1
THIS ISSUE
The 2nd
Quarter of this year sees the end of two years work in WSCF AISA. This issue of
PRAXIS takes a look at the thrusts mandated by the 1974
In a region, which is
basically agricultural, the land issue is central to the economic, social and
political well – being of the people. Talks on the manifest problems of poverty
and leaping population, which have taken gigantic proportions in
East Asia ALDEC tackled
the issue of Militarism and Human Rights, again, not as a separate problem but as
part and parcel of the economic and political hegemony drive of the big powers
over the region. The insidious symbiotic relationship maintained by the
military powers and political elites in the countries of the region have
brought about a kind of development which further widens the chasm between the
rich and the poor and an increasing suppression of the basic rights of people
and their struggles to claim what is due them as human beings.
Since WSCF is a student
service organization, its base is found among students. But its orientation is
towards Liberation of peoples from all fetters of injustice and oppression.
Thus,
World Student Christian
Federation in
Finally, WSCF’s
understanding of itself and the world emanates from its understanding of
society from the standpoint of the Christian Faith. This is given emphasis in
the two theological reflections in this issue.
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SPECIAL FEATURE
THE SELF-UNDERSTANDING OF THE
WSCF
1. The
Federation has existed for eighty years. They have been difficult years, in
which theological and organizational problems were linked strongly with the
fundamental questions of Christian identity in a century of profound social
change.
Looking back at this history we could say, as said
the Judge of Israel, Samuel, when he put a stone between Mizpah and Shechem,
"Eben – Ezer", that is, "up till now the Lord has helped
us". (I Samuel
7:12). But rather than giving ourselves
the impression of a majestic continuity to certain presuppositions and
programs, the history of these eight decades of the Federation appears to us as
a history of rapid changes. Born as a
vanguard of missionary work before the First World War, the Federation became a
vanguard and champion of the ecumenical movement. The Federation, especially in
2. The
Buenos Aires paper underscored the changes that have taken place throughout the
Federation since 1968. The regional reports presented in 1976 illustrated three
elements in these changes, which were also emphasized at Buenos Aires:
a) the
centrality of the struggle for liberation for a more just and human society
b) a new
stress on theological reflection understood not as a statement of doctrine but
as a reflection which starts from specific historical situations, and which
expresses the problems and hopes of people in their struggle for social justice
c) a new commitment among the movements to the
difficult yet crucial task of carrying on the struggle for liberation within
the community of the church, of which they are an integral part.
We note that the Buenos Aires Executive Committee
did not intend the
Looking towards the future, we consider it
imperative that we try to give a more precise outline to the work of the
Federation, reflecting both our tasks and the reality of our movements. Given this intention, we will try to outline
the function the WSCF might play.
3. Up till
now, the WSCF has refused to become either a Christian political organization
or an ecclesiastical youth organization. The WSCF has always been a meeting
place for groups with a variety of political experiences who were critically
concerned with the life and mission of the Church. We must move from being this earlier
movement of opinion to being an organization, which defines concretely its
role in relation to political struggles, and in relation to the churches and
the ecumenical bodies.
3
Unless we develop this clearer self-understanding
and praxis, we run the
risk of progressively losing our more politically committed people. They will find little to draw them to SCM or
WSCF activities. On the other hand, if
we do not take serious account of the demands of the less politically involved
people in our SCMs, we run the risk of losing this other sector of our
constituency.
The WSCF is not a Christian political
organization. It is not an ecclesiastical
youth organization – not the "church of tomorrow". For us, it is part
of today's community of believers called the Church. The WSCF strives to become a community of
believers looking for new ways of expressing faith in the context of a
political commitment to the struggle for economic, social and political
liberation. Within our community, we find ourselves struggling with at least
four concerns:
a. we are
challenged by the need of developing more profoundly our understanding of and
involvement in the theoretical and practical aspects of the struggle for
liberation;
b. we need
to discover new ways of reading the Bible, and of reflecting theologically in
the context of our political commitment;
c. we also
recognize that we are caught in the life of institutional churches whose
witness is often muted, and we work towards a day of renewal;
d. As a
student movement, we are particularly involved in the problems created by the
situations of the educational and political realities of our time, and we are challenged
by the question of what it means for us to express our Christian witness and
our political commitment in the midst of the educational institutions of the
present.
Thus, our life is lived within the tension of the
interplay between our efforts at theological understanding and our political
involvement. We are nurtured by both,
and find each bringing judgment and hope to the other. We hope also in the tension of our structure
as a federation of movements grouped in regions. These realities form the basis of our
understanding of our functions as a community.
4. We do not
intend to become a bureaucratic structure, and we, therefore, do not need a
complex organization. We are sure that the Federation lives and develops on the
basis of the validity of its goals and on its capacity to take
initiatives. To insure efficiency and
continuity, however, it is necessary to distinguish the following
organizational levels and functions.
Our community expresses itself first in our SCMs.
These are not the major locus of our political commitment, which, for us, must
take shape within the organizations of peoples struggling for liberation. In
this sense, the SCM would be a place and a space where political experience is
confronted by our faith and the reality of the Church. Consequently, we hope
that the SCM is not a place of retreat, but as a part of the Church, an
instrument of intervention in the Church's community. We are fully aware of the immensity and
complexity of this challenge, and we would like to encourage our SCMs to tackle
this task creatively, bearing in mind that the activities of many of them
provide sufficient basis for this process to take place.
The assessment of seven years of regionalization is
largely a positive one. The regions
provide a unifying nucleus for the movements, giving an instrument for
national movements to face problems with which they cannot deal by
themselves. In addition, the regions are
a place of openness and opening where common steps maybe undertaken in a
manner, which upholds at the same time the freedom of
the national movements. The region is
also a structure for challenging the national movements towards broader issues
and larger perspectives.
The function of the WSCF at the inter – regional
level is similar in its relation to the regions as is the function of the
region with regards to the movements. The Federation implements this function through its General Assembly, its Executive
Committee and its General Secretariat. The WSCF at the inter-regional level
discusses specific problems of the life of the Federation, synthesizes the work
done on all levels, and elaborates plans for the future. In addition to these fundamental tasks, the
inter-regional organs of the WSCF have the responsibility of assuring the
financial means and the necessary financial controls for the life of the
Federation, its programs and its regions. Finally, they have the responsibility
of relating to other
ecclesiastical and international organizations.
Aware of shortcomings and vacillations and in the
difficult search for an identity in the midst of the social, economic and
political struggles of our time. We consider it decisive to be an active community devoted to
the honor of God, a community that is
conscious that this honor is not and
shall never be its honor, and that it is necessary to find people who are
prepared to celebrate this honor with words and deeds.
Torture
These methods of torture are being constantly
developed and further refined. It is estimated that in
Responsibility
Guerilla groups and liberation movements have been
known to torture their victims, but it is the state, which must bear the major
part of the responsibility for the existence of torture, to extract information
and control dissent. However, rather
than shore up their authority by the use of such dubious-and highly unethical
practices, they should courageously resign and entrust the task of governing
to more competent and upright men who will dismantle unjust structures in
society which give rise to violence and torture.
4
REPORTS
ALDECS 1975: 3 SUB-REGIONAL WORKSHOPS
Three Asian sub-regional ALDECs were held in October,
November and December 1975 respectively.
They represented a change of focus from the traditional leadership
training seminars that ALDEC used to imply.
The three workshops are the result of a growing awareness among SCMs of
the need to relate to the struggle for liberation in our region. They concentrated on certain priorities:
issues in which SCM members were deeply involved.
As such, the themes for the South Asian workshop
was Land, Population and Poverty; for the
SOUTH ASIA CONSULTATION
The South Asia ALDEC was held in
The Consultation achieved its primary objectives of
exchanging living local experiences of national movements on the theme; reflecting
the field experimental action of the program critically based on the Christian
faith; exploring and laying down the foundation for in-depth socio-political
and economic analysis, giving suggestive directions to agencies, bodies or
institutions which are interested and sensitizing all members of the movements.
During the exchange of ideas, the participants
tried to find a unifying force with which they could overcome their
differences. They felt that they were part of the oppressed class, which they
had studied and this created an awareness that they had
common goal to achieve, which is,
to fight oppression.
There was a conscious effort to be open to each
other, since the ideological commitment of the group was diverse. Persons from different backgrounds and field
experiences participated in the discussions. People's participation was the
focus of the deliberations and attention was given on how to create solidarity
and awareness among the oppressed rural masses. Students were encouraged to link up with
progressive political groups and create issues on the unjust conditions of the
rural masses.
Aware that their study found irrefutable facts
regarding the basic historical process of society as a history of class
conflict, participants felt the need of a vision to further strengthen their
struggle. The experiences of institutions like Devasarana, an experimental
project based on living faith-dialogue enlightened the theological moorings of
the struggle.
5
A cordial relationship between the participants and
the villagers prevailed throughout the consultation. A social evening was arranged with the local
people at the end of the seminar. Around
300 people from the village enjoyed a cultural program organized by an amateur
group of dancers who were farmers. The
day before the last, the group invited the local villagers for lunch with an
informal discussion in a makeshift meditation hall, previously used as a
poultry house. Every one sat on the floor, there was no chairperson, and some
Sri Lankan friends acted as interpreters.
In reciprocation, the secretary of the village organization invited the
group to lunch at his house. This same man was present throughout the entire
consultation and shared valuable information of the life and problems of
farmers.
On the whole, the consultation has helped the
participants reflect among themselves and to be more
responsible in continuing the struggle.
EAST ASIA SEMINAR
The East Asia ALDEC was held in Hong Kong for
participants from
The participants gave accounts of the overpowering
military presence and tight martial control in their countries. The growing number of political prisoners
testify to this fact. The complex
process of suppression involves:
a. the
militarization of politics at the expense of human lives;
b. the
presence of foreign military troops and various forms of military aid;
c. suppression
of basic human rights;
d. suppression
of indigenous grassroots movements;
e. introduction
of repressive laws; and
f.
the creation
of a false image of the existing order through censorship of media and
authoritarian education under the guise of national security to get the nation
moving towards 'development'.
6
This is accompanied by the creation of a military
order more awesome than anything the world has seen, which consumes the
resources of the people while brutally suppressing them.
The group devoted also some time in reflecting over
the relevance of the Christian faith to the concrete situations that each
participant was in. There was a general acceptance that governments have overtly, or covertly worked against the causes of justice
and genuine peace for the majority of people. In such a situation Christians must be relentless in their
efforts to identify with groups who are working to achieve justice and genuine
peace.
The participants also tackled a two-pronged task.
One was an involvement with the criticism of the established order by means of
research analysis and documentation of existing conditions with particular
emphasis on the role of militarism vis-a-vis political and economic structures.
The second task was the formulation of provisional but not arbitrary
alternatives that approximate the Christian ideals of justice. This includes:
a. support
of progressive organizations, political prisoners and the restoration of human
rights;
b. the
ecumenical spirit of dialogue and support beyond the Christian community to
include Buddhist, Muslim and other faiths;
c. development
of a liberating education; and
d. the establishment
of an effective communications network that could forge closer links on a
regional basis.
The participants recognized that the struggle
within a nation could be assisted and that international efforts to advance the
cause of the struggle was of tremendous help to an oppressed people, isolated
and deprived. Thus, participants
proposed that the Asia Office set up a Centre of Communications, which would
seek and identify interested individuals and groups within and outside
SOUTH EAST
ASIA
WORKSHOP
About 20 participants coming from
All participants have been exposed in varying
degrees to the problem situations of peasants and workers. At this workshop, the terms
7
“peasants” and “farmers”
were used synonymously tom mean rural people who make a living by growing
crops. A few of the participants were fulltime organizers for a number of
years, others were students who have just started or have the intention of
working with the grassroots. The majority were middle class students whose
involvement with the people and empathy with their problems were motivated by
feelings for human dignity and injustice.
In every locality where participants were involved
with farmers and workers organizing for their rights, their governments through
the police or military have intimated and repressed all of them, or have encouraged criminal groups to
harass the people.
The common problems of farmers in Asian countries
discussed at the workshop are:
1) dislocation
due to government policies such as transmigration, counter-insurgency and land
development schemes;
2) superstitution of rural women due to economic hardship and
ignorance;
3) the paternalistic
and arrogant attitudes of government, commercial and religious institutions;
4) landlessness,
the landlord / tenant relationship, debts;
5) the
semi-feudal, and semi-capitalist structure of society and
6) malnutrition.
The common problems among workers are:
1) inhuman
treatment by management;
2) inadequate
wages and poor working conditions;
3) insecurity
of job;
4) high
accident risks ;
5) lack of
proper housing; landlessness and
6) poor health.
In dealing with these problems, three concrete tasks
must be carried out. They are political education, mobilization and
organization. These three are inter-dependent.
Politicization means not only involvement in party
politics. More important than that, it means re-education from the colonial and
elitist orientations towards identification with the farmers and workers of our
countries. The majority of students lack awareness and commitment, but there is
also a radical minority who are capable of giving up their middle-class
aspirations to serve the people totally. Christian students, in particular,
have to overcome their religious hang-ups in order to identify with the
oppressed in their countries who are mostly non-Christians. Religious institutions may be used to a
limited extent
but in the final analysis, the oppressed are the ones to effect a radical
change of structures.
People's organizations are composed, directed and
managed by the people themselves as opposed to those, which are organized for
them. In the process of forming people's organization for power, the imagination
of the people is liberated. This process naturally takes a long time, but the
results are worthwhile- confidence and collective strength.
Fieldworkers must always be alert to the positive
and negative aspects of each situation.
They should have the attitude of learning. Support from the people in
any action is essential. Three main factors
are considered in organizing people: a) the demand is right and just, b) the
people either succeed or fail in getting their demands, c) there must be a
certain level of preparation among technical advisers, leaders and people's
representatives.
Self-criticisms, reflection and evaluation are
essentials of organization. It can be done skillfully during a religious
celebration or a meeting, and it could be a combination of the informal and the
formal.
The participants outlined a list of national
priorities, which are:
1) working
with farmers and workers on development and change;
2) working
with students to orientate them towards the conditions of the grassroot
people;
3) struggle
for independence and self-reliance;
4) participation
in socio-economic programs and community development;
5) struggle
against political and economic imperialism; and
6) campaign
for the release of political
prisoners.
The regional priorities were defined as:
1) forging
solidarity and cooperation;
2) formation
of a support group for national priorities;
3) provision
of a communication and documentation network which will be helpful to farmers,
workers and fieldworkers to help systematize the experience of those in the
struggle;
4) exchange
of experiences to improve skills; and
5) selection of students who are really involved with farmers
and workers to attend workshops of this nature.
There are two levels of documentation:
1) documentation
of certain actions is needed to Influence public opinion and to obtain wider
support; and
2) documentation of experiences, data, insights, information
which will help create mutual support, learning and sharing of involved
situations, strategies and methodologies.
The second should have a limited circulation.
The participants decided to start a bi-monthly
newsletter, which would focus on work methods, ideological discussions, field
situations and appropriate technology.
Each country will take turns in editing and collecting data. This will
then be distributed to the participants by the WSCF Asia Office.
Evaluation
In general, participants have found this workshop
constructive. Some have found friends of similar commitment. Some were
disappointed by the insufficient experience of many of the participants
vis-a-vis farmers and workers. The lack of participants with the same level of
involvement has resulted in the failure to plan a cohesive regional program.
However, participants felt that they have benefited from exposure to different
situations and people with much deeper experience.
8
TWO NATIONAL REPORTS*
Sri Lanka
The SLFP victory of 1956 achieved a bloodless
revolution in many directions – the emphasis on national languages, the
emphasis on the rural masses and the nationalization of oil companies, of
transport, cargo and insurance dramatically changed the island's history.
The 60's was the first 'development’ decade with
its emphasis on the increase of the gross national product. But the end of the
decade made it quite clear that 'development' far more than being measured by
increased productive capacity, requires major transformations in social and
economic structures.
In 1970, questions such as land reform,
nationalization of foreign assets and the whole question of poverty and
bridging the gap between the rich and the poor became burning issues of the
day. These were picked up by the U.F. government on its sweeping election
victory. They promised radical changes, but they were slow in implementing them
and it was the April 1971 uprising that acted as a catalyst. The last four years have seen radical changes
in education, land, housing and the introduction of ceiling on incomes, capital
levy and declaration of assets.
There was a deliberate attempt to break away from
the old capitalist structure and create in its place a socialist society. Another step taken towards this direction is
Land Reform (Amendment) Act, which was gazetted on the 15th. This historic bill
will nationalize all
It would not be wrong to say that the SCM even
though only very peripherally was still caught up in this whole process of
social change. The choice of the theme "Land, Population, Poverty"
for the South Asia Area compelled us to get into grips with the whole issue of
land reform and poverty.
We tackled this issue through a) organizing short
week-end 'live-ins' or work camps to collective farms in order to expose the
students to the life of rural Sri Lanka and the hazardous experience of agricultural
workers, and b) basing the Annual Conference on the theme and publishing
conference papers prepared by students.
The first method had its focus on Devasarana and
the Devasarana Collective Farm. The
Devasarana Collective Farm came into being in June 1971. It arose in the context of a dialogue on Land
Reform by a People's Committee at Ibbagamuva.
The development work that is being attempted has to be seen in the
context of the whole movement of conscientization. It is concerned with the ideological as well
as practical problems involved in building a new socialist society. The Farm is
on 14 acres of coconut land interspersed with the cultivation of grains,
vegetable and pulses.
Every live-in involved
participation in the daily chores of the farm – tilling the soil, etc. together
with the young collective farmers. There
is a mixed diet of work-study-discussions – and silence for meditation at the
"sessions".
* The
Devasarana and the
Devasarana Collective Farm has certainly had its
conscientizing effects on SCMers. It has opened them to a new kind of
experience – for many it was their first experience with rural
Apart from Devasarana, two week visits were made to
Uda-Gira, a community farm and the other to 'Seranis' a government collective
farm.
We shall now attempt a critical assessment of these
three farms:
i.
Agricultural Output - The
Serapis collective farm had the highest agricultural output. This reveals the
need for sufficient technical know-how. Lack of such skills and planning
ability has been a real problem for Devasarana – the farmers felt the need for
special knowledge. In Uda-Gira, low yields and constant crop failure are due to
the very poor natural conditions. Lack of water being the main reason. The
hazardous life of the dry zone farmer and the grueling nature of work in the
open made their lasting impression on the participants. The Serapis experiment
in inter-cropping which was also being tried out by Devasarana shows the extent
to which we could diversify our agriculture.
ii.
Management - In all three farms,
decision-making was in the hands of the collective farmers. Serapis being the
largest with a membership of 65 worked its decision through committees - the
wide variety of the committees ranging from marketing and production to
financial, political and cultural showed that collective decisions governed
every area of life. Devasarana and Uda-Gira had just one committee as they
were smaller in number. Daily meetings to discuss and plan
out work was common to all farms.
Perhaps here we should also tackle the question of
ownership. It is very important that land should belong to the farmer. In any
of the farms, the land does not belong to the collective farmers. The tenancy
of the farmers is not assured. This can naturally have an impact on output.
Also, the relationship of those who work on the farm and those who work for the
Aramaya is affected by the fact that the latter does
hardly any manual work and the distinction of administrative work is drawn and
it has unconsciously reflected the dichotomy which exists between manual and
mental labor. It thus shows how insidious can be the filtering of capitalist
values.
iii.
Ideology - Devasarana was
strongest in these terms - at least in theory it had a clear-cut ideology, but
naturally there were very tough problems in living up to these ideological
demands. Uda-Gira had no ideological base we feel that this was one of its weak
points. Serapis too, was ideologically oriented. In Devasarana too, while some
fanners are more politically conscious than others – still, it is apparent that
it is Sevaka Yohan who is most convinced ideologically. The ideological tensions
reveal the pressures of a capitalist society on these new experiments.
iv.
Impact on the Surrounding Area - Of the
three, Devasarana is most conscious of the need to be integrated with the
surrounding villages and also the need for conscientization. The organization
of open-air drama and the series of seminars on "Sri Lanka and the Social
Revolution" are two attempts by the collective farmers in this process of
conscientization. Still Devasarana remains a pocket isolated from the rest of
the village where agricultural ownership is concerned.
Also with regard to Devasarana, the swami figure
seems to have caught up with the villages more than the ideas of the collective
farm itself. This again reveals our traditional attachment to religious
personnel.
In conclusion, we wish to state that our experience
at these three farms, with Devasarana in particular, has made us realize that
the road to socialism is difficult, that old values persist and die hard, but
that it is also in the pioneering efforts of these young farmers, however
weak, that we can find the seeds of a society which will create a new humanity.
Further, we also realize that those engaged in these three farms-face problems
of the toughest nature which we SCMers are never called to face. So, it shows in
short the superficiality of our own work particularly it is not action –
oriented.
9
Japan
Post War
The second period was the Korean War. There was a change in textbooks. The trend of education shifted from criticism
of imperialism to total veering away from it.
The labor situation was also changed. The trade union was suppressed by
McArthur after the great labor strike. This was the rebirth of Japanese
imperialism. Economic boom came about because of the Korean War. The miserable
situation after World War II was changed.
The third period was in the sixties.
The rearmament of
Under the current fourth plan, the 'select army'
has been stationed and is ready to engage in actual warfare. This move is related to the reversion of
Okinawa to
There are about 265,000 troops in Japan SDF. The
Manpower has not been outwardly increased.
However, the number of ex-SDF officers and soldiers reaches almost
500,000 and the reserve SDF personnel, who are required to train regularly
after they are retired, comes up to more than 40,000. Approximately, 100,000 company employees
enlist in SDF every year for a short period of temporary training arranged by
various corporations. So there is a
considerably large manpower pool as a whole.
Under the present economic situation, young
Japanese cannot easily get jobs in business; so, joining SDF has become more
and more an open opportunity for them.
Yamakawa Akio, editor of New Asia News,
analyzed the situation in his country regarding nuclear power. He says that the Japanese government prefers
to possess the high level of technology that enables the possession of nuclear
weapons, rather than possessing them.
That is,
10
TORTURE
“No
longer men, but only shadows”.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment.
Thus says Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. What, however, are the realities of the situation? To answer this question, let me first of all
introduce two acquaintances of mine, John and Paul.
John is a young Brazilian whom I met at an
international meeting of students in
Paul comes from another Latin American
country. As a student, he was like John,
arrested and asked to pass on information about comrades who held key positions
in the national organization to which he belonged. He was harassed in many ways, but still
refused to cooperate. Among the
prisoners was a girl who was pregnant. One day, Paul was confronted with a
frightening decision: "Reveal the names or be responsible for the violent
removal of the fetus from the girl's womb". Paul, knew the girl
well and discussed the matter with her. She was adamant. On no account whatsoever must the names be
revealed; the consequences for herself she said, were
of secondary importance. A few days later official removed the fetus with a
sword. This was a traumatic experience
for Paul. He thought he was going to
die, but to his surprise, he was eventually released. His first impulse on
release was to go to Mass at the nearest Catholic Church. When the time came for receiving the
Eucharist, he approached the altar to find standing next to him the man who had
tortured him in prison. In horror, Paul ran out of the chapel.
How widespread is the practice of torture? Perhaps the cases of John and Paul are
isolated ones?
"Epidemic Proportions"
This is the answer given by "Amnesty
International Report on Torture" in 1972 as a part of their worldwide
campaign for the abolition of torture. The report analyzes the situation in 61
countries.
Ireland
In early August 1971, the north of
Many of the men swept off to
internment complained of torture. A Commission spent five days interviewing 30
people. It concluded that, "persons arrested under the Special Powers Act
had been subjected to brutal treatment".
*A digest of an article
by James Hurley, S.J.,
12
Russia
Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag
Archipelago" throws much light on what goes on in
In the distant past torture was used as punishment
and also considered part of the judicial process. Some rudimentary rules governed its use. In more recent times, there was considerable
discussion about the infamous tiger cages of Con Son in
In the past years, the focus has shifted to the
On
In another Asian country where the practice of
torture seems quite common, a priest friend of mine describes visiting a young
man released from jail. "The
spectacle is horrifying. He was paralyzed
and broken as if he had been savagely beaten." The young man himself refused to speak. My friend reckons that his silence was the
price he had to pay for his release.
The "Amnesty International Report on
Torture" mentions seven countries in central and
Methods
We have already come across some of these
methods: systematic beating, solitary
confinement, electric shocks even on one's genitals, intense and prolonged
interrogation. To this list, we could
add burns, rape, wallowing in one's excrement... There is also the psychological torture. I have mentioned about the case of John who
twice was brought before a firing squad but nothing happened. There is also
the case of a prisoner who was shown slides of his family while he was being
tortured, thus dear ones become associated with his pains.
A former minister in the Allende government
attributed his release from a concentration camp to "worked public
opinion". In late 1973, the acting president of the Bolivian Justice and
Peace Commission stated that there had been a decrease in torture in his
country, "thanks to pressure from national and international
organizations."
Amnesty International is the one single
organization that represents the conscience of the world in this matter of
torture and expresses the determination of men of goodwill in eradicating this
evil, from our midst.
Although the Churches very often arrive on the
scene when the smoke of battle has cleared, there has been in recent years,
denunciation and condemnation from groups and individuals in the Church. These denunciations of the Churches must of
course, be translated into effective action.
12
ANALYSIS
A BRIEF ON THE ECONOMICS OF U.S.
The entry of the
Three forces – potential political unrest caused by
high unemployment in the
Capitalist logic of continued military expansion
and global domination prevailed over the realistic appraisal of intelligence
agents who urged support for Ho Chi Minh on the grounds, that his was a truly
popular movement aimed at agrarian reform. This prevailed over military
logistics experts who said that the
The Face of US Militarism
After World War II, the first action of the
Some trends in
Second, the trend of replacing supplies with
sophisticated military equipment is being continued. Tactical nuclear weapons have been
stockpiled. Third, the actions of the
Locally, the
Conclusion
Militarism, both American and
'Development' as it has been carried out since
World War II proved to benefit a small minority and to actually worsen the
conditions of those who live at the bottom of the economic scale. Military expansionism sharpens this
inequality to its highest degree. Education and health systems are allowed to
stagnate while money is spent on expensive arms.
The strategies for the peoples of
*Condensed from a paper
discussed in the
13
MILITARIZATION OF POLITICS IN ASIA: THE KOREAN EXPERIENCE
Introduction
A strong wave of political repression marked the
situation of many Asian countries in the early 70's. This is expected to continue to rise in
years to come, looking into the Asian political situation closely. Authoritarian political dictatorships in
One of the central elements that produce political
dictatorship and repression in these countries is the rise of militarism.
Without understanding this phenomenon, the nature of the contradictions in
Asian societies cannot be grasped. Militarism arises when the military becomes
dominant in politics, economics and even the social life, beyond its
traditional roles as armed forces to defend the nation against foreign
invasion. The domination of political and economic life by the military, either
through direct rule or through military rule in civilian garb, can be defined as
militarism. Such military domination has structural implications for society
and therefore, it becomes a central element in the social contradictions.
When the military takes command of politics – the
politics of economic development – the institutional divisions between
politics, economics and military are
completely abolished. A demonic
symbiosis rises out of the three institutions usually manifesting itself as an
extremely authoritarian dictatorial regime.
This type of regime may achieve a certain degree of economic development
in terms of economic growth; but its economic system is operated in a very
arbitrary manner, which means deepening corruption and acute economic
injustice in terms of distribution.
Political development will suffer most of all, in that politics becomes
completely militarized in spirit and body. Such militarism will drive the
people into an extremely repressive society. The manifestation of this
militarism may vary in different societies, but fundamentally, militarism has
become the most demonic political reality that man has ever experienced in history. Again, the ideology of development in
technocratic terms often entails this process of militarization of society,
especially in the absence of institutional and political checks. This is
frequently the case in Asian and other developing countries.
The penetration of the west into Asian
civilizations was a technological one in the foremost sense, a military
penetration in the form of military conquest or in the form of adoption of
military technology. One cannot separate
the commercial or religious ventures of the Portuguese or Spanish powers or
those of the western colonial powers in modern times from the technological or
military ones. What shocked the Asian societies was not the superiority of
western values but that of their military technology and power.
It is not easy to give a general
picture of militarization in
*Authored by a researcher
of D.A.G.A.,
Korean Military Coup of 1961
The rise of militarism in
The reaction form the Korean military forces, was
one of hesitant and undecisive delay; the army could have easily crushed the
new military regime, which had only 36,000 soldiers. The reaction from the
Anti-communism Propaganda and the KCIA
Two immediate and distinct features of the military
regime were the anti-communist propaganda and the creation of the Korean
Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA).
The first article of the pledge by the military
regime was:
Anti-communism was not merely the policy of the
military regime, but it was the 'rationalization' of the coup and of the power
of the military regime – so much so that even the suppression of freedom and
democracy is now rationalized in the name of anti-communism.
Since the military coup had been carried out by a
small clique, its first task was to safeguard its precious power. For this purpose, the KCIA was organized on
KCIA represents the militarization of the security
apparatus and information network of the country. It has been transformed into a political
security and intelligence agency with vast powers to raise funds without audit
from the National Assembly to control all the other civilian security apparatus
such as police, to coordinate military intelligence networks, to infiltrate all
government offices from top to bottom, to penetrate all private organizations such as
religious organizations, business corporations and labor unions.
KCIA receives its technical training from the
The Militarization of
Upon pressure from the
About 100 high-ranking military officers retired
from active duty to continue their jobs in the government or to run for
elective offices. The top leadership of the ruling Democratic Republican Party
came from retired military personnel. In addition, all the administrative posts
of importance in the central, provincial and local governments were occupied by
retired military people. This was true
also for the head positions of the national police bureaucracy. The same pattern was found in important
government corporations. The process of
'civilianization' was nothing but an empty ritual, not a substantive change in
the form of rule.
Then in 1972, Park declared Martial Law and
established the so – called Yushin System, another for
Under the Yushin system,
the President controls virtually all three branches of government, in addition
to being Commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The power of the National
Assembly is drastically reduced. The Supreme Court is also determined by the
President.
Besides the administrative apparatus, Park controls
also the centralized police system. The entire population is under
semi-military regimentation. All men from high school age to 35 are organized into
civilian militia; the people are subject to total military mobilization (women
are volunteers) under new legislation.
The Military Regime and Economic Development
Korean economic development is characterized by a
kind of a capitalist industrialization, with foreign capital coming in through
international loans, public and private, and direct investments, either total
or joint ventures. In this process, the industrial sector of the economy has
been isolated from the economy of the common people, except in two ways:
first, the people became consumers of those industrial products in a very
limited way, and secondly, the people were inserted into the industrialization
process as cheap labor. In this process, the real sponsor of the Park regime
was the foreign capitalist, particularly the multinational corporations.
The Park regime instituted a series of laws such as
the labor law, foreign investment inducement law and emergency measures on
economy to protect foreign capital. The economy is dominated by the foreign capitalists
on the financial level and the military generals on the corporation level.
In such a situation, corruption is not a question
of the lack of social and personal discipline and integrity, but is a
structural element in the political economy. The people suffer this structural
contradiction on the economic level, the underdevelopment of agriculture and
other traditional sectors of the economy, and the exploitation of their labor
by the multinational corporations under the political and military protection
of the regime.
Interlocking Military Relationship between Korea
and U.S.
There have been three stages in the development of
the military interlocking between
At the end of July 1950, the U.N. Security Council
established the U.N. Command in
This interlocking relationship between two military
forces is not merely a form of cooperation and coordination of two forces, but
is a strategic integration between two armies, counter-posed against
The power of the
14
IBBAGAMUVA STATEMENT
We, the participants from
Our discussions and seminars were preceded by
live-in experiences of two collective farms and a savodaya developing village
to get a feel of the life of the oppressed sections of society. The live-in
experience strengthened our solidarity to take us to the front line of the
fight for a just and new order resting on fundamental values such as justice,
fraternity and human dignity.
"Give us this day our daily bread" still
forms part of the Christian daily prayer, though the traditional Christian
theology places the world of spirit above all material considerations. This
serious distortion of theology poses a great threat to the ushering of a new
era where poverty, illiteracy and social backwardness can be removed. Our
humble attempt to bring back the historical Jesus Christ and his liberating
activity offered a new vision. We
discussed theology in the light of normal human life where everyone has to
feed, cloth and shelter himself or herself. Hence, it is clear to us that the Christian
is called upon to align himself with the poor and the exploited.
Notwithstanding more than a quarter century of independence
to our sub-continent, the bulk of the population in the sub-continent lead a sub-human subsistence life. The avowed policy of socialism and
development are nothing but social demagogies and effective weapons in the
hands of a rich minority to exploit the suffering millions. The fruits of the policy of the state never
filtered down to the downtrodden except a few occasional handouts. Since the sub-continent mainly depends on
agriculture, the question of land is crucial to the problem of poverty. In our discussions and seminars, we deeply
analyzed the unjust agrarian relationships.
The devastating effects of an economic crisis, the rise in prices of
essential commodities, growing unemployment, increasing tax burdens, stagnation
and destitute wages of agricultural workers, growing indebtedness, hunger and
misery are prevalent in the countryside. These express the various symptoms of
deepening agrarian crisis in the sub-continent.
The so-far effected agrarian crisis have neither altered the basic land
relation nor loosened the semi-feudal fetters on the economy, let alone
smashing them. In some countries, in
fact, this strengthened the economic stranglehold of the ruling class over a
large section of the population.
All these problems result in the growing awakening
of the masses to resist the ruling classes; the ruling classes, on the other
hand, use repressive measures. In some
of the countries, the ruling classes could no longer suppress the people
through parliamentary democratic ways.
They resorted to the ruthless violence and dictatorial methods leading
to fascism. People can no longer express
themselves and the freedom for normal political activity has come to an end.
Action
In the above context, we feel and affirm that the
following steps should be taken:
1. a) a permanent research on the form and nature of the
society has to be undertaken.
b) Researches to be made on conditions under
emergency.
c) Issue publications.
2. a) Facilitate orientation and training programs to form and
equip cells and core groups of
students, workers and rural youths.
b) Arrange action / reflection camps for the above
people.
3. Pick up
issues and involve, if necessary, create issues to induce people for social
change.
4. Create
solidarity links with families of political prisoners.
5. Experiments of collective efforts in rural sector should be encouraged.
6. Christians,
being a minority in the sub-continent, should not be isolated but overcome
their minority complex and identify themselves with the aspirations and
struggles of the oppressed section of the sub-continent at large.
15
MORRISON HOUSE STATEMENT
The Asian Reality
For centuries now,
Aiding the dominant powers are the local elite who
trade the well-being of the majority of their peoples for their own gains.
Because of the exploitative nature of this
relationship between the big powers and their neo-colonies, impoverishment is
widespread and Asian indigenous development has to be stunted.
Through all these, a history of peasants' and
workers' struggles has unfolded. To
assert their dignity, they have struggled to uphold their God-given right to be
free from foreign and local domination and to determine their own destiny. The Chinese, the Vietnamese and other Asian
people's experiences attest to this.
The reaction of the big powers to the struggles of
the people has taken the form of introducing military complexes in the various
Asian countries and expanding them through the years. With the gradual but inevitable awakening of
the Asian peoples to their own dignity, the exploiters further develop their
military machinery with the primary aim of suppressing the people's struggles.
This complex process of suppression involves: a)
the militarization of politics at the expense of human lives; b) the presence
of foreign military troops and various forms of military aid; c) suppression of
basic human rights; d) suppression of indigenous grassroots movements; e) the
introduction of repressive laws; and f) the creation of a false image of the
existing order through censorship of media and authoritarian education under
the guise of national security to get the nation moving towards development.
This is accompanied by the creation of a military
order more awesome than anything the world has seen, which consumes the resources
of the people while brutally suppressing them.
This war machine crushes the Asian peoples while it brings local
regimentation and an artificial temporary prosperity to the superpowers.
The Role of the Church in Asian Reality
Although the institutionalized Church has always
professed humanitarian aims, its historical role in
In supporting the existing order, the Church has
successfully divided the people by establishing elitist schools resulting in
cultural alienation by the imposition of Western cultural values. Through this
process, the established Church has isolated the Christian community from the
greater majority. Missionary policy was
part and parcel of the colonial policy.
At the same time, the Western churches failed to
benefit from exposure to traditional collective culture of these
societies. This has fostered a lack of
mutual exchange and promoted paternalistic and even racist characteristics in
the colonial metropolis.
The traditional emphasis on individual sin and
individual salvation refuses to recognize the individual as a functional part
of his society and blind to the sins
of nations. Prayer becomes an escape
from an active involvement in reconciliation.
Where there is injustice, there is conflict. A cemeterial kind of peace is often endorsed
by the Church in their neglect of focusing on the necessity of struggle for
justice. But peace is not merely the
absence of strife. Rather it is the
fruit of justice – and the Church should not escape from the reality of genuine
peace. By neglecting the Christian task
of criticizing the established order, missionary efforts simply buttressed the
individualistic ideology of capitalism and became almost totally silent on the
communitarian message of Christianity which could have complemented and
enhanced the inherent and traditional communitarian value of the Asian
peoples.
The terms "Christian love and peace" no
longer denote the radical love of Christ.
They have come to mean the euphoria, which arises when the conflicts,
which naturally occur within a community, are unnaturally suppressed through
the repression of a segment of the community or are unnaturally transferred to
an outside group. This process results in sexism, racism and the continued
domination of
Our Response
to the
In the inability of the Church to break away from
the traditional role in the involvement with the established structures, we
recognize the appropriateness of the WSCF Buenos Aires Statement, which
stresses the need of political involvement of Christians. More especially in the process of liberation,
our Christian witness should become flesh and blood in our daily lives.
It is really that the Church has refused to
participate in the people's struggles for liberation – therefore, there is no
other option for concerned Christians but to identify and involve themselves in
the people's struggles.
We express our solidarity with the Christians of
South Korea and the
Conclusion
We are now faced with a two-fold task. One is an
involvement with the criticism of things as they are by means of research,
analysis and documentation, with particular emphasis on the role of militarism
vis-vis political and economic structures.
The second is the formation of a provisional but
not arbitrary alternatives that approximate the Christian ideals of justice and
peace.
16
REFLECTIONS
A CHRISTIAN VIEW OF HUMANKIND AND SOCIETY
It is very difficult to talk of a
"Christian" vision of humankind and society because easily the
misunderstanding could arise that Christians have to expound and promote
something like a Christian worldview.
The Churches have learnt that this is not their task. If the Incarnation
means that God did no longer want to keep himself separate but communicated
his godhead by becoming man, then Christian witness cannot occur in keeping
ourselves separate and making a "special contribution". Our witness will be presence among people,
being one with them. Of course, it is
frightening that the price, which Christ paid for his presence among people,
was death. But if the Church was built
on the events of Easter and Pentecost, the resurrection and the presence of
the spirit, we cannot think of these events apart from the price which was
paid. Likewise, while we die ourselves
being present among people, we experience that we do not get lost, that this is
constant resurrection, renewal and presence of the spirit. It is in this situation that a Christian
vision of humankind and society may always be an immediate response.. to a concrete challenge. The vision itself is subject to death and resurrection.
It is with this outlook that we may permit
ourselves to consult the bible for what sort of vision of humankind and society
it may contain. The result will not be a
well-built theological edifice but the remembrance of God acting in history and
calling ourselves to act and to live free from fears and reservations.
Vision of Mankind
1) First of
all: man is important. The
psalmist makes clear how little we can take for granted: "When I look at
the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have
established, what is man that you are mindful of him? Yet, you have made
him little less than God and you crown him with glory and honor. You have given
him dominion over the work of your hands you have put all things under his
feet."
These are the two ways of expressing the importance
of man in the bible. He is given
dominion over the earth, nature, to master it, to tame it, to use it and to
replenish it. This problem lies in the
appropriation and distribution of material resources and in the ecological
crisis, which is rooted in the failure to replenish the earth.
The second way is: God is mindful of man. God
remembers. God wants us to be masters over
nature and makers of our own history. He
wants us to be conscious of our past, responsible in our present and creative
in building the future. God remembers.
God is mindful means each and every human counts.
2) God is
mindful of all people, but he is mindful of different people in
different ways. That is to say God's
relationship with people is never just an inward one which is individualistic,
transcending space and time. It is
always a specific relationship, shaped by history, by social relationships,
political conditions, by our belonging to a class, a people, a culture. God never speaks into a vacuum, his words and
acts are always concrete.
It is because of this that it is so difficult to
obey God’s word
*By Gabriele
Dietrich, Tamilnadu Theological College,
17
in new
situations. We are in the habit of
thinking hat God's word us eternal and therefore means the same to all people
in all times. But this is an abstraction.
The bible is full of history, cultural and political history. God's word is new every day. That means it is ever changing. God leads his people out of
While God is mindful of all people, he is
particularly concerned with the weak, the suffering, the oppressed, the disabled. The redemption
of the exploiter will occur in the restitution of justice to the
exploited. There is no doubt that God is
partial. Not because there is an
inherent goodness in the weak and the oppressed, but simply because they are
not meant to be weak and oppressed.
God's concern with the rich man is to liberate him from his wealth...
This can happen in an individual way, by change of heart, conversion. But exploitation will only be ended if
structural exploitation is abolished.
Individual conversion does not yet change a society whose driving force
is the profit-motive.
3) God is
mindful of women and men and he wants them to be full human beings. The bible was written in the environment of a
society in which women were very much oppressed. It is therefore not surprising if in the
biblical writings a lot of concessions are made to this factual state of
affairs. It is more surprising if
finally the message of liberation prevails and turns out to be equally valid
for women as for men.
4) 4)God is mindful of human being as sinner. We often draw the conclusion that due to the
corruption of human nature no real improvement is possible; progress in
history or building of a more just society will be doomed to fail and,
therefore, we can only individually mend our ways and ask for forgiveness from
God. The temptation is to be like God,
which is, to set one's own criteria absolute and to claim divine sanction for
them. On the other hand, the bible
unceasingly emphasizes that man does know what is right and wrong. To live in
the covenant means to live in righteousness.
God – forsakenness means to do injustice. Repentance is demanded of us. Finally, the dialectics of man's temptation
to be like God and of God being mindful of man is fulfilled and redeemed in the
incarnation. Man is now called to be
like God who bent down and became man: The Suffering Servant. To follow the suffering servant means
ceaseless self-criticism, but by no means does it imply passivity and
acceptance of injustice or of existing power and structure. To follow the suffering servant means
judgment upon our self-righteousness but at the same time, it means conflict
with the vested interests and the powers that be.
5) God does
not protect those who obey him but he promises salvation. The very story of Christ's life testifies
that God does not protect those who obey him.
There is always a terrible risk involved, which we cannot evade.
The bible has the superb-ness to see that the
wicked trap the weak like lions but finally the swords are meant to be
transformed into ploughs, and sheep, and lion to live in peace. To be on the way to achieving this goal means
to follow Jesus on the road to
A Christian Vision of Society?
A Christian vision of society very much evolves out
of the Christian vision of man. Since man’s relationship with God does not
evolve apart from the socio – political context, society has an influence on
this relationship and can in turn, be affected by it.
In fact, God expects us to live his justice in
society, which at times, seems to an impossible task. We can therefore draw
some tentative outlines of a Christian vision of society.
1) We are
supposed to build a society as if people matter. We live in a society where
about 60% of the population live below the poverty line. While 75% of the
people live in the countryside, 80% of all doctors and 90% of the hospital beds
are concentrated in the cities. The basic amenities of life like food, shelter,
clothes, health and education are withheld from the broad majority of people.
The gap between the rich and the poor is widening. How can people master
nature and build their future if they are not in a position to organize
themselves?
The bible envisages a society in which everyone has
access to the essentials, where private property of land is abolished, exploitation is overcome, where people tend their vineyards
and fig trees and rest in their shadows, where the weak are protected, the old
sit in the marketplace and watch the children playing. While this is an
eschatological vision, it is taken as a rod to measure the existing society. A
society in which people matter cannot be given unqualified growth arid
competition, it cannot be guided by the profit motive, it
cannot tolerate usury and luxury consumption. It cannot tolerate the curbing of
people's participation and the domination of the masses by an
elite.
2) The bible
does not sanction any existing society as divinely ordained. Israel, first
guided by charismatic leaders, was ruled by judges for a long period and when
it institutionalized kinship, this is described with considerable problem
consciousness. Even the most outstanding kings like David and Solomon were
punished when they commit injustice. The writings of the prophets are full of
sharpest criticism against unjust regimes. At the same time, even foreign
rulers like Cyrus can be used in God's plan. Thus, the reading of God's plan
requires the careful reading of the signs of the times. The concept of God's kingship
has anarchistic implications. Any worldly power is only a substitute for God's
kingship and when it does not handle the power responsibly, it falls under
judgment of usurpation. Basically, it was the understanding, which sustained
the Confessing Church in Germany under Fascism and which gives Filipino
Christians the courage to keep struggling.
3) The bible
does not provide any blueprint for political action. While there is a vision of
a just society, we do not get any clear instruction on how to achieve it. This
has to do with the imminent sense of history expressed in the bible: each new
situation requires new strategies. History is always an open process. Besides,
the bible has a basically secularist approach. While God is the Lord over
creation and history, both nature and history are given into man's hands.
Neither the forces of nature nor any forms of government are invested with any
divine power. This means that the bible cannot be a manual for understanding
society. We can only gather from the bible what man and society are meant to
be. What they really are and how they can be changed we have to study by all
the scientific methods at our disposal.
4) The
coming of God's kingdom affects society. In the ”Our
Father”, we connect the coming of God's kingdom with the doing of his will.
This does not mean that our deeds could bring about the kingdom but it means
that our deeds should express his coming. The wiping away of all tears, the
breaking of the sting of death is inconceivable in our times. Yet, the protest
against suffering and death is something we can express and live here and now.
And living this protest is not just an individual affair. The kingdom is
described as a society in which all share plenty and all exploitation is
overcome. The new Jerusalem will neither be ruled nor
will it have a temple, because God will dwelt in their midst. In this, the
bible comes very close to the idea of the withering of the state and of
religion. All worldly and religious authority is questioned and put to task in
this light. In the light of the kingdom we are called to repent not only our
individual sin but our corporate sins: to revise the unjust structures which
are in danger of stabilizing. Witnessing to the kingdom means at least to make
signs of its coming visible.
5) The communio
viatorum is called to be a community in permanent revolution. God's person
is on the way. God himself pitches his tent among the people. Even after the
settlement of the recalling of the exodus is a reminder of the transitoriness
of all settlements. In the New Testament, the symbols of dissolution and penetration prevail: leaven, salt, mustard seed.
This does not mean that Christians cannot be
involved in power struggles. They have to be if they really try to take sides
with the weak and the oppressed whose liberation can only be achieved through
struggle. Of course, much too often they have been involved even on the side of
the oppressors. But if they truly follow Christ, they will not cling to power
for the sake of power, but they will refrain from becoming oppressors. This
does not mean that we are allowed to be politically naive and moralistic. We
have to be sober in our political analysis and strategies but also have to be
sober about our roles. We will be marginal, we won't be in the centres of power
and we won't be the vanguard of the revolution. Yet we may be involved in
overthrowing oppressors, in building a just society, being present among the
people as salt and leaven, witnessing to the kingdom, which comes and is
present in the pain and joy of anticipation. We will see the people celebrate
their victories with trembling and know they are ever on the way. We will see
the people resign in despair and know there is hope. We will know that any
exertion of power requires forgiveness and renewal.
18
CHRISTIAN WITNESS AND THE PROBLEM OF POWER
In any social interaction, power is exercised. On a national or even a regional level, power
partakes of directions and decisions, affecting and influencing people: social,
cultural, economic and political power.
Our days of study here have pointed to one stark reality: that the life
and fate of many Asian nations is decided by a combination of power play
between the military, the technocrats and international and national political
elites.
There are no two ways about it: power is a reality
we must contend with. We commit the mistake of thinking that in itself power
is evil. This, not withstanding the fact
that there are manifestations of power, which are evil or power being used by
persons for evil purposes. Power
becomes evil when those who hold it make it so.
Power can be good – it can be used for the
good. If economic power, for example,
instead of being used for military purposes were used for the causes of justice
and peace – then human life can be transformed and the quality of life be
improved.
Look at the regional scene. What is the concept of political power in
The burden of our reflection this morning is to
speak on what the Christian witness is to the problem of power.
We can start with power as it is talked about in
the Old Testament.
This idea is succinctly put in a verse in Isaiah
40:29, which says, "He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no
might he increases strength."
The New Testament witnesses to this as well. Our Lord displayed an unusual source of power
and strength. At one point, he said that
one should not fear those who kill the body but those who kill the spirit. Inspired by his message and his example, the
band of disciples, though small, were instrumental in spreading the good news
of their Lord. Again, it is moral
suasion that is able to both temper the holders of power and encourage the
weak to seek strength in the spirit and not by sheer might.
Coming back to our present world and time and
analyzing our situation in the light of this vision, we can look at instances
and historical events, which demonstrate the triumph of power by spirit and not
by might.
Stories out of
It is a big mistake for Christians to think and act
that only they possess this spiritual power or moral suasion. It is beginning to appear more and more that
spiritual reservoir – this strength of and from the people –
emanates from a moral spring from those whom we often call as having a godless
ideology and politics.
Christians can and should provide a witness to the
problem of power drawing from the Scriptures and reading correctly the signs
o-f the times if they are to enter man's open future.
*Nael Cortez,
19
THE PARABLE OF THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN*
(A political bible
study)
Ref. Mark 12:1-12; Matt. 21:33; Luke 20:9-19; Gospel of Thomas logion 65.
1. Most of
liberal commentators treat this parable as a religious allegory. In terms of
straight Biblical exegesis, the parable is not an allegory. Allegory creeps into the parable through the
explicit references to Isa. 5:1-7. Now
Isa. 5 clearly talks about Israel in the parable of the vineyard, but the
allusions to this passage depended on the Greek text of the O.T. Since Jesus spoke Aramaic, the insertion of
Isaiah must be due to a later tradition.
This has been confirmed in the discovery of the parable in the Gospel of
Thomas.
2. Once the
Synoptists have rooted the parable in the allegory derived from Isaiah, they
let the religious allegorizing take over the whole parable. The allegorizing takes place according to the
political theology of each of the writers:
a) The
servants – The servants of the parable become the prophets. Mark writing from Rome for Romans has a
whole series of servants sent, all of whom, maltreated, some killed and one
wounded. This strange detail is probably
a reference to the beheading of John the Baptist. So Mark includes John as one of the prophets.
Matthew, writing for the Jewish Christian Church in
Luke, writing for the upper classes of the
b) The Son – Once the
vineyard becomes Israel, the tenants, the leaders of Israel, and the servants
the prophets, so the 'beloved son' becomes Jesus. In Mark, the son is killed and then thrown
out of the vineyard. The implication is
that Jesus was killed by the Romans whose practice was to kill rebels in the
Jewish cities and then throw the bodies out where they could be collected by
relatives. Matthew and Luke were aware of this implication. So, in their version the tenants first take
the son out of the vineyard and there kill him.
This means close involvements by the Jews in the murder. The 'white-washing' of the role of the Romans
as mere pawns in a clever Jewish plot, spearheaded by the Sadducees and
Herodians, is clearly the political philosophy of the Gospel writers.
c) The fate
of the tenants – Following Mark, all three Gospels end their
parable with the Sadducees wanting to arrest Jesus because they realized Jesus
was talking about them – in the fate of the tenants who ended up without the
vineyard. For Mark and Luke He would
give it to the Gentile Christians and for Matthew to the Jewish
Christians. We can't take this ending
seriously because of its dependence on Isa. 5 and the fact that it is absent
from Thomas' account.
3. When we
turn from the Synoptics, we find what is easily recognizable as the same
parable in the Gospel of Thomas, but without the politically based
allegorizing. Here, it is apparently the quite shocking story of a successful
murder. The beauty of this quite 'immoral' story is that the tenants decide to
kill the heir for purely materialistic ends.
Given our assumption of the political rooting of
religion, we search for its meaning in clues in political economics. From even the conservative / liberal scholars,
we find that at that time large estates were owned in the main by absentee
landlords, which caused agrarian discontent to go hand-in-hand with nationalist
feelings. In these circumstances, it was
inevitable that the absentee landlords would have continual trouble with their
tenants refusing to pay rent. The local
administration did little or nothing to protect the land rights in the colonies
of their citizens. They even allowed the
old Jewish law to stand in
Thus the story in Thomas is easily credible in the
circumstances of those people. An
absentee landlord in those troubled times, is forced to take a rather
ineffectual action to claim his rent.
The peasant tenants were able to treat the servants with gross
disrespect, a disrespect, which the rich man is totally unable to comprehend. So, he says, 'perhaps they did not recognize
my servant and then surely they will respect my son’. But clearly, the tenants had recognized the
servant and had no intention of respecting the son and heir. Their nationalist sentiments told them that
this was their land, and they deeply resented foreign domination, both in
politics and land ownership. They knew
what to do and they did it. They killed
the heir of the usurping landlord.
At this point, and without further comment, except
the significant and typical, 'whosoever has ears, let him hear’, the parable
ends. Significantly, Jesus neither praises nor condemns the fiction of the
tenants.
In that day and age there is simply no point in
denying the- obvious political implications of such a parable. It certainly
sounds like a call to revolt for the people of the land to throw off their
tenant status in the land of their fathers. In the least, the parable paints a
picture of a Jesus who is fully aware of the politics and economics under which
he and his people were compelled to live and here we find him neither
condemning nor praising the rather disorganized activities of the disinherited
peasants against their absentee masters.
*By Basil Moore,
20
JUDGEMENT AGAIN AT PERADENIYA*
The students have erupted again.
Now top people are negotiating
the exact nature of the punishment
that must be meted out to them, the
students.
But what about the President of the Campus?
Evidently, so students swear, he used to go about
referring to female students as prostitutes
and uttering other such inanities
about student behavior and misbehavior
no ideas at all how to communicate with students.
Who is going to judge Him, the President?
What punishment should be meted out to him?
Evidently, the previous outburst of the students was so outrageous
sex and all that
(what about investigating the private sex life
– sundry affairs,
masturbation fantasies, etc. –
of Presidents and other such whited
sepulchers?)
that it was sufficient excuse for
promulgating special commissions,
to curb those savages (students not
Presidents).
From time to time our society has recourse
to Ayub Khan methods
(yesterday Ayub Khan today Indira tomorrow Sirima?)
It just shows of what stuff we are made
our democracy is a thin veneer
(who are the savages?)
And various top people say:
at last, we have out our foot down
now,
at last we have gotten the situation
under control.
What a hope!
When will we learn?
The students put up with those rules and regulations
for a few months (was it three or
four?)
Then they simply went and gave the President a bit of their mind
quite right, of course
and the President lost his temper and
so did they, no doubt,
or something like that anyway, for
there was no possibility of communication,
a great big gap between students and
President
and a big rumpus ensued, students
remanded,
students suspended, exams
postponed.
But the President, the main culprit,
who is going to judge Him?
and other Professors and Lecturers?
Who will judge them?
Who will judge Us? Our
Society?
that is, those who have wielded power and wield power
now?
When will we be ready for a workers and peasants government?
where power will be predominantly in the hands of
workers and peasants,
no great big gap between leaders and
people
a government in dialogue
directly responsible, directly
answerable
at every level to workers and
peasants,
and students too, yes students too,
students WILL have their say!
Then Presidents and other top people will be sent
to collective farms to taste
not necessarily blood but certainly
toil, tears and sweat.
Priests will be de – frocked, disrobed
and put to clean lavatories
and they will learn the worth, the
value of workers,
peasants and students
the great big gap will close.
Judgment again at Peradeniya!
Who are the judges?
Who are the judged?
*By
Yohan Devanada. (From The Nation, 3 February
1976)
21
OUT OF THE MOUTH OF BABES....
“My name is Linda. my mother’s
name is Salmah. my father’s name is Said Zahari. i am already 13 years old but
i haven’t felt my father’s kisses, i haven’t been cuddled by him. because at
the time i was born, my father was imprisoned. when i visit my father in prison
i can only speak to him throguh a telephone. we are not allowed to be close.
i
would like to thank everyone for remembering me, my mother, my sister, my
brother and also my father”.
thank you
The voice of Linda,
the daughter of Said Zahari speaks on behalf of all
children of political prisoners in
These words were
spoken by Linda herself in Malay and Chinese at the Human Rights Convention
in
“nama saya linda. nama emak saya salmah. nama bapa saya said zahari. saya sudah
berumur 13 tahun tapi saya tak merasa dapat chiuman dari bapa, saya tak pernah
ditimang oleh bapa. sebab masa saya melawat bapa saya ditempat dia ditahan,
saya hanya bercakap dengan bapa melalui talipon, kami tak dibenarkan dehat.
saya mengucapkan berbenyak
terima kasih kepada pakchik – pakchik semua kerana ingathan saya, emak saya,
kakak saya, abang saya dan juga ayah saya”.
terima Kasih.
-Pages 22-29
are continued pages-
30
NEWS BITS
PAN ASIAN ASSEMBLY – WSCF / IMCS –
1976
Pan Asian Assembly, a joint conference between International Movement
of Catholic Students (IMCS – PAX ROMANA) and World Student Christian Federation
(WSCF) in Asia was held at the
The major paper on the theme was written by Dr. K. Matthew Kurian,
Director of the
WSCF
Building from the
foundations laid by the 1974 Asia Committee, the Committee met for four days
following the PAN ASIAN ASSEMBLY at Morrison house on
Voted in as new members
are: Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea as associate members and the
Koreans in Japan (National Youth Council of the Korean Christian Church in
Japan) was voted in as corresponding member. In attendance were Fely
Carino of the
WSCF / IMCS PARTNERSHIP