Latest Posts Page

Brazil. Close to the people.

Saturday, 1 August 2020 8:00

Brazil is the country struck hardest by Covid 19. Combonian Father Saverio Paolillo has sent us some reflections. Rethink our lifestyle.

The Covid-19 pandemic is ravaging Brazil. It has become country with the second largest number of victims after the United States, with over 65,000 deaths and 1.6 million confirmed cases. The figures are probably underestimates. Brazil is one of the countries where fewer tests are being made in proportion to the number of its inhabitants. Reliable studies say the number of positive cases is probably from seven to twelve times more than the official figure. A dramatic scene is developing since we have not yet seen the peak of the virus infection. The most affected area is the south-east and especially São Paolo and Rio de Janeiro. The health service, already stretched due to the lack of investment in recent years, is on the cusp of collapse. Despite the construction of field hospitals, there is no longer room in the ICUs and there is a shortage of respirators. Many patients are piled up in the corridors and die waiting in line. In some areas like Amazonia, people who have died are often found among the patients.

The north-east, too, one of the poorer regions of the country, is facing a difficult situation. In the state of Paraíba where I live, there have been 31,000 confirmed cases and 696 deaths. Unfortunately, the numbers are only approximate since those tested are fewer than the national average. Ever since the first cases, the governors and mayors, seeing what happened in Europe and following the directives of the World Health Organisation, WHO, ordered social isolation and authorised only essential services to operate. However, there has never been a consensus regarding these measures. The federal Government, led by the President of the Republic, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, supported by the military, extreme right-wing groups, groups with nostalgia for fascism, by denial groups and conservative Pentecostals, have always denied the real dimensions of the problem so as not to slow the economy. In his first declarations he described the pandemic as a weak form of flu. On July, Bolsonaro tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Bolsonaro response to the coronavirus has caused national and international protests with any people accusing him of direct responsibility for so many victims. At the moment, Brazil has no permanent minister of health after two ministers were forced to resign in less than a month after clashing with Bolsonaro over the pandemic.
It is impressive to see how, up to now, Bolsonaro has not expressed a single word of solidarity with the victims and their families.

As if the health crisis were not enough, Brazil is also stricken by a serious political crisis that threatens the democratic institutions and risks neutralising all the efforts made by local administrators, medical personnel and responsible citizens to tackle the pandemic. In a recent decision, the Supreme Court has established that, considering the continental dimensions of the country and the great regional differences, it is up to the governors and mayors to decide upon the measures to be taken in their territories. Following the example of Trump, Bolsonaro has harshly criticised the WHO, relativized the pandemic and continues to confuse the people. Tension is growing. The danger of a confrontation is very great. Movements for the defence of democracy are spreading through the social media, and public demonstrations with large gatherings of people are already taking place. Apart from the danger of clashes between demonstrators, there is still that of contagion.
To complete the picture of the situation, we cannot but mention the economic and social crisis with a large number of people living in extreme poverty due to the unequal distribution of wealth. According to recent statistics, Brazil has around 14 million people living in poverty with families earning 145 Reals (25 Euro) per month and 50 million people on the edge of poverty with a family income of 150 Euro per month. The pandemic renders the situation of these families even more difficult, especially in the region where I live (Paraíba) where the indicators of poverty and destitution are even worse. Social isolation is certainly one of the measures essential to the control of the pandemic and to avoid even greater harm, but it is not an easy matter in the shanty towns of the peripheries with their “structural agglomerations”. In the shantytowns of São Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Manaus, Fortaleza and other large Brazilian cities, the pandemic is running wild, killing many people, especially the poor.

In my quarter, on the outskirts of the commune of Santa Rita, most families live in small unhealthy homes, without a sewerage system and where a supply of water is difficult to find. Besides structural problems, there are also those that are economic. Most people survive by working in the informal market. Many are “catadores”, gatherers of recyclable material, or vendors. With the advent of social distancing, these workers have lost their only source of income. The poor, once again, are the one who pay the highest price.
The Federal Government has decided to provide economic aid in the form of three monthly instalments of 600 Reals which, at the present rate of exchange, corresponds to about 110 Euro. To obtain this grant, it is necessary to enrol online but there are many poor people who have no access to the internet. Now there are long queues outside the agencies of the Federal Economic Bank which is the state bank responsible for the payments. We have had to create supporting centres in our properties to help people enrol and receive these benefits. To protect people, we have been busy collecting and distributing foodstuffs and toiletries. To date, we have collected and distributed 30 tons of foodstuffs. More than 500 families receive a parcel of food every two weeks.

To continue to assist the 160 children and youngsters who attend our “Proyecto Legal” centre, we have created a programe called “Out of sight but near to our hearts”. By means of a Whatsapp group that unites all the families, we distribute pedagogic material and give social, psychological and legal assistance. We have also created a You-Tube channel where all our videos are available. Every two weeks, we distribute a parcel of food and educational material to make up for the schools being closed. The pandemic, among so many challenges, has also exposed the phenomenon of digital exclusion. Most of our families have just an old cellphone connected to the internet only when they have the money to top them up.
Jefferson, one of the boys from our welcoming centre is just twelve years old. During the last distribution of food parcels, he told us he cannot wait for the end of the pandemic as he does not lie to see his father crying y himself because he cannot work to bring home something to eat. “Collection cardboard boxes – he told us – is more dignified than joining the long queue at the bank and lower oneself to receiving alms from the federal government, while lots of money is being given to help the banks, assist big businesses, buy arms and, even worse, to enrich corrupt politicians”. Listening to Jefferson filled us with pride. In is words we found the wisdom older people lack, especially those who occupy important places in society. If we want to survive, we have to make up our minds to look after each other. We hope that these difficult times lead us to review our way of living.

What a new president means for Burundi.

Saturday, 1 August 2020 8:00

A former army general with reformist credentials was sworn in as president of Burundi last June following the sudden death of Pierre Nkurunziza, whose extended and authoritarian rule set off a political crisis that caused hundreds of thousands of people to flee to neighbouring countries.

But the appointment of a new government that includes ruling party hardliners, and continuing accounts of violence and arrests of opposition supporters during the first few weeks of President Évariste Ndayishimiye’s administration, suggest the prospect of change remains slim in the East African country. Ndayishimiye was due to take over from Nkurunziza this August after winning a presidential election in May marred by voter fraud allegations and violence. Nkurunziza was due to become the country’s “supreme guide of patriotism”, while enjoying a retirement villa and a $500,000 pension.

But the 55-year-old ex-president and ruling party stalwart died on 8 June – officially of cardiac arrest, though most suspect he had contracted COVID-19 – creating a sudden power vacuum that ended when the country’s constitutional court decided Ndayishimiye should take charge earlier than planned.
After 15 years as president – and many years before as a rebel leader – Nkurunziza will most likely be remembered for his final five years, when he won a third term in office that critics called unconstitutional. That power grab sparked mass protests, a failed coup, and a bloody crackdown that soon morphed into a humanitarian crisis.

Five years on, most refugees have not returned; relations with foreign governments and international institutions need mending; and the economy – in the doldrums since donors pulled bilateral assistance amid mounting rights violations – needs an urgent boost. That Nkurunziza was willing to stand down at all shouldn’t be underestimated, said David Kiwuwa, an associate professor of international studies at the University of Nottingham. “Intra-party transitions – where a president from one party hands over to another from the same party – introduces the long-term possibility of change,” Kiwuwa said.

Ndayishimiye has a better human rights record than his peers, and some of his initial steps as president have shown promise: A new trimmed-down cabinet features five women and an ethnic minority Batwa politician for the first time, while COVID-19 has been declared Burundi’s “enemy” after Nkurunziza’s administration spent weeks downplaying it.Some members of the ruling party’s feared youth wing – which has committed rights violations with impunity in recent years – have been arrested amid calls for the group, known as the Imbonerakure or “those who see far” in Kirundi, to show discipline and let security forces do their job.

But analysts caution that the new president did little to stop past rights violations from occurring, even while occupying various senior positions in the increasingly authoritarian ruling CNDD-FDD party – a former Hutu rebel group that never quite shed its wartime ways. Even if he does have some reformist intentions, Ndayishimiye will still have to juggle the interests of different CNDD-FDD factions, including the group of powerful military generals that supported his candidacy, and various hardliners who would have preferred somebody else at the helm.
“We should not expect spectacular reversals,” said Onesphore Sematumba, an analyst for the International Crisis Group.
“Ndayishimiye is himself a product of the CNDD-FDD system and… must ensure the loyalty of the executives who were not necessarily in favour of his designation.”

Two hardliners under international sanctions for their roles in recent human rights violations were given key cabinet positions by Ndayishimiye: former police chief and minister of security Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni was named prime minister, while ex-intelligence chief, Gervais Ndirakobuca, was appointed interior minister.
Though Ndayishimiye’s inauguration speech paid lip service to the need for justice – others, including Ndirakobuca, have also spoken about tackling corruption – it contained plenty that would have satisfied party hardliners: from a pledge to “continue on the path” of his predecessor, to criticisms of those who fled the country and of the international community for meddling in Burundian affairs.

Rights defenders and journalists are, meanwhile, still behind bars, bodies are still turning up in rural areas and being buried before questions can be asked, and members of the main opposition party, the CNL, are still being arrested, albeit less frequently than before. “Despite a reduction in violence, the same patterns of human rights violations that we’ve seen throughout the last years are still continuing,” said Thijs Van Laer, a researcher with the Burundi Human Rights Initiative. Though further violence was expected following elections that Burundi’s main opposition leader, Agathon Rwasa, called a “fiasco”, the influential politician decided against calling his supporters onto the streets after the constitutional court rejected an appeal he lodged against the results.

In his inauguration speech, Ndayishimiye said “it is time” for dialogue with opposition groups, though previous efforts to mediate the Burundi crisis have all failed “because of the inflexibility of the Burundian government”, according to Sematumba, who added that there are few signs of a “shift in this posture”.
The new minister of foreign affairs, Albert Shingiro, recently said he would seek to “revitalise” diplomatic relations with other countries, while Rwandan President Paul Kagame said he is ready to work with Ndayishimiye after years of tensions between the two countries, which accuse each other of supporting their opponents.

Philip Kleinfeld
Political analyst

Mexico. Arms that speak of peace.

Saturday, 1 August 2020 8:00

A visual Mexican artist collects arms used during violent times in his country and transforms them into works of art, to demonstrate how human beings have more powerful arms to convey their message in the form of images, literature, thoughts and words.

Originally from Jalisco, one of the Mexican states situated in the western part of the country, Álvaro Cuevas, 45, has an unusual artistic style: he transforms tons of arms, pistols, pump-action shotguns and machine guns, into works of art, in a country where violence occurs daily. Last year alone, violence claimed as many as 34,582 human lives.
The artist explains how this unusual artistic vocation came about: “It is the result of a long process of discernment on my personal history”. His reflection on his past and that of his family led him to this decision after seeing his brother, his cousins and his uncles dying, struck down by arms. His immense sorrow led the sculptor to ask what could be done to purify the arms: “When arms are inactive, they remain as they are, according to their purpose, but when they are transformed, completely different objects and concepts are created”, he tells us.

In this way, a new manner of confronting violence was born. He produced his first artistic works in 1998 and he began his professional career in 2006. The year 2017 saw a turning point when the Mexican National Secretary for Defence contacted Álvaro Cuevas and handed over to him thousands of arms that were impounded or handed in by citizens during campaigns of voluntary exchange, in line with his project of transforming instruments of death.
Cuevas took the twelve tons of arms he had been given and began to shape them into animals, children and fingerprints. The Mexican artist describes this work as ‘Impressions that leave their mark’. It is the result of two years’ work, joining up all the pieces and giving them a meaning and resulting in 21 sculptures.

In 2018, the visual artist created the exhibition ‘Arms of Sensibility’. It comprises sculptures of such wild animals as deer, jaguars, rhinoceroses, fish and an eagle. “These are animals that kill out of instinct, unlike human beings who kill for pleasure”, the visual artist explains. Just to create the deer sculpture, he used 514 confiscated arms and it took him about six weeks to complete the work.
Soon afterwards, he opened an exhibition called ‘Fingerprints of Reconciliation’. These sculptures are three metres tall and reproduce fingerprints. This series, exhibited “in places where conflict took pace. A conflict zone is a zone of death, robbery and harm”, the artist states. He therefore seeks to generate movements of healing, spirituality and overcoming challenges. Cuevas explains: “Mexico is armed. It is urgently required that people launch the other projectiles they have, those that are used daily the world over and that are more powerful, in such a way as to transcend arms: words, education, health, and art, for example. An explosion of the talents of the people”.
The city of Guadalajara received its first sculpture in the form of a digital print. It can be seen in the Prisciliano Sánchez quarter, where there have been attacks and murders. It, too, is part of this series, also exhibited in Guadalajara and the work has a special meaning for Cuevas. “This is the sculpture containing a cross. It also contains some of the arms used to assassinate Cardinal Posadas on 24 May, 1993″, the artist told us.
The sculptures of Álvaro Cuevas, created using arms, create an intimate dialogue with the viewer in order to generate a reflection on it.

In one of the workshops organised by the artist, he exhibits a series of works in which children hold powerful arms in their hands: a book, a paintbrush and palette full of colours. Together with them, the artist increases awareness of education and builds the future of the children. “The message is that we are all ‘projectile’, because we can all ‘explode’, transcend and influence others. However, it is the personal decision of each one that makes the difference, whether to pull the deadly trigger or to develop one’s own talents”, says the artist.
In another of his recent collections, Álvaro Cuevas has built a projectile three metres high, so people can go inside it and be made more aware. Among others, the underlying questions are: What would happen if a real bomb like this one exploded? And how would we contribute or not to others if we killed one or more people?
Starting from painful personal and family experiences, and with the aim of transmitting a message of peace and reconciliation to the people of Mexico who suffer a high level of violence, the artist will continue his project with another 100 tons of arms he will receive from the National Secretary for Defence.

Meanwhile, the Jalisco artist contacted the Institute of Alternative Justice (IJA) of the State of Jalisco, one of the most violent in the country, where the saddening Jalisco New Generation Drugs is present, and began a campaign to exchange arms and plastic arms for domestic appliances, among the 7.3 million inhabitants. In a short time, the artist collected more than thirteen tons of arms and more than twenty thousand plastic arms. Also in collaboration with the IJA, he created a mural depicting animals which, in fables, spread the culture of peace. Composed of five large sculptures, it was exhibited during a festival for children organised by the University of Guadalajara.

The artist has donated various works to a number of government bodies in the Mexican states of Jalisco and Yucatan, to be exhibited permanently. Other works make up an itinerant exhibition that is taken to cultural and civil events, in order for the message to reach the greatest possible number of people.
He also intends to distribute the new sculptures among the 100 universities in Mexico, so that the students may generate artistic proposals that may contribute to their unity as Mexicans: “Instead of arms that divide, we ought, on the contrary, join together through the proposals for transformation”, the artist explains.
Álvaro Cuevas told us of an episode that struck him deeply. After visiting one of his exhibitions, a man started to cry. He told us that: “His brother had been killed a month earlier. Until that moment he had been unable to cry and he thanked me for allowing him to express his sorrow.”
“Everyone has their own story and each one leaves their mark, whether visible or not, conscious or not. Art is communication, an invitation to reflect and a stimulus to build a better world, more just, peaceful and sharing”, the artist concludes.

Fernando Félix

Egypt. The Economic Power of the Military.

Wednesday, 1 July 2020 8:00

Cities built from nothing in the desert, vast infrastructure created, gold mines opened, arms and steel production, the commercialisation of consumer goods from such various materials as foodstuffs, domestic appliances and medicine. The huge empire controlled
by the military.

The military control the means of transport and exact payment for the use of the motorways, permits for the use of government lands, investments in the business of religious pilgrimages and the film-making sector as well as joint ventures in various activities with national and foreign private companies. It is an economic empire which, ever since the 1952 Free Officers coup which brought Gamal Abd el-Nasser to power, has not ceased to grow. Today, under the command of former general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, it is much more than a ‘shadow economy’.

If we are to go by the latest official data published by the Cairo authorities, in 2016 the overall value of the Egyptian military economy is valued from 1.5% to 2% of GDP, with a volume of business generated by goods produced and services rendered by the Ministry of Military Production (MOMP), by the Arabic Organisation for Industrialisation (AOI), and by the Ministry of Defence, estimated as between 3.32
and 6.64 billion dollars.
It is a more complicated matter to quantify the income from the dense network of agreements drawn up by the military establishment with companies belonging to the public and private sectors, and with all those subjects to which the army opens the door for the granting of state contracts in return for substantial payments – third party transactions that allow the armed forces to control a large slice of the national economy amounting at least to 20%.

Since Al-Sisi came to power in 2013, the number of orders obtained from the state by the army has soared, especially in connection with mega-projects. In parallel, the armed forces have been facilitated in obtaining public funds and in placing their men on the administration councils of private and start-up companies. While, in the time of former president Hosni Mubarak and his son Gamal, the military were part of an accord with the National Democratic Party for power-sharing, in that of Al-Sisi they have actually gone to a higher level. They now directly influence the political and economic decisions of the government, with the advantage of not having to subject their actions to the judgement of the civil magistrature or other institutional organs. From the moment he was elected president in May 2014, Al-Sisi has tried to shake up the Egyptian economy by devoting a quarter of public expenditure to the construction of vast infrastructure and ex novo cities, such as the enlargement of the Suez Canal and the new administrative and financial capital to be built about 40 km east of Cairo.
He has also acted decisively in response to the widespread demand for foodstuffs and medicine.

In order to do all this he conveniently handed the keys of this shock treatment to the army, since it was more ‘honest’ and ‘practical’ than the corrupt bureaucracy of the Egyptian state. Populist slogans these which, while reflecting the basic truth, allowed Al-Sisi to easily open a breach in public opinion, so disappointed after the short experience of government under Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, interrupted by the coup of 2013.
Analysts agree that such a high profile presence of the military in the economy represents, however, more of a brake than an advantage for the country. The military have the know how to carry out large-scale engineering projects but their balance sheet showing their management of public funds is still in the red. The futuristic floods of cement ordered by Al-Sisi, the only visible effects of which at present amount to forced evictions from the Nile Valley for the construction of new residential settlements with unknown environmental damage, caused an increase of 54% in public loans from Egyptian banks and foreign institutes of credit.

This unbearable burden has been largely responsible for halting the growth of GNP pro capite, which grew by only 50%, from 1998 to 2018, as compared to 600% achieved by other emerging economies such as Turkey and Malaysia. Above all, the greater wellbeing Al-Sisi had promised when he took power from the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood never materialised, as is shown by 60% of Egyptian citizens who are still living in poverty. According to Emily Hawthorne, an analyst of the geopolitical and intelligence observer Stratfor, the danger of this strategy is to “create a monopoly, which, in the long run, would no longer be trusted by foreign investors. If the economy were to become very unstable – she explains – we could not rule out that this state of affairs could spark a popular revolt against the military elite”. At the moment, this is a remote possibility. Having last year brought about the approval of an amendment to the Constitution allowing them to intervene at will to ‘protect democracy and safeguard the fundamental components of the state’, the military are guaranteed a free hand to suppress any possible form of future dissent.

It is difficult to tell whether Al-Sisi is the protagonist or the hostage to this mechanism. Here in Cairo people believe that, ‘The President is in power and will continue to be so as long as the military support his initiatives. As long as they see him as useful for their purposes, he will remain in control. The opposite also holds true and he can be substituted by someone who best serves their aims and interests’. This is a real possibility against which the president knows he must guard. In the past, his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, tried to free himself from the army to concentrate greater riches in his hands and those of his family. He was removed by a coup.

Alessandro Manda

Bulgaria. Social breakdown.

Wednesday, 1 July 2020 8:00

The Bulgarian demographic crisis is the one that is most critical due to the speed at which it is taking place. Here, too, there is a high probability that in the near future the Romani may become the most numerous ethnic group in the country.

In this regard, the United Nations predict that in Bulgaria, in the coming decades, we will witness the fastest and most serious depopulation in the world, given that today the population is declining by about sixty thousand people per annum. This crisis appears to be very dramatic today but its deepest roots go back to the immediate post-war period. Ever since that time, there has been a continuous decline in births, from forty for every thousand inhabitants in 1915 to only nine today, with a fertility index that has stabilised below the generational replacement threshold since 1979.

The migratory exodus which took place after the cold war towards the countries of the European Union did nothing but further complicate a situation already quite compromised. In only thirty years, in fact, there has been a reduction of more than a million people, declining from 8,487,000 in 1992 to 7,000,000 at present. In this tragic scenario, the ethnic group most affected in numerical terms is the Bulgarian people itself which, during the same period, declined from 7,271,000 to 5,664,000. At the same time, the opposite is true of the Turkish and Romani peoples. As regards the Romani, the unstable conditions in which they live make it difficult to conduct an accurate census. Nevertheless, data provided by the Centre for Demographic Policies (CPD) in Sofia, show that the Romani component consists of around one million individuals, that is, about 16% of the total population while the Turkish group amounts to 9%. Again according to CPD studies, there is a deep and marked disparity between the birth rates of the three ethnic groups in the country: Bulgari, Romani and Turks, which would lead to the Bulgari becoming, by 2050, the third most numerous group with 800,000 members, preceded by the Turks with 1,200,000 and the Romani with 3,500,000 members. If, however, we were to take the year 2100 as our reference point, we would see the clear numerical superiority of the Romani who would have 8,000,000 members and almost the disappearance of the ethnic Bulgari who would be reduced to around 300,000 members.

Just as in Romania, in Bulgaria, too, there is no integration between the Romani and the rest of the population. The main cause of this is attributable to the lack of intervention by the state to integrate the Romani into Bulgari society, something which could be achieved by sufficient alphabetisation and education for professions. Some data provided by the World Bank show that 15% of the Romani are completely deprived of education, 89% have not continued their schooling after the primary stage and only 20% are employed. These data indeed do little to ensure a smooth transition and give rise to considerable concern, taking into account that the Romani themselves are destined to become a numerically large majority in the country.

This social breakdown is also abundantly exploited by politics in a rather short-sighted way, using antagonism as a warhorse to gain votes. This is an attitude that serves to feed inter-ethnic hatred which often and willingly explodes into violence and criminal episodes. The news media tell of numerous and recurrent episodes of punitive expeditions consisting in attacks on Romani homes and quarters which testify to the intolerance and ill-feeling that dominates attitudes towards this minority. The apex of the violence was reached in 2011 with the killing of a young Bulgari, Angel Petrov, by a member of Romani organised crime. Apart from the marginalisation of the Romani community, Bulgaria also has to face the fact that the Turkish minority is influenced by Ankara which, taking advantage of Bulgarian weakness, could bring pressure to bear so as to extend Neo-Ottomanism in the entire Balkan area. In Bulgaria, Turkish diplomacy has been at work for some time and has charged the Turkish Directorate for Religious Affairs with the task of building Koranic schools, cultural centres and mosques and of restoring ancient sites of the Ottoman epoch, both religious and non-religious.

According to analysts, the Romani communities are financed and fed by Turkey. This has been proved by the discovery, by the local police, of the presence of a Salafist group within a Romani camp in the country, whose members were radicalised by preachers in the pay of Ankara. According to the investigating authorities, tens of those belonging to the cell fought in Syria, in the ranks of Islamic State. These factors, together with some statements by Turkish politicians which amounted to real attempts to interfere in the religious affairs of the state, have raised the guard of the Bulgarian government and caused it to assume a substantially restrictive and controlling attitude as regards Islam and the Turkish community, and to launch the reform of relations between the state and religious confessions. The reform, which came into force in 2017, has set itself the goal of blocking finance from Ankara, also through the Turkish nationalist party DOST, which serves to condition political and social life in Bulgaria.
Seeing all these elements, to be evaluated together with the dramatic demographic crisis which could become a veritable social time-bomb, it would not be far-fetched to suggest that Turkey could find the way prepared to expand its influence in Bulgaria and, consequently, in the whole of the Balkan area. (F.R.)

Money as a mission.

Wednesday, 1 July 2020 8:00

St. Basil the Great, in the 4th century would call money ‘the devil’s dung,’ an epithet reused by Pope Francis last year. Oscar Wilde said ironically, “When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is.”

Saint Basil explained the why of his expression, “The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked; the shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money that you keep locked away is the money of the poor.” Act in charity and do not perform so many injustices.

In the 400 years of the corporate entities’ life, people of faith have consistently spoken out about the social impact of money bringing about social injustice and also solutions and opportunities. Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders have long recognized practices to encourage ethical investments (impact investing) while identifying investments to avoid, discouraging practices and policies through the withdrawal/withholding of investments (screens or divestment).

Then, in 1971, a lawyer, Paul Neuhauser, while abuses were occurring under the racist apartheid system in South Africa, caused a spark provoking a fire.
He asked his pastor what would his church do on behalf of black South African people. The pastor responded, “You are the Church.”

Inspired by this word, in May 1971 the Episcopal Church (which held shares in General Motors) drafted and filed a shareholder resolution, calling on the company to withdraw its business from South Africa until such time as apartheid was abolished. The Episcopal Bishop showed up at the Shareholder meeting and spoke about a moral imperative. This was the founding act of what was soon to be known as the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR).

The ICCR, as an association advocating for corporate social responsibility, gather 300 member organizations including faith communities, asset managers, unions, pensions, NGOs and other investors. ICCR’s members advocate to hundreds of corporations annually for greater corporate accountability and file shareholder resolutions on issues such as climate change, human rights,
corporate governance, financial practices, and other social and environmental concerns.

Over these nearly fifty years, ICCR around the world holds shares in companies recognizing that, by acting in coalition with like-minded investors, they are able to improve corporate practices on vital environmental, social and governance concerns and, in doing so, build more sustainable, financially resilient and responsible companies.

Criteria and Guidelines for Socially Responsible Investment have been developed serving as the basis of a common position. The practice of Corporate Dialogues has grown over the years, grounded in faith and ethics, as well as commitment to the common good. At first, companies had no interest in talking to ICCR, and tried to pass off to public relations representatives.
However, through their solid preparation, expertise and commitment ICCR’s members have gained more respect through these dialogues, and manage to challenge unethical corporate practices.

They advocate reaching out to a contact at the company or writing a letter and including them in a dialogue session. If the dialogue does not lead to meaningful change, ICCR may consider filing a shareholder resolution. On occasions, there is a positive shift in the company’s corporate policy or action, and then the shareholder resolution could be withdrawn and followed by ongoing dialogues to verify that the changes are put into practice.

Today, many companies recognize that investors are looking for some kind of social criteria to be met being concerned with social benefits as well as economic returns and this exerts some pressure on companies. From 2016 to 2018 sustainable investing enjoyed a growth rate of more than 38% increasing from 8.7 trillion in 2016. More than one out of every four dollar in the US today – 26 of the $46.6 trillion in total assets under management – is involved in sustainable development.

Every few years, ICCR reviews the basic issues on which they focus, adapting their priority areas to include emerging concerns and priorities. These help to guide their advocacy that at present include the following main issues: Human rights and trafficked persons; Water; Health Equity (drug pricing; pandemics; companies); Integrity in the Financial Sector; Climate crisis; Food (seasonal workers, GMOs and health approach). Alternative or Community investing is emerging as a new area of socially responsible investment, because it involves supporting local community based projects, often by providing low interest loans that yield social and well as financial returns.

One example. Dominican Justice Promoters started to work on a national program for Climate change. They invited groups to ground the program in theological reflection and spirituality, financing climate transition and integrating SDGs. Not being able to find an appropriate investment product, even when they looked into between 30 and 60 existing investment funds, with the help of the Greystone Group of Morgan Stanley they developed a public and a private fund. Dominican women were the anchor investors. The Alternative Investment fund was launched and established in the North East USA in 2013 focusing on climate change and aiding marginalized communities affected by global warming. They were able to raise 110 million dollars.

Yes, money can be the devil’s dung, but in this time of pandemic crisis we would agree with one of Mark Twain’s quotes slightly correcting it, “The lack of money is the root if not of all but of many evils.” Providing financial resources to poor people is an advocacy form of charity. To know more Aligning Money and Mission: The Pope Francis Approach

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

The Virus of Racism.

Wednesday, 1 July 2020 8:00

The world is seeing once again the upsurge of a vicious “virus” that has spread to every corner of the world. This time, the “virus” is that of social, cultural, economic, political, institutional, legal and religious discrimination against people of different skin colour, social status and historical origins.

Racism is everywhere and people around the world are on the streets once again protesting against this insidious discrimination following the latest documented murder of George Floyd by four United States police and systematic police brutality.

His cruel death is one of many in recent years where police and killers have seldom been held accountable. Three of the officers involved in the murder of George Floyd are walking free. A culture of invincibility and impunity pervades some police forces that are predominantly composed of white officers. This is common in many countries where the police and military are above the law and abuse authority and kill citizens as they please. It makes a sham of democracy and the judiciary.

People of colour in Europe are also discriminated against by racist people who wrongly believe that these “other” humans are inferior to them and who declare themselves to be superior human beings, in a more exalted, dominating status with a desire to trample on others. These racist attitudes that wrongly brand others as having criminal minds have led to the greatest crime against humanity – genocide. The Holocaust, the Rwandan massacres, the Armenian genocide and many more in history happened because of racists attitudes with other causes.

Migrants and refugees seeking shelter from the Syrian massacres and other social evils meet a wall of racial indifference fuelled by systematic racism in some European countries and the present administration of the United States. What the white-skinned racist person or government officials and racist police lack most of all is empathy, compassion and respect for other human beings. The racists are supremely arrogant, dominating, oppressive and selfish. They are greatly diminished as persons and have excluded themselves from the community of the good and caring people of the world who love their neighbours.

The roots of racism run deep in history but in modern times ideologies like Nazism and forms of nationalism gave rise to it in Europe and growing racist attitudes are present in European countries today and the United States. Under President Trump, “Make America Great Again” means “Make America White Again.” Racism is not only about skin colour but it is also about power, control, exclusion and domination.

However the slogan “White is Might and Right” and promoting white people as celebrities and movie stars reinforces racism. The higher social status demanded by some white people can create self-loathing, lack of self-esteem and an inferiority complex among people of colour. Some are persuaded to buy skin bleaching and whitening creams to try and lighten the colour of their skin for greater acceptability. The racists have successfully planted their insidious racist ideology and unthinking people have fallen for it. Commercial corporations manufacture the racist creams and profit greatly without shame.

More than 13 million Africans- men, women and children – were captured, enslaved and transported, chained in horrendous ships, it went on for 400 years in atrocious conditions. An estimated 1.2 million died at sea. Many were thrown overboard in a storm. The movie Amistad released in 1997 tells it well.
They were auctioned as slave labour for the cotton and sugar cane fields, coffee and tobacco plantations, gold and silver mining and then for the industries of the new capitalist America in the making. Besides the Spanish and Portuguese, the British, French, Dutch, Belgian and Danish empire builders all participated in the slave trade.

Racism and outright hatred and human rights violations were part of everyday life for the slaves. Today after 400 years of oppression and suffering and no restitution, naturally, a just anger, hunger for justice and equality is in their genes. African-Americans are still considered my many Americans as repulsive and racially inferior. In the past, many were murdered and lynched by mobs on false charges.
The civil rights movement in the 1960s brought in new anti – discrimination laws but they did not change ingrained racist attitudes against black people. They continued to be discriminated against and many were killed by police.

The ruling elite billionaire capitalists of America are unaware that American wealth and prosperity began with the sweat and blood of the black slaves from Africa. Their racist beliefs in white superiority cannot fully accept that the US Constitution grants all citizens equal rights. No matter how gifted and educated, many of these citizens are excluded from a life of dignity. The election and re-election of Barack Obama as president of the United States angered many racists. Their greatest nightmare was having a highly educated African-American and his intelligent lawyer wife, a descendant of slaves, occupy the White House for eight years.

The White Supremists believe that his (or her) white skin colour confers on him (or her) superiority over the African-Americans or persons of colour. The racists are convinced that the descendants of the black slaves must be continually branded inferior and to be denied an equal respectful place in society. Perhaps racist Americans suffer historical guilt for their cruel legacy of slavery.

Every harsh, unjust police act of discrimination, violence or killing that spreads on social media is remembered by the black community and builds to a boiling point. This is the root of the anger seen today: injustice, lack of respect, dignity and equality. It is seen and heard in the shouts for justice from the thousands of black and non-racist white protesters on the streets in 57 cities across the USA.

The violence and chaos caused by the extreme left and right factions is criminal and to be abhorred but it is the price that America pays for its historical racism, slavery and sins of oppression. When there is true repentance, penance and restitution- true equality and justice for all- across racist America, only then will there be reconciliation and peace.

Fr. Shay Cullen

The Catholic Church in Kyrgyzstan. A seed sprouting up slowly.

Wednesday, 1 July 2020 8:00

A small community that lives its faith through testimony. One of the great challenges is the dialogue with Muslims.

This landlocked country is mainly mountainous, the Tien Shan and Pamir ranges occupy 65% of its territory. Kyrgyzstan borders the Chinese province of Xinjiang to the east, Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west and Tajikistan to the south. The country is home to about six million people – 80% Muslim and 16% Orthodox – made up of multiple ethnic groups including the Kyrgyzians (about 64.7% and descendants of the tribes that settled in ancient times on the Tian Shan); Uzbeks (14.5%); Russians (12.5%); and several other groups, much less relevant in numerical terms, such as Uighurs, Dungans, Ukrainians, Tartars, and even Germans whose ancestors were deported in the Second World War from the Polish Ukrainian regions conquered by the Soviet Union.
Kyrgyzstan is one of the poorest countries in Central Asia with over 40% of the population living below the poverty line. Its economy is based above all on agro-pastoral activities and on mineral resources such as gold, uranium, oil and antimony. Kyrgyzstan also has significant coal reserves (estimated at about 2.5 billion tons) which are mainly located in the Kara-Keche field in the north of the country.

The country, whose capital is Bishkek (located on the plain near the border with Kazakhstan) became independent from the Soviet Union in August 1991.The Kyrgyz people are an ethnic group of Turkish origin and make up the majority of Kyrgyzstan’s population. Traditionally nomads, thanks to their tenacity, they have been able to adapt themselves to the inhospitable land and difficult environmental conditions of the country. The high peaks of the Kyrgyz Mountains still host itinerant villages characterized by yurts, the shepherds’ tents. Yurts are at the centre of the life of clans, they are the place of hospitality for foreigners, they are the place for sharing meals and meeting moments during which traditional songs are accompanied by komuzy, the most popular stringed instrument in the country.

The Kyrgyz people eat simple meals based on rice, meat and vegetables often accompanied by jusai, a mountain herb, and boorsok, a kind of bread. The Kyrgyz cuisine also includes the use of honey and jams, while kymyz, fermented milk, is the most popular drink.
Their diversions, sports and competitions such as horse riding, hunting, and archery, are clearly rooted in the traditions of their nomadic life.
A profound sense of hospitality has always been one of the most characteristic traits of the Kyrgyz people. Their literary heritage includes the Manas epic which is one of the world’s greatest oral poems and the pinnacle of the Central Asian oral tradition. It depicts the history of the Kyrgyz people and all their myths, tales and legends, and is their greatest cultural treasure, offering moral and spiritual guidance throughout the ages. This collection of myths, folklore and legends, which is composed of over a million verses, is about the warrior-hero Manas and his successors, and it reflects Kyrgyzstan’s nomadic past, beset by enemies and constant battles. Its theme of the struggle for freedom still resonates powerfully with the Kyrgyz today.

The Catholic Church
The first Catholics arrived in Kyrgyzstan in the late 19th century, in the Fergana valley, in Osh, one of the largest and oldest cities, founded three thousand years before Christ. They were 15% of all European inhabitants; since 1918 to 1930, the area of Kyrgyzstan came under the parish of Tashkent. The number of Catholics increased following the repression of the Germans and Poles of the Volga, tens of thousands of Catholics were deported to Kyrgyzstan: Catholics were mainly Germans and Poles but there were also some from the Baltic States and Koreans from the Far East.Until the mid-fifties of the last century, Catholics in Kyrgyzstan professed their religion clandestinely and without priests, because in that period most of the priests had been sent to gulags.

In 1997, the Holy See established the Mission sui iuris of Kyrgyzstan. In 2006, it was raised to an Apostolic Administration and Nikolaus Messmer was named the country’s first Catholic bishop. In 2017, the former superior of the Russian Jesuit region, Fr. Anthony Corcoran, was installed as Apostolic Administrator of the Catholic Church in Kyrgyzstan.“The Catholic Church in Kyrgyzstan has experienced great changes throughout history: present in the country for at least 150 years, the Catholic community has traditionally been made up of German, Polish and Ukrainian citizens. For decades these people professed Christianity clandestinely, under the persecutions of the Soviet regime. Despite this, their faith survived”, says Father Corcoran.
The Texan Jesuit was appointed by Pope Francis as Apostolic Administrator of Kyrgyzstan in 2017, after serving for twenty years in Russia and some years in Siberia. “I remember that when I arrived in this country, I used to ask people what being Catholic meant to them, and though each person gave me different answers, there were three elements in common: one was the sign of the cross and when they showed it to me, I could see so much devotion in that gesture! A second element was that everyone knew something about Jesus, about his birth, death and resurrection and His new coming in glory. And the third thing was the rosary: even though many of them had never had one, they prayed the rosary.”
” Many of them had never met a priest, nevertheless they prayed because they had inherited the legacy of a ‘faith handed over by their grandparents’”, the Jesuit explains. “Between 1990 and 2000, many Catholics left. At the moment I think there are between 600 and 1,500 Catholics scattered throughout the country”, adds Father Corcoran.

Father Anthony Corcoran presides at a confirmation in Bishkek cathedral.

Today Kyrgyzstan is a small country with a population of almost six million inhabitants. Islam is the most widely held faith. “According to official sources, about 87-90% of the population is Muslim. The Orthodox represent 8-11% of the total, and the other Christian denominations are a very small minority. Despite this, we are able to work freely, because the constitution of Kyrgyzstan guarantees freedom of religion. Obviously some people are more open to welcoming, others less. An event that has impressed this part of the world greatly was the Pope’s trip to the United Arab Emirates, because the circumstance got media coverage and it was considered a sign of great respect by the Church towards Islam”, says Fr. Corcoran.
One of the great challenges facing Christians is dialogue with Muslims. “In Kyrgyzstan there are more opportunities than in other countries to enter into dialogue with Muslims: with Turkish students; with the Uyghurs from eastern Turkestan in China; with the Kyrgyz and the Uzbeks themselves, much more than in Russia, where they arrive as foreign workers and live secluded in their small communities. Dialogue is an opportunity we must not miss”, comments Father Corcoran. “In the country there are three parishes: one in Bishkek; one in Talas in the west of the region, and one in Zalabad in the south. There are also many small Catholic communities scattered throughout the rural areas of the country. Local Catholics can rely on the spiritual assistance of seven priests, one religious and five Franciscan nuns.

The Kyrgyz Caritas owes its origins to the creation, in 2011, of the Non-Governmental Organization ‘Light of Love’: the decision to embark on the path of integration of the NGO in the pastoral and charitable organization of the Bishops was born following the participation of a meeting organized by Caritas Asia in 2014 in Almaty.
One of the most significant projects is the Issyk Centre, the home for disabled and poor Kyrgyz children, located on the shores of Lake Issyk-kul and managed by the religious of the Society of Jesus. The centre not only helps needy children but also offers support to needy families. The activities of the Issyk Centre take place mainly in the summer, when camps are set up for disabled children, orphans and the poor, often carried out in collaboration with Kyrgyz social assistance facilities.
Father Corcoran explains what being a Christian in a minority context means. “As representatives of the Church we are called to be among the people. Being a priest in this small community is like a challenge to me. The challenge of being able to support and make people develop, grow, flourish. I think that my testimony is a sign that, through me, the Church takes care of these small communities”. (C.C.)

Mozambique. Cabo Delgado. Under Siege.

Wednesday, 1 July 2020 8:00

The Jihadist movement continues its action attacking villages, destroying and burning houses, schools and places of worship. Cabo Delgado, a region rich in minerals and oil, is at the centre of their terrorist activities.

In recent months, the Jihadists have intensified their attacks. The number of deaths and of people fleeing to the forests increases daily. Only recently has the government of Maputo admitted for the first time the presence of combatants affiliated to Islamic State (IS) on its territory.
The National Council for Defence and Security, analysing the events that recently took place in the country, has attributed responsibility for the attacks to IS. In particular, it refers to the Islamic State of Central Africa (ISCAP), a terrorist cell affiliated to Daesh and active in the Congo. According to the African Union, the last months of 2018 witnessed ISCAP militants infiltrating the north of Mozambique, taking advantage of ties with local armed factions.

Since June of last year, the branch of Islamic State has claimed responsibility for some attacks in the region, publishing images of soldiers killed and confiscated arms.
The militant Jihadists have not only intensified the escalation of violence but have also declared their intention to establish a Caliphate in loco.
During their armed attacks, the Islamic fighters occupied government buildings, blocked roads and raised the Is flag over the places they had taken. In this context, the (temporary) conquest of the strategic city of Mocímboa da Praia, also situated in the province of Cabo Delgado, caused a huge stir.

A regional problem
The Jihadist violence started in 2017. The rebels soon succeeded to extend their range of action, carrying out attacks in various districts, corresponding to one third of the entire area of the province of Cabo Delgado. During their actions, the militants attacked especially the villages, causing so far, 1,100 deaths and some 200,000 refugees.
Locally, the armed group is known as Ansar al-Sunna.
Most of its members are from Mozambique with some units from Tanzania and Somalia.

As time went on, the Islamist insurrection changed from a merely local threat to a regional problem, considering the ties that the Ansar al-Sunna leadership has begun to create with other terrorist groups of East Africa. Furthermore, the armed struggle has assumed wider connotations in light of the growing presence of foreign terrorists in the north of Mozambique, of which the members of ISCAP are one example. The Jihadist threat in Mozambique is to be placed in the framework of a context that takes into consideration a series of factors. From a political point of view, the African state is going through a situation of great fragility and its executive is continually being questioned by the opposition concerning fraud and corruption. As well as that, the opposition contested the results of the 15 October elections and the victory of President Filipe Nyusi (elected for a second mandate).

With politics stalled, there is also the problem of a poor security apparatus not properly equipped to take on the present Jihadist threat. The national armed forces are actually badly trained and have only a minimum of equipment. In order to tackle this situation, in 2018, the government had already signed a five-year agreement worth an estimated 750 million dollars, with the Frontier Services Group, a private security agency owned by American Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, accused of war crimes in Iraq. In October 2019, it was the turn of the Russian Wagner Group, already present in Ukraine, Syria, Libya and the Central African Republic. However, the latter seems to have pulled out due to the lack of an understanding with the Mozambican army. In April, a South African company, the Dick Advisory Group, came on the scene; using helicopters, it has already carried out airborne incursions against the Jihadist bases.

From the social point of view, this northern province of the country is marked by poverty and inequality, elements which over time have contributed to the increase of general intolerance. In addition, social unrest has also been fomented by the perception that the government is corrupt and that the dietary reaction against the rebels is often brutal and indiscriminate. For these reasons, in the view of some analysts, the roots of the local insurrection may derive not so much from the diffusion of radical and violent Islamic ideology as the situation of social hardship in which the people live.
Discontent among the population is also increased by the region, rich in natural resources, receives but a small share of the profits.

A region rich in Natural resources
Cabo Delgado is in fact a region rich in natural resources. Mozambique at present exports 80% of all the rubies in worldwide circulation and it is estimated that the district of Montepuez, in the region of Cabo Delgado, contains 40% of known world reserves of rubies. Rare wood, precious stones and ivory are illegally but openly traded, in view of authorities that are incapable of controlling the country and are often complicit.
Another important element is gas.
In October 2011, ENI, the Italian hydrocarbons company, discovered enormous deposits of natural gas off the coast of Palma district. It was but the first of many deposit discoveries.

With, in 2019, an estimated 150 thousand billion cubic metres of gas, the coastal waters of Cabo Delgado are among the biggest deposits of gas in the world and could make Mozambique one of its major world exporters. Apart from ENI, the reserves are under the control of USA Exxon Mobil, French Total, Chinese CNPC and Japanese Mitsui. In June 2019 the American company Anadarko signed an agreement for a plan to invest 25 billion dollars, later detected by Total. A joint venture by Exxon Mobil and Eni has a similar project of the same value in the pipeline.The escalation of violence risks creating serious concern among the giants of the energy sector just as it is in danger of rendering vain the promise of the Mozambican government to make Mozambique the second largest exporter of natural gas in the world in five years.
According to analysts, future developments in the country will depend upon the ability of the national authorities to respond to the terrorist threat, and avoid Mozambique soon becoming a new Jihadist frontier. This is clearly an action that must not limit itself to military engagement but one that must also foster the development of social inclusion. In other words, what is needed is a complex intervention that goes beyond the mere question of security and takes into account different factors, from the political to the socio-economic. (C.M.)

Colombia. An Uneasy Peace.

Wednesday, 1 July 2020 8:00

Since the ratification of the historic Peace Accord between the then President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia) Rodrigo Londono, (24 November 2016), peace has made little progress in the country. Lights and clouds overlap in an ever more difficult journey.

The positive lights that encourage hope, despite the continual fresh obstacles to the peace process, are the following. The first is the unquestionable support of the majority of the population for the peace process. Despite some quite discouraging figures such as the very high number of FARC leaders who have been assassinated, the Accord still stands, supported by more than half the population and by international cooperation. The second light, which has remained since the Accord, is composed of the 85 percent of former FARC guerrillas who are observing, notwithstanding the many failures of compliance on the part of the present government of President Iván Duque Márquez.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (R) has signed a revised peace deal with Rodrigo Londono, leader of Farc (24 November 2016).

The third light was ignited by the significant results of some agricultural projects, headed by former guerrillas, concentrated in 26 ETCR (Territorial spaces for training and reinsertion). In some of these there are significant projects for production and agricultural cooperation, such as that in Pondores a Fonseca, in the department of Guajira, in the North of the country, that are cause for hope. The fourth light is the FARC political party itself, a result of the Peace Accord, which is represented in parliament despite the return to arms of two of its senators (Ivan Mårquez and Jesus Santrich).
The fifth light derives from the UN and OSA (Organisation of American States) Peace Accord observer missions, which continually demand that the government guarantee the fulfilment of its conditions. The Catholic Church also continues to encourage the government in this direction.
The sixth light is the unilateral cease fire by the ELN (National Liberation Army) starting on 30 April 2020, in solidarity with the Colombian people during the Covid-19 public health emergency.
The seventh light, taking pride of place in the Peace Process is the positive functioning of the JEP (Special tribunal for Peace), despite its limitations and obstructionism by various government sectors.

Ominous clouds
The ominous clouds that most threaten the Peace Process are easy to identify. The first concerns the great number of people murdered. Even though, in general terms, violence has evidently declined, nevertheless, according to the 2019 report of the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), since the ratification of the Peace Accord up to December 2019, around 500 leaders of civil society and more than100 former FARC guerrillas were assassinated. Most of those killed had fought for the defence of human rights, the restoration of lands, the substitution of illegal cultivations and the leaders of indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations. This demonstrates the inability of the state to guarantee security and control the territory.

The second cloud concerns the growth of multidimensional poverty (according to the various indicators of health, education and standard of living), especially in indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities.
The third cloud derives from the delay in carrying out the 16 programmes of territorial development proposed by the government, due to a lack of coordination between the different government agencies. The same is true for the National Plan for the substitution of illicit cultivations and land expropriated from peasants.
The fourth cloud concerns the persistence of some harmful practices, condemned more than once by the UNHCR, such as the high level of corruption that deprives the Peace Process of public funds, the systematic pollution of water due to the illegal exploitation of mineral resources with the use of toxic substances, the increase in sexual violence and the involvement of minors in conflict by the ELN.
The fifth cloud points to the slow pace of the government, condemned by national and international organisations, in implementing the Peace Accord, especially as regards integral agrarian reform (the first point of the Accord), with a more meaningful presence of the state within the whole of the national territory, re-dimensioning the use and abuse of the ESMARD (Special Police Anti-protest corps) as happened last year when there were various civil gatherings.

The ambiguity of the government
The reaction of the government to the different Reports which expressed criticism by international agencies and organisations in civil society, the Catholic Church, the Civil Defensor and the Truth Commission, has almost always been one of denial, even going so far as to accuse the UNHCR of interference in internal politics and of failing by omission to condemn with equal vigour the failures of the FARC. Such as in the case of the four historical FARC leaders (two of whom were senators of the FARC Party, Marquez e Santrich), who, on 29 August 2019, decided to abandon the Peace Process to again take up arms, thus seriously threatening the survival of the process itself.

In the same way, the government accuses some NGOs such as the Centre for the People’s Education (CINEP) and the Institute of studies for development and peace (INDEPAZ), of playing political games by using at will the numbers of victims they attribute to the FARC dissident groups and to common criminality. As well as that, the government justifies itself saying that the phenomenon of selective killings is in response to its PAO (Plan for Opportune Action) which is, however, said by the NGOs to be slow and ineffective.
The reply of the government is no less ambiguous, given that, by official request, there have been two UN missions to observe the Peace Process, the second of which is now under way. It is therefore difficult to understand how the executive can accuse an organ officially invited as an uninterested arbitrator of interference.

International cooperation endangered
Similarly, it is contradictory that, on the one hand, an important organ of the international community is contested and, on the other, there are continued requests for the support of international cooperation from which financial aid for at least 10 per cent of the total cost of the implementation of the Peace Accord is both expected and demanded, over an estimated period of fifteen years.

Following the theme of international cooperation in support of the Peace Process in Columbia, important questions must be asked, seeing the economic situation of the largest donors, the United States and the EU. The present-day Covid-19 health crisis has been especially accentuated in the North Atlantic (Europe and North America), coming after the four previous emergencies of 2001 (Jihadist terrorism, the economic crisis, immigration, and Brexit). As a result, therefore, the health emergency may cause a change in the priorities of international cooperation and will presumably endanger support for the Colombia Peace Process and, globally, reduce the availability of resources also for the attainment of the 17 objectives of sustainable development of the UN Agenda. That is, the poorest of the world will suffer the effects of the virus and the measures adopted by the richer countries to combat it.

Jairo Agudelo Taborda/MO

The Hare, the Hippo and the Fire.

Wednesday, 1 July 2020 8:00

The hare and the hippo were great friends. They walked together in the veld and visited each other in their homes. The hippo was very proud of his hut on the edge of the forest, and every day he gathered soft dry grass to add to the comfort of his very large bed, for he was a very large creature.

He was also quite vain, for he had a beautiful coat of hair which kept him warm throughout the winter months.
Then it happened that one day, while on a walk together, the hippo – who was as clumsy as he was large – pushed the hare against a tree, hurting him badly.
Not realising what he had done, the hippo walked on, taking no notice of the hare’s cries of pain.

The hare was very angry at such apparent heartlessness. For a long while he nursed his anger, during which time he planned to punish his friend for his carelessness. Sometime later he again visited the hippopotamus. The hippo was delighted to see him, and soon their conversation was running smoothly as of old.

“My friend,” said the hare, following a lull in the conversation, “why is it that Fire, although professing great friendship towards you, does not return the many visits you have paid him? Surely it is right that you should return his past hospitality! Or is it that his friendship is not as great as he would have you believe?”

“No, Hare,” replied the hippo, “his friendship is indeed a true one. We always find great enjoyment in each other’s company.” “Then, friend Hippo, to test his fondness for you, let him know that you are deeply hurt at his neglect.” The hippopotamus was silent for a while as doubts began to creep into his mind. Then he said, “Well, maybe you are right, friend Hare, for many times have I accepted hospitality from Fire. Yet never once has he given me the opportunity of returning it in my own home. I shall speak to him about it.”

Having had the seeds of doubt so successfully sown in his mind, the hippopotamus lost no time in calling on Fire. The hare did not accompany him, complaining of toothache. “Good day to you, Fire,” said the hippo. “Do I find you well?”

“Good day to you,” replied the Fire. “It is a long time since I have had the pleasure of seeing you. Have you been ill, that you have not visited me for so long?”
“Not ill, Fire,” replied the hippopotamus, “but I have been greatly grieved that you have never returned my friendship by visiting me.”

“Dear friend,” said the fire, “to do so would give me pleasure, but it would cause you nothing but distress. All creatures fear me when I leave my home, and you would fear me too.” “But, good Fire, that would be impossible, considering our long-standing friendship. I have complete trust in you. Please visit my home. If you fail to do so, I shall know that there has been but little truth in your professed friendship for me.”
As the hippo refused to listen to his protestations, the fire eventually said, “Very well, tomorrow at midday I shall visit you.”
The hippopotamus was delighted.

The following day he was preparing for his guest’s arrival when he heard a crackling noise outside. He looked out of the doorway of his hut to see a big black cloud approaching, and many birds and animals running towards him in panic. “My friend is on his way!” thought the hippo joyfully. But his joy turned to fear as the fire entered his hut with a roar and a hiss. Then he felt searing flames envelop him as the tinder-dry grass that was his bed caught alight. He raced from the hut like a ball of fire, and into the river he plunged to cool his burning skin. Not a hair was left on his big bare body – and so it has remained ever since.

The hippo never went back to his home on the edge of the forest, but has lived in rivers and lakes from that day on, too afraid of meeting Fire again. And he never ventures out of the water in daytime, leaving it only at night to eat the grass at the water’s edge.

Folktale from Tonga People of Southern Zambia

The Romani People in the Balkans.

Wednesday, 1 July 2020 8:00

The Balkans and central Eastern Europe are experiencing the most serious and sudden drop in population in the world. Actually, for more than twenty years, the birth rates have been constantly declining and have recently reached the critical threshold which, according to experts, may not guarantee generational replacement.

The factors which determine this change are many, but among them, the high rate of emigration of young women of a fertile age, stands out. This phenomenon is causing an upheaval also in terms of ethnic composition, as shown by studies carried out by the most prestigious demographic centres and institutes of research regarding Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as Hungary and Slovakia. It is understood from these studies, in fact, that while the autochthonous population continues to show a marked decline, the Romani are the only ethnic group excepted from this decrease; instead their population is growing and, in a few decades, may become the majority in the area.

This phenomenon, apart from rewriting the ethnic composition of the Balkans due to the disappearance of whole peoples, could generate consequences of a political nature, both within the individual countries and also within the regional order. This is due to the high degree of intolerance of the Rom community towards the status quo, and also by the way external actors have used the situation, actors who are concerned with exploiting ethnic divisions in order to broaden their sphere of influence. In this regard, we may consider what Turkey is doing and its protagonism within the Rom community in Bulgaria where a recent operation by the local police brought to light a Rom terrorist circle, radicalised by preachers in the pay of Ankara. Tens of them have also fought in Syria in the ranks of the Islamic State.
It is not only Turkey, but also India which, as the guarantor of the protection of European Romani, may take advantage of this in order to extend its range of action in the area.
At present, it is difficult to estimate the numbers of Romani present in the area since there is no agreement between the censuses carried out by the institutions and the data gathered by research centres using studies carried out in the field. In this respect, we may take the example of Romania where the census calculated 600,000, while studies made in the field counted between three and four million people.

The Romani flag or flag of the Roma (Romani: O styago le romengo) is the international flag of the Romani people.

A large part of the Romani people trace their roots back to a people who spoke a popular form of Sanskrit and who, in around 1000 AD left the Indus delta to migrate towards Europe. Among them there were experts in metalwork. Others, instead, are descendants of a Christian people who came from Thrace. In the view of some experts, the name ‘Gypsy’ – from the Greek ‘tsinganoi’, the untouchables – by which all the nomads of Europe, from Romania to Portugal, were called, may be directly associated with the Pariah, members of the lowest Indian caste, those without a caste, those who were untouchable due to their social condition. For the next four centuries, after 1000 AD, they settled in many European countries, starting with the Balkans, adapting their economy and rhythm of life according to the possibilities of the countries in which they lived.
After the Ottoman invasions, in the XIV and XV centuries, the Romani were involved directly in the invasions, mainly as auxiliary soldiers or artisans at the service of the army.

According to some estimates, in the XVI and XVII centuries, between 15,000 and 20,000 ‘gypsies’ were recruited into the Ottoman army in various capacities, serving both as real infantry and in auxiliary service. The Romani community, however, did not live in isolation from their historical and cultural ambient; quite the opposite, it was an integral part of it and was strongly influenced by the customs of the local peoples. From the point of view of religion, the facts show that, in the XV and XVI centuries, the majority of Romani followed the Christian faith and were distinguished from those of the Muslim faith only by the fact that they had to pay higher taxes than them.
For centuries, a considerable number of Romani remained in the Balkans; the rest emigrated throughout the world bringing with them the cultural and traditional models of the Balkans. There is therefore no doubt that, also the Ottoman Empire, which dominated the Balkans for more than five centuries, effectively influencing the culture and religion of the location, played a fundamental role in the process of formation and development of the Romani people. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Romani remained settled within the confines of the Balkans and, from then on, their historical destiny and their evolution were subject to the influences of the country where they lived. Nevertheless, the inheritance left by the Ottoman Empire was still present in various ways, both ethnic and religious.

Today, unlike in those times, the Romani live in the precarious condition of complete social marginalisation. Their communities actually live within peripheral areas which we may undoubtedly define as real ethnic enclaves, with little access to basic services such as education and health and where infant mortality rates are high. These factors, together with a short life expectancy, endemic poverty and illiteracy that shackle this minority, partly explain the overall high birth rate of over three children for each woman, completely overturning the tendency towards the decrease in population recorded among the autochthonous population. According to data supplied by the United Nations and the World Bank, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Serbia have an average fertility rate of 1.4 children for each woman, that is, 0.7 points less than the 2.1 required to guarantee generational replacement. In particular, by the year 2050, the populations of Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia will decline by more than 15%, and by the year 2100, their populations will decline from 7,128,000 to 3,400,000, from 19,600,000 to 11,700,000 and from 7,057,000 to 5,330,000 respectively. For more than twenty years, in fact, the birth rate has been in constant decline and recently reached the critical threshold of nine births per thousand of the population. The phenomenon, which extends also to Eastern Europe, includes Slovakia and Hungary and, between the years 2040 and 2060, the Romani population may become the most numerous and establish itself as the first ethnic group, to the detriment of the autochthonous population. (F.R.)

Photo Gallery – Jubilee 2025. Pilgrims of Hope

Advocacy

Baobab

Youth & Mission