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Visible And Invisible Walls.

In the course of his pontificate, Pope Francis has not ceased to fight against the walls of the world, the result of fear, aggression and selfishness, pointing the finger at those ‘visible and invisible walls’ that break the world into incoherent pieces, a world which, paradoxically, is increasingly globalised.
From the so-called Israeli security barrier that tears the Biblical land of Canaan in two, to the wire fences and barbed wire that mark the frontiers of Europe that is more and more a fortress and less and less a Union; to the wall of humiliation between the USA and Mexico.
It was not by chance that Pope Francis decided to end his pastoral visit in Mexico, in February, 2016, with a Mass celebrated in Ciudad Juárez; a frontier city, the true outskirts of the world where thousands of migrants from Mexico and central America are gathered, all of whom have in their hearts the American dream, a dream of a better life.

Pope Francis systematically contrasts the idea of the wall with its most natural antithesis, the bridge, nemesis by definition of all barriers. Walls are born of fear that, in turn, generates paralysis. He said: “Feeling paralysed, feeling that, in this world, in our cities, in our communities, that there is no longer any room to grow, to dream, to create, to gaze at the horizon, even to live, is one of the greatest evils that can befall us in life. Paralysis makes us lose the will to enjoy an encounter, friendship, the will to dream together and to walk together with others”.
The bridge is the instrument that, built upon the bricks of solidarity between people, is capable of assembling the incoherent fragments of an ever more divided world.

It is the first step in the pursuit of peace. But, as the Pope says: “To make peace requires courage, much more than to make war. We need courage to say yes to the encounter and no to conflict; yes to dialogue and no to violence; yes to negotiation and no to hostility; yes to respect for agreements and no to provocations; yes to sincerity and no to duplicity. For all of this we need courage and great strength of soul”. Then, the Pope continues: “We need the courage of peace, the strength to persevere in dialogue at all costs, and the patience to weave day by day the ever stronger material of respectful and peaceful coexistence”.

There are many local churches that have declared their opposition to the ‘walls’, especially those most affected by this reality, most significantly Mexico. Alfonso G. Miranda Guardiola, General Secretary of the Conference of Bishops of Mexico remarks how the Church “sustains all who search for peace, work and a dignified life. Christianity is a religion of peace created to build bridges, not walls. This is our mission: to suffer with those who suffer, to accompany the human being in whatever condition, without any kind of distinction, embracing all without reserve”, the bishop concludes.
In September 2016, the 193 members of the general Assembly of the United Nations unanimously adopted a text entitled ‘New York Declaration on refugees and Migrants’, destined to improve the international management of the reception and assistance of persons who migrate for various reasons. On the basis of this declaration, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was charged with proposing a World Pact on Migrants and refugees which should be ready before September 2018. If it is approved, the Pact must guarantee a series of key issues such as the guarantee of human rights of migrants and shared responsibility among nations and between local and state governments.

Meanwhile, the Churches in Latin America have prepared specific documents and concrete guidelines to implement four tasks – to welcome, protect, promote and integrate, indicated by Pope Francis – that give rise to attitudes and initiatives on the part of the Christian communities on behalf of the displaced peoples. This effort is intended to have its impact on international politics.

Chiara Bottazzi and Danilo Feliciangeli

Latin American Elections 2018. A Number Of Unknowns.

The largest Latin American countries go to the polls to elect their presidents. Almost 80% of the Latin American population are eligible to vote.

Elections will be held in Brazil with its 208 million inhabitants, in Mexico at the other end of the continent with 127 million, as well as Colombia (48.65 million) and Venezuela (32 million). These are the largest countries in the region and they will be joined during the year by Paraguay (6.7 million) and Costa Rica (4.8 million). Almost 80% of the Latin American population will elect their respective presidents. If we also take into account the eighty six-year-old Raúl Castro who has announced his retirement from the presidency next April, we are witnessing a truly continental plebiscite. The mid-December 2017 victory of conservative Sebastián Piñera in Chile has confirmed a swing to the right in the region after Mauricio Macri leading the government in Argentina, Michel Temer in Brasil and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in Peru. However, we cannot take for granted that this trend will continue. In Mexico and Brazil, and also in Colombia, the outcome may well be different.

The series of elections will start on 4 February with Costa Rica, a country with a long tradition of democracy – it has not suffered any interruption of democracy or military government since 1948 – holding presidential and parliamentary elections and a possible second presidential round on 1 April. The main candidates are the social democrat Antonio Álvarez Desanti, of the traditional Partido Liberación Nacional (PlN), and the conservative Juan Diego Castro. It is worth noting that Luis Guillermo Solís, the present head of state who has been decidedly progressive, has not succeeded in imposing his own man: Carlos Alvarado Quesada.In Paraguay, presidential elections will be held on 22 April. After the proposal to allow the re-election of the outgoing president was defeated in a bitter contest that took place early last year and saw the outgoing president Horacio Cartes and the former president Fernando Lugo joining forces, the chances are that the election will be marked by a clash between an exponent of the traditional (and conservative) Partido Colorado, and Efraín Alegre, representing the alliance between liberals and the left.

In Colombia where the year 2017 ended with a peace and disarmament agreement with the main guerrilla organisation (negotiations are still taking place with the ELN in Ecuador), the population will go to the polls on three occasions: 11 March for Congress, 27 May and 17 June (a possible second round) for the new president. The confrontation will probably be between conservative Germán Vargas Lleras, the former vice-president to President Juan Manuel Santos who at the moment heads the opinion polls, and Sergio Fajardo. The latter, formerly mayor of Medellin, is supported by a civic movement known for its populist, ecological and progressive types of policy.

At the presidential elections on 1 July in Mexico, the candidate indicated as the favourite both by rumours and opinion polls, is the progressive Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Movement for National regeneration (MORENA). The former mayor of Mexico City, who was a presidential candidate in 2006 and 2012, ought to defeat Ricardo Anaya Cortés, representative of the conservative Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), regardless of the alliances of his political group. “If López Obrador wins, helped, perhaps, by a nationalist reaction to the pretensions of President Donald Trump towards Mexico, the United States may, for the first time in history, have a neighbour who is politically distant, if not hostile”, comments the political analyst Andrés Oppenheimer.
The presidential elections in Brazil on 7 October, possibly in the second round of voting, on 28 of the same month, may well favour the former head of state Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Opinion polls make him the favourite but there are judicial problems and there are still reservations even concerning his candidacy.

On Wednesday 24 January, all three judges at the appeals court in the city of Porto Alegre said Lula had broken the law by accepting special favours over a seafront apartment from a construction company involved in a major corruption scheme. They increased his original sentence from nine-and-a-half years to 12 years and one month in jail. Even though the 72-year-old was sentenced in July 2017 and that conviction has now been upheld, he could remain out of prison for many months if he takes his appeal all the way to the Supreme Court.
In the same month of October, in Venezuela, Maduro will run as will the opposition. Forecasts of the outcome are pointless. Any representative of the Mesa de la unidad democrática (MUD), possibly Henry Ramos Allup, the outgoing president, who has no judicial impediments, on paper, ought to go through to the second round. However, opinion polls have been shown to be unreliable like the democratic assurances of the government in power.

Ecuador and Bolivia – like Uruguay, Peru and Argentina – will not be electing their presidents in 2018, but there will be no shortage of elections or pre-elections also in these countries: Ecuador will decide, with popular consultation, whether to veto the indefinite re-election of the president (thus opening the way for the future return of Rafael Correa).On 4 March, the citizens of El Salvador will go to the polls to renew the legislative and common Assemblies. The FMLN has created different coalitions with other small parties, including those of the right, in order to wrest the victory from ARENA. According to one poll, 73.3% of the citizens have a poor opinion of the situation of the country. The conservatives should have a lead of seven per cent over the governing party. In Peru there will be regional and municipal elections in October while Argentina and Uruguay will be warming up for the 2019 presidential elections.

Alan P. Durante

Europe. The New Interest For Africa?

The German Federal Government did not show much interest in African affairs in the period after World War II and preferred to leave Africa to the French and the English who had much closer connections to their former colonies.

One exception was Horst Köhler. As President of the Republic, he frequently travelled to Africa, brought Africa‘s concerns to the attention of the German public. He will always be remembered for his statement: for a new relationship between Europe and Africa “on equal level”. The government used his rhetoric but did not take up his concerns.

That the German government and the European Union have made some attempts to shape a different relationship with our neighbouring continent, is due to the geopolitical changes since the turn of the century. Now, China is present and active in almost all countries in Africa, and in 2015 invested some 35 Billion Dollars and has surpassed the US as Africa‘s main trading partner. China and other countries from the global South are about to push the ex-colonial powers out of the African market. Europe is trying to save what can from the impending loss of its market place.

Indeed, what makes Africa so attractive for all industrialised nations is its abundance of raw materials, especially those needed for the digital age. One aim of the EU-Africa policy is to assure access to Africa mineral resources. The recent Africa-initiatives follow one common strategy: to attract private capital to invest in development project. Thanks to the loose finance policies of the US, Japan and the EU, the capital market is flooded with money that looks for profitable investment opportunities. At the same time, African countries have a huge need for foreign capital. Adequate infrastructure development alone would require an estimated 100-billion-dollar capital investment every year. The obvious solution is to bring the offer and the demand together with the help of public development agencies.

Thus, the more immediate trigger for the recent interest in Africa is, without doubt, the increasing number of Africans reaching the European Union. What frightens Europeans, in particular, is the rapid population increases in Africa. Africa‘s population is at present about 1.2 billion and could, according to some estimates, increase to over 4 billion in the year 2100. Added to this, is the likelihood that climate change will affect Africa more than any other region in the world and that dryness will make agricultural production impossible in some areas. All these factors are likely to increase migration of people within Africa and towards Europe at a scale that could threaten its political stability. The different initiatives in favour of African development have the intention to kick off economic development with the help of private investment and so increase employment possibilities for young people to keep migration within acceptable limits.

A G20 Project

To give Africa a more prominent place on the international agenda, the German Government used the G20 Summit of 2017, where it held the Chair and could influence the agenda. During the summit in Hamburg in July 2017, the 20 leaders mostly industrialised countries accepted the Compact with Africa (CwA) as a priority programme to push economic development in Africa. The idea had been developed by the German Ministry of Finance whereas the Cooperation and Economic Development had proposed an ambitious Marshall Plan with Africa. In the end, the two were joined to form one master plan. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Marshall Plan and the CwA ?

The Marshall Plan with Africa

The introduction to the Marshall Plan – a new partnership for development and peace says: “ Our aim is an Africa that is both prosperous and at peace, where development benefits all nd is powered by the African people. We want African solutions to African challenges.” The document is rather comprehensive but presents an idealistic vision of a true partnership between Africa and Europe. It has taken up many ideas and proposals of the German and African civil society.

Remarkable is that, it mentions the responsibility of the industrialised nations for some of the problems of the continent, like unfair trade agreements, tax avoidance and arms exports. The main aims and priorities make up the ten theses. (10 starting points for a Marshall Plan with Africa 1. We need a new pact on the future of Europe and Africa 2. Africa needs African solutions 3. Prioritising jobs and opportunities for young people 4. Investment in entrepreneurship 5. Value creation not exploitation 6. Demanding the right political environment and supporting its development 7. Reform partnerships, not a blanket approach 8. Equitable global structures and institutions 9. ODA cannot provide all the answers 10. We will leave no one behind).

The “future contract with Africa” rests on three pillars: economy, trade and employment; peace and security; and democracy and the rule of law. Areas that will receive special attention are: food security and agriculture; sustainability; energy and infrastructure; heath, education and social security. For each area, the document spells out what are the roots problems, what Africa has to do and what Germany and the international community should contribute. The conclusion sums up the key issue: “The most important question that must be answered by the Marshall Plan is: How can 20 million new jobs be created that give young people prospects for their future without destroying the environment.”

Both the analysis of the situation and the action proposals go in the right direction. The title Marshall Plan has earned much criticism especially from Africa and is indeed misleading. The conditions in Europe after the war are very different from those in Africa today and funds involved are not comparable. The invitation to the German civil society to comment on the first draft was very exemplary but why representatives from Africa were not involved in the preparation, remains a mystery.

Compact with Africa

The G20 summit did not focus on the Marshall Plan, but on the Compact with Africa. The word compact means concluding a pact with someone. The G20 countries will conclude a pact with some willing African countries. Up to now, ten countries have applied for it: Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Egypt, Benin and Guinea. Eventually, each one will eventually sign an investment treaty with one of the G20 states.

The responsibility of the African partner is, in cooperation with the international finance institutions, to execute reforms which make the country attractive for investors and propose to potential investors concrete projects in the areas that it considers most important: e.g. infrastructure, energy, water or agriculture. The G20 partners must look for interested investors or companies and provide guarantees that diminish the risks for the investor. In the case of Germany which has chosen Ghana, Tunisia and Ivory Coast as future partners, there is a division of labour within the different ministries. The Ministry of Finance will accompany the reform proposals, the ministry of Development will use the funds foreseen by the Marshall Plan to finance the investment risks and follow up the realisation of the projects.

Critical comments

Often, these initiatives to boost Africa’s economy come clothed as win-win situations. Many civil society organisations in Africa and Europe are rather sceptical. Radical critics doubt whether a programme based on a neo-liberal economic model can bring about sustainable development and fear that it will rather lead to greater social inequality.

A recent study of Südwind comments: “Whereas the Marshall Plan contains elements of a social orientation, the Compact with Africa reads like a neo-liberal catalogue of the usual policies such as privatising state enterprises, abolishing all barriers for foreign investment, deregulating and liberalising trade as well as cutting down government structures…” The suspicion that the aim of these initiatives is not so much about development of Africa but rather promoting German exports. To end poverty and hunger worldwide, which are the first two aims of the SDGs, do not play a significant role in the compact. Church development organisations criticise the absence of clear social and environmental criteria, labour regulations and human rights obligations. The planned projects will most likely be via Private – Public – Partnerships (PPP) channel. Experience in many countries shows that PPPs are not without risks and often turn out to be more expensive.

There are also criticisms from the Africa side. In a common press statement, the organisations AFRODAD and ADIN express their fear that the new initiatives could be a revised version of the disastrous Structural Adjustment Programmes of the 80s and 90s or may function as an appendix to the Economic Partnership Agreements. If they are to succeed, the African civil societies must be carried along at all stages, and the investment projects integrated into existing national, regional and continental development plans, such as the Agenda 2063 of the African Union. Private investment is the new magic formula for development.

The history of private investment in Africa, most of it in the mining sector, so far is indeed sobering. Usually, the companies pocket the lion’s share of profits while a small and often corrupt elite enriches itself by taking the rest. Rarely does the population profit from the large – scale investments whether in mining or agriculture. Too often they are the great losers; they lose the use of their environment. That the credits taken up by the African partner countries to finance the projects, increase their debts, is usually ignored.

Organisations like EURODAT and AFRODAT which specialise on sovereign debt warn since a long time that a new debt crisis is coming. Germany’s partner countries Ghana, Tunisia and Ivory Coast, have all critical levels of indebtedness, which could worsen if they take up new credits. There are other reasons to doubt whether the Compact with Africa can boost the development of the African partner countries. The interest of German and European companies to invest in Africa is so far very limited. Markets in Asia and Latin America offer better and safer chances.

Whether African governments have truly the political will to respect an independent judiciary and to fight corruption effectively, the biggest obstacle to development is still debatable! There have been a dozen similar Africa-Initiatives in the last two decades; none of them has resulted in a break-through. Despite all the legitimate critique, Europe’s new interest in Africa is welcome. European governments have understood more clearly that a new approach in development cooperation with Africa is badly needed to prevent that more countries turn into failed states; more young people join terroristic movements or risk their lived in the attempt to seek a future in other countries. Marshall Plan and Compact with Africa are unfinished attempts to formulate a new development strategy. They need a clear focus on the Agenda 2030 to become effective instruments for Africa’s development.

Fr. Wolfgang Schonecke, MAfr
Netzwerk Afrika Deutschland

In The Shadow Of The Wall.

Twenty nine years have passed since the most famous wall in Europe ceased to divide the German capital in two.
It was 1989 and the imminent entry into the nineties seemed to be the dawn of a new world; the fall of the wall had indeed decreed the unification of Germany together with the crush of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) that would soon crumble to the ground in a myriad of post-communist statelets.
The fall of the Berlin wall brought with it the destruction of geo-political arrangements that hitherto seemed impregnable and set out the premises of Europe and the world of the time, a world that had never before seemed so united.

However, since that time, the number of barriers built by people to separate themselves from other people has increased exponentially. While in 1989 there were fifteen control/defence walls, the number has now increased to over seventy.
According to a study published in 2016 by experts at Quebec University, Elizabeth Vallet, Zoe Barry and Josselyn Guillarmou, when the Berlin wall was knocked down, there were 16 barriers in the world. Today there are 63, involving 67 countries, whether complete or being planned.
Globalisation which ought to have brought about the gradual removal of the remaining barriers has instead been the cause of renewed security fears. One third of the countries of the world today have barriers of one kind or another along their borders. While in the continent of Africa there are twelve, there are two in America, dividing the USA from Mexico and the latter from Guatemala.

As many as 36 walls fragment Asia and the Middle East, most of which are located in the east of the old continent; 14 of these barriers were constructed since 2013, relatively recently. One of the main causes of their construction has to do with the management of immigrants. Following the reopening of the Balkan route during 2015, work began on more barriers than all those constructed in the previous 27 years. They amounted to 17 barriers in all continents, to which we may add the four constructed in 2016.All this amounts to growth in fortification in recent years: since the year 2000, around ten thousand kilometres of cement and barbed wire have segregated lands and affirmed borders. From Hungary to Bulgaria, from the two Koreas to Jordan, from Saudi Arabia to India and Trump’s wall on the Mexican border, countries are locking their doors to keep away migrants and protect themselves from terrorism. Globalisation and wars have brought about the movement of millions of human beings, embittering the terms of collective co-existence and spreading fear and insecurity.

International politics has reacted to the crisis of the new millennium with a reactionary involution, building physical and psychological barriers. In practice, in the imagination of people, these walls are essentially of two kinds: those against migratory movements, conceived to protect sovereign states from invasion by the new ‘Barbarian hordes’, and those barriers raised against hostile people with the purpose of protecting their territory against war and terrorism brought by bordering populations for political, economic or religious reasons. To these examples we may add the appearance of a new sort of barrier, an example of which is that of Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, in June of last year. The mayor of the city proposed the construction of a wall to separate two communities, after seeing the tensions between the inhabitants of the rich residential area of Mamelodi and those of the township (a shanty town without basic amenities) called Mountain View. This wall to separate rich and poor seems all the more absurd since it exists in a country that only in 1994 succeeded in shedding its apartheid skin. It is a reflection of a situation in which the dreams of those who fought against the policies of racial segregation and for equal opportunity for all are shattered by the aridity of a few. It is a situation in which riches, in practical terms, mark the border between ‘us’ and ‘them’, between those who live in one part of the world and those who find it hard to survive in the other.

(CB/DF)

Latin America, A Treasure Called Lithium.

Thursday, 1 February 2018 8:00
Written by: Fr.Carmine

Argentina, Bolivia and Chile boast the world’s largest reserves of lithium. The three countries, however, have taken different approaches to this source of wealth. Australia and Afghanistan have also large deposits of this precious metal.

Experts consider lithium one of the most promising commodities, in fact this is a reactive metal with a high heat capacity and a low atomic mass. It has become a critical component for battery electrolytes and electrodes due to its high electrode potential and high charge- and power-to-weight ratio. Lithium-ion batteries, in particular, have a high energy density and are rechargeable. Demand for this metal in recent years has been driven by proliferation of personal technology, including smart phones and tablets. While this is expected to continue, future demand will be also propelled by the production of electric vehicles.

Lithium demand is expected to nearly triple by 2025, and this will lead to a major boom in lithium mining. Over half of the earth’s identified resources of the mineral are found in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, South America’s ‘lithium triangle’.
The three countries have taken very different approaches to exploiting the ‘white gold’.
Chile is the country with the largest lithium reserve, which is located in the Atacama desert, one of the most arid places in the world and therefore ideal for lithium extraction and storage (the metal is highly flammable and potentially explosive when exposed to water). Atacama is also close to the town of Antofagasta, one of the main industrial ports in the country.

These logistical advantages, along with the Chilean government’s liberal policies and low corruption rates, have made Chile dominate the lithium market for decades. In 2016, 76,000 tons of lithium were produced in the country. In recent times, however, Chile has not been able to meet lithium’s skyrocketing demand. This is due to several factors to which we must also add the regulatory measures in Chile, where this metal is considered as a strategic resource, and the limiting of lithium concessions and the levels of extraction also to protect the ecosystem of the area.

In order to develop local lithium production, the Chilean government has signed an agreement with the US company Albemarle (a premier specialty chemicals’ company and leader in the production of lithium and lithium derivatives). The US company was granted permission to increase its currently authorized lithium brine extraction rate at the company’s facility in the Salar de Atacama in Chile. According to this agreement Albemarle is supposed to sell, at favourable prices, a certain amount of the lithium extracted in the Salar de Atacama to Chilean companies that manufacture lithium-based products.
As far as Argentina is concerned, the country’s lithium production amounted to 30,000 tons in 2016, less than half of the Chilean production, though the country boasts vast lithium deposits which are located mainly in the northern provinces of Jujuy, Salta and Catamarca.

Argentina’s reserves have long been under-exploited as a result of investor worries about the government of Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) followed by that of his wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007-2015). Both of the Kirchners leaned heavily on the rhetoric of economic nationalism, which was often translated into restriction policies such as controversial nationalizations (for instance the YPF oil company), import limitations and foreign currency control. The investment climate, however, changed when market-oriented businessman Mauricio Macri was voted into the presidency in 2015. Since then, President Macri has used executive decrees in an effort to increase the amount of foreign direct investment in Argentina, particularly in the extractive industries.

Investors, including those interested in lithium extraction, have responded to Macri’s new policies. In 2016 lithium production increased by 60% compared to that of the previous years. At the same time, a number of major projects involving international companies for the development of new mining sites, including Salar del Chauchari Olaroz, Salar del Rincón and Salar del Hombre Muerto, are being studied and implemented in order to triple lithium production by 2021. But there is still much to do in order to unlock the Argentine market.

Macri’s ability to promote lasting change is blunted by several obstacles such as Argentina’s mining code, which allows individual provinces to determine whether or not their lithium deposits are ‘strategic’, with strategic deposits being off-limits to private investment. The law also allows provinces to enact regulations designed to limit, or even prohibit, extractive ventures within their territory. In addition, the emphasis on production and foreign investment is likely to lead to policies that maximize short-term profit, with the consequence of ‘selling off’ part of its wealth. This is the story of the $280 million lithium mine Lithea which was sold off for only $15 million.

Bolivia has the largest deposits of the three countries of the lithium triangle, which are located in the Salar de Uyuni area, not far from Potosí, and in Salar de Coipasa. Although lithium reserves are estimated to be among the largest, if not the world’s largest, the production of this metal contributes only to a small extent to the country’s economy. In fact, Bolivia was able to sell only 25 tons of the precious metal in 2016. The reason for this limited exploitation is primarily political: in 2010, Bolivian President Evo Morales declared that his government intended to oppose the ‘neocolonialist’ exploitation by foreign multinationals, and to promote, instead, national production.

Inizio moduloLithium deposits along with other strategic resources (primarily hydrocarbons), were therefore nationalized and their exploitation was managed by local companies. Despite good intentions, investment and national technological research have not been up to the challenge, so Bolivian production is now at death’s door, while all development plans of pilot projects are running behind schedule. Furthermore environmental and geopolitical issues make things more difficult, in fact. Unlike its neighbours’ regions, in the Salar de Uyuni, there is the ever present possibility of floods because of the regular heavy rains making the lithium extraction more complicated, while bad relations with Chile prevent Bolivia from using the nearby port of Antofagasta for export.

Recently, the Bolivian government has taken remedial measures by establishing the state-owned firm Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), in order to develop lithium production and marketing and to seek partnerships with foreign investors on the Chilean model. However, the high rate of corruption and legal uncertainty concerning investment and business makes some hesitant to invest and, as a consequence, Bolivia lacks foreign capital and technology of which the country is in great need.
In this white gold race of the 21st century, the three Latin American countries are not the only competitors. In recent years, Australia has attracted a number of foreign investments for its reserves, becoming the world’s second lithium producer and threatening Chilean supremacy.

However, it is worth noting that intense underground exploitation might have a negative impact on the environment and on local communities.
Afghanistan could become the ‘Saudi Arabia of lithium’.
Seven years ago, a group of experts from the United States identified untapped mineral deposits in northern Afghanistan.
The previously unknown deposits – including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium – are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world: a prospect that could become the driving force that would make the war continue.

Umberto Guzzardi

Walls Separating Peoples.

Thursday, 1 February 2018 8:00
Written by: Fr.Carmine

Walls are like an infection, made of bricks, nets and barbed wire that prevent the wound of neighbouring peoples from healing. Wounds that separate groups of people or persons would need connecting bridges based upon dialogue and knowing each other.
Nevertheless, the train of barriers breaking up the world, renewing and making visible the fear that is transformed into hatred between peoples, is still very long.
The burdensome legacy of the clash between east and West, between Moslems and Christians in the time of Ottoman domination, is still strong in the memory of the people of Greece, taking the material form of two walls that reaffirm the historical differences between the two enemies: the River Evros in what regards the continent; and above all the divided island of Cyprus, cut in two by the ‘green line’, a demilitarised zone controlled by UN troops which, since 1974, separates the Greek republic of Cyprus from the Turkish republic of Cyprus.

In the European context, there follows the Belfast Peace-Line, built in 1969, that still separates the Catholic and Protestant parts of Belfast; a wall that is emblematic of a low-intensity generations-long civil war that has its roots in religious motivations but has been nourished by eight centuries of social, economic and ethno-national components.
An offshoot of the Cold War, located between the communist and capitalist blocs, we find the barrier of the 38th parallel that, ever since 1948, divides North Korea from South Korea. One of the most enduring barriers is the wall of sand in Morocco which, since 1982, has divided Western Sahara in two and extends for over 2,700 kilometres: its purpose is to defend Morocco from attacks by the Polisario Front of the Saharawi people.

The list goes on, including the Asian walls that have their lowest common denominator in India which has built barriers both with neighbouring Pakistan for control of the rich area of Kashmir and with Bangladesh, 4,000 kilometres long, with the dual purpose of stemming the flow of immigrants and to end Bengal terrorism. Then there are the militarised borders between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, constructed by the Rihad government in 2013 to prevent terrorist infiltration and the drugs trade with Yemen.
Finally, it would seem necessary to present the symbolic case, represented by Israel. Beginning in the year 2000, Israel has literally fenced itself in. Today, Israel is completely surrounded by barriers isolating it both externally, from the bordering nations (Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan) and internally, reaffirming the eternal conflicts of the land of Canaan, as witnessed to by the Jordan and Gaza walls. The political and emotive reasons underlying the progressive watertight Israeli closure are to be seen in the declarations of Premier Netanyahu. In his view, Israel is a “villa in the jungle” surrounded by “wild animals” and the only way to defend the country is to close it in a giant cage. Reinforced concrete, fences and anti-personnel mines. It is a billion-dollar project to “defend Israel from the Middle East as it is today and as it may become in the future”.

Historical Palestine seems more and more to resemble an intricate ball of barbed wire: to the north, the border with Lebanon is sealed as is that with Syria in the Golan Heights. On the border with Egypt there is a barbed wire barrier, five metres high, which runs from Eilat to Rafah, while the wall facing Jordan is motivated by the desire to defend itself against an invasion of Syrian refugees, illegal immigrants and potential terrorists. As stated by Mr. Netanyahu, Israel must not “lose control of its own borders” because “it is a very small country”.
As a result, it is necessary for it to build a new wall and barricade itself within its own ‘confines’.
As for the inside of its territory, hundreds of kilometres of walls separate Tel Aviv from the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territory. Within two years, a wall will be built around Gaza that will run along the 96 kilometres of the border between the Strip and the south of Israel. The wall will be both on the surface and about ten metres underground; it will be made of concrete and equipped with sensors. Israel explains how the barrier will serve the purpose of preventing infiltration from Gaza through tunnels built by the Hamas Islamic movement and other Palestinian organisations.

On the Jordanian front, instead, the construction of a ‘security barrier’ to separate Israeli from Palestinian territory goes back to 2002. With its 730 kilometres of wire and concrete, it winds its way through the quarters of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, with 85% within Palestinian territory and only 15% close to the border line. Initially conceived with the intention of separating the Jewish state from Jordan to protect it from possible terrorist attacks, in actual fact, the eight-metre-high cement wall penetrates far beyond the ‘green line’ set out by the United Nations in 1967, creating Palestinian islands inside Israeli territory. For this reason, in 2004 Israel’s wall was condemned as ‘contrary to international law’ by the United Nations Court of Justice.

The Israel-Palestine wall seems more and more like a ‘living’ wall that is implemented in new ways as hostility between the two peoples increases. In fact, another stretch of the wall 42 kilometres long was completed last August; it affects the hills south of Hebron and the south of Jordan at the Tarquimiya checkpoint. According to Israeli media, work on the new stretch began in early 2017 in reprisal for an attack on Tel Aviv, carried out the previous year by Palestinians from the city of Yatta, to the south of Hebron. The 42 kilometres in question were built with cement blocks to a height of six metres, with interspersed towers and cameras.
(CB/DF)

Madagascar. Games: Ties Of Friendship.

Thursday, 1 February 2018 8:00
Written by: Fr.Carmine

Every year, young students from Madagascar participate in the sports and cultural competitions that take place on the occasion of the National Days of Catholic Education.

Inhabitants of Toamasina, the populous port city of eastern Madagascar, formerly known as Tamatave, are not particularly interested in the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. They are much fonder of their ‘local Olympic games’, which take place in the facilities of the Stella Maris School of the Brothers of La Salle, during the National Days of Catholic Education.

This is an event that, every year, attracts nearly 3,000 people from all corners of Madagascar and whose purpose is favouring the gathering of the many students of the Catholic schools of the dioceses in the country. “The event helps to establish ties among all participants“, as Father Jules Ranaivoson, the person in charge of the National Direction of Catholic Education (DINEC), who organizes the event explains. “The sports and cultural competitions that are hold in Toamasina are an occasion to share the immense cultural richness that characterizes the different regions of the country. The event is an opportunity for sharing friendship, culture and sports and for ethical and social reflection as well. Last year’s edition’s motto was, ‘Wealth is a blessing when it benefits everyone, – adds Father Jules Ranaivoson.

The motto was an invitation to solidarity. The National Days of Catholic Education event is an opportunity to meet students of all religions, since Catholic churches in the country are open to all, Catholic and non-Catholic students alike, as the enthusiastic attendance of several veiled girls at these competitions shows. The flag-raising ceremony opens the National Days of Catholic Education: the flag of Madagascar is raised first and then that of the Vatican State and that of the Malagasy Catholic School. The raising of the three flags is accompanied by the singing of the respective hymns by the attendees. Then the Eucharist service follows.Sports games, which include football, basketball and athletics, are performed in the mornings, while, cultural competitions, which dance, music and singing performances, unfold in the afternoons.

The ‘Questions for a champion’ contest, which is inspired by a very popular program of the Malagasy television, concludes all the competitions. In last year’s edition, ‘Catholic Religion’ and ‘Education for Life and for Love’, were the two themes chosen for the contest, subjects that are taught in all the Catholic centres of the country. So while the mornings of this event are characterized by sports passion, the afternoons are the moment for a great performance of the rich, beautiful and varied traditional Malagasy culture, through the colourful costumes of performers and through the several dances, very different from each other according to their roots: from the rhythmic dances of African origin to the delicate choreographies from Asia. The National Days of Catholic Education show how the Malagasy Catholic school is very active and that it serves all citizens, without distinction of origin, class or religion; its students are educated to become good and supportive citizens, and at the same time people who respect human and evangelical values.

Josean Villalabeitia

Peru. Mission At The Foot Of The Volcano.

Thursday, 1 February 2018 8:00
Written by: Fr.Carmine

A Comboni missionary describes how his life became more meaningful when he was assigned as parish priest on the outskirts of a town in Peru, at the foot of an active volcano.

Mission work has filled my life with meaning, so much so that today I feel fulfilled as a person and as a Christian. The Comboni mission always involves living at the outskirts with marginalized groups with whom we have a lot to do and more often than not, there is the need of starting from scratch.The happiest moments of my missionary life have been when I was able to share closely the life of the simplest people who are left at the margin of progress and welfare, but are still full of human and spiritual values and are more open and available to accept the message of the Gospel. The names and faces of these men, women and children fill my heart today.

Since the first moment, I have always felt that Peru was the place the Lord wanted for me and where I had to stay. God has made me experience that it is in the geographical and existential peripheries where the Comboni charism demands that we share our life and our faith, where the heart of humanity beats much stronger and, therefore, where we feel the presence of God with greater intensity.

With lay people

The welcoming attitude of the people who always wait for the padrecitos (the priests) with open arms because they have a great sense of God has helped me very much. It has also been important for me to see the collaboration of many lay people, the meaningful and effective presence of the Christian communities in the different villages, the social works of the parish, and the seeds sown by the previous Comboni missionaries.

It has been three years since I settled at Arequipa as parish priest of the Good Shepherd Parish. I feel that this is a Comboni land. The first Comboni missionary, Msgr. Lorenzo Unfried, arrived here 47 years ago. Since then our presence has been uninterrupted with the creation of four parishes in the Alto Selva Alegre district.
Our parish is in the outskirts, in the highest part of the city, about 2500 meters above sea level. It extends to the Misti volcano’s western slope with 35 thousand inhabitants. The parish community has eleven chapels, where the Eucharist is celebrated regularly.

The large amount of missionary work: the evangelization of a majority that up to now has not had much contact with the church; the creation and organization of material, pastoral and human structures in the new sectors of the parish which is in a continuous state of growth; the close accompaniment of the aspirations and struggles of the people in their pursuit of a more dignified life; the formation and orientation of a great number of youth; the support for the more vulnerable groups of the population – children, elderly, women victims of violence; and the formation and promotion of lay collaborators. These are the challenges facing us in our mission work.

Our Presence

One of the most important aspects of doing mission work is our presence – showing itself in social works, accompanying, sharing, animating, bringing the Gospel to the lives of the people in their different realities.Our parish has two nurseries with 240 children and a soup kitchen for the 100 little ones. Parish volunteers bring together, twice a week, a group of senior citizens in order to take them away from their loneliness, and in some instances even from being forsaken, so they may share their faith, receive spiritual and medical attention and also support their feeding.

We are also present in the field of health with two dispensaries which offer medical assistance to the sick with the help of the Daughters of Saint Camillus. The miracle of the solidarity of the Catholic faithful within and outside Peru and the collaboration of many volunteers make it possible to keep up these services that have become a support for many people in need. It would not have been possible to develop so many evangelizing, pastoral and social activities without the collaboration of many persons who have become aware of the life of the community and have committed themselves through their lay ministries.

Reaching Out

Pope Francis urges the Church to go out in order to reach all, and this is impossible without the committed work of hundreds of lay people who give life to their Christian communities, reach the families, shape the faith of the children and youth, direct and animate the social enterprises of the parish.However, I can see that the number of committed lay people is not enough and less still is the quality of the commitment of some of them. They need true faith motivations and a deep encounter with Jesus Christ in order to feel that they are sent to share their mission and overcome the mentality that the Church is just the priests’ affair.

Still, I must distinguish and be grateful for the presence in our parish of lay missionaries who are living out the Comboni charism. For many years we have relied on the witness of their life and the help of their professional work. At present, we have two Comboni lay persons from Peru, a north-American family of doctors with two daughters, and a young German woman. I know that I have consecrated my life to God, with all its values and capabilities, in order to serve the mission, and I haven’t the slightest doubt that it has been worth the cost. I think that in no other vocational or professional path would I have been given so much scope for myself and for others. If you, my reader, feel the missionary vocation, don’t doubt that this is the great opportunity of your life. Take the risk by committing your whole life to Jesus and His missionary dream.

Father Conrado Franco

Syria. Sowing Seeds Of Hope.

The shooting has stopped in Aleppo. The city is totally destroyed. The difficult process of reconstruction. The traumas of the children. The Church is involved helping people.

“The children have felt the effects of this absurd war. Every day there is death and destruction before their eyes.
They sleep very little at night. They still hear in their minds the sounds of weapons and bombs”. Janmour has two children, Joyce and Cynthia.
They live in Aleppo. She is worried about her children who have grown up surrounded by fear and terror.

Their infancy has been stolen from these children of Aleppo, compelled for years of violence and heavy shelling to play among the piles of rubble in the roads or inside gutted houses and buildings. “Some of them would pass the time amusing themselves with the macabre game of identifying a missile, a shell or an burst of gunfire from the sound of the living horror a few metres away”, Sister Annie Demerjian, a member of the Order of the Sisters of Jesus and Mary, tells us. She has spent the recent years among the civilians of Aleppo, treating the sick and assisting families in difficulty.Today the sound of exploding bombs and mortars are no longer heard: the armed clashes between rival factions have ceased but six years and several months of siege have brought the city to its knees. The metropolis chosen by the ancient world as the essential meeting point of the races, religions, cultures and trade of Europe and Asia lies prostrate under the weight of its own wounds.

The Old City, the patrimony of UNESCO, where riches mixed with fables and poetry, has been severely damaged. The Great Omayyade Mosque, one of the oldest and most revered temples of Islam, is in ruins, devoid even of its minaret.
Franciscan Father Firas Lutfi is responsible for the Terra Sancta Collage of Aleppo. “Electricity and water supplies are unreliable and it is difficult to heat the houses as the winters are quite harsh here with temperatures close to zero”. Sister Annie Demerjian agrees: “The fighting is over but now there is a different battle to be fought: that of survival, of coming back to life. Every family in Aleppo has its own story and its own wounds”. In Aleppo the Franciscans assist the population in every way possible, starting with the distribution of food parcels. The Franciscan father is also charged with training 150 catechists who teach two thousand children: “When life becomes hard, it is then that we must exercise our spirits and look upwards. Faith gives us courage. We respond to the desolation and suffering by giving witness of the joy that has changed our lives”.

Father Ibrahim is parish priest of the Latin Rite parish of St Francis of Assisi, Aleppo. The parish community is involved in various initiatives: reconstruction projects, cleaning the streets, helping small businesses as well as education and training projects, to open the way to a future of peace and hope in this martyr city.
Father Ibrahim comments: “The years of conflict have left deep scars in hearts and spirits. People have been psychologically broken. With reference to the youth, we may say that we are faced with a lost generation with many symptoms of psychological trauma and many wounds, violent in their words and gestures and with strong resistance to any initiative of education or training. We decided to launch some projects to assist and accompany the children, especially the more vulnerable, with three or four hours of evening classes within the school itself, together with medical and psychological care”.

Salesian Father Pier Jabloyan has just celebrated Christmas with the youth and the families of the Don Bosco Oratory of Aleppo, frequented by almost a thousand children. As he spoke to us he remembered how, a year ago, “we celebrated the midnight mass at four in the afternoon because any later it would have been impossible for the faithful to leave their homes. People were afraid: nowhere in the city was safe. Today we look to the future with a different outlook. Living conditions are slowly improving; water and electricity are again available, even if only for a few hours a day”. Father Jabloyan adds; “People want to restore relations. Some Moslem families greet us when we meet and it is not just a formality”. In this festive season, some small decorations can be seen in some streets of the city. This Christmas time is hard to describe: “On the one hand there is great hope that makes us look to the future; on the other there is the pain caused by the atrocities and the many lives lost”, says the Salesian priest. Innocent lives were lost like that of twelve-year-old Salloum who was killed on his way to the parish oratory.
Even in the most difficult times the Salesians kept hope alive. “When we realised that the war would last a long time, we thought that the oratory would be the only way to provide some normality to the children while there was nothing else left”.

One of the more courageous initiatives has been that of evening classes for seventy children with the help of about ten university students. “When there is no water or electricity and food is scarce, it is not easy to think of going to school. But Don Bosco teaches us that schooling means having a future. We therefore decided to open up some rooms at the oratory where we provided food and lessons. At this moment, such things are essential. Many schools have been destroyed or are being used by homeless people. Some of our classes have more than fifty children. The demand for education is enormous”. Half of the civilian hospitals have been reduced to rubble and many medicines are in short supply. At least 80% of the doctors have left the country.
Doctor George Theodory, one of the few who remained, is in charge of Saint Louis Hospital. Working at his side are the six Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition who, during the war, kept the hospital going, comments: “We have to work without essential drugs and equipment. The endless power-outs rendered useless the little functioning equipment we have. But we carry on. We have to keep hope alive in the people who come to us and believe in us”.
Factories and workshops at the heart of local industry have been left in ruins. One result of the war is that in the most industrious, enterprising and mercantile city of Syria, with a renowned workforce and well able to attract investment, there is absolutely nothing to be found.
Rifat Kouri, an entrepreneur: “Formerly, most things were made here and Aleppo supplied the whole country but now everything has to be brought in from outside. All the machinery has been stolen from the factories. We now have to start again with the little we have”.
Father Firas Lutfi concludes: “Aleppo is less and less in the news. The news cameras are focussed elsewhere. However, we believe that the great challenge has begun right now. Our aim is to continue with the rehabilitation of the children, medical care, the recommencement of commercial activities and the reconstruction of the houses. We can do it. The years of suffering have made us stronger”. (F.L.)

Tanzania/Maasai. The Woman Of The Oxen.

The Maasai have a saying: “you cannot touch what belongs to a woman”. Indeed, the Maasai – who live in a patriarchal society – are nonetheless very respectful of women’s private property. The proverb came about because of an event that happened years and years ago …

Long ago, when the Maasai had just climbed the escarpment, an old man and his newly-wedded bride went to graze their cattle. Two warriors arrived and admired the cattle. One of them told the old man: “Father, would you mind us taking these oxen of yours?” The old man replayed: ” I do not mind, however, you have to ask my wife, if she does not mind, you may go ahead.” The warriors were surprised. What was this nonsense of asking a woman for her opinion? So, they chose the two best oxen and took them. In the meantime, the old man asked his wife to check what the warriors were doing, and find out who they were.

Time passed, and the young lady gave birth to a son, then another. Finally, she gave birth to two twins. The children grew strong, and the father was happy to give them gifts of meat. The four boys grew and were circumcised. They became warriors after their shaving. It was only them that the father called them and asked them to pick up their weapons and follow him.

He took them to the country of the warriors who had taken the oxen. By then the warriors had become elders and were sitting outside their homes playing enkeshui, a game played with pebbles on a wooden plank. After they had exchanged greetings, the father of the four warriors told the other elders to come together in counsel, for he had something he wanted them to discuss.

The men gathered for the meeting. The old man called one of the men who had taken the oxen and told him: “My friend, do you remember me? Do you remember me?” Recognising the old man, the former warrior said “Yes, I remember you”. The old man continued: “Do you remember the day you took two of my oxen and I told you to take them if the young lady did not mind?” The other man said he remembered the day. “That young bride never had a chance to tell you she did not want you to take the oxen. These young warriors you see are the sons of that young bride. They came here to recover their property.”

What else was there to do? Forty-nine cattle were driven being the fine for one ox, and another forty-nine for the second ox, since those men had committed robbery. This confirms the truth of the saying: “That which belongs to a woman cannot be taken away.”

(Story from Maasai people, Tanzania)

Burkina Faso. ‘The Ants Can Carry An Elephant’.

Thursday, 1 February 2018 8:00
Written by: Fr.Carmine

The Mossi are the most numerous ethnic group in Burkina Faso with 6.2 million members making up 40% of the population. Mossi wisdom notes.

For the Mossi, wisdom consists in respecting traditional practices and customs. ‘If you go to a village and find everyone walking heads down, do the same yourself ‘, and do not ask why: customs must be respected without question. For example, before digging a well, ask yourself if you should begin it on a Saturday or rather wait until Monday: you will avoid something bad happening to those working on it. No matter what happens, never begin on a Friday: that would end in failure. Children born on that day are always very ‘hard-headed’, perhaps because they are thought to be so and treated as such right from infancy, they become so, even if they are not born that way.

On the other hand, it is easy to find a girl to marry among those born on a Friday as the father will give her to the first suitor just to get rid of her. Consequently, even the poorest man is able to pay a dowry and set up house. Wisdom consists in creating equilibrium and preserving harmony between the various powers that make up society. Besides, ‘if everyone had the same intelligence, it would be impossible to establish a village’. We might have many chiefs and philosophers but no one able to build a hut.Instead, God gives each one particular gifts and intelligence proportional to the task he must perform. In this way, the activities of society become diversified: ‘If everyone were to weave baskets, there would be no one to buy them’. This is for the good of all: as the proverb says, ‘When they are all in agreement, the ants can carry an elephant’.

The strongest

Wisdom also consists in recognising that, in this plurality of functions, the chiefs have a privileged place because ‘when the water reaches the hill, it has reached its limit’. Therefore, you should never oppose them or it will cost you dearly: ‘Betrayed by the darkness, the hyena grasped a lion: he can neither release it and flee or kill it. It ends up like the python that swallowed a porcupine’.

For the chiefs, wisdom requires that they be careful and not demand too much from their subjects. ‘You can teach a dog to sit but not to close its eyes’. The powerful must therefore consider the weak, never forgetting that they too have some power.’One day, the beasts of the forests gathered around the lion to see if the strong were really able to overcome the weak. The sparrow hawk jumped up and, having caught a chameleon, it carried it high up in the sky. They all exclaimed: “It is true. The strong always win”. However, the female chameleon asked everyone to wait before jumping to conclusions. Meanwhile, up in the sky a struggle to the death was taking place: the hawk was trying to eat the chameleon and the chameleon was trying to insert its tail into the hawk’s nose. It succeeded. The hawk suffocated and fell to the ground dead while the chameleon went home cheerfully’. Popular wisdom also tells why the great and powerful cannot always do what they want: ‘If God does not kill, the chief does not kill. There are many chiefs but only one God, and we all depend on Him’.

‘A vulture was concentrating on his stomach: he had spent three whole days without even the smallest morsel of carrion to eat and now he was wondering what to do. And so he began to pray. A hawk was flying by and asked him what he was doing. “I am praying to God to let me have some food”, said the vulture. The hawk answered: “You really are a fool! In this world we have to trust in our own resources, not in God! Do you see that partridge there on the rock? Watch me”. And he swooped on the partridge but the partridge spotted the shadow of the hawk and moved away at the last instant. The hawk was broken to pieces against the rock. The vulture thanked God for the food and happily began to eat’. Finally, wisdom means reconciling honesty – ‘To tell the truth and go to bed hungry is better than telling tales and eating’ – with the ability to compromise, ‘The little peacocks hide their intelligence and follow the hen, so as to get some food (the Mossi use hens to hatch the peacock eggs).

The truly wise

Real wisdom, in brief, is the ability to read the events of life, discover the forces at work in them and draw useful conclusions for one’s behaviour. ‘A certain man had spent the whole night meditating after which he left his house and started walking. Soon, at the edge of the road he saw a glittering stone. He kicked it away but it came back to its place. “God Almighty”, exclaimed the traveller. Then the stone retorted: “That’s nothing! Keep walking and you will see!”.

The man continued his journey and, on the savannah, he met a walga (small gazelle) with twelve arrows stuck in its body, seemingly without doing it any harm. “God Almighty”, the man exclaimed. “That’s nothing”, replied the walga, “continue your journey and you will see”. There, a little further on, was a yaka (a large gazelle) killed by a single arrow. “How come?” the traveller asked himself. “A large gazelle killed by a single arrow and a small gazelle still able to prance around with twelve arrows in it!”. “That’s nothing!” said the yaka, “continue your journey and you will see!”. As he reached a plain well irrigated with flowing water, he saw an ox that was lean and skinny and hardly able to stand. “God almighty!”, he exclaimed. “Even with all that grass and water, why is the ox in such a state?!” The ox replied: “Continue your journey and you will see something even more surprising!”.
There in front of our traveller was a desert and in it was a fine fat ox. “First there was the lean ox and now a fat one with not a blade of grass in sight!” he thought. “Don’t be so surprised”, said the ox, “continue your journey and you will see”. “Then our friend entered a strange village where a group of children were playing with an old man. “God almighty!”, he exclaimed, seeing such a strange thing. But the old man told him to sit in the shade, to be quiet and wait until the games were finished.

At midday, the children stopped their playing and prepared to have a meal. The old man then invited them to share their food with the traveller. They were so many and so generous that soon he had a large plate of polenta before him. The water was also shared with him and our friend ate and drank to his heart’s content. When the meal was over, the old man approached him and explained the meaning of the wonders he had seen. “The stone is nothing more than some strange fact all chatterboxes are interested in. It goes here and there but then comes back to its place. The small gazelle is a stubborn child: he misbehaves in all sorts of ways but waits for the twelfth heavy blow to punish it. The large gazelle is the stranger: one small error and he is lost. The lean ox in the green grass represents the munatika, the braggart who spends his time telling tall stories: nobody trusts him and so he ends his life in misery. The fat ox represents a young man: everywhere he attracts people’s gaze and he is always thriving. As to myself, as you see, I live in a village where all the elders and adults are dead. What can I do but share my life with the children and play with them? I use the situation to instruct them and guide them towards the good. Have you seen how they welcomed you? They have learned to deprive themselves of some of their share to give it to you”. “Yes”, our friend thought, “continue your journey and you will understand!” (L.M.)

USA. Montclair Sanctuary Alliance

Bnai Keshet is a Jewish community founded in 1978, and at the same time a Synagogue. It defines itself as representative of the broader community: mature couples, singles, “traditional” Jewish families, interfaith families, and gay and lesbian Jews.

It is now renovating an apartment with the support of partners, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Montclair (UUCM), First Congregational Church, Faith in New Jersey and other local faith leaders. They intend to offer a family (or individual) at risk of deportation, physical shelter, safety, support, and time to seek a resolution. They call the effort the Montclair Sanctuary Alliance (MSA).

The Sanctuary Movement began in the 1980s when U.S. faith leaders organized to protect asylum seekers fleeing violence in Latin America. In mid-December, MSA held an interfaith gathering at Bnai Keshet, rededicating their sanctuary to Sanctuary.

On Bnai Keshet’s website, they explain the loving the stranger and protecting the vulnerable is the moral core of all the partners’ traditions. And that the Bible commands us to protect the stranger “at least 36 times.” “So you too should love the resident alien, for that is what you were in the land of Egypt.” (Dt 10:19)

The pastors of UUCM wrote their support to “make it clear to all in the community that we understand our religious duty includes providing sanctuary to people upon whom certain sectors of our government and citizenry may try to single out for incarceration and removal.” As Pope Francis wrote: God is present in “the unwelcomed visitor, often unrecognizable, who walks through our cities and our neighborhoods, who travels on our buses and knocks on our door.”

The partners of MSA are fully aware that U.S. law does not protect undocumented immigrants who are given sanctuary. But, because Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has so far avoided arresting immigrants on congregational property, they choose to publicly offer sanctuary in order to change hearts and minds. They say, “Tightening borders lets us imagine the U.S. can wall off the suffering in other places. We hope that supporting and collaborating publicly with immigrant neighbors and friends will strengthen the fabric of our society and ultimately, help change federal policy.”

MSA not only stranger with the apartment but asking support for the initiative is awakening the awareness that loving the stranger is the real support for a long-term guest seeking sanctuary. “Many of us – the word is addressed to immigrant Jewish – are living lives that are the fulfillment of our parents’ and grandparents’ risks and sacrifices to come to the United States. Our freedom, prosperity, safety and in many cases our existence – came about because a previous generation took the risk in a moment of uncertainty to come here. Maybe that is why so many of us are alarmed and concerned by immigrants being threatened with deportation.”

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

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