I MAKE MY STAND . . . WITH MOTHER EARTH

Waiting for Irma

My original plan was to publish this particular post a little later in the series.  However, given the "weather news" the last two weeks - here in the U.S. and around the globe, I decided that now was the time to post this. Last week - hurricane Harvey.  "Unprecedented destruction."  "A 500-year, maybe 1,000-year storm," they say. And this week hurricane Irma - the largest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic; as I write, making landfall in south Florida, already having left unimaginable devastation in her path! 

[Photograph taken in our yard this morning here in central Florida, even as hurricane Irma bears down on our state.]

I MAKE MY STAND WITH MOTHER EARTH 

AND ALL HER CREATURES, GREAT AND SMALL

The story is told of an occasion, shortly after the Portuguese colonizers first arrived on the shores of South America (now Brazil). They were cutting down the large trees of the Pau Brasil or ibirapitanga - “red wood” in the indigenous Tupi language - to take back to Portugal.  Some of the local indigenous people came to see, curious what these pallid strangers were doing.  One of them asked the Portuguese: “Do you not have trees in your country, that you must take these from our land?”

“No, we have trees,” was the reply.  “But we need these trees for the bright red dye they provide.”

“But why do you need to so many trees?” the Native queried.  “Who requires so much dye?”

“We make dye to sell, for money,” the Portuguese replied.

“But what for?  What do you do with money?” 

“Well, we collect it, so we can live, and we leave it for our children so that they can live and survive comfortably as well.”

The Native looked at the pale, bearded stranger for a long time, with an expression of total puzzlement.  Finally he said: “The Earth, she provides for us today, and if we care for her she will provide for our children as well!”[1]

In a capitalist world, our lives have become focused on accumulation -- accumulation of things and of money, i.e., capital. (This is the foundational driving force and purpose within capitalism.) We have forgotten that the Earth is our Mother.  We have forgotten that She will provide for us, and for our children, and for all future generations – IF WE CARE FOR HER!”

In the Christian Bible, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus places this confidence in the context of trust in God:   “Notice how the flowers grow,”  he tells his followers. “They do not toil or spin. But I tell you, not even [King] Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them.  If God so clothes the grass in the field that grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you . . . ?” (Luke 12:27 and 28)

Within a system that promotes fear, insecurity, and short-sightedness, our world today is moving full speed ahead toward our own annihilation and the annihilation of most, if not all living things on this planet.  (The movie, “The Hellstrom Chronicle,” suggests that cockroaches will be the only ones to survive!)  Unlike the deniers, I am a person of the 21^st Century and I believe in science. Scientists are telling us today that our use of carbon fuels and the resulting global warming is bringing us to the brink.  Just this past week we witnessed the precursors of worse things to come, with the unprecedented wind and especially rainfall from hurricane Harvey, devastating large swathes of Texas and Louisiana here in the United States.  At the same time, over a third – that’s right, over one third!! – of the land mass of Bangladesh is under flood waters, with flooding in neighboring India and Nepal as well.  During this same week there is also flooding in Beijing, where they are seeing the heaviest rainfall to come to that region in 60 years! Irma, bearing down at this very moment on the state of Florida and having left  behind it a trail of massive destruction, is the largest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic. And, as I make my final edits on this post, the weather map is showing not one, not two, but three hurricanes twisting across the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico!

For the sake of all life on this planet and the life of the planet herself, WE MUST STOP!!  We must make our stand against the monied interests, the oligarchs, the money-serving political class, and the madmen who, in disregard to all the evidence and warnings, and looking out only for their own short-term gain, are taking us over the cliff!!

We must stop polluting our air, our seas, and our fresh water streams, rivers, and aquifers! We must halt the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, known as the “lungs of the world,” and other forested areas around the globe, all sources of the precious oxygen needed for life. We must provide protection for sensitive and unique ecosystems and biomes of our Mother Earth - Pacha Mama. And we must protect our companion travelers in the form of all living beings – plant, animal, and all creatures – on this planet.  It is on this side, of fighting for the very life of our planet and all its living creatures including humankind, that I MAKE MY STAND!

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[1] This story was shared in a documentary about a project working with refugees from lands flooded as a result of the Belo Monte dam construction on the Xingu river, near the Amazon in Brazil.  The video, titled “Eu+1: Uma jornada de saúde mental na Amazônia,” is available on YouTube.

Our Critical Calling

I started this blog three and a half years ago with two primary purposes. One was to articulate – for myself and for others – where I stand in terms of faith. I grew up in a conservative Christian evangelical-fundamentalist context which in some ways continues to inform my spiritual life. But I have also departed radically from those upbringings to a much more open, nuanced, modern (and more ancient) theology and spirituality. In a short series of posts I described it as “A Strange Mix” (see posts dated 12/2/2012 and 12/30/2012).

A second purpose was to explore more deeply – and again to attempt to express for myself and for those who would read my blog – my view that the journey inward (see the post dated 10/12/2012) of self-understanding and spirit is intimately and dialectically bound up with the journey outward (see the post dated 10/15/2012) of life choices and actions aimed at creating a world of greater justice, equality, and peace. Both of these journeys, in my view, are grounded in the belief that God makes a preferential option for those on the margins of society and that this option defines our human calling and true faith.

Two years ago life offered me an opportunity that reflects both of these purposes: I was invited to join the team at Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka, Florida. With a history of over forty years rooted in faith, Hope's mission is to be a place of empowerment with the immigrant and working poor populations of central Florida. This is a mission that parallels my own vision and mission in life. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this amazing organization.

Photo source: Popular Resistance newsletter

 This being said, events in the U.S. and globally over the last number of years have – each day it seems –

highlighted to an ever greater extent the need for concerted action for justice in our world. Around the world we've seen, in startling strides, the demise of people's democracy. The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to legitimate unlimited contributions by corporations and the wealthy to political candidates and campaigns is a final blow to the average citizen having any real voice in elections. In the current election cycle the power of the two political parties here in the U.S. - two shades of the same political color really – to control the process of selecting candidates and to eliminate third party or outlier challenges has become starker than ever. We saw the rise of the Occupy movement, a voice for what has been recognized as the 99% - the vast majority of us barred from voice and influence in matters of the public domain. As long as the movement offered a minor and nonconstructive presence it was essentially ignored but once it began to gain voice and visibility, as is always the case, government and the police state engaged to ensure that there was ultimately no serious threat to the interests of business and the monied crowd.

Recent events in Brazil – my heart country – reflect in a similar way a startling disregard for the will of the people and the legitimacy of democracy. What is being called a “parliamentary” or “institutional” coup is being implemented by a wealthy and pro-corporate minority to remove the elected president and to undo gains made for the poor and average middle class during fourteen years under the elected governments of the Ignacio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rouseff, both of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers Party). Promulgated in the name of fighting corruption, the coup is in fact a blatant effort aimed at ending the criminal investigation of those who have seized power.^*

The U.S. government has been strangely silent about the overthrowing of the government of the fifth largest nation in the world and a critical player in the Western Hemisphere. On the other hand perhaps it is not so strange since U.S. business is interested in and stands to gain a foothold in the lucrative oil and gas holdings of Brazil under the new illegitimate government. Other recent examples would include coups in Honduras, Libya (including the murder of the Libyan president) and the Ukraine – and even as I write, efforts to undo the elected government in Venezuela^¥ -- all supported if not having direct involvement by the U.S. government.^±

A key feature of the world we live in and the primary driving force undermining true democracy is the presence and influence wielded by those I refer to as the “monied crowd.” More accurately, it is the monied few. In a 2014 briefing paper, “Working for the Few,” Oxfam reported that the 85 wealthiest individuals in the world have as much money as the poorest half of the entire world's population – 3.5 million persons!

In the past few years here in the United States some of these ultra-super-wealthy have become open and explicit about the agenda they are funding and promoting. It is an agenda to do away with all government and legal support for workers, for the poor, for students, for the retired, for the middle class. Witness the decades of strategic support by the Koch brothers, the 5^th and 6^th wealthiest persons in the world, to eliminate the right of workers in the United States to unionize.^ᵵ It was even more revealing to me to learn recently that the Koch brothers provided training and financial support to three of four groups leading efforts to remove the elected president of Brazil.^ᴥ I begin to see that the aims of this monied crowd are driven by a global vision. They are not satisfied to dominate what happens in the United States or any other individual country. In fact, it seems to me that they have no real national interests. Their goal is to dominate the world, to create a very different world from the one we have today, a world that functions entirely according to their interests and demands. Their aim is a global plutocracy, creating a world ruled by the super rich,^ⱡ with the rest of us as serfs, serving their every beck and call.

What are the strategies and actions that can effectively counter this global reality. What approaches will enable those of us who are by far the majority, to fatally wound, to undermine, to bring an end to the direction of this hegemonic plutocratic movement envisioned and controlled by the super-wealthy 1%? And the balancing question is: What are the structures and practices that need to be put in place to create a world of true justice, equity and peace?

And so the questions that have become central to me over the last couple of years really, and even more so as I witness more recent events, are: What are the strategies and actions that can effectively counter this global reality. What approaches will enable those of us who are by far the majority, to fatally wound, to undermine, to bring an end to the direction of this hegemonic plutocratic movement envisioned and controlled by the super-wealthy 1%? And the balancing question is: What are the structures and practices that need to be put in place to create a world of true justice, equity and peace?

These are the issues I propose to explore in subsequent postings. I value and look forward to additional creative thoughts and ideas being expressed by those who read my blog and choose to respond. For those of us who are part of the 99%, it seems to me that this is our critical calling for this time.

*See also “New Leak: Brazil Coup Plotters Sought Protection from Corruption Probe” http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/New-Leak-Brazil-Politicians-Sought-Corruption-Probe-Shield-20160530-0011.html

¥http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Media-War-Against-Venezuela-Kicks-into-High-Gear-20160528-0011.html

±See http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/SilencingPilger-20160527-0015.html. See also http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/6-Coups-Against-Latin-Americas-Left-Since-2000-20160511-0021.html

 

ᵵSee the YouTube documentary, “Koch Brothers Exposed.” Linguist, philosopher and social critic Noam Chomsky describes this as “class war.”

ᴥhttp://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/15521

ⱡ See Michael Brenner's article Plutocracy in America. See also the Popular Resistance newsletter article “US Democracy Crisis Creates Illegitimate Political System.”