|
Economic Justice archive
1999-2001 |
| For more recent
reports on economic justice issues,
click here.
Items from 2002 through 2003 are
archived on another page >> |
| Florida
farm workers call for boycott of Taco Bell, plan "Truth Tour"
for March [12-22-01]
The Coalition of Immokalee workers is a
community-based worker organization located in Immokalee, Florida. Their
members, largely Latino, Haitian, and Mayan Indian immigrants, work in
low-wage jobs throughout Southwest Florida.
In April of 2001, CIW called a national boycott of
Taco Bell to win higher wages for tomato pickers in central Florida, who
make about $7,500 per year. Taco Bell is one of the largest consumers of
tomatoes from the region, and an increase of one cent per pound in the
price Taco Bell pays for tomatoes would double the workers' salaries.
In a cross-country caravan from Immokalee, FL, to Taco
Bell's global headquarters in Irvine, CA, farmworkers and student and
community allies will hit 15 major US cities between March 1 and 17,
telling how the fast food giant profits from farmworker poverty.
For details of the situation and plans for the tour,
visit their web site. You might even want to join the tour, or get to
one of their events.
E-mail the organizers at <tbtruthtour@aol.com>
or check out the CIW
web site |
| Anne
Barstow offers a more complete report on the
Ghost Ranch seminar of last August, on the links between
militarization and globalization -- with special focus on the situation
in Colombia, and some of the points for action that arose among the
participants. [10-5-01] |
| Some
getting richer, some getting poorer, and (almost) all in denial
[8-28-01]
As the rich-poor gap in American society continues to
grow, our habit of denial helps us keep on believing that we live in a
land of equal opportunity. {"While the average worker's pay in 2000
was lower than in 1980, adjusting for inflation, CEO pay was 10 times
higher.") Molly
Lanzarotta writes in the political zine, IMPACT Press, that some
people - especially women and minorities - are catching on. Those
concerned for economic justice, she implies, need to help people see the
economic realities, and present the American ideal in more convincing
ways. |
| WCC
Asia
consultation urges churches to find alternatives to
globalization [8-22-01]
A mid-August consultation in Fiji, sponsored by the
World Council of Churches and the Pacific Conference of Churches,
gathered representatives from 29 countries to struggle with the
phenomenon of globalization and its effects. The meeting ended by
calling on churches to be more prophetic in their opposition to the
distortions of economic globalization, while urging them to seek viable
alternatives that won't increase suffering and poverty, exploit workers
or destroy the environment. |
A
report from Ghost Ranch
Crisis in Our Global Neighborhood [8-16-01]
Fifty-five people from across the U.S. gathered at
Ghost Ranch August 6-13 for an intensive seminar on the looming crisis
of economic globalization and militarism. The seminar was sponsored by
the Witherspoon Society, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, and
Presbyterians for Restoring Creation.
The group agreed on a need for our church to focus
education and action on three areas of concern: the US involvement
in the conflict in Colombia; the US-Mexico border; and the School of the
Americas. |
| US, a
rogue state?? [8-9-01]
The Clinton administration received the benefit of
lots of moral analysis - even ethical reflection. The current
administration doesn't seem to be getting the same kind of commentary
from the media or the citizenry.
A "Commentary" article published in last
Sunday's Minneapolis
Star Tribune points the way. It's written by Norman J. Vig, a
professor of political science at Carleton College, in Northfield,
Minnesota.
He begins: "We might as well make it official:
The United States is acting like a rogue state." He is commenting
specifically on the Bush administration's withdrawal from the Kyoto
Protocol aimed at reducing the emissions that seem clearly linked to the
phenomenon of global warming. He mentions also the recent G8 summit in
Genoa, and our planned imminent violation of the ABM treaty. So if any
nation is flouting the will of the world of nations ... if any nation is
willing and even eager to break the promises made in treaties over
recent decades ... if any nation is operating purely on the basis of its
own narrowly defined interests ... it's US.
Vig provides a thoughtful analysis of the issues
behind the Kyoto treaty, and refutes much of the reasoning offered by
the President for his withdrawal from it. |
| It
may sound unAmerican, but the personal and the social are linked
In a time of private prosperity, the public good
has suffered [8-6-01]
The L.A.
Times has published an article by staff writer Peter G. Gosselin
revealing more clearly than we may have seen it before, just how skewed
has been the U.S. economy during the recent economic boom. Private
wealth has grown, and private living standards have improved. But public
investment in boring things like highways and water supplies has lagged
seriously.
Thus, he writes, Americans "can purchase the most
technologically advanced health care on Earth but face a rising risk of
being unable to find an emergency room or a variety of basic drugs. They
can buy Perrier but can't always get clean tap water." Why? Because
"the prosperity of the last decade has been a peculiarly private
affair." But now we're discovering that the decay of public
facilities (think about power shortages and airline travel!) can put a
serious dent in the private happiness of even the more prosperous among
us.
If we need to make a case for a healthier balance between
social concern and personal concerns, this article provides plenty of
material for thought.
Thanks to onReligion.com
|
| Reflections
on the Genoa G8 meeting
[7-31-01]
The G8 summit meeting in Genoa, Italy, with the battles
in the streets and George Bush's steadfast (to use a polite word)
insistence that the US will do things its own way, needs more reflection
after the event. Here are two reports that have been flagged by Utne
Reader's Webwatch:
Free
Market Martyrdom?
Killing the Buddha's web site (if you haven't
visited there, it's worth the trip) offers some provocative theological
analysis, if you use the term "theology" fairly broadly.
According to co-editor Jeff Sharlet, both sides used religious language
and rhetoric, and now martyrdom has been added to the mix. The
protesters, he argues, may be engaging in a holy war not just over
economics, but over what we are to believe in the new millennium.
What
the Protesters in Genoa Want
Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, in a New York
Times op-ed piece, make the very important point that the protesters
were not anti-globalization, but were supporting an alternative form of
global cooperation, which would value democracy, ecology, and social
justice over power and profit. |
|
A
Jubilee update:
Jubilee 2000 -- the world-wide movement to cancel the
debts of the poorest countries -- achieved major progress last year in
getting debt relief on the agenda of the world economic agencies.
But Witherspoon president Jane Hanna points to how much remains to be
done, as the recently concluded meeting in Genoa, Italy, has made very
clear. [7-23-01] |
Majority
excluded from global decision-making
Ecumenical consultation on economic
globalization in central and eastern Europe
[7-2-01]
The World Council of Churches (WCC), the Conference of
European Churches (CEC), the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC)
and its European Area Committee (EAC), brought together nearly a hundred
participants and observers in Budapest, Hungary, from 24-28 June, on an
ecumenical consultation on economic globalization.
The consultation sent
a message to governments and churches noting that the reliance of
Communism on "unrestricted state planning" has been replaced
by an "unrestrained market mechanism." While the change was
welcomed by many, this shift to "a market without a social,
cultural and institutional framework is bound to fail and destroy the
social fabric of society." The message asks churches in the west to
persuade decision-makers to stop the exploitation and exclusion of the
majority of countries from decision-making processes. |
Off
the Fast Track and onto the Right Track
A Tennessee group sets forth a clear statement on President Bush's
proposals for the restoration of "fast track" for
international trade deals. They call especially for rethinking the
proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. [7-2-01] |
| Now's
the time to support an increase of $1.50 in
the minimum wage [6-5-01] |
|
Reparations
may be an issue at GA
John E. Harris notes that the issue of reparations for
slavery will come to the 2001 General Assembly through a report from the
Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns. It includes a
recommendation for the formation of a task force to study reparations
for African-American and other groups "who have experienced
significantly disparate treatment" through U.S. history.
[4-24-01]
Check out
earlier
reports on the question of reparations. |
| The
UCC Justice and Peace Ministry has
urged people to contact Congress to oppose the proposed Free Trade Area
of the Americas (FTAA), an expansion of NAFTA to cover the whole Western
hemisphere with the very mixed blessings of "free trade."
[4-24-01] |
Jubilee
efforts continue
[4-19-01]
Religion News Service reports on efforts by religious
and other groups to influence coming meetings on world economic issues -
the Summit of the Americas on April 20-22, and the Group of
Eight industrialized nations this summer in Genoa, Italy.
|
| Weekly
message from UCC Justice and Peace Ministry points to an urgent need for
setting our budget priorities. [4-14-01] |
| UCC
Justice and Peace Ministry urges action
to resist tax cuts as they come up in the U.S. Senate. [3-13-01] |
| Jubilee
2000/USA becomes the Jubilee USA Network
and seeks to end debt domination [3-9-01]
Following up on the successes achieved toward debt
cancellation, a coalition of faith-based and activist organizations
launched the Jubilee/USA Network at a
three
day meeting in Denver, Colorado February 16-18, 2001. We now
have a more complete report of decisions
and plans shaped at that meeting. The newly formed Jubilee USA
Network will continue urging full cancellation of debts owed by
developing nations to the IMF and the World Bank, will work for making
more treatment for AIDS available to developing nations, and will urge
the completion of legislative action needed this year to get full
Congressional appropriations for existing debt relief programs.
Check out earlier reports. |
| A
number of responsible leaders have been urging a national
consideration of some form of reparations to African-Americans in
very partial compensation for the evils of slavery. At a
Fisk
University forum, speakers affirmed the appropriateness of
reparations. Gene TeSelle reports. [2-24-01] |
| A
resolution calling for study of the issue of reparations for slavery has
been put forth in the United Church of Christ.
It states the issue well, and includes a helpful
list
of resources. [2-26-01] |
| Presbyterians
are working with others to move to
the next phase of the Jubilee
campaign, with a new focus on AIDS treatment, social and economic
justice. [2-23-01] |
| At
a meeting of the World Council of Churches' Central Committee in
Potsdam, a Methodist bishop from Argentina urged "dependent
countries" to confront the global
economic system "in which we are becoming the property of those
who hold our debt"- creditor nations. [1-31-01] |
MRTI
committee urges PC(USA) to dump stock in oil company exploiting
war-ravaged Sudan
Members explore teeming settlement on Arizona-Mexico border through
visit to BorderLinks' Casa de Misericordia |
| Debate
continues on Bush proposal to use religious groups to provide social
services with government funding [1-26-01] |
| Presbyterian
News Service has published a lengthy analysis of the significant
roles
played by Presbyterians -- as a church and as individuals -- in
working for passage of the Jubilee debt relief measure. [1-15-01] |
| Role
of faith-based organizations in social services is in the news again, as
President-elect George W. Bush met on Wednesday (Dec. 20, 2000) with
some 30 representatives of various religious groups, to discuss his
ideas about using religious organizations to administer programs for the
poor, using government money to strengthen their efforts. Click
here for reports, comments, and background
essays. [12 -21-00] |
|
Oikocredit
provides an ecumenical, world-wide channel through which congregations
and individuals can put their money in a place that supports grass-roots
economic development. |
| Clinton
signs "Jubilee" debt relief measure, notes influence of
religious communities
Presbyterian
Washington Office director praises signing of debt relief
legislation as an "act of justice"
|
| The
New York Times reports that
"Charitable
choice" is not finding many takers. |
| Report
details pattern of southern nations'
resistance
to WTO and IMF |
| Voices
of Sophia speaker explored ways
to work on Jubilee
A featured speaker at the Voices of Sophia breakfast
during the Women's Gathering in July was Rebecca Todd ("Toddie")
Peters, who is currently working on a doctoral degree at Union Seminary
in New York. She was one of the founding members of the National
Network of Presbyterian College Women.
In her talk she described graphically the reasons for
taking seriously the current globalization of the world economy, and
suggested some ways we might begin to deal responsibly with the problems
it creates.
Click
here to read her talk on the Voices of Sophia web site. |
| "Charitable
choice" looks like a mixed blessing -- and we should pay
attention
And
now we add reflections about dealing with charitable
choice on the front lines, from Trina Zelle, a Presbyterian minister
serving on the border of Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico.
|
|
Ghost
Ranch gathering with authors Ross and Gloria Kinsler considers the
meaning of Sabbath and Jubilee for our living today. |
| Debt
relief takes a step forward in Congress. Click
here for a report from Jubilee 2000, and click
here for analysis. |
| The
Ghost
Ranch workshop on "Organizing for Economic Justice,"
held in the summer of 1999, offered stimulating ideas and lots of
resources. |
| "Simultaneous
Policy" is advanced as a new way to deal with
globalization |
| The moral
issue in politics is ... economics and justice
 Jim
Wallis, editor in chief of Sojourners, and convener of Call
to Renewal, has recently published an essay on beliefNet, urging
that the real "moral litmus test" for candidates should not be
their moral purity or views on narrowly defined "moral
issues," but rather how they deal with poverty, and how they
understand the role of faith-based groups in that effort. |
| Click here for Gene TeSelle's listing of
resources and programs for
alternative
economics. |
| For
a brief review of a new book on global economic justice, click
here. |
| Religious leaders call for a real "living
wage." |
| A broad
new call to end poverty
A wide spectrum of religious groups, including the National Council
of Churches and the National Association of Evangelicals, has joined in
a statement declaring that persistent poverty in the US is "morally
unacceptable." Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the PC(USA),
was among the 57 signers of the "Covenant to Overcome
Poverty."
Click here to read the Covenant.
And click
here to visit the web site of "Call to Renewal," the
sponsoring group.
For a story from the National Council of Churches, click here.
|
| For reflections and
reports on the Seattle World Trade conference, click
here. |
| |
