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Young People. The Voice of the Planet.

Saturday, 1 June 2019 8:00

The students are on the streets, waving banners, banging drums, singing, chanting, and calling for an end to the causes driving climate change that is wrecking the planet.

They see the global warming caused by huge amounts of CO2 and methane gases heating up the environment and causing the melting of the ice cap on a gigantic scale never seen before.
They want to close coal-fired power plants and governments to install renewable wind and solar power farms and geothermal generators to provide the electricity we need.

They are the voice of the planet; they are its feelings and its cry for help. The planet is, in many ways, dying and the human species, its magnificent creation, is a vengeful child killing its parent by savage greed. The warmer atmosphere is evaporating more water from the oceans, causing more frequent powerful rainstorms as never before.
They, the youth, want and demand a clean planet free from poison chemicals and pollution and the burning of fossil fuels.

They say enough, stop it and give us and our future children a clean planet. They want to stop the acid rain. It is poisoning the fish and the land and the people that eat the fish. They are demanding the skeptical reluctant politicians to take political action to cut CO2 gases and stop the damage to the planet.

I saw the negative and damaging impact of climate change on the lives of ordinary Filipino people when I went to visit the Aeta indigenous farmers in our Preda fair trade mango project. They live on the mountains of Zambales and they were once forest dwellers, hunters and gatherers. They survived for 30,000 years, anthropologists say.

They are an amazing people with a culture and customs that would put many a Western community to shame. They have more gender equality- women as tribal leaders, men that carry the children on their backs, a plant based medical practice that has kept them alive for thousands of years. They are under threat from climate change. They have lost their rain forests and the climate will never revert again to be a balanced harmonious influence for growth if we do not stop the warming. The greed of the ruling elite families with international corporations devastated the rain forests by cutting and exporting logs to rebuild Europe and Japan after the Second World War.

Only 3 percent of forest cover is left in isolated areas around the nation. The bare hills were stripped of their topsoil by the increased rainfall and the brown earth was eroded and washed into the sea. This soil covered the coral and the smaller fish died out and the bigger fish migrated to deeper waters. Coastal fisher families were catching less and in the deeper waters foreign fishing fleets raided the Philippine seas as the Chinese do today.

Only rough grass and bushes grow on the bare mountains. The climate has changed as a result. The rice harvest that should feed millions of people has been lost in recent years. Prices have risen through corruption and mismanagement.

Rural poverty has increased and the poor have abandoned the land and the shores and migrated, like refugees, to the slums of the big cities. There they live in squalor, a once proud self-sufficient people, reduced to barely surviving. They squat in the shadows of the rich that live in luxurious condominiums. They eat ‘pagpag’ to survive- that is the boiled left-overs scraped from the food plates of the rich that eat in the posh restaurants and hotels.

But the Aetas have not become refugees in their own country. They have struggled to survive by continuing to adapt to climate change by planting and growing their own root crops, vegetables in a natural and organic way. They produce fair trade organic mangos, the only such group to do so internationally certified by Naturland. They live in poor villages but eat and produce healthy, nutritious natural grown food.

Susan, an Aeta village chief, a woman, explains how they experience climate change. She tells of the unexpected rainstorms that destroy the mango blossoms. There have been no mango fruits for three years in their mountains. It is the rebuke of a wounded and hurt nature. It feels the pain of neglect and convulses in agony with the death of plants and forests animals driven to extinction. Landslides scar the hills, rivers are polluted, chickens die, children cry and sickness is more frequent.

We are destroying our own habitat and eliminating our role as the planet’s self-awareness. When we are at war with the earth, we are at war with ourselves. When we hurt the planet earth, we hurt ourselves for we are one with it. We humans have evolved from its soil, its chemistry, and its life forms. The earth is our mother that gave us life and we are its consciousnesses. Through us, the planet and the universe reflects and contemplates its own self because we are its brain, the thinking being and the planet is conscious and self-aware through us.

Every one of us has to redeem the failures of the human race that is destroying ourselves and the earth. We must cry out and take to the streets in peaceful non-violent protest and claim our rights as belonging to a clean healthy planet of which we are an intimate part.

Fr. Shay Cullen

War on drugs.

Saturday, 1 June 2019 8:00

The tension between the presidency and the ecclesial hierarchy has considerably affected baptised Filipinos. The general elections that brought Rodolfo Duterte to power on 30 June 2016, and this was the choice of the majority of Catholics, have not been substantially rejected by them; on the other hand, the contemporaneous adherence to presidential policies and the principles of the Christian faith creates not a few problems of conscience.

Duterte, who abandoned Catholicism for sectarian Christianity, proclaimed the “irrationality” of the faith and even made a direct blasphemous criticism of God regarding creation.
On 22 June of last year, he launched an attack on the Biblical narrative, speaking openly of the “stupidity” of God for having given life to a perfect condition only to later provide humanity with the power to destroy its own eternal happiness. We may well imagine how many Filipinos reacted, all the more since this time Duterte did not attack exponents of the Catholic Church but the Creator himself.

The social media were flooded with a storm of protests, anger and reactions even abroad and some political allies of Duterte said they were alarmed by the insults, seemingly unlimited, directed not only against anyone identified as an adversary but even against the Creator, the first reference point for all Catholics.
The president again succeeded in shocking his adversaries and increasing unease among his supporters when, a few days later he said he was “ready to tender his resignation” if “a single witness” was able to prove the existence of God; better still if he could provide a photo confirming his ability to see God and speak to him. Significantly, he was, at the time, in “his own” city of Davao.
Duterte may well be seen as a man with confused religiosity and an unusual personality. Nevertheless, under his administration the rule of law is being constantly violated and the resistance of the “least important”, supported by civil society and the Church, fights for survival against the expropriation of lands and resources which takes place, often ignored by, or with the connivance of the authorities and
even the security forces.

This tension is to be added to that created by the “war on drugs” and its estimated twelve thousand victims, of which only one third are acknowledged by police to be the result of actions against traffickers and drug-pushers or to the militarisation of vast areas of the country, including the South where martial law is in force. They ones who pay the price for all of this, often with their lives are the dissident administrators, journalists, activists and priests.
The continual verbal aggression against religious “may unwittingly provoke further crimes against priests”, said the Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan, Socrates Villegas, after assassins had killed Father Richmond Nilo on 10 June, 2018, in the province of Nueva Ecija, and before him, Father Mark Ventura, on 29 April in the province of Cagayan and, on 4 December 2017, Father Marcelito Paes in neighbouring Nueva Ecija.Of the many fronts on which president Rodrigo Duterte is fighting to impose a rule which his critics believe aims at dictatorship and which imposes questionable solutions to the many “evils” of his country that of the control of civil society is not the most controversial but is certainly that which most places the leadership in danger. This tension has already claimed many victims, including men of the Church and Christian leaders, but it has failed, up to now, to silence especially activists for human rights and independent mass media

Rappler CEO and executive editor Maria Ressa.

Of particular importance was the arrest, on 13 February 2019, of Maria Ressa, founder and director of the information website Rappler, and her release under caution the following day. The journalist had been condemned in 2017 following a Rappler enquiry in 2012 into relations between borderline profiteering, drug trafficking and human trafficking. She described her condemnation as “groundless” and “amazing”, made possible only by the law on defamation which came into force after the publication of the enquiry. Maria Ressa, released under caution, and her website are accused of tax evasion, a crime punishable with a maximum of ten years in jail. Her lawyers and supporters believe these accusations are in response to criticism of the “war on drugs” which has so far claimed between twelve and fifteen thousand victims and of the authoritarian tendencies of Duterte. Known for her commitment, in December 2018 the activist was included by Time magazine among the “people of the year”. (S.V.)

Afghanistan. A Tiny Seed.

Saturday, 1 June 2019 8:00

A small community in an Islamic world. Witness and service
to the poorest.

“The contribution which the small Christian community can make to pacification and the reconstruction of this country is limited, but the signs of its presence in this land are, in their poverty, still meaningful: the service of the poorest of the poor; assistance to the most needy and the education of children”, says Father Giovanni Scalese, a Barnabite priest and head of the Missio sui iuris in Afghanistan.

On Palm Sunday, in front of the Catholic chapel at the Italian Embassy in Kabul, Father Scalese chose to plant an olive tree from the Holy Land. “Let this olive tree be the proclamation of the end of a dark period and the beginning of a bright era in the history of Afghanistan. For this we have named it the Olive Tree of Peace”, Father Scalese prayed.
Returning to his hopes for “the beginning of a better future for Afghanistan”, Fr. Scalese emphasised that: “This desire is still there, alive and well. We know we do not yet have peace in Afghanistan but, at least the process of change, with reasonable hope of success, has begun This does not mean it will be easy. In effect, we are very concerned about the future. Obviously, when negotiations start, each side must understand the points of view of the others and be prepared to compromise to a degree”.There has been one concrete result from the peace talks that began in Doha last April. It does not consist only in the fact that the Taliban have agreed to talk to Kabul, but also in the fact that this partially legitimised the government of Ashraf Ghani, something which, up to recently, would have been impossible. It represents an important step forward.

Father Scalese comments: “Even if, the Taliban have already said they will not accept the present constitution, imposed from without, and that they want an Islamic constitution instead, I nevertheless do not believe we can expect a return to the pre-2001 situation as if these past 18 years had been in vain. Many young Afghans who never knew the Taliban regime have grown up with a different lifestyle; would they be willing to abandon it? Of course, nothing in this world is impossible but it would seem to me very unlikely that such achievements as the rights of women, for example, will again be questioned”. It is significant that both delegations have women members.

A land of legends
Afghanistan is a land of legends and a bridge between the Middle East and Asia, a land where Islam is the official religion but with Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist minorities scattered throughout the country. Tradition even tells us that the apostle Thomas passed through it and that, in the early centuries of the Church (in 334) it had, for example, an episcopal see at Merv in Central Asia.

Legend also has Afghanistan as the native land of the Magi. However, for more than 1300 years, Christianity never again set foot in those latitudes, until in 1921, when King Amanullah, to please the western diplomats present in that country and who were asking for Catholic religious assistance, contacted first of all the Italian government which was among the first to recognise the independence of Afghanistan, and then the Holy See. A contract was signed, still in force until this day, between the Vatican and the governments of Italy and Afghanistan which allowed for a single priest to be sent, with two conditions: the avoidance of any form of proselytism and the construction of a chapel within the Italian diplomatic seat.
In 1931, Pius XI assigned the mission in Afghanistan to the Barnabite Fathers. It was Christmas night of 1932 when Father Egidio Caspano and Ernesto Cagnacci (incognito), after a long journey from Europe to central Asia, through the Khyber Pass, arrived in Afghanistan. Father Caspano, the pioneer of the mission (1933-1953), was succeeded by Fr Giovanni Bernasconi (1953-1957). He was followed by Fr Raffaele Nannetti (1957-1965) and by Fr Angelo Panigati (1965-1990). More recently, in the early nineties, the post was occupied by Father Giuseppe Moretti and, from January 2015, by Fr. Giovanni Scalese.
These priests were able to adapt to a situation in continual change, earning the respect not only of the population but also of the governments and even of the Taliban.

The work of the Barnabites turned out to be extremely varied in the Afghan capital: they managed schools, took charge of the liturgy (on 18 December, 1960, the first church in Afghanistan for thirteen centuries was officially inaugurated). In the sixties and seventies they had the dolorous task of assisting those westerners who sought an artificial paradise in the land of opium: they had the unwelcome duty of informing parents and families of the deaths of their dear ones in that foreign land due to the misuse of various drugs. Many famous Church personalities visited those regions: Father René Voillaume, Founder of the Little Brothers of Charles de Foucauld, who arrived there incognito in the fifties, to see if he should open a house for his congregation there. It would not be him but Sister Madeleine who, in 1955, would reach Kabul and obtain permission to send four Little Sisters – still present – to serve the poor and the forgotten. The Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa, would dedicate themselves to that same task in 2006, when, with permission from the Islamic government, they established their Congregation there for the service of the poorest. It was Pope John Paul II who entrusted the mission, set up sui iuris, to Father Moretti. Having been in Afghanistan since the sixties, Father Moretti took up permanent residence in Kabul after 1985, living under the dictatorship of the Soviet regime and that of the Mujahidin.

One Church
The church is located inside the Italian embassy. It is a small white building, twenty metres long and dedicated to Our Lady of Divine Providence with its two paintings by Ulisse Salvini (The Annunciation and the Baptism of John) and a modern fresco depicting Saint Catherine and Saint Francis, and a crucifix on the wall above the altar.

The church within the embassy of Italy is still the only officially recognised place of Christian worship in the whole of Afghanistan. The church has been through some difficult times: from the seventies, a time of peace, when Afghanistan was a popular international tourist destination when mass was said in four languages (French, Spanish, English and German), up to the turbulence of the Soviet invasion when communism was openly hostile and many foreigners left the country. In the early nineties the Italian embassy was closed but Father Giuseppe Moretti, nevertheless, decided to remain. The Taliban never did anything against the church and also respected the three Sisters who were helping Father Moretti, even after the American attack in 2001.

Besides the parish of the Italian embassy and the military chaplaincies in Afghan territory, there are also some Sisters working with the Kabul children and the Sisters of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Up to 2016, the Little Sisters of Charles De Foucauld were also coming to the capital. The Indian Jesuits of the Jesuit Refugee Service are involved in social and educational work and there are also other organisations inspired by Christian values.
The three religious communities present in the country: the Jesuits, the Sisters of Mother Teresa and an inter-congregational community, remain alongside the people. The Jesuits work in education. The Sisters of Mother Teresa run an orphanage for abandoned children and assist about a hundred needy families. The Pro Kabul Children Community runs a small establishment for children with psychological disabilities, to prepare them for ordinary school. “These are small but meaningful signs – Father Scalese says – of the presence of the Church in this reality”.
“Tradition tells us that one of the Magi was actually from Afghanistan and was, perhaps, a Zoroastrian. Here in Kabul we have always hoped that that bright star might once again shine in the heavens above this splendid nation, once again at peace”, Father Scalese concludes.(Open Photo: Cheap Ski Gear – Mens
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(L.A.)

Mining Resources in Africa. Curse and Opportunity.

Saturday, 1 June 2019 8:00

Mining operations and global consumption of natural resources continue to increase annually.

However, while developed countries and regions such as the European Union protect their natural resources with sustainable development policies and high social and labour standards to protect the environment, the economies of developing countries are increasingly becoming dependent on export of its natural resources.

The developed countries import and transform these natural resources for the benefit of their increasingly digital and clean (green) societies; the developing countries see their wealth plundered with the destruction and contamination of their environments.

Africa has found in the boom of mining and the exploitation of natural resources an economic model that provides great benefits without an investment effort of its own. The majority of the mining companies installed in Africa are foreign investments to which the local governments demand only a small share in the profits that varies according to the countries.

Despite national mining codes and United Nations guidelines on business and human rights, these companies systematically breach their obligations of established international standards. In addition, government officials have a lax attitude towards the behaviour of these companies in their territories.

The European Union, together with other economically powerful countries, have taken advantage of these circumstances to access mining resources in Africa without an environmental and social cost to their member states.
EU citizens live in digital societies and we are not worried about the origin of these natural resources we consume that are present in our daily life, such as car batteries, mobile phones, computers, tablets, microwaves, glass-ceramics, aircrafts, phosphates, etc.

Most of these electronic devices need an endless number of minerals that, because of their scarcity or because of the high social and environmental cost, are not produced in the European Union. The need to have access to these minerals triggered the campaigns of the European Union of public private investment in which the companies of the Member States struggle to monopolize the extraction of natural resources in Africa.

This model of development would be legitimate under certain premises that are currently not met, such as respect for human rights (workers’ social and labour rights, child exploitation, social protection,etc.), care for the environment, payment of fair taxes by companies, the restoration of damage caused to the environment and fair compensation to the affected local communities that are the legitimate owners of the land.

By contrast, countries in Africa rich in minerals suffer the so-called curse of natural resources.[5] Lack of arable land in Senegal, hairless children with respiratory diseases in Zambia, contaminated water wells in South Africa, child exploitation in DRC, human rights violations in Madagascar, environmental pollution in Nigeria, financing of armed groups in Rwanda … the list it is innumerable and in many cases those violations of international treaties are simultaneous in the countries of Africa with the implicit consent of the new colonizers.

Mineral wealth in African countries should be an opportunity to create job opportunities, increase revenues, promote sustainable development and fight against extreme poverty. But this requires firmness on the part of the African governments in the respect to the law, the prevention of corruption as well as the ethical commitment of the companies, preventing illegal financial outflows through the tax evasion of profits by companies and their managers.

Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network (AEFJN) calls on governments both in Africa and Europe to ensure that extractive companies respect human rights and the environment in their operations, meet standards of transparency and are held to account when they do not respect National and international legislations. The responsibility and supervision of the extractive industries necessarily falls on their governments, but we, the citizens of those countries, also have the responsibility to make rational use of the consumables that promote mining operations.

José Luis Gutiérrez Aranda,
Trade Policy Officer,
Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network (AEFJN)

The Church in the Amazon. A new way of being present.

Saturday, 1 June 2019 8:00

Bishop Emeritus of Xingu, Erwin Krautler, traces the history of the Church in the Amazon. “With its feet on the ground”.

The history of the Church in the Amazon differs greatly from the history of the Church in other parts of Brazil. Half of Brazil’s area was forgotten for centuries by the dioceses of central, south-eastern and southern Brazil. At the same time, the Church in the Amazon was a pioneer in embracing the Spirit of the Second Vatican Council. The Latin American bishops at the Medellin Conference in 1968 tried to ‘Latin Americanize’ the constitutions and decrees of that historic event; the bishops attending the meeting in Santarém tried to ‘Amazonize’ Medellin. Since 1954 the bishops of the Amazon had met periodically, but the Santarém Document generated a new spring for the entire Amazon. The bishops spoke of ‘a Church with an Amazonian face’. They were inspired by the words of Pope Paul VI, ‘Christ points to the Amazon’.

The Interregional Meeting of the Bishops of the Amazon, which was held in Santarém on 24-30 May,1972, was a milestone in the journey of the Church through this immense region. The ‘Priority Lines of the Pastoral of the Amazon’ constituted a Copernican turn in the pastoral and evangelizing action.
The bishops renounced all triumphalism. It was recommended to all dioceses and prelatures that they descend from any throne so that our Church could really become a Church ‘with its feet on the ground’.
The Church of the Amazon follows two basic guidelines: the Incarnation in reality aimed at the knowledge and coexistence with people, and a liberating evangelization. These guidelines brought to the option for four priorities: the formation of pastoral agents; the Base Christian communities, first and fundamental ecclesial nucleus; the indigenist Pastoral; and other pioneer fronts.
Two years later, at the meeting in Manaus (1974), another priority was added: youth. It was a true Pentecost.
A ‘new way of being a Church’ was crystallized forever, which implied a new way of carrying out the Christian mission by bishops, priests and religious people, in simplicity and sharing with others, in the Samaritan and prophetic dimension. It also meant embracing the concept of the ‘preferential option for the poor’, and solidarity with the excluded ones, in the live and participative celebrations that unite faith and life, in the generous commitment of women and men, youth and adults, in the various pastorals.

Lay people stopped being mere consumers of what the clergy presented and assumed their responsibility in the building of the Kingdom of God in the Amazon. We ask ourselves today, what the Church in the Amazon would be without the commitment of the laity, mainly of women. The priests and bishops of the Church in the Amazon, until recently, came from Europe or North America. At the time of the so-called Romanization of the Amazon that began in the second part of the 19th century, the missionary activity in the area was carried out by several orders and congregations, whose headquarters were in other continents.
The National Conference of the Bishops of Brazil, (CNBB) itself, founded in 1954, did not focus on the situation in the north of Brazil, since it was considered a missionary area. Until, in January 1972, Monsignor Aloisio Lorscheider, president of the CNBB, Monsignor Avelar Brandão Vilela, vice-president, and Monsignor Ivo Lorscheiter, secretary general, realized the precarious situation of the Church in the Amazon. Therefore, the project ‘Sister Churches’ was created in order to promote solidarity among dioceses or regions. Monseñor Estevão Cardoso Avelar (+ 3.12.2009), announced in a press conference that the Brazilian episcopate would promote a program of mutual aid among the Brazilian dioceses. “All dioceses, even if they are poor, can always contribute in favour of poorer ones”. It was a laudable initiative, but what the Churches of the Amazon hoped for was only partially realized.

In defence of life in the Amazon
As a consequence of the scarce number of missionary vocations among the orders and congregations based in Europe or in North America, the bishops of the Amazon finally began to invest more in indigenous vocations and that effort managed to significantly change the percentage of the diocesan clergy in relation to the clergy from other countries. But, due to the great migrations to the Amazon and the vertiginous population growth, the number of priests continues to be insufficient. It is interesting to note that in the oldest riverside cities, Catholics constitute more than 70% of the population, and in the more recently founded parishes, composed mostly of migrants, the presence of evangelical communities becomes increasingly significant and in some cases they constitute more than half of the population.

Another meeting of the bishops of the Amazon had even international repercussion; it was the meeting of Icoaraci in 1990. The bishops wanted to share ‘a concern that affects all of us: the destruction of the environment in the Amazon’. They defined as ‘sowers of death’ those who ‘violently and irrationally attack nature, destroying forests, poisoning rivers, contaminating the atmosphere and killing entire peoples’. They questioned big projects such as the construction of new roads and dams, or indiscriminate agricultural, extractive and logging activities that put native peoples’ survival at risk and cause massive internal migration to urban areas. The Bishops of the Amazon denounce both: the evils that afflict the region and those responsible for these evils in the document ‘In Defense of Life in the Amazon’. They feel it is their duty to make public those mechanisms that can cause ecological disasters with consequences that become ‘catastrophic for the entire ecosystem and surpass, no doubt, the borders of Brazil and the continent’. The document is an unequivocal denunciation, but at the same time it is a vigorous profession of faith in the God of Life.
The bishops of the Amazon were the first among those of the Church of Brazil to demonstrate ecological sensitivity and became pioneers in the defence of the environment. Their appeal reverberated on 23 and 24 May, 1990 in Assisi (Italy) as a proposal for an Ecological Manifesto called, ‘The Scream of the Church in Defence of Life in the Amazon’. All these themes are also among the main issues of the Pan-Amazon Synod.

Special Assembly for the Pan-Amazonian Region
On Sunday, 15 October, 2017, Pope Francis, addressing the faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, said he had decided to convene a Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazonian Region to be held in Rome in October 2019. He revealed that he took the decision in response to “the wish of several Episcopal Conferences of Latin America”, and to “the voice of various pastors and faithful from other parts of the world”. He explained that its main aim is “to identify new ways for the evangelization of that portion of the people of God, and especially the indigenous peoples in this region of the world who are often forgotten and without the prospect of a serene future, also because of the crisis of the Amazonian forest, which is a lung that is of capital importance for our planet”.

The Preparatory Document for the 2019 Pan-Amazonian Synod, has been an invitation for the Church to ‘See’ the identity and cries of the Amazon Basin, to ‘Discern’ a path towards a pastoral and ecological conversion, and to ‘Act’ or walk along new paths for a Church with an Amazonian face. It also provides a questionnaire for the region’s bishops to share their pastoral and ecological concerns ahead of the Synod.
The Pope did not want just a scientific analysis of the situation, but insisted that the people speak, express and loudly express their “joys and hopes, sadness and anguish”. The traditional Seeing becomes Listening.The Pope wants to know what the People of God think about “the threats to life, territory and culture; about the aspirations and challenges of the Amazonian peoples in relation to the Church and the world; what hope the presence of the Church offers to the Amazonian communities for life, territory and culture; how the Christian community can respond to situations of injustice, poverty, inequality, violence (drugs, sexual exploitation, discrimination against indigenous peoples, migrants, etc.) and exclusion.

Only 70% of the communities in the Brazilian Amazon have the chance to participate in the Eucharistic celebration three to four times a year. Therefore, the Eucharist, instead of being “the source and apex of the whole Christian life” becomes a liturgical act of exception, “a thing for priests”. That is why the Pre-Synodal Council, of which I have the privilege of being part, asked the people of God the following question: ‘One of the great pastoral challenges of the Amazon is the impossibility of celebrating the Eucharist frequently and everywhere. How to respond to this situation?’ There are high expectations not only for the church in Amazon but also for the Universal Church.

The Lion, Jackal and Man

Saturday, 1 June 2019 8:00

It so happened one day that Lion and Jackal came together to converse on affairs of land and state. Jackal, let me say, was the most important adviser to the king of the forest, and after they had spoken about these matters for quite a while, the conversation took
a more personal turn.

Lion began to boast and talk big about his strength. Jackal had, perhaps, given him cause for it, because by nature he was a flatterer. But now that Lion began to assume so many airs, he said : “See here, Lion, I will show you an animal that is still more powerful than you are.”

They walked along, Jackal leading the way, and met first a little boy. “Is this the strong man?” asked Lion.
“No – answered Jackal – he must still become a man, O king”.

After a while they found an old man walking with bowed head and supporting his bent figure with a stick. “Is this the wonderful strong man? “asked Lion.
“Not yet, O king – was Jackal’s answer – he has been a man.”

Continuing their walk a short distance farther, they came across a young hunter, in the prime of youth, and accompanied by some of his dogs. “There you have him now, O king – said Jackal – Pit your strength against his, and if you win, then truly you are the strength of the earth.”

Then Jackal made tracks to one side toward a little rocky kopje from which he would be able to see the meeting. Growling, growling, Lion strode forward to meet the man, but when he came close the dogs beset him. He, however, paid but little attention to the dogs, pushed and separated them on all sides with a few sweeps of his front paws. They bowled aloud, beating a hasty retreat toward the man.

There upon the man fired a charge of shot, biting him behind the shoulder, but even to this Lion paid but little attention. There upon the hunter pulled out his steel knife, and gave him a few good jabs. Lion retreated, followed by the flying bullets of the hunter.

“Well, are you strongest now? “ was Jackal’s first question when Lion arrived at his side.
“No, Jackal – answered Lion – let that fellow there keep the name and welcome. Such as he I have never before seen. In the first place he had about ten of his bodyguard storm me. I really did not bother myself much about them, but when I attempted to turn him to chaff, he spat and blew fire at me, mostly into my face, that burned just a little but not very badly. And when I again endeavored to pull him to the ground he jerked out from his body one of his ribs with which he gave me some very ugly wounds, so bad that I had to make chips fly, and as a parting he sent some warm bullets after me. No, Jackal, give him the name.”

(Folktale from Kikuyu People – Kenya)

Iran. Poker Game

Saturday, 1 June 2019 8:00

Trump’s anti-Iranian Efforts Are Backfiring, But the Threat of Another Middle East War Looms Large

There are two winners from U.S. President Trump’s ‘diplomacy’ in the Middle East, and Iran in particular: the U.S. military industrial complex (which thrives from threats of imminent wars even more than it does from wars themselves) and the pro-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, or conservative camp.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani

As the situation stands now, the big losers are the reformists/pragmatists led by President Hassan Rouhani – and to some extent, even Trump himself and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump has targeted Iran ever since he stepped into the White House; especially, since he pulled the United States out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Agreement (JCPOA, aka the ‘Iran Nuclear Deal) in May 2018 to the benefit of U.S. military contractors such as Lockheed Martin or General Dynamics, whose stock market valuations have achieved record levels. And that is the lenses through which to analyze, or attempt to analyze, the Trump administration’s singlehanded intensification of tensions with Iran.
The other, and perhaps more important explanation, needs more insight from psychologists than political scientists to decipher: Trump is trying to unravel President Obama’s legacy. And, arguably, the JCPOA was the former president’s most significant international achievement. It’s important to consider these motivations; because, neither one has anything to do with a grander U.S. strategy to contain Iran or even to reshape the map of the Middle East – at least as far as President Trump is concerned. The problem is that Trump has surrounded himself with ‘hawkish’ figures such as John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, and the former in particular may have overstepped Trump’s intentions, which become clear in the context of Obama and the JCPOA.

Trump, who sees himself as a as a quintessential dealmaker – believing that New York Madison Avenue real-estate agent tactics are suitable in international diplomatic contexts – wants Iran’s president Rouhani to call him to renegotiate another agreement. And, the resident of the White House seemed convinced that tightening sanctions and threatening a war would achieve this goal. Only, this time it would have Trump’s, and not Obama’s, signature on it for posterity. The problem is that Trump is not necessarily in charge of U.S. foreign policy: Pompeo and Bolton are. For every conciliatory step from the White House, his advisors sidestep the president and raise the stakes. After all, it’s becoming more evident that Bolton, and not Trump, ordered the USS Lincoln aircraft carrier and ancillary support vessels or 120,000 troops to the Persian Gulf. There’s no doubt that this is an intentional provocation. The Lincoln was already on its way to the Gulf, but the fact that Bolton has specified that its mission is to prevent Iran’s efforts to circumvent the U.S. oil embargo, represents a clear military threat – and military risk. And it was most likely Bolton, who encouraged the failed Juan Guaido’s (failed) coup attempt in Venezuela last April 30. In fact, Bolton has now put Trump into a high-stakes poker game –whereas, the Iranians play chess.

National Security Adviser John Bolton

There are increasing rumors that Trump has grown weary of Bolton and that the ‘national security advisor’ may be on the way out – that is, Trump wants to fire him. Nevertheless, Trump has electoral ‘bills’ to consider. He hired Bolton to put pressure on Iran at the behest of casino billionaire and ‘Israel-firster’ Sheldon Adelson, who was Trump’s biggest campaign donor. As the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign has unofficially already started, it will be difficult for Trump to dislodge himself of Bolton’s influence; therefore, it will be difficult for Trump to reverse his belligerent course without ‘losing face’.
While Trump’s tone over Iran has somewhat softened, it’s unclear what is happening within the administration amid a series of political calculations and internal disputes. Therefore, the risk of confrontation remains.

What are Those Risks?

The risk now is that any sudden ‘movement’ in the Persian Gulf, whether an incident (think Vietnam War, Gulf of Tonkin, or WW1 and Archduke Ferdinand for example) near the Strait of Hormuz could trigger a military confrontation and cause oil prices to spike to levels that would cause serious damage to China’s economy (China being Iran’s most important oil importer).

Trump might be using the pressure on Iran and strangling economic sanctions to block China from buying Iranian oil in order to gain some leverage in his bilateral trade negotiations. But, he doesn’t realize that playing international politics using the methods described in his book ‘The Art of the Deal’, might work when buying or selling a casino in Atlantic City.
They won’t work when dealing with Rowhani or Xi Jinping. Exports from Iran have almost halved since a year ago (spring 2018). They are still about 1.3 million bbd. The White House wants to reduce “exports of Iranian oil to zero.” But, oil accounts for some 40% of Iranian GDP. The White House wants to isolate Iran, and probably, it wants to cause a major rift between reformers and conservatives (i.e. Rowhani vs Khamane’i) to foment internal strife and trigger an internal conflict. By hampering Iran’s ability to generate much needed revenue, while preventing it from operating beyond its borders, Washington, or at least Bolton and his neoconservative colleagues, want to at the very least prevent Iran from functioning as a normal country. But this kind of gunboat diplomacy is exactly the kind of policy capable of triggering a bloody conflict.
The United States has used similar situations, especially those involving ships and gulfs to start conflicts: Spain (1898), Hawaii/Pearl Harbor (the Japanese attacked after being strangled from essential oil and other resources) and Vietnam (1964).

But, the elimination of Iranian exports – and it’s unlikely China will abide by the sanctions – will put pressure on oil prices and the global economy in the short term – and even more in the longer term, when some of the potential military options will have materialized. Trump and others (see Netanyahu) have made too many threats against Iran to simply back away. Indeed, Trump may not like the effects – though US oil production has increased significantly – because higher oil prices won’t work for his ‘America First’ strategy – and they certainly won’t work for American consumers and Trump voters. The very type of person who made it possible for Trump to win the 2016 election (angry, lower class, possibly unemployed, from economically depressed areas of the US) who voted for him, would be the first to suffer. That said, in the medium and longer term, Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members would love to see oil prices to exceed $80 a barrel to meet their budget targets. Trump’s politics against Iran have forced some 1.5 million bbd. of oil to be eliminated from the market. And that was since he pulled away from the JCPOA. The new sanctions and threats announced in May will accelerate the reduction in supply. Even if Iran finds a way to sell oil to China, it will officially be off the record, thus, the market will not take it into consideration, favoring price hikes. The big winner from Trump’s policies might be OPEC. But apart from Iran, the big loser might be Trump himself in the long run. And then there’s the threat from Hormuz. Washington’s intimidation of Tehran has all but terrorized the United States’ European allies. Coupled with the developing ‘trade war’, a blockage of Gulf oil in the Strait of Hormuz would cause an absolute economic catastrophe.

That’s why, there’s hope that Trump – if not Bolton – may be looking for ways to resolve the crisis he’s created without losing face. Firing Bolton, as mentioned earlier might be one way. But, the sanctions are bringing Iran to its knees. While that is Trump’s intent, in order to reverse course, he must allow those same ayatollahs – or at least the so called pragmatist reformers like President Rouhani a ‘way out’. The alternative could come in the form of riots. Had Trump nothing to lose, the prospect of riots around the corner would be enticing. But, Trump’s re-election depends on a favorable economy; therefore, he must avoid a crippling oil crisis. For their part, the Iranian pragmatists aren’t wasting time. Rouhani has shown remarkable political savvy to buy himself some room for negotiation by giving the Iranian ‘people’ a chance to vote for/against nuclear research – the raison d’etre, or justification for the harsh sanctions – in a related referendum. The logic of the referendum is that the people would vote against the nuclear program, removing American excuses for sanctions while allowing Iran’s leaders to ‘save face’. More significantly, allowing the people to decide (against the national nuclear program) would also strengthen Rouhani’s position vis-à-vis Khamenei and the other ‘hardliners’. Rouhani is gambling, with a good hand, but he has little choice. First elected in 2013 and then re-elected in 2017, the current Iranian president won on a mandate of repairing relations with the West and the United States in order to gain access to blocked billions of dollars in U.S. banks, while opening Iran to foreign investments to launch massive infrastructure investments and facilitate economic growth. Trump’s hardline policies, however, have weakened Rouhani.

Ayatollah Khamenei

They have given the Supreme Leader Khamenei the opportunity to criticize the reformers for their “error” in signing the 2015 nuclear deal. In order to sign a new agreement, therefore, Rowhani must first remove the internal ‘obstacle’ of Khamenei and the considerable support he still enjoys from many people and from key institutions such as the Revolutionary Guards.
Such a scenario would also allow Trump to claim a personal victory, of achieving the basis for another Iranian nuclear deal and a bilateral meeting with Rowhani with associated photo-opportunity a’ la ‘Kim Jong-Un summit. In so doing, Trump would keep the oil flowing past the Strait of Hormuz and stopping Iran’s nuclear program; it’s certainly something to boast to his voter base ahead of the 2020 vote.

Trump and Netanyahu

The United States’ excuse for targeting and crippling Iran’s economy was its alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons, which threaten Israel, and Saudi Arabia to a lesser extent. In a perfect world, removing the nuclear threat – if there even was one to begin with – should also temper Israel’s concerns. Yet, the geopolitical framework of the Middle East suggests this will not happen.
Israel, itself a nuclear power (and one that has not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty) has used the nuclear issue as an excuse to target Iran, in order to isolate it and prevent it from backing and financing the Shiite movements and governments that have put up the biggest resistance to its expansionist ambitions: the Syrian Alawite leadership and Hezbollah in Lebanon but also Hamas in Gaza.

Barring any surprises, Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has just called for another election due to a failure to form a governing coalition, may win again, exploiting the Iranian card – though, perhaps weaker.
Even if his main opponent from the Labor Party, Benny Gantz, a former military general, should win, it will not alter the fact that for Israel any war will always necessarily begin in Lebanon, not Iran.Indeed, for Israel, the prospect of completely isolating and disabling Iran, is desirable because it prevents Tehran from providing military and financial aid to its Shiite allies throughout the region. If war breaks out, it will start from Lebanon and, then cascade to the Persian Gulf. Ever since Israel lost face by failing to defeat Hezbollah in the August 2006 war, Netanyahu has been itching for ‘revenge’ and resume the hunt for his main prey. Moreover, Hezbollah may well have become the single strongest and most effective Arab fighting force thanks to its comprehensive experience taking on both modern armies such as Israel’s and determined guerrilla style militias like Islamic State or al-Nusra in the Syrian war.

The Israelis ill claim, Hezbollah’s threat is compounded by its alliance with Iran. And therefore, Tel Aviv (or Jerusalem according to Trump) will most likely insist on finding new excuses to keep Tehran in check. Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, will argue the Israelis, are capable of inflicting devastating damage on its posts in the Golan (which the United States has recognized as being entirely Israeli) and all of Galilee. Nuclear or not, the ayatollahs have powerful rockets they can use to reach Tel Aviv. Should it come to a choice, Israel knows it can absorb the so-called home made ‘rockets’ fired by Hamas in Gaza. Yet, it has learned to fear Hezbollah’s capabilities.
The scenario for a renewed Israeli-Hezbollah conflict – encouraged by Iran’s economic and strategic stranglehold and – is, as always the Shebaa Farms – or Mount Dov in Hebrew. Israel captured this ten-square-kilometer area at the border between itself and Lebanon during the Six Day War in 196. Lebanon insists the strip of land to be its rightful territory. The Israeli military has been on higher alert in the area ever since, in March 2019, Trump acknowledged Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, while the Lebanese have responded, as thousands occupied the Sheeba Farms claiming their sovereignty last April.
It is this region where, a spark might ignite a conflict between
Israel and Lebanon.

Azadi Tower, one of the most important monument in Teheran

And Israel concedes that this will be a difficult war, given Hezbollah has access to an arsenal of some 150,000 rockets. After the 2006 war, Hezbollah’s deterrent capacity has increased dramatically, and Israel will be eager to prevent a well-trained and armed Arab force from establishing itself near its borders. Thus, Lebanon could become the stage for a war of regional power and it would be easy to light the fuse, already stemming from the overall tension in the region. The so-called ‘Deal of the Century’, wherein, Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner have decided to effectively bribe Palestinians to forego claims to sovereignty and statehood – with financial backing from Bahrain Gaza and other lands – seems like just the right occasion to set off dangerous sparks of another regional war. Certainly, Hasan Nasrallah, head of Hezbollah, has called on all Muslim countries to boycott the so-called Deal. The danger is that Israel knows that a war would be costly for Iran and that allowing Hezbollah to consolidate and strengthen its political and military strengths makes defeating it ever harder.
The isolation of Iran and the inevitable anger over the latest American proposed Middle East plan certainly provides many incentives for an Israeli attack against Hezbollah.

Alessandro Bruno

Cries from the Cameroons.

Saturday, 1 June 2019 8:00

The silence of the International Community at the genocide and ethnic cleansing going on in Cameroon is very worrisome! The silence, in the final analysis, is not unconnected with the economic interest of their former colonial masters.

One wonders when these colonial masters would let Africa be, or rather when African leaders would cease to be the pawns in the natural resources’ chess games of Europe and the Americas, even at the expense of the blood of Africans. Equally disturbing and disgusting is the cheap propaganda in the Cameroonian’s print and electronic media that what has come to be tagged Anglophone Cameroon crisis is perpetuated by a group of selfish secessionists that needs to be stamped out of the surface of Cameroon.

The media justify the misuse of sovereignty rule by the Cameroon government and help to perpetuate its crime against humanity. The desperate effort of the President Paul Biya’s government to detach the crisis from its historical context holds no water even for the minimally informed Cameroonian on both sides of the divide. The effort rather feeds the unconvincing propaganda and the Anglophone protest.

The Lawyers and Teachers strike of 2016 in the North West and South West Regions (Anglophone Cameroon) that crystallised into the crisis is the trigger of the dangerous gun powder of grievances and discontent that had built up through the life of Cameroon as a country. While AEFJN does not in any way subscribe to violence as a means of expressing of discontent, it remains the only option left for a people who have failed to get the legitimate listening ears of their government for a dialogue.

Now rewind to the partition of German Kamerun after the defeat of Germany in World War I (WWI) in the Simon-Milner Arrangement of July 10, 1919, in which the German Kamerun was shared between Britain and France. In the British sector, there was fair amount of self-governing through the Indirect Rule. In the French Zone of occupation was the approach of the Traditional and Assimilationist Approach leading to a very tight and centralised form of Government.

After the Second World War (WWII), the territories were administered as Mandate C territories under the UN Trusteeship Council. The French Zone got her independence under the name: The Republic of Cameroon on the 1st January 1960. Meanwhile, the British Cameroon was administered from Eastern Nigeria. However, a political crisis of Eastern Regional House of Assembly (1953-1954) motivated the British Cameroon politicians to walk out in protest and displeasure of being under Nigerian rule.
The Plebiscite of 11th February 1961, united the British Cameroon with the Republic of Cameroon to form a Federal Republic of Cameroon on 1st October 1961, thus reuniting the two pieces of the former German Kameroun, but now with different political cultures.

Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network (AEFJN) analysis shows that the systematic erosion of the Cameroun Federation and the Government of Cameroon’s repression are at the centre of Anglophone Cameroon’s quest for self-determination and independence.
As a matter of fact, the Federal Structure agreed upon at the Foumban Conference in 1961 was suppressed in May 1972 in favour of a unitary State and subsequently, the country was renamed Republic of Cameroon in 1984, a name the French Cameroon had adopted at her independence on January 1st, 1960.

The renaming was the final straw that broke camel’s back and severed, almost irredeemably, the relationship between the two brothers. What is more; the silence of the French Speaking majority over the present conflict and the readiness of the government to dialogue with the terrorist Boko Haram but utter refusal to enter dialogue with the leaders of the Anglophone Consortium smacks of bad faith. It has exacerbated the frustration of Anglophone and fuelled the crisis as the government uses violence as a state apparatus to force peace. The result is that the toll of the dead continues to rise and the living wait helplessly for death.

Sadly, the end to the conflict which has claimed the lives of thousands and displaced more than 500.000 IDPs and 160.000 Refugees is not in sight. The declaration of the restoration of independence of Southern Cameroon in October 1st, 2017 which witnessed the mass murder of hundreds of people with helicopter gunship by Government forces and the declaration of outright war in November 30th, 2017 by Paul Biya on the Anglophone Cameroon have worsened the situation.

In this midst of these, there is a worsening humanitarian crisis which the International Human Right Groups have termed “blatant crime of genocide”. Mostly affected are women children and the elderly. How do we sense make of this brutality in the North West and the South West regions of Cameroon? What becomes of our shared humanity? The Church and the missionaries in these regions have done much in terms humanitarian services, but it is like a drop of water in the ocean.

The institutional Church in Cameroon must stand up against this crime against humanity. The international community must step in as a matter of urgency to find a sustainable way of resolving the crisis. Obviously, the Anglophone Cameroon crisis is a quest for inclusion, and any exercise devoid of meeting this important human need will be an exercise in futility. Unequivocally, AEFJN calls for an immediate end to the violence. The International Community must rise to the challenge, put an end to the dehumanizing crisis and reaffirm the inalienable right of the human person to be heard and respected.
Every minute of delay, as the vulnerable suffer, groan and die in their numbers blights our common humanity and questions the core values of the International Community.

Chika Onyejiuwa

The Duterte’s Games

Saturday, 1 June 2019 8:00

But who is Rodrigo Duterte? A person with a judgemental mentality, partly due to his previous profession as a prosecutor, 74 years old and with a deserved reputation as a womaniser, despite being married with four children.

For 24 years – 1998 to 2016 – Rodrigo Duterte, with firmness and almost without interruption, was mayor of Davao, the second largest city in the Philippines. He did so following his own principles and claims, but at great cost. The fight against organised crime, operated for years by armed bands which he denied ever organising but whose work he openly appreciated, resulted in making the city one of the most secure in the country. This came at the cost of more than a thousand deaths between 1998 and 2008, of street children and squatters, often abandoned in city landfills, and who were often not found, despite searches and reports by family members.

His trial of strength with human rights groups and also with sectors of the local Church had brought to light a situation that was intolerable even for the passive Filipinos and, in time, the wave of repression against the urban poor, pushers and drug users and local gangs became more moderate. This hinterland was to become an asset during the electoral campaign. The champion of order won the presidency by a landslide, proposing an electoral programme that proposed for the whole country an extended version of the Davao experience and 100,000 victims among criminals if they did not change their ways. These claims stirred up great fear but even more agreement, leaving aside other aspects of his project for the country.
An advocate of federalism, his proposal is one of “devolution” which would enable the redistribution of resources. His economic plan in favour of the poor implies greater disbursements by the central administration towards the periphery but not an increase in tax on income. To ensure adequate resources, there will be incentives for foreign investment with an end to ownership limits for non-Filipinos.
On the international scene, Rodrigo Duterte is the only candidate to have deviated from the priority of the alliance with the United States – increased in recent years to confront Chinese pretensions in the maritime areas off the coast of the Philippines – and to propose a relationship with China based on the sharing of interests and resources. This, too, is a sign, as it is for other totalitarian governments of the region, that the failed countermeasures requested by Beijing regarding human rights and democracy are still fascinating for those who administer the archipelago.

It is precisely the relations with Beijing that constitute a topic for debate and discord, both within the country and in its foreign relations. To Chinese pressure in the South China Sea, Manila is responding with a limited rearmament and a strategy that involves its ally the United States, but also greater military reliance on Japan. The situation brings periodical tensions which, as happened in the past, could lead to armed conflict. It would be limited but nonetheless harmful in a vital area of the planet through which goods worth five billion dollars pass each year.
However, beyond the skirmishes and the claims, relations are still not just active but consistent, the heirs to ever-present intense transit and trade and, in our age, to about forty years of commercial business treaties.Heightened fears of difficulties derived from the Asian giant that would result in repercussions of tsunami proportions striking many nations south and south-east Asia, are well established in Manila. Nevertheless, the Philippines has at least two factors in its favour.

The first is that its constant economic growth is fuelled mostly by a recovery in internal demand and by foreign investments. The Chinese of the continent are active in the sector of support to development and in international commercial exchange (in 2014 it reached 40.5 billion dollars, growing by a factor of 560 in the last forty years), and of tourism. Growth is much lower in the production sectors in which they are outclassed by the Japanese, the South Koreans, the Singaporeans and the Taiwanese, not to mention western interests attracted by renewed relations of cooperation with the USA.
The second comes from the traditional lifebelt of emigration. Income from the ten million Filipinos working abroad amounts to 8.5 % of GDP and is constantly above the 2014 figure of 26.93 billion dollars.
The improvement in the economic situation, with an increase of 6.7% in GDP in 2017, places the country in a better position than that of others to face problems that may arise from a serious Chinese crisis. This achievement, differing from year to year, has been helped by an increase in public spending and its general situation places the country at risk from of being even more at the mercy of foreign markets. (S.V.)

SDGs advocacy from UN to the Grassroots.

Saturday, 1 June 2019 8:00

In 2000, the United Nations (UN) held a Millennium Summit and in its Millennium Declaration adopted the eight international Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be achieved by 2015. As 2015 drew to a close, at the Rio+20 meeting (2012), the document, “The Future we want”, called for the formulation of sustainable development goals, as a continuation of the MDGs.

In 2014, the UN Open Working Group developed 17 goals and 169 targets, approved in 2015 as the UN 2030 Agenda. After four years, we realize the need of adequately answering to “both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” (Laudato sì 49). The response to those cries, and to the issue of sustainable development, have to be multi-layered and address multiple levels of society.

We need to learn from the various cultural riches of different peoples, their art and poetry, their interior life and spirituality (LS 63), because 8 out of 10 people in the word are professing one belief or another. This represents an immense love potential to respond to the suffering of the earth and of the billions of people who have no access to adequate food, a decent dwelling, a secure and dignified job, and who are affected by climate change.

Religious people are already playing a key role for development, in providing education, in representing the fourth (i.e. the 12%) of the total capital identifiable investment worldwide, and in running a third of all medical facilities of the planet. The vision of the SDGs therefore is one they share for a wide range of different reasons.

No surprise if since the beginning of SDGs process, 18 organizations of Catholic Religious felt SDGs as “ultimately a vocation, a call that requires a responsible answer” from all the baptized, above all missionaries and religious, especially those who are accredited by the UN.

They came together knowing “the SDGs’ just implementation would require independent monitoring within every nation as well as within the halls of the UN.” As members of women and men Religious’ bodies who have been working toward the SDGs for centuries – they stated – “we are well positioned to guide global and local leaders in fulfilling the promises of this agenda.”

Paul VI, in his Populorum Progressio (n°14), had already highlighted that speaking about human development means referring to all people – not just a few – and to the whole person – not just the material dimension. This implies social integration and ecological conversion, says Pope Francis, “Because we cannot develop ourselves as human beings by fomenting increased inequality and degradation
of the environment”.

Following a year of planning and research, those 18 congregations formed “the Justice Coalition of Religious (JCoR) in 2017 to unite [their] voices and efforts in seizing this unprecedented opportunity.” The common mission of JCoR is to improve the quality of life for people living in poverty, therefore, “The primary aim of the Coalition is to enhance collaboration among our members, at UN Headquarters and around the world, in our work to address the root causes of poverty, destruction of the natural environment, and unsustainable development.”

This implies rejecting negative models, and proposing alternative ways forward committing oneself to promoting and implementing the development goals, based on our deepest religious and ethical values (See Caritas in Veritate, n° 16-17). However, Pope Francis reminds us, “Proposing a dialogue on inclusive and sustainable development also requires acknowledging that development is a complex concept, which is often manipulated. When we speak of development, we must always ask, development of what? Development for whom?

For too long the conventional idea of development has been almost entirely limited to economic growth,” based on GDP (Gross Domestic Product) indices. “This has led the modern economic system down a dangerous path where progress is assessed only in terms of material growth,” irrationally exploiting the environment and the human beings.

Therefore, we welcome JCoR in its work “toward a shared goal by coordinating national, regional, and global efforts of Religious to call on their local and national leaders for a just, equitable, and rights-based implementation of the SDGs.” In 2019, they are to facilitate a series of workshops in Latin America and the Caribbean, in the East African region, and in India.

In the months following the workshops, the participants will work together to plan, and execute collective actions aimed at their selected target issue. Their efforts will be reinforced by actions on the same issue among their UN representatives in New York. The hope is insofar that the JCoR will enhance collaboration among Religious working at grassroots and their representatives in the UN, and extend, in the years to come, its activities to religious communities in many corners of the globe.

John Paul Pezzi, mccj
VIVAT International NGO,
with consultative special status at UN

Herbs & Plants. Funtumia elastic. A medicinal African rubber tree.

Saturday, 1 June 2019 8:00

Highly valued in traditional medicine for treatment and management of a number of diseases and disorders.

Funtumia elastic, commonly named ‘silk rubber’, is a medium-sized deciduous tree with distribution from Guinea to Cameroon and in the Congo basin, and along the Nile basin in Egypt, Sudan, and in east Africa, especially in Tanzania and Uganda. Its bark is greenish brown to grey and it is a fast-growing, evergreen tree with a cylindrical bole growing up to 30 m in height and with a diameter of about 75cm. The leaves are broadly oval, opposite, dark green and leathery with yellow to white flowers, in short dense groups, with the lobes of the corolla shorter than the flower tube.

These plants have been of immense value to human health and about 80% of the world’s populations rely on them for the cure of various diseases and disorders. Funtumia elastica (Apocynaceae Family) is one of such plants which, apart from its great use as a source of very good quality cream-coloured latex used to make rubber, is also, because of its stem bark, leaves and latex, highly valued in traditional medicine for the treatment and management of a number of diseases and disorders. The astringent stem bark is the main part used in the traditional medicine. Its decoction is administered as a laxative and vermifuge. It is included in prescriptions for troubles associated with blennorrhoea and for painful menstruation. The pounded stem bark is taken in spirits to cure haemorrhoids. The stem bark decoction is used for treating chest infections including whooping cough and is also administered orally to improve the health conditions of patients experiencing fatigue, heart conditions, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Its bark powder is used in the treatment of respiratory ailments including asthma.

The latex obtained from the stem bark is applied to heal cracked sores of the feet and also applied to treat cutaneous fungal infections and body sores. In addition, the latex/sap from the bark is also topically applied as an antidote on snake bite wounds. The stem latex of Funtumia elastica is also used for washing wounds.
The young leaves decoction is administered orally for treatment of diarrhoea and dysentery and is also useful in treatment of naso-pharyngeal infections. In some communities, the decoction made from the young leaves of Funtumia elastica in combination with the Phyllanthus muellerianus plant is administered to improve male fertility. The leaves decoction is also used as a cure for mouth and venereal diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhoea.

Apart from its use in traditional medicine, the Funtumia elastica seed-pod contains a fine white floss which is collected and used for stuffing cushions and pillows in some communities. The wood is also used for carving household utensils such as spoons and bowls and the timber for wall beams and rafters in buildings.
Funtumia elastica contains a number of phytochemicals including alkaloids in the stem bark and conanine in the leaves. The presence of these bioactive compounds may somewhat explain why this plant is used in traditional medicine as a cure for a great many disease conditions.

Richard Komakech

Catholic Church Commitments.

Saturday, 1 June 2019 8:00

With a Catholic population of over 80% of its 100 million inhabitants, the Philippines has a special character. With an identity that is due equally to ancient colonisation from Spain and more recent colonisation by the United States, it is, from the usual Asian viewpoint, an outpost of Westernisation in the Orient.

The archipelago, in the almost thirty years since the visit of Pope John Paul II, the leader of a most exciting World Youth Day in 1995, has witnessed the search for a compromise between the interests of the few and democracy, between limited resources and development, between potential and excessive limits, while emigration continues to send millions of Filipinos abroad who send back the billions of Euro so necessary for the economy. These problems were mentioned by Pope Francis during the days of his visit to the archipelago in January 2015, as well as the ancient and new problems of poverty, marginalisation and violence. These issues, in a society in rapid evolution, create a number of challengers for the pastors of souls.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle

The emphasis on ecclesial activities and the traditional patronage of families and groups have had, and still have today, an essential role in the life of a large part of the local Church, organised in 86 ecclesiastical circumscriptions (141 bishops) and 3,000 parishes, with over 9,000 priests, 6,000 religious men and 13,000 religious women. This number of clergy is insufficient to meet the needs of a Catholic Church that is not only exuberant but also very active and would need, according to estimates, 25,000 priests. This is reflected in the archdiocese of Manila that has 240 priests for three million faithful.
It is a church that is also very missionary and also faced with the influence of Christian sects that promote wealth “here and now” in anticipation of greater reward in the life to come, while there is a decline in the role of the “nationalist churches” such as the Church of Christ, catholic in form but now independent.

The prestige enjoyed by the Philippine Church today is not only the product of history but also the fruit of a journey it has made in recent decades. After the fall of the dictatorship in February 1986, overall it has been a stimulus towards democracy and has promoted human and civil liberties, without abandoning its principles or its own identity. In brief, its choice of being the “Church of the Poor” and the “Church of the Youth”, the two major components of Filipino society, has marked church commitments and decisions during the past twenty five years.

In uncertain times, the Church is called to face openly the evolution of society and the Christian identity of the country. Defeat in the more than decade-long fight to prevent, in 2013, the controversial law on responsible procreation that allowed the use of contraceptives, was a strong stimulus towards redefining relations with the political powers, society and ways of being present and participating. Battles concerning divorce, abortion and marriage between homosexuals are now expected.
Inevitably, the local Catholic Church is called to confront other faiths, especially Islam which, concentrated in the south of the country, provides an identity for 5% of the population. Dialogue with Moslems has produced interesting and, at times, fruitful initiatives, hindered not only by the depth of historical divergences but also by fundamentalist influence and interests foreign to religion, which have helped to keep the south Philippine in a situation of crisis.

Moslem Groups
On 21 January of this year, with the referendum on new Moslem autonomy, an essential step forward was taken towards a new plan for regions with very high Moslem majority or a very low Moslem minority. Out of a total of 2,167,244 people eligible to vote, 1,844,873 actually voted, 85.13%, with the highest percentage in the province of Maguindanao (93,35 %) and the lowest in Cotabato City (54,22 %). Approved almost everywhere with a large majority with an addition in the election of 6 February in six municipalities of the province of Lanao del Norte and of 39 villages in that of North Cotabato, the organic Law for Bangsamoro (a word that means “Islamic Fatherland”) was ratified and sent to President Rodrigo Duterte and to Congress.

Making up part of the new autonomous region called the Autonomous Region of Bangsamoro of Moslem Mindanao (BARMM) are the three electoral areas of Cotabato City, Isabela City, Basilan and the provinces that are at present part of the Autonomous Region of Moslem Mindanao (ARMM), namely those of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao. The city of Isabela, capital of the island province of Basilan is a special case. In fact, the population of the island confirmed its wish to remain part of the autonomous region in its wider version, the majority of voters in the main inhabited centre were not in favour and it will therefore be excluded.
The new autonomous region will have the use of the territory and its waters delegated to them; it will have ample fiscal independence with a greater percentage of national resources than that in use at present. Significantly, law and order will be entrusted to a territorial militia which will absorb the combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has been active for forty years. Its 30,000 men will coordinate with the national armed forces and will be given the duty of bringing under control the Jihadist groups or those involved in criminal activities which, inspired by Islamic ideals, made Mindanao and the chain of islands stretching towards Malaysia and Indonesia, centres of recruitment, refuge and zones for military operation.

In concrete terms, the new autonomous region extends the prerogative of the preceding version, which was set up in 1989 and entrusted to the leadership of the then powerful Moro National Liberation front, an independence guerrilla movement that never got off the ground both because of the internal tensions in local Moslem society, and because of obstacles placed by Manila and persistent insecurity, and again, because for lack of funds necessary for the implementation of the foreseen reforms. In this way they make room for the myriads of militant groups that join forces, separate and divide, and so create an unstable front for the armed forces and a continual threat for the population.

Stefano Vecchia

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