News Briefing and Comment
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British aid to India defended by Christian Aid
Christian Aid has backed continuing UK aid to India as an important intervention aimed at helping people living in abject poverty.
UK-based international development agency Christian Aid has welcomed a continued British commitment to aid to India as an important intervention aimed at helping people living in abject poverty.
A £25 million programme the organisation manages as part of a consortium on behalf of the UK’s Department for International Development helps marginalised and socially excluded groups such as Dalits - previously called untouchables - tribal communities, women and others living below the poverty line.
Their continued need, says Christian Aid, reflects the fact that in newly powerful economies, the benefits of growth are often shared unequally, in this case outstripping the Indian government’s efforts to make society more equal.
Media suggestions that some Indian politicians want an end to UK aid, it adds, have been exaggerated, and are not endorsed by the political mainstream on the subcontinent which recognises the value of such assistance.
Christian Aid says that recent criticism of the Indian government in Britain for choosing to buy French rather British fighter jets is misplaced. It rejects any link between trade and aid, saying foreign assistance should be given with no strings attached.
Christian Aid’s senior political adviser Sol Oyuela declared: "The changing demographics of poverty worldwide mean that 75 per cent of the poorest people in the world, living on less than $1.25 a day, are now found in middle-income countries."
"India alone is home to a third of the world’s poor," she said. "The Government there has in recent years made major efforts to make education available to all and provide health services in poorer areas," continued Ms Oyuela.
She went on: "Inequalities in society that predate the economic boom mean that there are still a large number who suffer social exclusion, and are therefore unable to access these entitlements."
"India is not unique in failing to solve all its social problems overnight. The challenges are enormous, with child malnutrition running at about 50 per cent in states the size of Britain. UK aid to India is targeted at the three poorest states there, focusing the work in areas where poverty is very high," said the specialist NGO adviser.
Christian Aid says it fully supports the significant amount of UK aid targeted at women and girls who are worst off among the poor.
It also acknowledges the valuable work Dfid is doing in engaging with the private sector, the biggest beneficiary of the growing economy, by encouraging it to share in addressing poverty through initiatives such as providing employment to people from marginalised groups.
One key aspect of the work that the British churches' agency engages in with the help of Dfid money is supporting civil society organisations in giving poorer and socially excluded communities a voice in ensuring that they do not remain ‘locked out’ of the benefits of development but have access to their rights and entitlements as equal citizens.
The Poorest Areas Civil Society programme advocates for greater social inclusion, and is designed to strengthen demand for improved service delivery, greater responsiveness and accountability from suppliers, as well as addressing the discrimination women and socially excluded communities face.
"Among the groups we help are the manual scavengers," explained Ms Oyuela. "These are dalits whose only source of income is cleaning human waste from latrines without proper sanitation."
"Although the practice is illegal, it still continues. One of our partner organisations helps dalit communities manual scavengers access Government resources and find dignified alternative employment, allowing them to break free of the social constraints consigning them to such a role," she said.
Christian Aid’s country director in India, Anand Kumar, added: "India is dealing with deep-rooted structural causes of poverty such as caste, gender and ethnicity based poverty. In spite of the constitution of India prohibiting various forms of discriminatory practices, some of those social and cultural practices still continue exists in one form or the other."
"The role of civil society groups is crucial in helping poor and socially excluded communities gain their rights and entitlements," he said. "Dfid’s support through its flagship civil society programmes provides critical support to local organisations in addressing these challenges and reducing poverty and discrimination."
Buy Christian Aid charity gifts and support present aid online.
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Israel asked to cancel plan to forcibly displace Bedouin communities
Amnesty has called on Israel to cancel military plans to forcibly displace around 2,300 Bedouin residents of the West Bank onto an area by a garbage dump.
Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak should cancel military plans to forcibly displace around 2,300 Bedouin residents of the West Bank to an area beside the Jerusalem municipal garbage dump, Amnesty International said this week in a new briefing paper.
In Stop the Transfer: Israel about to expel Bedouin from homes to expand settlements, the organisation calls on the Israeli military to order an immediate halt to all demolitions in the 20 communities affected by the plan.
Amnesty says that verbal promises made by Israeli military officials last week not to implement pending demolition orders in Khan al-Ahmar, one of the Bedouin communities targeted for displacement in the Jerusalem district of the occupied West Bank, are insufficient.
“Thousands of Bedouin living in some of the most vulnerable communities in the West Bank are facing the destruction of their homes and livelihoods under this Israeli military plan. Many are registered refugees and some have been displaced multiple times since 1948,” said Ann Harrison, interim Deputy Director for Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
She continued: “The Israeli authorities must guarantee the right to adequate housing for residents in all 20 communities, along with Palestinians throughout the occupied West Bank. This means protecting them from forced evictions and conducting genuine consultations with all of the communities.”
In July 2011, Israel Civil Administration officials first told UN agencies of a plan to evict some 2,300 residents of 20 Bedouin communities in the Jerusalem district to a site approximately 300 metres from the Jerusalem municipal garbage dump.
The communities are all currently located near illegal settlements in the Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc, many of them in areas targeted for settlement expansion.
The Israeli military considers most structures in these communities – located in Area C of the occupied West Bank, where Israel retains authority over planning and zoning – to be built illegally without the required permits.
However, construction permits are almost impossible to obtain for Palestinian communities in Area C. Most of the structures in these communities have demolition orders against them, including homes, kitchens, external toilets, animal shelters, and two primary schools.
The Israeli military authorities have not consulted representatives of the Bedouin communities about the displacement plan. Community representatives have told Amnesty that they reject the plan because it would be impossible for them to maintain their traditional way of life if they were moved to a restricted area near the garbage dump.
Israel forcibly moved Bedouin families to the same area in the late 1990s, placing homes as close as 150 metres to the garbage dump. Bedouin who live there have told Amnesty International that the site was unsuitable to their way of life, that they had had to sell off their livestock due to a lack of grazing areas, and that they suffered high rates of unemployment. Some have returned to the areas from which they had been displaced.
According to the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection, the dump receives up to 1,100 tons of garbage per day, most of it from Jerusalem. The ministry has stated that the dump site creates air pollution, ground pollution, and possible water contamination, is improperly fenced-off, and poses a “danger of an explosion and fires” due to untreated methane gas produced by the decomposition of garbage.
Although disposal of waste at the site is due to cease later this year, no rehabilitation plan has been agreed, which means that the environmental hazards will likely remain for years.
Israeli officials have emphasised that the displacement plan envisions connecting relocated Bedouin communities to the electricity and water networks. They have not explained why Israel can provide such services to illegal settlements and unrecognised settler outposts in the West Bank, but not to longstanding Bedouin communities.
The 20 Bedouin communities have created a 'protection committee' to coordinate their response to the displacement plan. The committee’s stated preference would be to return to their lands in Israel’s Negev desert from which they were displaced by the Israeli authorities in the 1950s, in accordance with their internationally recognised right to return.
The Bedouin communities say that their second option would be for Israeli authorities to recognise their rights to remain in their current homes, connect them to water, electricity and road networks, and lift arbitrary restrictions on their movement.
Due to these restrictions, many Bedouin must buy animal fodder for sheep and goats that they were formerly able to graze, forcing them to sell their livestock.
As the final option, the Bedouin would be willing to negotiate the possibility of relocating again, if the Civil Administration treated them as equal negotiating partners.
Major-General Eitan Dangot, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, visited the Khan al-Ahmar community last week, and reportedly promised residents that that their homes and community school would not be demolished, and that they would not be transferred to the site next to the garbage dump. He said that the community would be moved to a different site in the occupied West Bank.
But Amnesty says that is not enough. “Israeli military officials are putting a gloss on their plans by portraying them as a way of providing Bedouin with basic amenities such as water and electricity, but in fact such forcible relocation of Bedouin would merely perpetuate years of dispossession and discrimination and could constitute a war crime,” explained the human rights NGO's Ann Harrison.
“Informal promises are not enough for these communities. The Israeli Minister of Defence must issue a formal cancellation of this policy,” she said.
Building in illegal Israeli settlements increased by 20 per cent in 2011, according to the Israeli monitoring group Peace Now, and the Israeli authorities moved to recognise 11 new settlements, home to some 2,300 settlers, by legalising outposts built without governmental authorisation.
Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank forcibly evicted almost 1,100 people in 2011, an 80 per cent increase over 2010 and more than any year since the UN began keeping comprehensive records in 2005. Ninety per cent of the demolitions occurred in vulnerable farming and herding communities in Area C, including demolitions in several of the Jahalin Bedouin communities.
The Netanyahu government is also seeking to implement the E1 plan to expand settlements between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim. More than half of the Bedouin communities targeted for displacement live in the area designated for this plan, which would effectively divide the northern and southern West Bank if implemented.
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Church of England relies on LGBT clergy, vigil illustrates
Anglicans have staged an 'Act of Witness' at the Church of England General Synod to highlight the important role of many hundreds of LGB&T clergy.
Anglicans staged an 'Act of Witness' at the Church of England General Synod this morning (Thursday 9 February 2012) to draw attention to the extent to which the Church relies on the many hundreds of LGB&T clergy.
"They minister faithfully across the Church of England despite the institutional prejudice and suspicion they often face," a statement after the event declared.
Over 40 members and supporters of the LGB&T Anglican Coalition greeted Synod members as they entered Church House Westminster from 8.45am.
The Coalition has calculated that there are at least 1,500 LGB&T licensed clergy currently ministering in parishes, hospitals, diocesan offices and other ministries - over 13 per cent of the total.
The Rev Colin Coward, Director of Changing Attitude, said: “Most synod members, including several bishops, responded warmly to our message, and encouraged us to continue our campaign for full inclusion in the Church of England.”
London and Southwark dioceses, which cover the whole of greater London and east Surrey between them, are home to a significant proportion with approximately 350 LGB&T licensed clergy - 25 per cent of the diocesan workforce.
Snapshots of deaneries in other dioceses up and down the country have revealed significant numbers of 10-15 per cent are typical.
Research by the union Unite in 2008 also showed that over 20 per cent of hospital chaplains have same-sex partners and have moved into chaplaincy in part because they could be sure of equal treatment and support from their employer.
Yet the culture of the Church of England remains a hostile place for many LGB&T clergy, who often have to hide their sexuality.
Their treatment by bishops is also inconsistent, with some acknowledging same-sex partners while others overlook them.
The Anglican Coalition brings together all the UK-based groups that work specifically on behalf of the LGB&T members of the Church of England.
It exists to provide UK-based Christian LGB&T organisations with opportunities to create resources for the Anglican community and to develop a shared voice for the full acceptance of LGB&T people in the Anglican Communion.
* More about the LGB&T Coalition: www.lgbtac.org.uk
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Scottish parties asked to allow free choice on independence
Scottish party leaders are being asked to say whether they will allow all party members to choose sides freely in Scotland's independence debate.
Scottish Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders are being asked to say whether they will allow all their members to choose sides freely in Scotland's independence debate.
The move from Green MSP Patrick Harvie came ahead of the 9 February 2012 party leaders’ meeting on the referendum.
The unionist parties are being requested to give MSPs, MPs and councillors the chance to campaign openly on any side of the debate.
The Greens back the referendum, but argue that the independence debate should not be constructed along party lines, and that the debate in the run up to the 2014 poll will not benefit if dissenting voices are shut down by party managers.
Green MSP and party co-convenor Patrick Harvie explained: “Over the years I’ve met members of all parties who are more open to independence than their parties will admit, and it’s not hard to find some who are privately enthusiastic."
"It’s important for our democracy that they should feel free to speak their minds, and to campaign for a Yes vote without fear of party discipline," he continued.
“Independence has too often been seen as a simple split down party lines, but the truth is more complex than that.
“Party leaders can sit down today and discuss the timing, the question, votes at 16, and a host of other issues. But the referendum is too important to be carved up between five people behind a closed door.
"Everyone in Scotland, including those in parties that don’t support independence, must be free to campaign for the result they really believe in,” concluded Mr Harvie.
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Positive church schools debate comes to C of E Synod
"A historic event" was how one priest described the first 'Religion & Education' Accord Coalition fringe meeting at the Church of England General Synod.
"A historic event" was how Church of England General Synod member the Rev Hugh Lee described the first 'Religion and Education' Accord Coalition fringe meeting at Synod on 8 February 2012.
Mr Lee, from Oxford diocese, sponsored the event. He hoped that the conversation about faith schools, their strengths and their weaknesses, encompassing a variety of views, would deepen and extend itself within the Church.
"You can only love your neighbour if you know your neighbour in person", said Accord chair Rabbi Dr Romain, opening up the debate with a challenge over the dangers of religiously separated education.
"Don't divide the children" should be the watchword for good schools, he said, commending the Anglican Bishop of Oxford for raising the question of limiting selection by faith in church schools precisely in order to encourage differences which are "enriching, rather than threatening".
Rabbi Romain also said that it was an anomaly that Religious Education, learning about the range of beliefs and convictions in a plural society, was not part of the National Curriculum, monitored and developed across all schools.
At present faith schools and academies are not required to follow national guidelines, and as a consequence there is both good and bad practice and much unevenness, he said.
Dr Romain described choosing to send his own children to a community school, rather than a selective Jewish one. This enhanced rather than diminished identity and the capacity for social mixing, he explained.
Religion in education can both inspire and divide, but understanding religion and belief remains enormously important for comprehending and engaging with the modern world, declared the Rev Ruth Scott, broadcaster, mediator and chaplain of Christ's School in Richmond, London.
She shared openly and engagingly the mixed feelings she experienced about this subject, concluding with some stories of positive practice, including church schools taking themes central to Christian experience and reflecting on their wider human significance for those of other faiths and none.
Dogmatic belief that is consciously excluding, leads to division and feeds ignorance and prejudice, she noted. By contrast, ethical values can be sourced and shared from a range of places.
Church schools, said Ms Scott, would benefit from recovering their historic mission of providing education for all children.
Jonathan Bartley, co-director of the thinktank Ekklesia, said that the 'Christian ethos' to which church schools aspired, should be about making learning available to all and giving priority to vulnerable children and those most excluded in society, not about discriminating in admissions.
He issued challenges over responding positively to children with special needs (SEN), to the deprived, and on tackling prejudice and homophobia.
He spoke of the huge barriers experienced by his own wheelchair using son, and by other people with disabilities.
Faith schools were often not doing as well as community schools in these areas of inclusion, he said, while noting local differences and examples of good practice.
Restricting head teacher and other posts to Christians was limiting the pool of available talent and not putting children first, said Bartley, referring to his own experiences as a governor.
Regional and local variations was one theme coming out of audience contributions, as was the question of how the church stayed true to its gospel values about breaking down rather than erecting barriers.
The need for children to meet and mix with those from different belief and cultural backgrounds was strongly emphasised, along with the Accord Coalition's positive, reforming agenda.
The meeting was chaired by Andrew Brown, the Guardian newspaper's online religion editor, who announced that statistics would be going up on 9 February about voluntary-controlled and voluntary-aided church schools and SEN.
The Church of England nationally has tended to be dismissive of probing questions about inclusion, admissions and employment discrimination, lack of balance in teaching on religion and belief, and performance on indicators about SEN and free school meals, the Coalition has pointed out.
No representatives of the Church of England Board of Education attended the meeting, but Jonathan Bartley urged them to join the debate and work with those concerned about current policies and practices to make all schools, including faith foundation ones, better in serving the whole community and not just a sectional interest.
Accord brings people of different religious and non-religious backgrounds together to work to reform and improve faith schools.
The coalition backs inclusive, community education. It campaigns to end discrimination on grounds of belief and non-belief in admissions and employment, wants a balanced RE agenda as part of the National Curriculum, supports inspiring assemblies for all rather than compulsory worship, and wants all schools to teach Personal, Social and Health Education well and thoroughly.
* Accord Coalition: www.accordcoalition.org.uk/
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Egypt's Christian leaders urge focus on humanitarian need
Egyptian Christian leaders say that while politics and religion are garnering most attention right now, urgent humanitarian needs must be addressed.
Egyptian Christian leaders say while politics and religion are garnering the most attention in their country right now, Egypt's serious humanitarian problems will soon have to be addressed - writes Chris Herlinger.
As one example, rising food and fuel prices and a drop in foreign currency reserves are making it harder to Egyptians to put food on the table, causing the level of malnutrition to rise in the country.
"This is going to be a serious situation," said the Rev Andrea Zaki Stephanous, general director of the Cairo-based Coptic Evangelical Organisation for Social Services (CEOSS), a Christian development organisation that serves Egyptians regardless of religion and which promotes religious pluralism within Egypt.
In a 2 February 2012 interview in New York City, Zaki and other CEOSS staffers said the food problem - which is particularly acute among Egyptian women and children - is one of a number of grave problems facing Egyptians as the country undergoes a period of continued political change and uncertainty.
As if to underscore that, the interview came the day after 74 people were killed in a stampede following a soccer match in Port Said, Egypt, calling into question the overall state of security in the country right now.
Military rulers have controlled Egypt's national government since the "Arab Spring" uprisings a year ago that toppled the government of former President Hosni Mubarak. Political parties that identify as expressly Islamist, including a party with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, now dominate the nation's parliament.
"While there is no sign of hope now, we believe hope is there," Zaki said, in part because he believes political pragmatists, rather than ideologues, could gain the upper hand politically to help solve the social and humanitarian problems facing Egypt.
"In Egypt we never expected to have a revolution," said Zaki, who is also the vice president of the Protestant Community of Egypt, a council of Egyptian Christian churches.
Egypt, he said, could embrace one of several models in predominately Islamic countries including Pakistan, which has emphasised social conservatism, or Malaysia, which has emphasised economic growth. "Perhaps in Egypt there will be a mixture of both," he said.
Samira Luka Danial, who heads CEOSS's cultural development programmes, noted that while the country is experiencing "a crucial, hard, difficult time," it will be up to Christian groups like CEOSS, which believe in religious pluralism, to continue "to do our work" and be in dialogue with various Muslim factions, she said.
CEOSS representatives were in New York City to meet with partner humanitarian agencies including the United Methodist Committee on Relief and Church World Service.
Chris Herlinger, based in New York, is a writer with Church World Service.
* ENI News: www.eni.ch
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Racial abuse against Archbishop of York condemned
The LGB&T Anglican Coalition has spoken strongly against racist abuse directed to Dr John Sentamu, while disagreeing with his opposition to same-sex marriage.
Following news reports that the Archbishop of York has received racist emails after his recent interview about same-sex marriage, the LGB&T Anglican Coalition has expressed concern and solidarity - in spite of disagreeing with his opposition to marriage equality.
"The LGB&T Anglican Coalition stands against all forms of prejudice including racism. We totally condemn all such acts," a spokesperson said, commenting on the racial abuse allegations.
Dr John Sentamu, who is tipped for the post of Archbishop of Canterbury if, as strong hints indicate, Dr Rowan Williams stands down in the near future, launched what critics described as a prejudiced attack on the government's consultation about same-sex marriage.
Advocates of change say that those who wish to go ahead with same-sex ceremonies and commitments should be allowed to do so, without forcing those like Dr Sentamu, who does not. He wishes to prohibit others by law and compel them to follow his path on the issue.
But LGBT campaigners are also deeply distressed at the racial nature of some of the remarks directed at the Archbishop, who is originally from Uganda and stood up against the Idi Amin dictatorship.
"We believe that prejudice in any form can only be opposed by creating an environment of openness, listening and mutual respect, and it is in this spirit that we approach all of our discussions in the ongoing debate," says the LGB&T Anglican Coalition.
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Kenyan Mennonites make history by writing it
A book book chronicling the Kenya Mennonite Church’s 50-year history has been put together in Africa and will be published next year.
Nine Kenyan delegates and three editors gathered together at the Mennonite Guest House in Nairobi the last week in January. Their task: to proof the manuscript of a history of the Kenya Mennonite Church (KMC), a Mennonite World Conference member church - writes Debbi DiGennaro.
The idea for this book, chronicling KMC’s 50-year history, was birthed in 2003 at the Mennonite World Conference summit in Zimbabwe, in a discussion between Kenyan Bishop Dominic Opondo and David W. Shenk, author and EMM global consultant.
“This is the account of the acts of the Holy Spirit in calling forth and forming the Mennonite Church in Kenya,” wrote Francis Ojwang, primary researcher and author of the book, in the foreword. “Just as ancient Israel and the early church made a very high priority of writing their history of the acts of God among them, so also the KMC needed to record their journey with Jesus Christ.”
The nine delegates were bishops, pastors, and leaders, each representing dioceses of KMC. They spent three full days pouring over the nearly 200-page manuscript. They read each section aloud and then discussed whether the story it portrayed was accurate – moving on only after reaching consensus, in the African way. There were stories to amend, adjectives to tweak, and because of the different ethnicities involved, misspelled vernacular words and place names to correct.
During the reading, David Shunkur, a Maasai pastor from Olepolos, read a section of the manuscript that described his own congregation’s story. Shenk, who served as a consulting editor, said, “It was a moving scene to see Shunkur proofing a paragraph about history he had made himself years before. The delegates showed an enormous amount of ownership in the process.”
The book will be published by Uzima Publishing House, the Anglican publishing house in Kenya, early in 2013.
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Welfare politics and changing the power landscape
The coalition can force its welfare changes through using procedural measures, minor concessions and ‘financial privilege’ to do so. But the long-term political fall-out from all of this could be immense, says Simon Barrow. The warfare over welfare has shown just how powerful citizens’ action and web-based crowd sourcing can be.
When the government’s Welfare Reform Bill first went through the House of Commons last year, signalling a massive overhaul of the benefit system and around £18 billion worth of cuts affecting some of the least well-off in Britain, there were – remarkably – few ruffles at Westminster.
But in January 2012 the balloon went up. That was largely due to a small group of disabled and sick people who were determined not to be ignored by politicians and the mainstream media. They took to the Internet and launched one of the most successful social media awareness campaigns we have ever seen.
The ‘Spartacus report’ and campaign (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/responsiblereformDLA) started off using the Freedom of Information Act to reveal a huge level of concern and opposition to the coalition’s plan to take 500,000 people off Disability Living Allowance, replace it with a new payment, cut costs by 20 per cent, and introduce a vague and untested assessment regime. Up to 98 per cent of expert respondents disagreed with key aspects of what was being proposed. As did Conservative Mayor of London Boris Johnson, it transpired.
Suddenly, three million people started talking about this on Twitter. Thousands began lobbying. Churches and bishops questioned the arbitrary and unfair nature of a one-size-fits all, top-slicing benefit cap. The Institute for Fiscal Studies raised issues about the government’s sums. And charities called for a legislative pause and review of the Bill as a whole, given serious concerns about its impact on disabled youngsters, cancer sufferers, the terminally ill, those in housing need, carers and children in low income or unwaged families.
As a result, the coalition lost an unprecedented seven Welfare Reform Bill amendment votes in the House of Lords, where crossbenchers and independents exerted their power and knowledge to question what was being done to the most vulnerable in society.
“If we are going to rob the poor to pay the rich, then we enter into a different form of morality,” said Lord Patel, responding to arguments that slashing welfare payments was justified by the need for deficit reduction.
Actor and comedian Francesca Martinez, who lives with cerebral palsy, went further. By trying to reform welfare without putting human need and suffering first, government was proving “morally disabled”, she declared.
The coalition can and will force its changes through. It is using procedural measures, minor concessions and ‘financial privilege’ to do so. But the long-term political fall-out from all of this could be immense. Legal challenges are being investigated. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is being invoked. Lords reform will also become more of a minefield.
It is ironic that an unelected revising chamber has proved more sensitive to democratic procedure and the need to listen to ordinary people than the elected one. That does not justify the current set up. But it sends out a strong warning about simply cloning the second chamber on the first. The warfare over welfare has also shown just how powerful citizens’ action and web-based crowd sourcing can be. Politics 2.0, anyone?
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© Simon Barrow is co-director of Ekklesia. This article is adapted from his regular column in Third Way, the Christian magazine of social and cultural comment. http://www.thirdwaymagazine.co.uk/
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We need a system that puts human wellbeing first
The competitive nature of the top-down, corporate capitalist system means we can never truly be 'all in this together', says Jonathan Bartley. All we do is sacrifice the most vulnerable for the sake of maintaining an unjust order. Economic alternatives are essential, and go well beyond statism.
Ed Miliband has accepted David Cameron's cuts. Ken Livingstone shares Boris Johnson's commitment to business. And according to one-time wannabe Scottish leader Tom Harris, Labour "want you to get rich". Today's party owes little to Methodism, let alone Marx. But if Labour has lost its soul, the Tories never had one and the Lib Dems sold theirs a long time ago.
All three embrace a materialistic commitment to modern capitalism – they just differ in how it might be made a little nicer. It is the Green party that now embodies the natural political expression of the more progressive traditions found in dissenting movements such as Quakerism and radical Catholicism.
Many are asking what the point of Labour is, particularly as the time is ripe for an economic vision that refuses to bow at the altar of growth – one that sees people as fully human, not competitive economic units. The charge of "naivety" that once held back such a perspective rings rather hollow today. It is the free-market narrative that is now discredited. Relentless and largely illusory growth based on credit was unsustainable. Inflation driven by rising commodity prices following the depletion of scarce resources has made a monkey out of monetarism. And this in addition to the huge human, social and environmental cost, seen in rising inequality and pollution. "Responsible capitalism" is an oxymoron akin to "well-mannered war".
An appeal to give up the pursuit of wealth isn't an automatic vote-winner. But the alternative to the pursuit of riches is pursuit of a richer vision: neither austerity nor excessive wealth, but rather "sufficiency plus", where needs are met, and then some, while a fuller understating of human welfare is championed.
Having less can be more. Too much choice is not liberating. There is something to be said for rhythms of life, for patience and delayed gratification, where everything isn't available instantaneously. Seasons are enjoyed because they aren't there all year round. Fifty-hour weeks come at the expense of family and friends. That's if we have a job at all.
As well as robbing us of our lives, the system pits us against one another in an endless quest for more, which fuels greater inequality, dissatisfaction and unfulfilment – for both the winners and the losers. We feel left behind our neighbours and other countries if we don't better ourselves economically. We have forgotten who the economy is for.
The alternative is not state socialism. There has always been trade, exchange and barter. But modern capitalism is a relatively late arrival. There are alternative economic models, from mutuals, industrial provident societies and credit unions to small businesses and trading ventures that operate with counter-cultural values. Right now there are more members of co-operatives in the UK (which, the Co-op group points out, have outperformed the British economy by over 21 per cent since the start of the credit crunch) than there are shareholders.
The great leaders of the next few years will not be those who career down another blind alley on the coat tails of outdated and damaging economic models. They will be those who can manage a transition economy, through inevitable de-growth, on to a more sustainable footing. They will need to foster a 'wartime spirit', perhaps, but where the common enemy is not the financial crisis. If we see it in those terms, the competitive nature of the system means we can never truly be all in this together. All we do is sacrifice the most vulnerable for the sake of the system. The real foe is capitalism. One way or another we'll wake up to the fact.
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© Jonathan Bartley is co-director of Ekklesia, and the Green candidate for Lambeth and Southwark in the forthcoming Greater London Authority elections. This article is adapted from one that appeared on Guardian Comment-is-Free, with acknowledgments. http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jonathan-bartley
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C of E General Synod hears of climate change chaos in Bangladesh
The director of the Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh has addressed a meeting at the General Synod of the Church of England, its governing body.
The director of the Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh has addressed a meeting at the General Synod of the Church of England, its governing body.
The meeting, at which the Archbishop of Canterbury and other bishops were present, took place on Tuesday 7 February 2012.
Mr Joyanta Adhikari, director of the Commission, warned of an impending climate catastrophe affecting Bangladesh and the need for urgent action and solidarity.
He told the Anglican gathering that 17 million people faced losing their homes if the predicted 1.5 metre rise in sea levels took place by 2050.
The 60-year-old father-of-two explained how his country was already suffering the devastating impact of climate change.
"All parts of Bangladesh are feeling the effects," he declared. "In the south, rising sea level has led to the intrusion of salt water destroying rice paddy fields which are our main source of food."
"In the north there is drought because of unpredictable and reduced rainfall and the middle of the country suffers from river erosion making river banks, where many people live, unstable and dangerous," said Mr Adhikari.
"We already have a large number of climate refugees who have been forced out of their homes and most of them have to live by the side of the road or in shanty towns," he continued.
"People have been forced to move to cities like Dhaka in search of work and in a country of only 147,000 square km and a population of 142 million this leads to social problems," said director of the Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh.
He went on:"‘Experts are forecasting that if the world doesn’t change course we will see a rise of 1.5 metres by 2050. If that happens,16 per cent of our land will be under water and 17 million people, 15 per cent of the population, will be left homeless. That is the scale of the catastrophe we are facing."
In Bangladesh Christians make up only 0.3 per cent of the 142 million population.
Mr Adhikari said support from Christian Aid and other agencies allows Christians through the CCBD to serve fellow Bangladeshis.
"Christians are a microscopic minority," he explained. "We don’t normally suffer persecution but significant events in the west and the USA can cause us problems. The CCBD works for all people and is an opportunity for us as Christians to not just help fellow believers but serve the rest of Bangladesh."
One way the charity is helping the country adapt to climate change is developing a salt-water tolerant variety of rice paddy.
Other tactics include floating gardens of water hyacinths heaped together, covered with soil and used to grow vegetables.
The CCBD also works to raise houses above sea level, supply energy efficient cooking stoves and improve infrastructure such as submerged water pipes contaminated with seawater.
Mr Adhikari concluded: "This world has enough for our need, but not our greed. We are all God’s creation and we have to live responsibly to ensure God’s world is not destroyed. We cannot solve the problem of climate change alone, we need the help of people in other countries to reduce pollution."
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Youth longing for peace in the Arab world
The key role of young people in recent Arab transformations was a recurrent theme for a recent World Council of Churches Christian-Muslim consultation.
The key role played by young people during the transformations in the Arab world throughout the past year was a recurrent theme for the recent World Council of Churches (WCC) Christian-Muslim consultation on “Christian Presence and Witness in the Arab World”.
The consultation was organised by the WCC programmes for Churches in the Middle East and Inter-religious Dialogue and Cooperation in collaboration with the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) in Antelias, Lebanon.
The consultation took place from 24 to 28 January 2012 and brought together a number of religious leaders, scholars and young activists.
The participants' passion and longing for political and religious freedom, human dignity and rights, and social and economic justice for all people of the Arab world marked the event.
The importance of equal citizenship for all was reiterated frequently. The politics and relationships between the values of citizenship and its links to religious institutions were debated.
Short but vivid sketches highlighted recent events, problems and signs of hope in a wide range of countries. It was acknowledged that in some parts of the Arab world, Christians and Muslims were afraid of the uncertainties that the future might bring.
However, it was also noted that the people of God must not deal in the currency of fear. It was important that the religions themselves were willing to become part of the process of transformation.
As one participant put it, “We need religious leaders who are willing to play a prophetic role, and to be people of vision and wisdom.”
A number of specific proposals and suggestions were put forward in the final communiqué of the meeting.
This consultation was in one of a series of meetings being held in preparation of a major international ecumenical gathering on the Christian presence in the Middle East. This meeting is being planned by the WCC in partnership with the MECC, and is due to take place in December 2012.
[Ekk/3]
- Charles Dickens: a writer for our Hard Times
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Welfare Reform Bill reveals a dysfunctional political culture
The astonishing failure of humanity and empathy apparent in the content of the Welfare Reform Bill and in the conduct of much of the parliamentary debate around it, reflects poorly on our politicians, says Jill Segger. She suggests that our adversarial and excessively partisan politics creates a culture in which MPs thrive by denying their better selves.
Empathy and compassion are possessed, albeit in in differing degrees, by most human beings and their total absence is usually taken as evidence of a personality disorder. The attitude of the government over the damage that will be done to so many people by the Welfare Reform Bill has shown such a level of dissociation from from those qualities which enable us to relate and cohere, that there is a strong temptation to attribute strange pathologies to some of our elected representatives.
The misrepresentation of fact and the failure of consultation exposed by the Spartacus Report, the ignorance of, and indifference to, the plight of extremely vulnerable individuals and families and the collusion with right-wing papers in stirring up animosity through the false and mean-spirited rhetoric of “scroungers” and “hard working families”, was recognised by a majority in the Lords. Members of the revising chamber, listening to reasoned arguments and accessing the innate compassion which one hopes to find in the majority of people, made seven amendments to the Bill ahead of its return to the Commons.
During this process, there were a few moments which revealed the complete failure of some wealthy and privileged politicians to comprehend the realities of life for less fortunate citizens. Most notable was the view expressed by Lord Freud, the Welfare Minister, that the proposed loss of £1500 for some families with disabled children was “not a heavy cut”. Astonishing though this may be, it can be seen as an index of limited life experience rather than of moral disorder.
It is not possible to say the same of some of the behaviour which was on display during the Commons debate on 1 February when MPs overturned all the humane amendments of the second chamber. This made for difficult watching. MPs supporting the amendments referred to the experiences of their own disabled constituents and the manner in which they would be affected by measures such as the cutting of payments for disabled children, and the requirement for terminally ill cancer sufferers on chemotherapy to undergo work capability assessments. As they did so, members on the government benches jeered and sniggered.
This is so far removed from the usages of decency that I would like to posit at least the possibility that these individuals had fallen victim to the twin deformities of group-think and of a distorted view of masculinity.
Group-think - a phenomenon identified by the sociologist Irving Janis in the 1970s - has a dramatic effect on moral judgement. Members of the group become so convinced of the rightness of their beliefs that they no longer consider the consequences of their decisions. They will also tend to exclude and belittle evidence contradicting or calling into question the collective opinion. Any colleagues who do question the dominant mindset are likely to find themselves treated with derision or suspicion. Neither is comfortable; both are likely to be deleterious to promotion within the group.
Some of the worst and most juvenile aspects of maleness contribute to this damaging conformity. Women make up six of the 29-strong cabinet and 22 per cent of all MPs. The predominant culture is male and, as some of the recent jibes coming from the Prime Minister have revealed, an outmoded male culture at that. The desire to appear 'tough' and resistant to the ameliorating attributes of reason, compassion and discernment such as those displayed by the unelected house, has become the unpleasant norm of much green bench conduct.
If some of those who exhibited boorish and callous behaviour during the debate on 1 February could have been taken out of that bear-pit of testosterone and rowdy conformity and into quiet conversation from which they could neither gain advantage nor be humiliated, I would like to think that they might have been brought to a better frame of mind. The alternative is to believe that a significant number of our legislators really do have personality disorders.
A joint statement issued by the Methodist Church, the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the United Reformed Church and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) says: “the benefit cap will make the UK a darker, less humane place for us all”. The manner in which our adversarial and excessively partisan politics makes it almost mandatory for MPs to crush whatever might be thoughtful and compassionate in their make-up, seems both a cause and forerunner of this prophecy.
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© Jill Segger is an Associate Director of Ekklesia with particular involvement in editorial issues. She is a freelance writer who contributes to the Church Times, Catholic Herald, Tribune, Reform and The Friend, among other publications. Jill is an active Quaker. See: http://www.journalistdirectory.com/journalist/TQig/Jill-Segger You can follow Jill on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/quakerpen
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Christians ask St Paul's to oppose forced Occupy eviction
A group of clergy, academics, and church-related figures have written to the Dean and Chapter of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, asking them to make clear their opposition to a forcible eviction of Occupy supporters from outside the Cathedral.
