Sunday 12 May 2013

The Scenario



The plan is actually quite simple. By now, everyone knows that climate change will make much of the world uninhabitable. Huge storms will cause catastrophes including loss of infrastructure, migration and massive deaths. Food will become scare -- over half of the arable land on the planet has already been destroyed.
The richest of the planet, the one percent, have a plan. It is probably not a conspiracy but rather a shared implicit logic that grows out of preserving self-interest.  More and more the lines of that logic are becoming clear.
Massive amounts of money are poured into arms and the military needed in order to control the unrest and wars that erupt as a result of changing conditions.
Because of the disruption of climate change as well as the wars that result, close to 90% of the world’s population will disappear. (Many scientists agree on this percentage.) That will leave just enough people to assure the infrastructure (food, industry, security) that would allow the very rich to continue in their lifestyle. In fact the 90% who will disappear are, in any case, dispensable within the current economic structures.
Massive restrictions on freedom and powerful military deployment will be needed to make sure that the  population remains faithful to their job of producing enough to keeping the workers in the economy alive and satisfied as well as, especially, to maintain the lifestyle of the very rich.
Should the planet swing entirely out of control, a last-ditch emergency plan would be to set up on another planet. The proposed one-way expedition to Mars is a trial balloon in that direction, an avant-guard who will work out the details of establishing a human colony elsewhere. Ultimately this would, once again, imply the transfer of a very small group (0.1% of the 10 % that remain, along with enough people to work to keep them in comfort). In a sense, society will continue to be normal in the sense that there will be approximately the same propositions of super-rich, middle class and poor. In that sense, everyone will continue to find their place though the scale will be reduced.  Those who retire into self-sufficiency, who provide for their own food sustainably will be inundated with hungry outsiders or raided by armed looters.
Am I exaggerating?  Am I retreating into science fiction? Not entirely. This is a scenario that could be realized within the next fifty years, that is to say, within the lifetime of many of those already living on the planet. What is needed is a massive, global upheaval. I am pretty sure that, at some point, it will come. However, I am also sure that the super-rich will be ready with their (massive) security precautions in place.
There is of course an alternative, a difficult one but one that is quite realizable. As long as we continue to contribute to the destruction of the planet required by the growing inequality between the super-rich and those entirely abandoned by the world economy, the logic described above will surely work its way forward. Fiddling with the current economic and political structures have repeatedly demonstrated little or no changes in the patterns.  Why is it that most people in the world, who are very aware of the general lines of this process, continue to follow their daily routines. We accept the political and economic processes with resignation and believe that the imperfections will be dealt with by those who hold public office?  What could be more insane?

Saturday 4 May 2013

Truth and Reconciliation Commission Vérité et Réconciliation


Expression de réconciliation


(La Commission Vérité et réconciliation a été mise sur pied par les survivants et survivantes des pensionnats amérindiens gérés successivement par différents gouvernements et administrés par diverses confessions religieuses.  Pendant 130 ans on avait explicitement en vue l’extinction de la culture autochtone au Canada et cela, en arrachant de force les enfants à leurs parents et à leur communauté.

     Nous sommes ici en tant que membres de différents organismes chrétiens du Québec.
Photos : Gilles Pillette   (Présentation de l'expression)
Nous sommes venus apprendre de l’histoire douloureuse des survivants et survivantes des pensionnats pour jeunes autochtones établis par le gouvernement du Canada, dont la plupart étaient dirigés par certaines de nos Églises. Des violences physiques, psychologiques et culturelles ont été commises dans ces institutions, allant parfois jusqu’à causer la mort d’innocentes victimes. Des représentants et représentantes de ces Églises ont déjà reconnu leur part de responsabilité dans ces différents abus et ont exprimé leur profond regret, en même temps que leur demande de pardon. En tant que membres de ces Églises, nous partageons ces sentiments. Nous portons comme un lourd fardeau éthique et spirituel les blessures que cette histoire a infligées aux personnes et aux relations entre nos peuples. Impuissants à changer le passé, nous sommes venus exprimer notre désir de participer aux démarches de réconciliation qui pourront, espérons-le, permettre de travailler ensemble à bâtir un avenir fondé sur le respect mutuel, la justice et la solidarité.
Représentants des groupes
    Nous sommes reconnaissants à la Commission Vérité et Réconciliation de favoriser un tel rapprochement, dans la confiance et la bonne volonté. Cette démarche demandera des efforts soutenus. Nous reconnaissons que des processus d’assimilation, de dépossession et d’exclusion ont toujours lieu, notamment par le fait des préjugés, de l’indifférence, ou des relents de colonialisme qui teintent encore trop souvent nos rapports avec les communautés des Premières Nations. Nous nous engageons à chercher la guérison de toutes ces formes de violence ou de discrimination, et à les combattre dans chacun de nos milieux sociaux et ecclésiaux.
    Nous remercions nos sœurs et frères autochtones pour la profondeur humaine et spirituelle des témoignages qu’ils nous offrent ici. Nous nous engageons à témoigner dans nos milieux de ce que nous aurons entendu et appris au cours de ces journées historiques.
  
Pastorale sociale de l’Archevêché de Montréal
Pax Christi - Montréal
Carrefour de promotion, ressourcement et formation (CPRF)
Centre d’étude de théologie contextuelle québécoise, Université de Montréal (CETECQ)
Groupe justice et foi des Sœurs de Ste-Croix.
Groupe de théologie contextuelle québécoise
Centre justice et foi
Initiatives et Changement - Québec
Déposition dans le Bentwood Box
Entraide missionnaire
Holy Cross International Justice Office (South Bend, Indiana, USA)
Carrefour d’animation et de participation à un monde ouvert (CAPMO)
Institut N.-D. du Bon-Conseil de Montréal

Docteur Gregory Baum, professeur émérite, Université de McGill
Claude Lacaille, bibliste, Trois-Rivières
Bineta Bas, Bureau international de justice sociale, Congrégation de Notre Dame (CND)

Montréal, avril 2013    

Return to Peru

Peru is riddled with archeological sites dating back sometimes for thousands of years. Many of these sites are not protected or conserved. As a result there has been a lot of looting. Nevertheless, they continue to be eloquent witnesses to vital and creative human presence long before Europeans arrived. During my last visit some years ago, I spent time in a small town inland from the coast, in the Andean "foothills" at an elevation of 500 meters. One day we went to visit an ancient site where assemblies were held and ceremonied performed. It was a large open circle. The large stones that marked the perimeter were still evident. It was late afternoon and the sunlight was already dimming. The entrance to the circle consisted of large stones forming an open doorway. And then I noticed that two small owls had positioned themselves at each side of the door. For us, Westerners, owls sometim are seen as signs of wisdom; for the Peruvians they were protectors. There they were, still protecting the site after so many centuries!

The rocks are immense