|
Christian Conference of Asia
|
About CCA
Program Clusters: Special Programs:
|
The Women’s Loy Pai StatementAsia-Pacific Women’s Hearing on Poverty, Wealth and Ecology The Women’s Loy Pai Statement
Women’s Lament (after Lamentations 5) A Litany of Hope Women farmers Signs of hope: Counselling and support for those left behind – Signs of hope: The Church of Christ in Thailand Signs of hope: The Australian shopkeepers of Bundanoon Signs of hope: The Asian Women’s Religious Leaders Summit: Signs of hope: Hands outstretched to neighbours near and far A Chinese saying tells us that woman is water: Statement of Commitment
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:
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:
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:
posted by cbs on Thursday, November 26, 2009 The Youth DeclarationAsia-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:
“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 on Thursday, November 26, 2009 The Indigenous Peoples’ DeclarationAsia-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:
posted by cbs on Thursday, November 26, 2009 On the AGAPE Consultation on Poverty, Wealth and EconomyNovember 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 on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 Chiang Mai DeclarationWCC-CCA-PCC AGAPE Consultation on Poverty, Wealth and Ecology in Asia and the Pacific Chiang Mai DeclarationPreamble 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 on Tuesday, November 10, 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 on Thursday, November 05, 2009 |
| Archives: |
|
April 2003 /
May 2003 /
June 2003 /
July 2003 /
October 2003 /
November 2003 /
January 2004 /
February 2004 /
March 2004 /
April 2004 /
May 2004 /
July 2004 /
August 2004 /
November 2004 /
December 2004 /
January 2005 /
February 2005 /
March 2005 /
July 2005 /
January 2006 /
February 2006 /
March 2006 /
June 2006 /
August 2008 /
April 2009 /
June 2009 /
November 2009 /
December 2009 /
January 2010 /
February 2010 /
May 2010 /
June 2010 /
August 2010 /
September 2010 /
October 2010 /
November 2010 /
May 2011 /
June 2011 /
August 2011 /
September 2011 /
October 2011 /
November 2011 /
December 2011 /
February 2012 /
July 2012 /
August 2012 /
November 2012 /
|
