The Search for God

   You may know that my formal studies began to focus, very early, on the question of the "experience of God," first of all from a biblical, prophetic perspective (How did a prophet like Jeremiah know that God spoke to him^) and then philosophically through the tradition that ranges from Willliam James to Bernard Lonergan. Here the focus is more philosophical. I see it as a philosophical stance that is coherent with what I have come to understand of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

   There seems to be a lot of confusion about “God.”  No surprise: both the concept and the reality easily escape us, particularly in view of the constant noise that our culture creates around and within us. Still, at least for me, the existence of “God” is not at all a question of faith. It is as evident as anything we might want to point to in life. The atheists are quite wrong in this respect. However, at the same time, I need to add, that there is no atheist who, after explaining to me the God they did not believe in, did not find me entirely in agreement.    We need then to ask ourselves what we mean by “God.”

   Let me suggest, for purposes of our argument, that “God” is the driving force that moves us to action in our lives, the central value that is foundational to the meaning we assign to life. This seems to me to be a fairly acceptable definition of the term in most contexts. In this sense then, I begin a discussion of “God” from the meaning we assign to the word and I grant to all the right to declare what they mean by “God” and then either embrace or reject it. It is up to each of us to discover what that might be and what that means for the direction their life is taking. The examples in history are abundant: God is money, fame, power, peace, happiness, security….  But, always, there is some underlying force or value. That grasp of what for us is the driving force is also at the very least a point of departure for some serious questioning. But, we will come to that.  The only point I want to make here is that I simply cannot understand how people can say, “there is no “God” if “God” means the driving force in our lives (or universe).

   It then becomes very clear that, whatever meaning or value we attach to “God,” none of the responses are satisfying or sufficient. Even the most religious person, the most brilliant theologian, the most profound philosopher, would want to say that the answers they have discovered in trying to understand “God” are inadequate.

   And thus, the search is on. We are continually, throughout our whole life, throughout the life of all humanity, trying to discover the dimensions of that ultimate driving force or value that underlies life, the universe, my own history and that of all humanity. And it is here precisely, in that relentless and unending search, that I would like to pause and reflect.

   For, what is it that would provide a sufficient answer to our searching questions? Only the full revelation of “God.”  What is it that has motivated us, driven us, and prodded us on in our search for answers to the question of “God,” if not God? “God” is then both the ultimate origin and destination for our search, our journey because it always begins and ends in “God.”
You will notice that I am consistently putting the word “God” in quotation marks. This is not at all to insist that I am referring simply to a word, a piece of vocabulary. “God” is written in quotation marks here to underline the fact that we can come to a grasp of the reality only by passing through the location of “God” within our consciousness - that part of us that looks for truth, verification and understanding. But, the search is not just for an idea but rather for an understanding that corresponds to a profound reality. Meaning is not something we just invent so that any answer, will do. In our search we demand verification. We are not satisfied with meanings and answers that fall short of explaining reality, that do not help us understand and deal with reality in all its dimensions. Thus, the search for “God” is indeed a search motivated by and satisfied only by a full and complete connection with the reality it signifies.

   Finally, we do not search only with our heads but also with our hearts. This search is also for a “God” who responds to the fundamental driving force that gives origin to our deepest desires and satisfactions and that only rests when it rests in God, as Augustine said.
Of course, some atheists might say that all this is irrelevant. When they say they do not believe in God, they are referring to the God of the major monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I grant them that. However, this does not take anything away from the fact that “God” is the driving force that guides us in life, our ultimate value. It also does not take away from the fact that “God” is always eluding us so that our search does not end. It does not take away from the fact, that the search is not just for some novel concept in our heads that will satisfy us even though it is totally disconnected with reality. And thus we are driven back to continue a search that has befuddled and driven all the great leaders of the traditions that derive from the great monotheistic (and pluri-theistic) religions.
 
   It is the search that counts. It rests on the conviction of an experience that validates that “driving presence” without understanding it.  This is the search that begins with the first glimmer of our human awareness and that only ends when it comes into profound union of mind and heart with that reality. We may start off with a search that centres on money, power, fame, profession, family or even the God announced by Abraham, Moses, Jesus or Mohammed. But, the search will only end when we rest in the profound reality that has pushed us forward and that comes to settle in our minds and hearts to give us finally the wholeness we have wished for.

   In my mind, no one is exempt from the density of this search. No one can get off easy by saying that they are “atheist.” Nor can anyone buy themselves out by saying they are Christian, Jewish or Muslim. Being any one of the above (including atheist) may provide us with pointers to what to look for (or what to avoid) but no one can absolve us from the search. It is absolutely central to our identity and our integrity as human beings.

   Fortunately, we do not journey alone. As Boethius said, almost 1500 years ago, we stand on the shoulders of giants. We do well to draw on the wisdom of those many giants to guide us on the journey.

The Banquet of the Kingdom of God

    The other day, the official Gospel reading of the Church dealt with a parable of Jesus about the “kingdom of God.”  Jesus often spoke of that kingdom (often as a banquet!); in fact it is absolutely central to his thinking and the self-perception of his own mission. (Sometimes the phrase used is “kingdom of heaven.”)

   First thing to say is that what we have are stories provided to us by people from the earliest Christian communities of the first century. They purport to provide us with the message of Jesus. It is a message, however, that is already interpreted for the benefit of those communities at a particular time in history when they faced very particular challenges. Obviously they are intended to reflect the sayings of Jesus, his own stories. However, it is much more difficult to trace back from the Gospel text the exact words of Jesus as spoken in a very different context several decades earlier. (We often forget that major distinction.)
    Secondly, we have to get beyond the image of “kingdom.” It too comes from a very particular time in history where the major systems of governance were patriarchal and authoritarian - particularly in the Middle East where Jesus and the first communities lived. By Jesus time, the idea of king had already taken on mythical proportions. However, underlying that word is the notion of a world-order with a “governing principle” that holds it in place. In face of the despotic rulers of the time, Jesus proposed another model, very different.
    Thirdly, we have too often, much too often, transposed the “kingdom of God” into something that we encounter only in the after-life, only once we have “died and gone to heaven.”  This was hardly the case for Jesus. Even though, before Pilate, he said that his reign was not of this world, he did not in any way make that transposition.
    If you read the texts carefully, and if you try to make the stories of the “kingdom” coherent with the entirety of Jesus life and sayings, it becomes clear that the “kingdom of God” (a just world order we might say today -- one with solidarity and compassion at its centre) is present in the here and now. It is in the here and now that we discover this “kingdom of God” dimension of reality and made a fundamental choice for it. Only in the here and now can we encounter it because we live only in the here and now. The here and now is all we have, all we will ever have and it is a banquet, a fullness, an abundance, a magnificent vista.
    Think about it.

Further comments on the True Commission Report (Honduras)

(In the last blog -- see below -- I spoke of a report on human rights violations in Honduras over the last three years. Now I wish to offer some comments on the importance of this document.)

    Following the Honduran coup d’état in 2009, which removed democratically elected president Manuel Zelaya from office, there was an unprecedented resistance by the population. The repression was fierce and even three years later still continues. Thousands have been arrested, dozens have been killed, many have been tortured. The government of President Lobo, following elections in 2010, established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look into violations of human rights between the coup d’état and the subsequent election. Not content with the mandate of that commission, civil society members established their own “True Commission” to look into all violations of human rights since the coup d’état. The panel was made up largely of well-known international human rights figures such as Nobel Peace Prize winner, Adolfo Perez Esquivel from Argentina and Elsie Monge from Ecuador. Recently they have published, in Spanish, their final report. It is long, 300 pages backed up by many hundreds of pages of further documentation. An English version of the report is in preparation. However, given the importance of this report and its usefulness to other sectors of the global community, I offer in what follows, a brief summary of some aspects of the report that drew my attention.

1.      The report is important for what it reveals of the extent of the repression and the impact of that repression on Honduran society.

2.      The report is also important for the way in which it is constructed. The methodology followed by the members of the True Commission form an important model for any future investigation into the impact of human rights violations, particularly the use of violence by  the forces of order, in any part of the world.

   The report begins with a presentation of the political and social context in which the coup d’état and the subsequent repression took place. It reviews the many earlier coup d’états and the manner in which Honduras has been governed by powerful interest groups supported by foreign, largely US interests including the US military.

   The panel investigated several thousand cases and divided them into several categories of violation of human rights, for example, violation of physical integrity, violation of freedom of assembly and of expression, sexual violation, racial attacks, etc. In each category they provided detailed information about several cases which they considered typical. It also looks at how the repression fell on various sectors of society: teachers, unions, the gay community, public service functionaries, women, children, peasants, indigenous peoples.

   However, the most significant research provided by the report deals with the impact of the repression on the individual victims, on various sectors of society and on society as a whole. It becomes increasingly clear that the horror of assassination and other repressive action of the police and military was designed to terrorize the population into submission by paralyzing it with fear. While it is clear that torture and brutality have an immediate impact on the well-being of the victims, what is less clear are the ramifications of that brutality and violence over a longer period of time and throughout society. Here the report makes a significant contribution The authors look into some of the immediate impact of acts of brutality (such a rape) on specific individuals. However, they also look into the impact of those actions on the social sectors involved: on the gay community, campesino communities, the unions and others. They also look into the way in which the aggregate of repressive action by the police and military had a significant impact on society as a whole, not just in creating enormous tension but also in seriously affecting the mental health of the entire population.

   The conclusions drawn by the panel, two of whom were Honduran and who had to withdraw from the commission and flee the country, are those we might expect : a call to a much greater responsibility on the part of the government for monitoring and assuring respect for human rights, a larger place for direct participation of the population in society through freedom of assembly and of expression, sanctions for those who violate human rights, etc.

   It is my opinion that the approach taken by the commission has opened a path to a much deeper understanding of the impact of official repression by military and para-military forces that should be of concern and interest for human right organizations around the world.

Honduran True Commission Publishes its Final Report

In 2009 a State coup expelled the democratically elected president of Honduras from the country. For the first time in many years, the people were not passive. They rose in revolt and the repression was horrific. Even now it continues, well below the headlines of world media.
A high level commission was estabished a couple of years ago to investigate human rights abuses during and after the coup. It has just published its report. An English version will eventually be published but for now it is only in Spanish.
It is a long report (over 300 pages) and it is extrremely well done. After a lengthy exposition of the political economic and social history of Honduras in recent decades, it analyses various categories of human rights abuses and, most of all, their impact on the individuals, on certain sectors of society and on society as a whole. It concludes with a number of recommendations for changes and investigations that would provide support to the victims and a framework to assure that the wave of abuse does not continue or repeat itself.  Perhaps later I will be able to provide a more detailed summary. For now, and for those who read Spanish, I offer you a link to the document as a whole: here  Even by Latin American standards this is a horrific story.

Climate Change - We CAN Make a Difference!

   Today it is, I think, safe to say that no one doubts that the process of climate change now underway is the greatest challenge since tens of thousands of years to the planet, and more precisely to humanity.  However, perhaps like you, I have often felt that the little adaptations we try to make to our lifestyle are really a drop in the bucket compared to the need for massive transformation of our entire economic and industrial machine. In face of the urgency to stop the use of fossil fuels in industry, the military and transportation systems, it seemed futile to hope that turning off my computer when not in use, or lowing the temperature in the house a couple of degrees would make much difference. And while it is true that the cumulative effect of all these efforts can be quite monumental, it is certainly not enough. Governments have to step in and regulate.

   And my frustration grew when major international gatherings like Rio, Kyoto, Copenhagen, Durban and Rio+20 seem, at least according to press accounts, resulted in no significant agreement.   In face of this urgent need I feel vulnerable and impotent -- also angry!

   Thus my surprise to discover Jean Desrocher’s interesting book, The Challenge of Climate Change, published by the Center for Social Justice in Bangalore, India (2012). John is the founder of the centre and its guiding light. He has published numerous serious studies over the last 20 or 30 years and has acted, for some time now, as a consultant to the Catholic Bishops Conference of India on issues relating to social justice. John’s forte is the summary of an extraordinarily broad array of relevant documents, carefully laid out and analyzed in order to provide a thorough review of the issues and options involved in whatever study he undertakes.

   For me there are two important discoveries in this book.  The first, and it is very important, is that all the efforts of the last 20 years have not been in vain. Enormous progress has been made and enormous changes have taken place, not only in the awareness of billions of people across the world, but also in government and business. The growth of a “green consciousness” with all sorts of inventive initiatives to explore alternatives has advanced by leaps and bounds. We are in a much better position to make the transition to clean energy than we were a couple of decades ago. There are hold-outs of course and they stand out remarkable. But, they are also more and more encircled by a wave of pressure for change.

   The second issue that came to the fore for me, and that I had not paid enough attention to in the past, is that there has been an enormous growth in the organization of the countries of the Global South to provide a clear path to the transformation required in a way that would be both feasible and fair. It has not been easy and there are still splits among the various countries. But a broad path has become clear. The countries of the Global South realize that the greatest impact of climate change will fall on their peoples. Moreover, they also realize that they do not have the means to make the transition without help from the industrialized world. They also believe strongly that their peoples should not be expected to set aside their aspirations to rise out of poverty but that the industrialized world that has been at the origin of the crisis over the past 100 or even 200 years, should take responsibility for what they have done. Thus they demand of the industrialized world that it cut back on its production of greenhouse gases and, at the same time, help the countries of the Global South to learn the new technologies and have the resources to support the transition even as they develop the productive structures that will allow their people to eliminate poverty.

   They have, in making various proposals over the years, found themselves facing a solid wall of resistance particularly from countries like the USA, China and Australia who demand that everyone make an “equal effort” -- even though the responsibility for causing the crisis and the means to deal with it are not at all equal!

   What has particularly surprising for me is that the economic burden for dealing effectively with climate change over the next 30-40 years is not, actually, all that great. It requires a program that would, in some ways, represent a global “Marshal Plan” and that could cost trillions of dollars each year. However, in the global context, given the global economy, given the current priorities, particularly military, a few trillion set aside each year by a consortium of all the industrialized nations would not necessarily have a major negative impact on the general standard of living of people in industrialised nations and would allow for a rise in the standard of living of people in the Global South. It is this realization that the fight against global change is not a herculean one, that is can be reasonably budgeted for and carried forward within the parameters of the current global economic process that leads to hope.
 
   In other words, the hitch is not technological, is not economic.  It is political and we can name the actors and then begin to mobilize around that. The actors are the industrialized nations, particularly the USA (with Canada), China, Australia and a few others. The political change that has to happen is one of moving the political culture out of the stance of self-interest for one’s own limited bailiwick (nation, region) and a move toward a governance that looks to the common good of all. There was some indication of this sort of politics after the Second World War with the establishment of the United Nations and all its satellite programs. It can be done, if…  if people will just mobilize on a grand scale to demand it of their leaders. And what is marvellous is that, today, we have precisely the means to mobilize those hundreds of millions of people through contemporary means of communication. Here I am not talking about the major media. They are clearly in the hands of those who have very narrow economic self-interest. Rather, I refer to that massive channel of alternative means of communication that have already mobilized people around the world on a vast array of issues. There needs to be a massive, unmistakable, unavoidable public outcry from hundreds of millions of people in every part of the world. When that happens, over and over again, politicians tend to get the message. They don’t like it. But, history moves forward. It is really up to us.   

Update on the Student Struggle

Over the past six months, I have posted several items regarding the student struggle to oppose a government decision to raise post-secondary tuition significantly. There have been important developments in this struggle during the past three weeks. For those who may not have been in a position to follow these, I offer a brief summary:

The Liberal Government decided to call an election for September 4. They counted on their first stance against the students as a rallying point for much of the population. (They also wanted to assure an election before the results of the Charbonneau Commission on corruption issued its report next Spring.)  Well, the government lost the election, the leader lost his seat. The Partie Québécois was elected and swore in its Cabinet on September 19. The new Prime Minister (Pauline Marois) then held a press conference in which she announced the following

‎1)  The tuition hike is annuled.
2) Law 12 that limited civil liberties is abrogated.
3) A moratorium on any exploration or expolitation of shall gas is put in place. The minister of natural resources also announced that she does not see any way in which current technology could be used.à to safely extract shale gas.
4) A $200 tax on health services ($400 for a family) is annulled. 
5)  The nuclear plan Gentilly-2 will be closed.

 

It must however be added that this is a minority government whose longivity is seriously in question.  In the meantim, we breathe deeply !!

 

 

Restoring Economics



Photo: P. Cerezo

A few months ago I was asked to review a book on Economics. Combined with some other reading, it turning into more than that. You can find the result here



7th Mass March in Montreal

August 22, 2012. Photo by Laurie Lee

For the last seven months, a massive march march every 22nd in support of the students and in protest agasint the repressive Law 78 has brought together tens of thousands of local citizens of all ages.  Today, August 22 is no exception.


For those who wish to keep more informed of this long Quebec Springtime and the elections it has provoked, you might want to visit http://www.bloquonslahausse.com/

This and the following references are all in French -- of course !





Another site would be that of the Têtes Blances on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/jeanfrancois.blais2#!/groups/114942725311925/) and of the APACS. Here is the reference to the one in my neighbourhood: http://www.facebook.com/jeanfrancois.blais2#!/groups/assembleerpp/ .

Please note that the facebook sites are not intended to provide general information but rather exchanges on a daily basis focused on concrete local activities. These are active pages and entry points for following the student movement. .

A People Rises (video in French)



May 22, 2012:  See  http://vimeo.com/47205376

     Quebec is in the middle of an election campaign. Jean Charest, who artificially created the current crisis by refusing to negotiate with the students, is now trying to get re-elected on the basis of his treatment of the students. The crisis has now lasted more than three months with demonstrations every day sometimes with hundreds of thousands participating. Earlier, Charest passed a law (12 -- which was known as 78 when it was being debated) that limits public assemblies to less than 50 people and demands that the route of every march be announced beforehand to the police also forbids any group to approach within 50 meters of a post-secondary institution. It also obliges students to take up their studies in August or face penalties. The re-entry dates fall during this week and the next. The students are holding assemblies to decide whether to continue the strike. Multiple demonstrations and marches are taking place everywhere in the city every day. In addition to the students, there are many solidarity groups. The next mammoth march is scheduled for  August 22. 

     In an earlier post I have tried to explain why the struggle is so important for the students and for Quebec society.

A Few Good Quotes

     I am amazed at times at the gems I come across.
    I found this in Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees: “Really, her spirit is everywhere, Lily, just everywhere. Inside rocks and trees and even people, but sometimes it will get concentrated in certain places and just beam out at you in a special way” … “You can hear silent things on the other side of the everyday world that nobody else can.”
     And then, Annice Callahan, in Traditions of Spiritual Guidance, says “Rahner asserts that to speak of the human is to speak of the divine and vice versa. He describes God as the mystery in human experience. For him, then, God is the depth dimension in experiences such as solitude, friendship, community, death, hope and, as such, is the orientation toward the future. Rahner goes so far as to say that loneliness, disappointments and the ingratitude of others can be graced moments because they open us to the transcendent. The silence of God, the toughness of life and the darkness of death can be graced events. This mystery of grace discloses itself as a forgiving nearness, a hidden closeness, our real home, a love which shares itself, something familiar which we can turn to from the alienation of our own empty and perilous gives. When we are in touch with ourselves authentically, we experience God.”
     (Rabbi) Abraham Isaac Kook says, in Lights of Holiness, “Observe the harmony of the heavenly realm, how it pervades every aspect of life, the spiritual and the material, which are beforeyour eyes of flesh and your eyes of the spirit. Contemplate the wonders of creation, the divine dimension of their being, not as a dim configuration that is presented to you from the distance but as the reality in which you live. Know yourself, and your world, know the meditations of your heart, and of every thinker, find the source of  your own life, and of the life beyond you, around, you, the glorious spendor of the life in which you have your being.”
     Thomas R. Kelly, in Quaker Spirituality, says, “Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto itself.”

Make of them what you will.

                                              

Building a Future from the Grassrots up

    More and more the difference between struggles in the North and the South is evident.  For one thing, the peoples of the South, like Aboriginal peoples, struggle not only against what the neoliberal economy brings them, they also struggle, and to a very large extent, to defend the culture they have built over millennia. They defend their language, their traditional way of life, their values and future generations. In the North, the struggles have often been marked by a single-minded attack against what is seen as unjust. The weakness has often been that, once the particular difficulty has been overcome (work hours, pensions, salary gains, etc.), everyone settled down once again to their regular routine within the society that was theirs. And the manipulation and the corruption continued unabated.

Occupy the Heart of the Island, July 2012

     Perhaps, in some way that is why the case of Quebec (and various other minorities around the world) is somewhat different. The Francophone people in Quebec , like Aboriginal peoples, have something to defend (the beauty of their land, their language, the particular values that were entrenched in the Quiet Revolution of the 1970s). And yet, the majority in Quebec have been integrated into the values and lifestyle of the neoliberal economy and are all too willing to trust their social and political institutions to serve their needs -- much as is in the case for the Rest of Canada.
    There may now be a change at work. There is scepticism about the political machinery and its leaders; there is disgust at the way the financial world is functioning; there is a growing rejection of continuous cuts to social services; development plans erode the land itself; we witness a surrender of education to market interests; the French language is eroded in public places. These issues have drawn hundreds of thousands into the streets in recent month to defend what they have build and to demand accountability from their government. It remains to be seen whether that energy can get translated into a genuine cry for fundamental change.

Occupy the Place of the People, October, 2011

     The strength of the movement lies in its grassroots organizations, and here as elsewhere those organizations have tended to be dependent on financial support from various levels of government. What is needed is the creation of a broad grassroots economic and political life that is independent of government and not at all beholden to it. Here in Quebec we are at the beginning of this process.
    Very likely an election will be called within a month (to be held in early September). Already the pundits are saying that much depends on whether the students (who have led the charge since the beginning of the Maple Springtime this year) will translate their protest into political action by registering en masse and going out to vote. What is important is that, while no one thinks that a change of government will resolve the underlying issues, a more responsive government might be in a position to catalyze the grassroots energy into daring fundamental changes to our political and economic life.

Griefwalker

  The National Film Board of Canada has produced a documentary about the ultimate taboo in our society: death. Here is the link. (Note that it is a 70 minute film.)
  Stephen Jenkinson has accompanied more than a 1,000 persons on their deathbed and he  has some strong words to say about palliative care. The dying were afraid they would suffer and so palliative care offered to control that while allowing the person to remain present. The result: it was not the magic bullet promised. Fear of death runs much deeper. Follow him as he takes us through a journey that profoundly turns our sense of self around.
  Watch it when you are in a quiet, peaceful, centred space. This is strong medicine! And extremely beautiful, wholesome.
  This is above all what we need to learn together, to teach our children, and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Then, life will be different and we will "live well together."
(Thanks to Phil Little for drawing my attention to this film.)

Petite-Patrie

   I live in a neighbourhood right in the middle of Montreal Island. Last night 10,000 people marched through the streets of the neighbourhood--as they have every night for the last week--banging their pots. We were one of a multitude of neighborhoods in Montreal that saw marches. Moreover the phenomenon has spread throughout the Quebec territory. Why do they do this?  The answer is not simple.
   Part of it is support for the student movement that has been on strike for more than 3 months now after the government of Quebec announced it would raise tuition and the students said that would exclude the poor. Part of it is also in response to the government's attempt to temper the street activity by setting rules with heavy penalties for non-compliance. Part also, without any doubt, is a more general reaction to the current Quebec government that is riddled with corruption, pressing ahead with huge resource extraction projects and cutting support to social services. Indirectly, this popular anger is also fed by the arrogance of the federal government, which is enacting a series of legislative changes that crack down on youth crime (even though it is decreasing) and on  immigrants without papers while making drastic cuts to charities, international aid and social services. One traditional symbol among the people here is the rooster (Coq). People seems to have come the conclusion that they are being plucked to the bone (like the famous allouette) and they have had enough.
   As the marches continue, the people are beginning to realize that, in addition to marching through the streets, there is need for stronger organizations. Citizens groups are springing up to take up the issues, to get those in all the political parties to join together to change this: to abolish the infamous law 78 and to support the students. A public inquiry has begun into government corruption; The list goes on.
   This is a unique and historic moment in Quebec history. Something that has not been seen since the time of the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s when Quebec took its destiny into its own hands. It is interesting that the official motto of Quebec is "I remember."  And indeed!

The Government is Teetering

   Since world news is being made here in Montreal, I suppose I should say something--briefly.

May 22, 2012 - estimated 300,000

   Last Tuesday, the student associations, the union federations and the community organizations called for a march downtown. At least 300,000 showed up: a historical first for Quebec. It was a joyous festive moment with all generations present. It was also illegal. Law 78, passed a few days earlier, was supposed to calm things down by suspending courses until August and putting a lid on demonstrations. However, people were outraged that the police had to be informed of any demonstration in advance along with the itinerary. For the monster march, the people did not follow the itinerary indicated. Anyway, we made our way to Park Lafontaine chanting slogans and generally enjoying a beautiful day. Later in the evening the police cracked down and there were many arrests.
   That evening at precisely 8 PM, pots started banging on my little residential street. The racket grew. Then people gathered for a while at the corner making quite a lot of noise. Finally we went to the main intersection where there were about four groups of 50 people (one on each corner since the law prohibits anything over 50 people without police approval). As the traffick lights changed we crossed the intersection and traded corners. It went on for a couple of hours.

Le Devoir, May 24, 2012

   Yesterday, Wednesday, the banging of pots started again at 8 PM but this time there were far more people at the intersection (perhaps 300).  It made the front page of the papers this morning.   Later in the evening, the police cracked down on protesters downtown and arrested over 500.  It doesn’t seem to have dampened spirits.
   Tonight, the same ritual except that there were at least 500 people at the intersection and at one point we met a march of at least 1000 people coming down the street toward us. Almost everyone joined in and we spent a good hour marching through the streets of our little neighbourhood of Montreal. We were in the end perhaps 2000. I left as the marchers moved south toward the center of town.  The same thing is happening in at least 60 other neighbourhoods throughout the city and in several other cities throughout Quebec.
   The initial idea was to offer support to the students in their efforts to settle their dispute with the government. (The Minister responsible for education resigned her post and her seat in the Assembly-- quite politics altogether. Now the chief political advisor to our head of government (Jean Charest) has also resigned. In the minds of most people it would seem that the Law 78 was the last straw and many will not be satisfied until elections are called and the government itself is changed. Few people support it at this point; there have been too many scandals and crazy development projects involving billions of dollars.
   Banging pots is such a simple thing. Anybody can stand at their door and do it. Parents bring along their kids who are happy to bang on their pots. The elderly join in from their apartments. It is a simple way that finally everyone can have a voice and it is certainly bringing our neighbourhoods to life.  Such a simple thing and it is tumbling the governement!

Comments would be more than welcome.

Change the World: I hope so!

I am tired and it is late; I have tried over many years to act in solidarity with those who suffer poverty and repression. In Peru during the 1980s I found myself in the middle of an upheaval that brought the issues right to my doorstep.  

Now, during these last weeks, Montreal, my city, finds itself in the midst of an upheaval that brings all that back again. The post-secondary students (167,000 of them) have been on strike for three months now. No end in sight. They march at least twice every day usually numbering between 500 and 1,000 and there are other events as well. We have had marches with 200,000 or even 300,000 people and yet no cracks open for dialogue about the issues. The police have been particularly brutal. In the last 10 days or so three young people have been severely injured: one with three cranial fractures, another lost an eye (and almost his life), another with several teeth missing. Yesterday the subway was closed for three hours (all lines) because of smoke bombs.

At the same time community organizations concerned about public services (health, housing, social benefits, unemployment) have held demonstrations and marches. The Occupy movement will be taking to the parks and the streets, in great numbers, starting Saturday. The Guardian newspaper in London has pointed to Quebec as the world’s hotbed of reaction to neoliberalism at this point.  The population is divided on the issues but 68% are against the current government. The government responds with repression.  We are in the middle of a mess.  Some of us are tired but not ready to cave in.

I have been giving talks on ecological economics, on the Canadian mining industry at home and abroad. I have sat in on conversations and meetings about how to save some of our grassroots and solidarity organizations and on how to protect the protests from the police and the media.

The Federal government has passed a sweeping bill clamping down on youth crime even though youth crime is declining and violence crime declining even more. But they want longer sentences and more prisons. Currently there is a law being proposed that could give up to 10 years prison to anyone wearing a mask during a protest demonstration. Surveillance of personal information and of public activity is omnipresence.

Both our Quebec government and the federal government are passing billions of dollars to multinational resource extraction companies while cutting social spending and international solidarity. For the government international aid now means giving money to multinationals, especially mining companies, to provide “social development” in the Global South.
The current leadership is without scruple, fundamentally corrupt and bought off by corporations. Everything indicates that their vision of law is ordered to the  repression of dissent among the population.
This may sound a bit rambling, but I just want to point out that Canada and Quebec are, at this point, in a rapid, very rapid, decline into what might euphemistically be called “authoritarian” government but one that is edging dangerously close to a police state totalitarianism.

Most people do not realize how their personal debt (house and car , etc.) has rendered them incapable of acting in their own interest. Most people work for companies who hold them on a leash through the spectre of unemployment. They are basically un-free and unwilling to even imagine outside the box. It’s not their fault. It’s the way life works here. They spend their days working at a job they likely are not all that interested in and their real life is confined to evenings and weekends with family and friends.  The result is caution in face of the larger responsibilities of citizenship and blind allegiance to whatever government and industry offer.

It is worrisome, but it is only one side of the picture.

The brighter side is that I am seeing a generation of young people, especially, who are finally saying no to all this, who are putting their careers, their future, their safety at risk in order to wake people up to the call for change. All the voices that have claimed the need for care for our planet, inclusion of the poor and marginalized in society, a society of sharing and of responsibility are now coming together in a vast and even global movement that is fired by values that  hold humanity and our planet together in respect and dialogue. It is a surge that learns from its mistakes and forges ahead toward its utopia, that other world that indeed is possible. It is a movement that is inspired by a force that exceeds its numbers and its strategies. It is a rising up from the dry and dead bones of a wasted civilization with a call to rebuild something new. It is unstoppable. It is a work of the Spirit that hovers over the world with bright wings!  But…. It is a generation and that means it has twenty years to do its stuff. The next generation will be different. What it can accomplish to create a renewed environment in the next 20 years will only be known later. We plant seeds whose fruit we may never see.

Meaning

The fruit of some reflection, rather hastily put together, more philosophical than anything else, it is nevertheless intended as an Easter reflection.

Physicists make it very clear that earth is destined eventually, in another few billion years, to be swallowed up in fire by the sun. At the same time they tell us that the whole universe is destined to a silent, unmoving, cold death—without a specific calendar date! Add to that the fact that much of what happens at the macro-economic and geo-political level today is meaningless at best and that most of us will be forgotten by the world and by our descendants after less than 100 years. Enough?  We have more than enough reason to view the world through dark glasses. Nothing new. The Jewish people, a fundamental source for Western thought,  have a long tradition of questioning God.  Just think of Job and also Jesus’ cry on the cross: “Why have you abandoned me?”

Nevertheless, I invite you to read on: there is more.

First of all, the final destiny of the Earth may not be measured by its fiery death in the sun. The Earth disappears but its elements are still there, ready to be transformed by the sun into something else. What?  In the longest term, we don’t know. Also, there is more happening on the Earth today than just macro-economics and geo-politics. Even as species are extinguished and the global temperature rises, new species and new forms of life are being created. In everyday life, while there is a lot of selfishness, there is also a lot more generosity and struggle for dignity.  

While our lives and the whole history of Earth and the Universe may be only a blip in the story of time, there just might be a larger context. If you look around, every example of death turns out, I have found, to be a transformation. It is a rule so grounded in the story of the Earth and of the Universe, that I suggest driving it to the limit. This is a question of “option.” There is no evidence that there is more than a destiny of fiery, cold, or forgotten death. Yet there is an option and that option can make all the difference, at least for us: We can decide that there is more and we can build our lives around that belief that there is more. Some moderns would say that we “give” meaning to all that by our option; In medieval times, people believed rather that they “discovered” that meaning. In many ways, both are true and both may be required for the option to operate.

The option I propose is not absurd; Given the choice between Metal and Mozart, ultimately, ultimately, I prefer Mozart.  It is Pascal’s wager. Medievalists called it an “act of faith.”

I have opted to believe that God is good. That’s a big one, I admit, but for me, it’s  the starting point. While I do not question the existence of God, I certainly question what God we are talking about. For neoliberals God is money; for many politicians God is power; for hedonists, God is pleasure. For me, as an option I choose, God is total self-giving for the good of the other: much like the love of a mother for her child.  This is not an irrational option; it is a choice that changes my horizon, frames my life and the world as I experience it. Where I got that idea can be left to your imagination. In some ways, it really doesn’t matter where it came from so much as having arrived there. I give meaning to my life and my world by my option, but that option also enables me to discover (receive) meaning where I would have least expected it. 

I have looked carefully at other options. Some of them are extremely attractive but none show enough holding power to keep me steady. (I should add add that living my option turns out to be much less coherent than my conviction about the option!) I will continue believing life (Life) is good and that death is merely a step along a path in which nothing is lost–not a single sparrow! Does this have anything to do with Spring-time and with Easter?  I hope so.

Le territoire et nous

Depuis quelques années je fais parti du Groupe de théologie contextuelle québécoise. (Voir le lien à côté.)  Nous avons travaillé  ensemble pendant un an pour préparer le texte qui suit (le premier de trois textes prévus sur le thème).


For some years now I am a member of the Quebec Contextual Theology Group . (See the link on the left.) We worked together for a year to prepare the following text (the first of three to come on the topic.)  You can download an English version of the following text at
 http://www.mediafire.com/view/?59g0pdicd7rs47e.

Le groupe de théologie contextuelle québécoise (GTCQ) est formé de personnes oeuvrant en intervention communautaire ainsi qu’en théologie.  Depuis une trentaine d’années,  notre groupe réfléchit sur la réalité de l’injustice sociale au Québec et s’efforce périodiquement  de proposer des pistes d’analyse et d’action. La présente réflexion sur la question du territoire se veut en continuité avec celle qui a été entreprise par le Réseau œcuménique Justice et Paix lors de son assemblée générale de 2011. Elle propose une mise en contexte des éléments que nous comptons aborder dans quelques  textes à venir. Dans un premier temps, nous soulignerons ici comment l’actualité concernant l’exploitation des ressources naturelles nous conduit à des interrogations inattendues sur notre lien au territoire et sur les responsabilités qu’il implique.

Historiquement, l’activité minière a eu tendance à s’exercer loin des régions densément peuplées. Les ravages causés par les mines passaient donc inaperçus, sauf pour ceux qui venaient y travailler. Maintenant que cette industrie a pratiquement épuisé à travers le monde les sources de minerai et d’énergie qui étaient aisément accessibles, elle se montre beaucoup plus audacieuse. Des mines sont maintenant exploitées dans des zones à l’environnement  fragile ou encore sur des terres agricoles, à proximité de lieux résidentiels ou même en plein territoire urbain, et, si incroyable que cela paraisse, jusque sous la mer. Que ce soit pour le territoire revendiqué en vue de l’exploitation du gaz de schiste ou pour celui qui est projeté pour le Plan Nord, une grande partie du Québec est  devenue une cible pour l’industrie extractive.

La conjoncture exacerbe la situation. Ainsi, au plan économique, la raréfaction des ressources minières, une demande sans précédent de celles-ci par les pays émergents en plein boom industriel, la recherche éperdue par les pays riches eux-mêmes d’une relance de leur propre croissance, de même que l’endettement et les déficits budgétaires des États, se combinent pour pousser à la hausse pour plusieurs années le prix des métaux. Il en résulte la présente ruée vers ce nouveau Klondike.

Par ailleurs, au moment même où l’on prend de plus en plus conscience de toutes les mesures historiques qui ont pu contribuer à compromettre le lien des Premières Nations à leurs territoires, voilà que la conjoncture économique joue à nouveau contre celles-ci. Les terres où elles ont été refoulées («réserves») de même que les territoires qu’elles sillonnent depuis toujours se trouvent convoités par le boom minier. À nouveau, les arrivants tardifs du Sud se voient tentés de considérer ces territoires comme «vides» et d’y ignorer tant les Autochtones qui y vivent que le caractère public d’une grande partie de ces espaces, pour s’accaparer sans vergogne des richesses qu’ils recèlent. Ce serait compter sans la résistance des Autochtones et de leurs alliés ainsi que de l’ensemble de la collectivité québécoise.

C’est dans ce contexte que les compagnies minières se présentent comme des sauveurs économiques; elles déclarent développer l’économie québécoise en apportant de la richesse et des emplois qui profiteront à tout le monde; elles minimisent cependant les risques pour l’environnement tout en nous assurant qu’elles feront tout ce qu’il faut pour répondre aux besoins de ceux qui pourraient  subir quelque inconvénient causé par les installations minières.

Et pourtant, la mine d’or à ciel ouvert de Malartic est installée sur des terrains qui se trouvent dans la ville même et donc déjà construits. L’industrie du gaz de schiste a déjà ciblé le territoire agricole le plus fertile du Québec. Le projet de mine de niobium Niocan est situé sur des terres agricoles de première qualité près d’Oka. Il ne s’agit pas là de mines traditionnelles, avec des tunnels creusés sous la terre.  Les mines d’or et de niobium ouvrent en surface d’énormes cratères qui peuvent mesurer plus d’un kilomètre de long. Un puits de gaz de schiste peut s’étendre, avec le temps, sur un rayon d’un kilomètre à partir de son point de forage.

L’histoire démontre abondamment que nombre de sociétés ont vu s’améliorer leur qualité de vie grâce à l’activité minière. Mais il est évident, aussi, qu’il s’agit d’une industrie polluante et que, dans les années récentes, elle est devenue carrément menaçante en raison de la mise en place de méga-projets. Alors que l’activité minière peut être très rentable, les profits sont presque entièrement accaparés par  les directeurs et par les principaux actionnaires des compagnies. En ce qui concerne les  communautés locales, mis à part quelques «projets» de services minimaux pris en charge par les compagnies, elles se retrouvent souvent encore plus pauvres. Lorsque des compagnies font miroiter aux populations locales des promesses de boom économique, les gens se laissent parfois prendre par l’espoir d’avoir plus d’argent dans leur porte-monnaie. Toutefois, on peut s’interroger sur ce qu’on entend par «bien vivre» dans un environnement minier. Ce «bien vivre» n’a-t-il pas à voir avec la qualité de vie pour nous-mêmes, pour notre société et pour les générations futures? Dans nos efforts pour mieux vivre, la société comme les citoyennes et les citoyens individuels cherchent un moyen terme ou un compromis qui leur permettrait à la fois de bénéficier de ce que la terre peut offrir et de ne pas causer à celle-ci des torts irréparables.

Une bonne partie de la population du Québec est vivement préoccupée à propos des tendances actuelles dans l’industrie d’extraction chez nous. « Trou Story », le dernier documentaire de Richard Desjardins, témoigne de façon éloquente de ces préoccupations.[1]

Les gens qui vivent près des mines se plaignent de perdre leur maison ou leur qualité de vie, d’être soumis aux grondements des dynamitages et à ceux des énormes camions qui défoncent les routes. Dans le cas de l’exploitation des  gaz de schiste, les résidents redoutent notamment la contamination de la nappe phréatique, de leur eau potable et de leurs systèmes d’irrigation. Cette industrie utilise quotidiennement des centaines de milliers, sinon des millions, de litres d’eau. Les gens craignent pour la santé dans leurs communautés locales.

Les Québécois et les Québécoises ont toujours pensé qu’ils avaient les pleins droits sur leur propriété individuelle, que celle-ci était inviolable.  Mais leur surprise a été brutale ces dernières années. Selon une tradition britannique, les détenteurs d’une propriété n’ont des droits que sur la surface de celle-ci; le sous-sol demeure la propriété du gouvernement. C’est le cas pour le Québec, pour le Canada et pour la majorité des pays du monde. Un gouvernement peut céder des droits miniers à quiconque en fait la demande. Dans le cas du Québec, on peut faire cela par un simple clic sur Internet, et cela pour un coût minime de dix cents par hectare. Des profits énormes peuvent être réalisés dans cette industrie reconnue pour  son approche où «les loups se mangent entre eux».  Une fois qu’une demande (claim) a été acceptée par le gouvernement, la compagnie peut alors approcher les propriétaires locaux pour négocier «un accès de surface». Quand des propriétaires résistent, des compagnies ont parfois recours à l’intimidation ou font exproprier leur terrain au nom du «plus grand intérêt économique» de la société.

Ces procédures ne font pas que heurter des intérêts individuels ou provoquer le syndrome du «pas dans ma cour».  La population du Québec ressent un profond attachement collectif au territoire qui l’a nourrie. Elle y reconnaît les traces de son histoire et un puissant facteur d’identité collective.  Autant elle apprécie les emplois possibles, autant elle répugne à le laisser défigurer ou à voir ses communautés se faire diviser ou même déraciner.

                        Les Premières Nations sont également touchées et préoccupées par l’orientation que prend l’industrie minière au Québec. Et cela ne date pas d’hier. Depuis l’arrivée des Européens, qui y voyaient une «contrée vide» et qui se mirent en frais de se «l’approprier», les peuples autochtones sont restés stupéfaits de ce dont ils ont été témoins. Ces peuples se voient, en effet,  en profonde relation d’interdépendance avec le territoire et réfèrent à celui-ci comme à la «Terre-Mère». Qui ne voudrait pas protéger sa mère?[2] Ainsi, les peuples autochtones se considèrent eux-mêmes comme les protecteurs du territoire qu’ils ont habité depuis des millénaires et sur lequel ils ont acquis le droit d’exercer cette protection.

Dans cette perspective, la communauté de Kanesatake s’inquiète de l’éventuelle installation d’une mine à ciel ouvert de niobium, près de la riche zone agricole qui avoisine le lac des Deux-Montagnes. Les fermiers locaux partagent la même préoccupation. Le peuple des Cris a également tiré la sonnette d’alarme concernant la direction prise par le Plan Nord, et les Innus, quant à eux,  reprochent au gouvernement de ne pas les avoir fait participer aux consultations.

Le droit international est aussi devenu un facteur important dans la controverse. Le Canada a finalement signé, le 12 novembre 2011, la Déclaration des Nations Unies sur les Droits des peuples autochtones. Celle-ci exige, en principe[3],  le consentement libre, préalable et éclairé des communautés autochtones avant que les industries minières puissent s’installer sur leurs terres. De plus, une norme similaire de la Convention 169 de l’Organisation internationale du travail est de plus en plus interprétée au Québec comme une exigence qui ne se limite pas aux seules communautés autochtones.

                        Où cela nous mènera-t-il? Peut-être à une meilleure appréciation que notre «droit au territoire» n’est pas absolu mais conditionnel à la protection qu’on lui accorde. Pourquoi la population entière du Québec ne  revendiquerait-elle pas elle aussi que son rapport historique au territoire lui ait octroyé la responsabilité de le protéger? De même, la nouvelle donne ne nous indique-telle pas que l’enjeu n’est pas de lutter les uns contre les autres, mais plutôt de former un partenariat à trois : la population du Québec, les Premières Nations, et la terre elle-même dans toute sa diversité?

                        Pour notre part, refusant de laisser au seul rapport de force, d’ailleurs le plus souvent inégal, le soin de décider de l’issue des conflits, nous nous proposons une double tâche, dans nos prochains textes,  pour contribuer à un discernement collectif plus sain.

Tout d’abord, après avoir pris acte des positions qui s’affrontent et les avoir caractérisées, nous chercherons à en débusquer les ressorts méconnus, à expliciter les visions du monde où elles s’ancrent, aux plans anthropologique, culturel et éthique, par exemple.  Nous serons ainsi amenés à réfléchir au rôle joué par la propriété privée et par la propriété collective dans notre tradition occidentale, et plus particulièrement aux façons dont notre humanité elle-même est affectée par le type de rapport que nous entretenons avec ces parcelles de la planète que nous considérons comme notre territoire et qui définit, en quelque sorte, notre relation à la Terre elle-même.  Il sera également important de retracer l’histoire de la notion de protection de la Terre, un concept qui est devenu central pour le mouvement écologique depuis quelques décennies.

            En second lieu, nous tenterons de mettre en évidence quelques éléments d’une évaluation théologique et éthique de ces positions et visions, puis d’en tirer des implications politiques, c’est-à-dire de discerner comment le rôle de l’instance publique, ou de l’État, est interpellé par la crise du rapport au territoire et appelé à être redéfini par un Nous responsable et visionnaire.

                                    LE GROUPE DE THÉOLOGIE CONTEXTUELLE QUÉBÉCOISE[4]

                                                                                                            15 mars 2012

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[1] Voir http://blogue.onf.ca/2011/09/18 trou-story-bande-annonce/

[2] «Qu’ils aient été ici depuis 4 000 ans ou 400, les Autochtones et les non-Autochtones ont développé un sentiment d’appartenance au territoire.» (Christos Sirros, Ministre québécois des Affaires autochtones (indiennes), lors d’une audience à Montréal à la Quatrième ronde de la Commission royale sur les peuples autochtones, en1993, cité dans Commission royale sur les peuples autochtones, Vers la réconciliation : Vue d’ensemble de la Quatrième ronde,  Groupe Communication Canada, Ottawa, 1994, p. 34.

[3] La signature d’une telle Déclaration ne comporte en tant que telle  aucune obligation juridique. De plus, son endossement par le Canada a été fait «avec qualifications», ce qui équivaut à faire prévaloir les dispositions de la Constitution, des lois et des politiques actuelles du pays sur celles de la Déclaration. Ce qui inclut la Loi sur les Indiens et l’ensemble de la politique sur les traités. En plus, cette signature n’implique aucune contrainte de calendrier ou autre pour la mise en application des standards indiqués dans la Déclaration.  Les Premières Nations ainsi que les Églises canadiennes sont fort préoccupées par cette absence de contrainte. C’est pour cette raison que la Coalition inter-Églises Kairos, en collaboration avec les Premières Nations, mène actuellement  une campagne pancanadienne pour que l’ONU mette en place une convention sur les droits des autochtones. Celle-ci marquerait un autre niveau d’obligation. S’il y avait une convention à cet égard et si Canada la ratifiait, le gouvernement serait obligé par la loi internationale de la respecter par delà notre propre Constitution,  nos lois et toute norme administrative actuelles.  Sinon, le Canada pourrait faire l’objet de sanctions.

 

[4] Michel Beaudin, Céline Beaulieu, Guy Côté, Lise Lebrun, Richard Renshaw, Eliana Carmen Sotomayor, Jacques Tobin.

Surviving in the struggle for social justice

   Some people are called to accept great suffering in their life because of disease or loss.  Such was the case of Job. It raises enormous questions about faith and our understanding of God.

   However, there is also another situation: that of those who voluntarily undertake a path in life that inevitably leads them to isolation, suffering and even to death.  In some cases, this can be due to a life of crime, irresponsibility, addiction or vice. In other cases, it is precisely the choice to live with integrity and care for others that leads to suffering. Such was the case of Jesus and such is the case of many who devote themselves to the care of others or to the struggle for social justice.

   It seems to me that no one gives up their security, their physical well-being or their life simply out of self-interest. As far as I can see, those who surrender their lives in a life-long struggle for justice do so for others. While there are cases where a woman will face and surmount fear of reprisal and even death to defend her dignity, it is, I think more common to see this happen in an effort to save her children or so that her children might have a chance at a better life.

     We do not struggle for social change out of love for the struggle itself but rather in hope of something better – for ourselves perhaps, but most of all for others. Those who persevere in the struggle for social justice are like planters of fig trees: they will never see the fruit of their labour since the tree takes more than a generation before giving fruit.

     Moreover, we cannot carry on our own shoulders the weight of the entire struggle for change as if what we do will make all the difference.  Long term survival in the struggle is possible in so far as we are able to maintain a solid faith in the momentum of the struggle itself, of the common effort of many.As Oscar Romero said, we are not the master-builders, only the labourers.
   Perseverance in the struggle for social justice involves, as Dorothy Day expressed it, dealing with the small day-to-day tasks that come our way.  Only in this way can we contribute to a better world. Nor can we ever measure the effect of our efforts and so, in the meantime, we do the little things that we can each day and we live joyously grateful to be alive and to appreciate all that little joys that life brings, however small.