Sr. Sally Ann Brickner: Fighting Poverty to Build Peace

“Fighting Poverty to Build Peace”[i] - A Call to Action
by Sr. Sally Ann Brickner

For the World Day of Prayer for Peace, January 1, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI’s message, “Fighting Poverty to Build Peace,” drew attention to the ways that poverty creates social instability and thus threatens peace. He recalled the words of John Paul II that poverty often contributes to conflicts which, in turn, fuel greater poverty. Pope Benedict XVI defined poverty not only as material deprivation but also as marginalization and affective or moral underdevelopment. Considering the fundamental teaching of Christianity, he said that “Every form of externally imposed poverty has at its root a lack of respect for the transcendent dignity of the human person.” (Article 2) Therefore, as members of God’s family, our primary vocation is to care for the least among us.

Our Holy Father described various critical conditions in the world - pandemic diseases, child poverty, and especially the immensity of military expenditures that divert resources from development projects within the poorest nations. He quoted Pope Paul VI who said in Populorum Progressio that “the new name for peace is development.” To be successful, such programs must include at every stage those who are mired in poverty. They know their needs, their culture, and the strategies that will work best.

For Christians, the Holy Father’s message is a call in this New Year to recommit to the Gospel mandate of a “preferential option for the poor.” Two important initiatives of the past addressed the scourge of global poverty. In the 1990s when the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were extracting extraordinarily high interest payments from poor countries, the Jubilee 2000 Movement was launched in Great Britain and spread across the globe. The Movement interceded for debt forgiveness and loan restructuring for some highly indebted countries. Another movement was begun by Pax Christi International. Called “Bread Not Stones,” the campaign promoted nuclear, conventional and domestic disarmament so that resources could be directed toward humanitarian assistance. Participation in these two programs was a means of helping to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of cutting global poverty in half by 2015. So, we might ask, what progress has been made through the movements?

Though some highly indebted countries have benefited through debt forgiveness, the need still exists for many others. Jubilee 2000 has been renamed Jubilee USA Network.[ii] It’s most recent report states that thirty countries are poorer and more indebted than some of those that have had debts forgiven or their payments restructured. So Jubilee USA Network has launched a new campaign called What’s on your heart? People are asked to again study the issues and to write to Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner about addressing the unsustainable debt and economic injustice that impedes the world’s poorest peoples – the bottom billion – from making progress on the ladder of development.

What about disarmament? According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, global military expenditures have increased by 45% since 1998 to over $1.3 trillion - $202 for each person in the world! In 2007, the USA’s military spending accounted for 45% of the world’s total.[iii] Furthermore, the United States leads all countries in the sale of conventional arms with Israel ranked as the number one recipient of our military aid. (The weapons that the Israelis use in Gaza have most likely been manufactured in the United States.) Many disarmament campaigns exist, including the banning of cluster bombs (the USA has refused to sign this international treaty).[iv] At the United Nations, Franciscans International focuses on disarmament, particularly on small arms and landmines. FI reports that small arms are increasingly available and their use leads to the death of a half million people each year. Landmines cause the deaths of 15-20,000 people each year and maim many more – mostly civilians.[v] Disarmament continues to be an urgent need so that resources can be redirected to humanitarian assistance in ways that minimize the insecurity that stems from poverty.

A new administration took office in the USA on January 20th, presenting new opportunities for change. We can (and must) fight poverty by working with President Obama to forge a new direction in domestic and foreign policy. As he said in his acceptance speech in Chicago’s Grant Park on November 4, 2008, “This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.”[vi] Thus Gandhi’s challenge to us remains: if we wish to see poverty, which he called the worst form of violence, cut in half by 2015, we must be the change we wish to see in the world.

Sr. Sally Ann Brickner

Contact for the WNPJ member group: St. Norbert College Peace and Justice CenterAddress: 100 Grant St., DePere WI 54115Phone: 920-403-3881E-Mail:mailto:pjc@snc.edu
[i] http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20081208_xlii-world-day-peace_en.html
[ii] http://www.jubileeusa.org/
[iii] http://www.sipri.org/contents/milap/milex/mex_trends.html
[iv] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/03/cluster-bomb-treaty-oslo
[v] http://www.franciscansinternational.org/issues/disarm.php
[vi] http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl135