RELIGION

A theological reflection on human rights violations in the Philippines

Joey Gánio Evangelista, MJ

IFRS, Quezon City

8 December 2010

Morong 43, farm workers of Hacienda Luisita, Inc., desaparecidos, political detainees, urban poor … I cannot help but ask why these things happen in this day and age? One would think that we would by now have better respect for our fellow human beings and for the world that we live in after having accomplished so much as a species and, ourselves, as a nation. Despite the so-called progress in terms of technology, science, knowledge, jurisprudence, theology and so on we still kill and destroy like “savages.” I think we have merely developed more sophisticated means of eliminating people who do not share our view. I am not only referring to technologically advanced weapons of mass destruction. For example, we are capable today of destroying anybody with the mere use of the ubiquitous machine called the computer. Posting anything deceitful or even what may seem a harmless joke on the wall of an acquaintance on her or his Facebook account has the potential of ruining that person.

So why do these injustices happen? The problem is complex. However, one thing is sure: these things are aberrations. These things just do not happen. These are human acts that are committed by individuals or groups either as direct actors or as accomplices, wittingly or unwittingly.

In this essay, I would like to propose to approach these problematic situations from a particular perspective. I must admit that my approach may be limited. It may even seem simplistic at first but consider it an attempt to grapple with the aberrations that our so-called civilized society has created.

I will start my reflection with a critique of the system that has grabbed hold of the running of societies on this planet; I am referring to global capitalism. Most of us had taken it for granted until the meltdown of Wall Street, the heart of global capitalism, in 2008. It was only then that it became evident that everything seemed to be influenced by the market economy either directly or indirectly. Up until the collapse of Wall Street, global capitalism was given free reign by leading capitalist governments based on the ideological belief in the capacity of financial markets for self-regulation. The élan vital of this system is human consumption symbolized by money. The more we consume, according to global capitalism, the “better” the world is. Despite the fall of Wall Street, global capitalism is still very much with us today.

Global capitalism is not a natural phenomenon that finds its source in human nature. According to Wade Rowland in his book Greed Inc., it “is not a natural occurring phenomenon, springing from certain features of ‘human nature.’ It is a human artifact, a deliberately and consciously constructed social system.” He bases this assertion on the economic historian Karl Polanyi’s research that “the tendency to barter … is not a common tendency of the human being in his economic activities, but a most infrequent one … the market has been the outcome of a conscious and often violent intervention on the part of government which imposed the market organization on society for non-economic ends.” Rowland continues by saying that the market economy did not come out of the institutions of liberal democracy but preceded them. “It is a matter of historical record that liberal democratic society was erected in large measure as a means of protecting the power relationships already defined by the market.”

Contrary to the gospel of a-better-life-for-all that is preached by the evangelists of global capitalism, F. Javier Vitoria Cormenzana in A Just Economic Order points out that “the current Market Economy System is built on the logic that defends and leads to the existence of a dual world of rich and poor, in which the unlimited desires and the ever higher quality demands of a minority (the rich) gain advantage over the needs for survival of the majority (the poor).” He paints a stark image of the consequences of this:

The reverse side of increasing globalization of economic relations and the unstoppable advance of science and technology offers the image of millions of human beings thrown by the railroad, watching the train of prosperity pass them by. And with them, suddenly destined to disappear with few alternative perspectives for their future are many and varied forms of life (ranging from indigenous and tribal towns with their ancestral cultures, to self-sufficient farming societies, to traditional crafts and small family enterprises, all of which total some thousands of millions of human beings concentrated for the most part in Africa, Asia and Latin America). These enormous human contingents are trapped in an authentically diabolical vicious cycle, that of unemployment and insolvency, which condemn them to social discrimination and exclusion since as they have no buying capacity, they cannot “be” people who are recognized as such by the world community. The shutting out of people who are on the border of the world system is thus rendered inevitable. These are the effects of the hurricane of globalization.

The internal logic of global capitalism “favors a model of vicarious growth in which the rich exercise the function of representing the whole of humanity in the enjoyment of the material goods of creation, and in which it is considered normal that millions of men and women live and die in misery.” It does not truly usher in a better life for all but only for the rich.

Looking at these cases from this perspective, we know that these things will not take care of themselves. The poor, meaning the urban poor, the farmers, laborers, political detainees, the Morong 43, the families of the disappeared will not be able to improve their lives collectively if they let things be because the system will not simply allow it. Those who attempt to offer an alternative to the current system or oppose it will have to be neutralized by the powers that be because they are a threat to the “peace and order” of society, which is essential to the growth of the economy. In the current global system, it is money that has become the driving force of history not people. It gives recognition and salvation, or said in another way, it provides real existence and the possibility of satisfying future desires whatever these may be. This is how the rich and the financial powers understand the world. Thus, it is but reasonable to those who have money to be willing to sacrifice all other values including peace and the dignity and life of the poor.

The current system has made the market economy god. Parodying Isaiah 40:10-17, global capitalism proclaims:

In the desert of poverty prepare the way for the free market, clear the path for our “god”;

take what steps are necessary to adjust. Here is your “god”!

Look, the market arrives with power and with raised arm orders.

Who measured, as he did, the allocation of the scarce productive resources,

increasing production to its maximum level

and making it most appropriate for the needs of society?

Who embraced, as he did, the wisdom of god-market and taught as his adviser?

With whom did he seek advice,

who explained to him and who taught him the science of productivity

and who showed him the way of economic rationality?

Nations are nothing before him,

they have the same insignificant weight as dust in weighing scales.

The lives of nations weigh in his decisions as much as a grain of sand,

and all human and natural resources are insufficient as holocaust to him.

In his presence governments of all nations are as if they did not exist.

In terms of value, human beings, individually and collectively, as well as the environment, have been turned into commodities, into capital from which profit could be made. What cannot be turned into capital is unimportant and useless.

For example, there is more profit for government, property owners and corporations in building a central business district, malls, condominiums or golf courses than housing informal settlers or distributing land to landless farmers. The land which is considered home by informal settlers or provider of food by small farmers is judged as “nonperforming asset.”

Even health has been turned into a commodity. Multinational pharmaceutical companies invest more money in non-essential drugs like diet pills than in important medicines needed in the third world like medicine for malaria precisely because there is more money to be gained in such enterprises. It is the wealthy who need these non-essential drugs and they pay well while those who contract malaria are poor and who often barely have resources even for food. There is no profit in producing medicine for the poor. The few good hospitals in this country are expensive and are found in urban centers. In many places in the countryside there are no health facilities or even health specialists because the government does not allot money for it.

Jonas Burgos and the Morong 43 tried to offer an alternative to the current global system in their local setting. They are dreamers like Moses in the book of Exodus who dreamed outside the imperial reality in which he lived. People who dream outside imperial reality like Moses, according to Walter Brueggeman in his book Journey to the Common Good, can begin the daring extrication of their fellow human beings from the imperial system. This, of course, comes with a price. We still do not know where Jonas is; the forty-three health workers are still in detention. Those who dare dream like Moses face a daunting challenge. There is the likelihood of imprisonment, disappearance or death.

In a global capitalist system, borrowing the words of Demetrio Velasco Criado, “the poor are a problem and a threat to the banquet of the rich. And furthermore, the poors’ (sic) problem is their problem, not a problem for the rich.”

What should we do?

As I said earlier, the current world order, global capitalism, is a human construct; it is a human creation. This means that there is a great possibility of changing this, of deconstructing it. Our Christian faith in fact urges us to change, to transform this world, to prepare it for the coming of the kingdom. We look to our faith in helping us make the change.

Our faith proposes to change our perspective of looking at things. The current way of looking at things espoused by global capitalism is how the rich look at things. Jesus of Nazareth urges us not to succumb to this manner of viewing the world but proposes to look at things from God’s perspective. The gospel of Luke illustrates this very well.

First, there is a change in the way the rich and poor is understood. Before Jesus, the rich were the reference point by which all else was judged. Wealth was a sign of divine blessing and poverty was held to be a punishment. The rich person occupied center stage as a model, while the poor person was excluded, admired by no one. Between both, the rich man and Lazarus, there was an “insuperable abyss” (Luke 16:20-31). But now, in the Lucan text, the poor occupy center stage and from there the whole social situation is interpreted and evaluated. The poor are not poor because of divine punishment, nor is their poverty situation the result of fate condemning them to be where they are. Luke links the existence of the poor to that of the rich. There is a Lazarus because there are rich people who refuse to see the injustice of the situation and the damage their wealth causes. Second, against the ideological justifications for poverty (divine punishment or blind fate), Luke presents poverty as an evil to be fought. The poor are victims of a situation that needs to be overcome. The poor are victims favored by God, Who hears their cry.

Following the direction the gospel points to us, we are urged not to appropriate global capitalism’s view of the world. Rather, we are admonished to look at things from the perspective of the poor as God does. By doing so, we realize that informal settlers, landless farmers, the Morong 43, political detainees, the disappeared, the victims of extra-judicial killings are not where they are, mainly at the fringes of society, because they are destined to be there but because the market economy has eased them out. If we are to be faithful to our Christian calling, then we need to right the wrong that has been done to these victims by replacing the system that has pushed them to the fringes of the human community. The Bible does not propose that all become poor. It also does not suggest that the poor turn the tables and make the rich the victims. The model proposed is a new form of solidarity, which Brueggeman terms as neighborly common good, where the rich share with those who have nothing and where the wealthy change their life style into one that is austere and solidarity-infused because they have understood that all must live with dignity.

Scripture tells us it is paramount that change must take place. The Magnificat (Luke 1: 48-55) is not only a grateful song from Mary about her personal vocation or the history of a people, but also the voice of a community of the Biblical poor who await the saving project of God through His Son. And the Beatitudes (Luke 6: 20-26) describe the confrontation which links rich and poor, defending the overturning of values and relationships between them. The legitimizing ideology of the “status quo” is viewed as the work of a false god (mammon) and enemy of the kingdom of God. There is no other way except conversion.

The mutual use of goods in solidarity is the alternative to unjust, irrational and socially damaging possession, as embodied in the figure of the miser who accumulates goods, heedless of what everyone else may need (Luke 12: 13-21). Zacchaeus exemplifies the conversion that is needed in the rich (Luke 19:2-8) who gave half of his possessions to the poor and paid back fourfold those he defrauded. Try to imagine how the Philippines would look like if Christians were able to convince the wealthy and powerful of this country like the Cojuangcos, Aquinos, Ayalas, Arroyos, Tans, Sys, Lobregats just to name a few to truly follow the example of Zacchaeus.

The story of the Christian communities in the Acts of the Apostles tells us the story of how this solidarity was lived (Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-37) where everything was shared in common and where there was no needy person among them. In such a social order, social differences are no more and the social influence the rich used to enjoy they no longer have. Imagine what would happen if Christians all over the world were able to convince the eight wealthiest nations of this planet to do just that, share everything in common.

To put an end to all kinds of violation and discrimination it is imperative that Christians, both individually and collectively, work toward the transformation of society following the example of Jesus of Nazareth. Global capitalism as a paradigm of human and societal relations is not only inadequate but is contrary to the kingdom that Jesus preached. The gospel challenges us to rebuild and transform human relationships and societies corrupted by global capitalism into relationships and societies that are founded on evangelical solidarity and the common good! This is not an option that we can either choose or not choose to make; it is integral to our being disciples of Jesus the Christ. It is at the heart of what it means to be Christian.

Consulted works

Brueggeman, Walter. Journey to the Common Good. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010.

Cormenzana, F. Javier Vitoria. A Just Economic Order. Barcelona: Cristianisme i Justícia, 1999.

Criado, Demetrio Velasco. Is Private Property Theft? Barcelona: Cristianisme i Justícia, 2008.

Polanyi, Karl. The Great Transformation. Boston: Beacon Press, 2002.

Rowland, Wade. Greed, Inc.: Why Corporations Rule the World. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2006.

Sebastián, L. Neoliberalism Under Question. Barcelona: Cristianisme i Justícia, 1993.

Churches Witnessing With Migrants

Unity Statement

November 6, 2010

We are representatives of various churches, church-related institutions and migrant organizations from different countries. We are grateful for the space provided by the CIRM (Conferencia De Superiores Mayores De Religiosos De Mexico or the Conference of Major Religious Superiors of Mexico) in Mexico City, to collectively discuss and reflect on the issue of migrant workers and how the churches can respond to their plight.

As Christians, we believe that human dignity is a gift from God and that all are created in God’s image. It can never be taken away even when people move from one place to another. 

Today, we have listened to migrant workers tell their stories of how governments of labor-sending and labor-receiving countries, have distorted this gift of dignity. They are stripping migrant workers of their basic human rights through forced migration as a consequence of poverty, lack of job opportunities, decent wages and underdevelopment. With forced migration, human beings are turned into expendable commodities, treated as cogs in a machinery to gain profits for the rich and powerful countries. Their humanity is squeezed dry by the intensifying exploitation, xenophobia, racism and repression. We are saddened by this social and economic reality.

In this light and amidst a world in severe crisis, we view the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) with a critical eye. The GFMD, an initiative led by governments, operates within the framework of forced migration – thus making migrants more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.     

All of us long for a better future. But we do not speak of a passive longing that merely waits, but of a hope that enhances abundant life in the present. We believe in a hope that spurs us into action to transform our longing into a struggle, to affirm and uphold our dignity, to reclaim our rights as human beings and give credence to God's promise of life in its fullness. 

At different levels through different means, many of our churches have lived up to this task. They provided sanctuaries, basic needs such as food and clothing, and ministered to migrant workers. Some churches have put in place programs that provide direct services to migrants that accompany them in their struggle for justice and dignity.

In the face of intensifying exploitation and repression following the worsening economic and financial crisis of neo-liberal globalization, we have to forge our unity towards an effective response to the sufferings and struggle of migrants and their families. Now more than ever, we must combine our acts of mercy and acts of justice. We must become more of a church witnessing with the people, bringing the institution closer to the migrant workers. We need to journey with them and together address the roots of forced migration. This is Christian solidarity.

We need to announce and denounce those who are responsible and accountable for the miseries of the migrant workers and their families.  The healing, liberating and prophetic ministry of the churches are needed. The churches need to realize that the migrant workers are also prophets and thus must listen more closely to their prophetic voices and stand with them in struggles. This too is Christian solidarity.

As co-sojourners, we resolve to take the following steps to help create spaces and communities of joy and justice for a new heaven and a new earth:

a.    Raise awareness on the roots of forced migration and on migrants’ rights and welfare by providing spaces for discussion and reflection in our churches as some of us still need to start at doing acts of mercy.

b.    Share experiences to enhance each others’ capacities in moving towards acts of justice.

c.    Assist in the organizing of migrants workers.

d.    Become active voices and co-sojourners, walking side by side with our migrant sisters and brothers in their campaigns in defense and advancement of their rights and welfare (i.e. the case of the eleven trafficked Overseas Filipino Workers in the USA and the massacre of undocumented migrants in the Texas-Mexico border, etc.)

e.    Engage in various avenues, within or outside the framework of government instruments to promote and protect the rights of migrants.

f.     Widen our solidarity and echo these kinds of dialogues in the national and regional levels, and international levels to deepen and strengthen our unities in understanding and action.

g.    Make available to the migrants and families the resources of the faith (Bible, liturgy, community) to sustain them in their struggle for dignity and human rights.

h.    Form a continuing committee from the participating organizations as an organizing body for a broader and larger International Ecumenical Church Migrants Conference.