Workshops

WORKSHOPS:

Towards the end of the programme three full days were devoted to discussions in small groups. These workshop sessions focussed on the SCM and the ecumenical youth movements in Asia today and also on their responses to some of the issues raised earlier in the programme.

Rev. Chris Tremewan, Secretary for Youth of the Christian Conference of Asia spoke of the Ecumenical Youth Movements. Coming as he was from a meeting in the Philippines organised by his Desk on the question of "militarisation and economic domination" he was able to share some of the insights of that meeting with the group. He spoke of the priorities and thrust of the Youth Department of the CCA and said that in many countries the Youth Department of the SCM have common areas of work and they share the responsibilities in some of the countries. He said, for the CCA, the priorities are to link up some of the action groups and people's movements and to develop a new ecumenical vision for the transformation of the Church and ecumenical structures. These priorities run parallel to the concerns of the WSCF that seeks to be a "prophetic voice" in the Church, Society and University.

Rev. David Rodriguez, Chairman of the WSCF Asia Pacific region spoke of the history of the WSCF. The staff supplemented this by enumerating the new priorities and thrusts of the region that were mandated by the Tokyo Regional Committee in 1981. Following this, the group ventured in identifying some of the political, economic and cultural issues that confront the work of the SCMs in Asia today. It was agreed that the overall emphasis of the workshop should be on the "structures of domination and the ideological quest". Three groups were constituted to discuss three aspects of this emphasis namely:

(a) People's movements and self-understanding of the SCMs in Asia.

(b) Education - barrier or bearer?

The workshop discussions were spread over a day and at the synthesis session a lively discussion followed. One of the pertinent questions asked was "is there a people-oriented ideology in the Asian context today". After having critically examined the various ideological expressions and basing on the lectures delivered by Dr. Suh, Dr. M. M. Thomas and Dr. George Ninan, the group reaffirmed that an authentic manifestation of a political vision for Asia should be rooted in the people. To elaborate, the group said, "the people should have a basic say in all matters relating to political and economic processes and that there should be an ongoing political discussion and total participation at the grassroots level and in the economic life of the nation no matter whatever be the name by which the system is called."

The group looking at the question of education was of the opinion that today's campuses in Asia do not have autonomy and that it is bound to he political ideology of the ruling power in their own countries. Most of the campuses today lacked student participation and captivity is rampant. Academic freedom and the pursuit of critical knowledge is made subservient to the dominant ideology and it stifles the critical faculties of today's students. It was opined that one of the basic challenges facing the WSCF and SCMs will be the confrontation of the secular student movement to challenge them to come out of the political lethargy that is now governing the life of the student movement.

Within the total context of the Asian and political realities it was once again emphasised that the SCM's have a prophetic role to play in challenging the military-industrial complex that governs the life of the nation and campus.

Some of the reflecting made by the participants in the workshops stemmed from their visit and their short experiences in China. At this session Koshy Mathew has had on opportunity of visiting China and Cuba during his tenure on the staff to make a presentation on the life and the economic system in these two countries.