We who form part of SEMILLAS are committed to commenting on and raising awareness of social justice issues in our local and global communities. We are strongly influenced by the mission and work of Maryknoll, the U.S. Catholic Mission Society. Some of us are formally linked to Maryknoll through its Affiliates program. We welcome anyone to join our Weblog community who has an interest in planting a few seeds of social justice. We hope you will enjoy our blog - we appreciate any comments.

Friday, January 28, 2005

Debt Cancellation for the Poor: Act Now

On February 4-5, 2005, Finance Ministers from the seven wealthiest countries are meeting to consider 100% debt cancellation for many of the world's poorest countries. The lives of thousands of people could be saved every day if the debt of these countries were cancelled and the savings put towards vital health, education, economic, environmental and other development projects. Sign this simple E-petition urging the US to push for 100% debt cancellation for impoverished countries.

[Thanks to SEMILLAS member, B, for this call to action.]

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Latin American Leaders on Globalization

A very good article which emphasizes Latin America's leaders waking up to the failures of globalization in taking care of the most marginalized of their peoples. The article begins:

Latin American leaders united to criticize globalization for failing to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, and urged global lenders like the International Monetary Fund to allow them to spend more on social projects and infrastructure.

'The perverse logic of draining the needy to irrigate the bountiful still stands,' Brazil's President Luiz InĂ¡cio Lula da Silva told the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Lula da Silva, a socialist who has implemented an IMF-sanctioned economic program, called for 'an important shift in the financial flows from international multilateral organisms' to foster 'just and sustainable development.'
Read the whole article. By the way, for those of you particularly interested in Latin America, the Latin American Post is an excellent online clearinghouse for news on Latin America.

A Call to Inaction

"Not One Damn Dime Day - January 20, 2005"

Since our religious leaders will not speak out against the war in Iraq, since our political leaders don't have the moral courage to oppose it, since Bush is wasting 40 MILLION dollars on his inauguration party...while the soldiers have inadequate armor and too few of them to create or maintain peace in Iraq... Inauguration Day, Thursday, January 20th, 2005 is "Not One Damn Dime Day" in America.

On "Not One Damn Dime Day " those who oppose what is happening in our name in Iraq can speak up with a 24-hour national boycott of all forms of consumer spending. During "Not One Damn Dime Day" please don't spend money. Not one damn dime for gasoline. Not one damn dime for necessities or for impulse purchases. Not one damn dime for nothing for 24 hours. On "Not One Damn Dime Day" please boycott Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target...Please don't go to the mall or the local convenience store. Please don't buy any fast food (or any groceries at all for that matter). For 24 hours, please do what you can to shut the retail economy down.

The object is simple. Remind the people in power that the war in Iraq is immoral and illegal; that they are responsible for starting it and that it is their responsibility to stop it. "Not One Damn Dime Day" is to remind them, too, that they work for the people of the United States of America, not for the International corporations and K Street lobbyists who represent the corporations and funnel cash into American politics. "Not One Damn Dime Day" is about supporting the troops. The politicians put the troops in harm's way. Now 1,300 brave young Americans and (some estimate) 100,000 Iraqis have died. The politicians owe our troops a plan - a way to come home.

There's no rally to attend. No marching to do. No left or right wing agenda to rant about. On "Not One Damn Dime Day" you take action by doing nothing. You open your mouth by keeping your wallet closed. For 24 hours, nothing gets spent, not one damn dime, to remind our religious leaders and our politicians of their moral responsibility to end the war in Iraq and give America back to the people.

Please share this call to action with all your friends and colleagues.

(Thanks to Semillas member Dan DeMers for circulating this message.)

Monday, January 10, 2005

The "Salvador Option" in Iraq

One of our Semillas members has uncovered a worrisome story that indicates that the U.S. Government (and particularly the Department of Defense) is pondering the creation and support of Iraqi "Death Squads" much like the Reagan Administration did in El Salvador in the 1980s. These paramilitary units would be used to "crush" the Rebels. We know what happened in El Salvador ... a protracted, violent, and bloody civil war in which the U.S. paid mere lip service to democracy while the forces of repression went to work with impunity. This is a frightening story, and if it is true, the sham of Bush's Iraq policy is exposed. Thanks to my Semillas colleague for alerting us to this story.

UPDATE: 1/1/05 12:44pm: The original Newsweek story on this development, on which the above article is based and to which it links, can be found here.

Saturday, January 08, 2005

Focus on the Congo

As aid pours into Asia as part of tsunami relief efforts, Africans in the Congo lament that, once again, the forgotten continent's own humanitarian crises go essentially unheeded:

Even now, as thousands of children die each week from drinking dirty water and not having enough food, and the people of once-thriving communities hide like the hunted in the forests, the Congolese expect little from the world's big spenders.

But as Congo watches the global scramble to raise billions in aid for victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami, many here wonder why Asian suffering stirs action while African suffering is greeted largely with apathy.

The New York-based International Rescue Committee says nearly 4 million people have been killed in Congo since the start of five-year war in 1998, most from war-induced disease and starvation. Fighting persists in the county's east -- the epicenter of the war -- and 1,000 are dying each day, half of them younger than 5.

The tsunami, in comparison, killed an estimated 150,000 as of Friday. The disaster was a sudden scourge of nature, while Congo's toll has accumulated slowly, at the hands of man.
1,000 deaths per day. Half of these younger than age 5. 4 million dead since 1998. Darfur is a similar story. We must remember to keep perspective.

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Pope John Paul II's World Day of Peace Message

From the message of His Holiness Pope John Paul II for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace, 1 January 2005:

To attain the good of peace there must be a clear and conscious acknowledgment that violence is an unacceptable evil and that it never solves problems.
An excellent, simple, and clear message. Read the whole message.

Interesting Interview on Tsunami and Social Justice/Human Rights in Indonesia

On the Democracy Now! website, I came across an interesting interview that points to some of the reprehensible manipulation of this natural disaster that can take place if we advocates of social justice aren't attentive and vigilant. The interview is introducted by the following:

The disaster is killing thousands in Aceh but the Indonesian military has been doing that for years. Now activists fear the Indonesian military will use the disaster as a cover to further the killing of the Acehnese and that the Pentagon may use the disaster as an excuse to restore aid to the Indonesian military which was blocked after the military's massacre in East Timor in 1999.
If we are going to make disaster relief in the wake of the tsunami a social justice issue, then we need to make sure that this relief is administered JUSTLY and that it benefits and supports the lives and dignity of the dispossessed who were the most affected by this tragedy and that it is NOT used to make their suffering even worse. Friends, keep an eye out and watch where your government's disaster relief "aid" is really directed!

Help Haiti

Network, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, has identified a key legislative issue that we should be pushing in the upcoming new Congress. It is a carryover initiative from the last Congress that never received Congressional action. It is a request that Congress respond concretely in a number of ways to the current situation in Haiti as it affects the poor and the oppressed. The first part of this advocacy initiative is to support a Congressionally-mandated investigation into the current Haitian regime's repressive campaign against the poor. The second advocates for a number of actions to protect Haitian refugees and defend their human rights. The third calls for the U.S. government to work closely with the UN Mission in Haiti whose mandate is to protect the Human Rights of the most vulnerable Haitians.

If you want to participate in this action on behalf of justice for Haitians, you can visit Network's action alert webpage on this issue and use their Congressional letter-writing program to send a pre-formatted letter electronically to your Congressional representatives.

Monday, January 03, 2005

New Year's Resolutions on Behalf of Justice

What should people interested in issues of Social Justice be thinking about as we begin the new year of 2005? There are many things that could demand our attention ... ravages of war, poverty, hunger, disease and malnutrition, natural disaster relief, fair trade, etc., etc. But there are some things looming on the immediate horizon that may demand our primary efforts and attention. What are they?