with the struggling grassroots people”.
posted by cbs at Thursday, November 05, 2009
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| Friday, June 05, 2009 |
Christians Celebrating World Environment Day 2009
The United Nations General Assembly started celebrating World Environment Day in 1972, to coincide with the opening of the Stockholm Conference on Human Environment. Commemorated yearly on 5th of June, it is one of the principal events through which the United Nations promotes worldwide awareness of the environment at the level of political action. The reasons for the celebrations include giving a human face to environmental issues, empowering people to be active agents of sustainable and equitable development, promoting an understanding that local communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues, and advocating global partnership which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous environment. With all the consumerism, environmental destruction, and lack of care for the earth's resources we see around us, there is very little reason to celebrate. In spite of all the advancement in science and technology, our mother earth is under threat and is groaning under the weight of human neglect and destruction (Romans 8:18-25). Why should Christians care for the environment? Care and concern for nature and ecology are at the heart of the gospel and an important mission of the church. Ecology and environment are closely linked to 'oikos', the Greek word for house or habitat, which God has entrusted to us from the beginning of creation to care for and protect. The Christian community needs to be aware of their access and responsibility towards mother earth's bounty and its limits. Addressing climate change by helping in reducing carbon emissions is one very crucial challenge Christians face today. Many people have been turned off by environmental activists who try to make them feel guilty for being alive and using air. As Christians we know that the present world is temporary and that the elements will someday melt with fervent heat (2 Peter 3:10, 12). Although this gives Christians perspective, it is certainly not a license to abuse the earth or be arrogant toward it. "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" (Psalm 24:1) is a scriptural call for environmental stewardship. Scripture clearly states that God created, blessed, protected and made a covenant with nature and all the species in it. As stewards of His creation, we are called likewise. It is our biblical and moral duty to protect and care for nature and our earthly habitat. How do we as Christians make a difference for God and His creation?  Be aware that our care for creation is a moral issue beyond economics;
Be a good steward for God's creation around us; Encourage local church members to study and live by the biblical injunction on caring for the environment; Contact our elected officials to remind them of our concern for the protection of the environment from greed, exploitation and control; Live like a shepherd, not like a wolf. Remember that recycling is almost like an act of worship. Environmental issues are a major concern of our day. Christians should do their part to help the earth glorify God. We must also spread the gospel message, telling others about the Creator of heaven and earth and how good but vulnerable creation is. Freddy De Alwis CCA-JID 5 June 2009
posted by Charlie Ocampo at Friday, June 05, 2009
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