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December 2009
The 20th Anniversary of the Jesuit Martyrs of the University of Central America José Simeón Cañas (UCA), Nov. 16, 2009 The morning of Nov. 16, 2009, an event took place in the Salon de Hroes of the Presidential House in San Salvador that I would have thought unimaginable even just a year ago. The president of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, in what one commentator described as an "act of reparation (desagravio)," conferred El Salvador's highest honor, the Order of José Matías Delgado, on six Jesuits murdered on that date 20 years previously by the Salvadoran military. Victims of the same crime were their housekeeper, Julia Elba Ramos, and her daughter Celina, age 15. The six Jesuits, Ignacio Ellacuría, Ignacio Martín-Baro, Segundo Montes, Juan Moreno, Amando Lopez and Joaquín Lopez y Lopez, were dragged from their beds and executed by a special platoon of the Salvadoran Army. Ellacura, rector of the UCA, was likely the main target, but the soldiers had orders to "leave no witnesses." The reason for the award was the Jesuits' extraordinary service to the nation in education, human rights, the battle against poverty, social exclusion and inequality, and their support of peace and democracy in El Salvador. The occasion was made especially poignant by the presence of a group of campesinos from Jayaque (a small municipality to the West of the Capital), who sang during the ceremony a Salvadoran version of "We shall overcome." One of the campesinos was heard to remark later that she had never in her wildest dreams thought she would be in the Presidential House, much less sing there. The song they sang might well have gotten them killed during the Civil War (1980-92). This extraordinary week-end began Friday night, Nov. 13, with the conferring of an honorary degree in human rights on Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA). McGovern had been chief of staff in 1989 to Congressman Joe Moakley, who headed the select committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that investigated the murders. In what many say was a direct result of the massacre and its aftermath, the opposing sides in the Salvadoran civil war signed a peace agreement in January of 1992. In his remarks accepting the degree, McGovern said:
He called on the United States to be a "true partner" with El Salvador going into the future. On Sunday a mass was celebrated in the Romero Crypt of the Metropolitan Cathedral, during which the relatives were given particular recognition. The events ended with a mass on Monday evening, celebrated by Bishop Gregorio Rosa Chavez, auxiliary of San Salvador. For me this was an extraordinary experience. I first went to El Salvador in 1990 for the first anniversary of the murders. The war was still going on, and the country was very tense. I had preached at the memorial mass celebrated at Marquette University when news of the massacre first reached us, and I felt a particular connection to El Salvador, a connection that deepened as I returned many times in subsequent years, often as a visiting professor in the philosophy department of the UCA. This visit was for me immensely joyful, and it filled me with hope for the future. El Salvador recently suffered from the depredations of Hurricane Ida, which left almost 200 dead and thousands homeless, particularly in the area around San Vicente, to the East of the Capital, which also suffered greatly in the 2001 earthquake. May God bring solace to the suffering and touch the hearts of the world so that places like El Salvador will never be forgotten. We all need reminders not to let ourselves be seduced by our comfort and ease into believing that the rest of the world doesn't matter. God's preferential option for people struggling with poverty must move us to action on their behalf. [A version of this article appears on the Catholic Relief Services blog.]T. Michael McNulty, SJ What follows is a list of e-newsletters that may be of interest to J/P Alert readers. Africa Faith and Justice Network Africa Jesuit AIDS Network B'tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories Catholic Charities USA Catholic Relief Services Center for American Progress – Enough Project Center of Concern Churches for Middle East Peace Guatemala Human Rights Commission Interfaith Worker Justice Jesuit Refugee Service/USA Jesuit Social Research Institute – Loyola University New Orleans Jubilee USA Network Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns National Catholic Rural Life Conference National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Network – A Catholic Social Justice Lobby Pax Christi USA Religions for Peace – USA SHARE Foundation – Building a New El Salvador Today Stop Trafficking! U.S. Committee on Refugees and Immigrants Woodstock Theological Center From Interfaith Worker Justice: We've all heard horror stories about sweatshop labor and pitifully low wages. This Black Friday, I urge you to be mindful of your purchases and consider how they are made, distributed, and sold. We have the opportunity to support ethical businesses that treat their workers fairly and with dignity - let's take advantage of it. Following are some suggestions for seeking out and purchasing ethically produced goods: Look for the union label Please check out the Resources section of the IWJ website for links to other Fair Trade resources. This holiday shopping season, let's take a stand for workers - against sweatshops and other worker abuses. Prayers and Wishes for Advent and Christmas in Bethlehem 2009 For the 10th consecutive year, Christmas celebrations will take place in a difficult climate for people in the Holy Land. As we prepare to celebrate Advent and Christmas in the security of our homes and communities, let us not forget to pray for justice, peace and security for Palestine and Israel. Sending a wish or a prayer by email is an important way of communicating with many people who long to hear a word of hope. Our partners in Bethlehem greatly appreciate receiving wishes and prayers from people outside the region, both as personal and spiritual gestures of comfort and hope on the occasion of Christmas. These messages are one way of breaking through the isolation our Bethlehem partners experience. Please e-mail your Christmas messages and prayers for peace before the 25th of December 2009 (Western Christmas) and/or the 7th of January 2010 (Eastern Christmas). While English is the preferred language, non-native English speakers may also send wishes and prayers in their mother tongue. Messages can be e-mailed to the Arab Educational Institute at the following address: aei@p-ol.com. To read all the messages, please visit www.aeicenter.org. Fr. Paul Lans 1 Billion Hungry – NGOs Call for New Trade Rules Supportive of Rights Geneva, 27 November 2009 - On the eve of the WTO Ministerial, a new book highlights the need for a fundamental reshaping of international trade and investment rules to put human rights, particularly the right to adequate food, at the centre of economic and development policy. The book, "The Global Food Challenge," by leading civil society trade experts at the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN), the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), Brot für Alle, Brot für die Welt, Germanwatch and Heinrich Böll Foundation, calls on governments to bear in mind their obligation to respect, protect and realize the right to food when negotiating new trade agreements. The number of undernourished people in the world has set a scandalous new record of one billion in 2009, in spite of a record grain harvest in 2008. "The idea that food security can best be achieved mainly through cheap imports has proved to be an illusion", says Armin Paasch, trade expert with FIAN and editor of the book. Following trade liberalisation, many developing countries suffered repeated import surges of rice, maize, milk powder and meat. "First, cheap imports destroyed local production capacity. When agricultural commodity prices sky-rocketed in 2007-2008, imports became unaffordable and hunger swapped over to the slums of mega-cities", he explains. Estimates of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) indicate that prices, while increasing in general, will become much more volatile in the future. "New trade rules must provide governments with enough policy space to counter price fluctuations", claims Anne Laure Constantin, trade expert with IATP. "Governments have an obligation to realize the right to food for all. They must enable a sufficient income for small food producers and keep foodstuff affordable for poor consumers at the same time," she says. In the new book, various authors, including Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, propose new ways to integrate human rights principles into trade and investment policies. The book includes chapters on commodity speculation, on investment in agriculture, on gender and on the impacts of climate change, among other issues. "Business as usual is no option," explains Angeline Munzara, Food Campaign Coordinator of EAA. "We cannot continue to liberalise markets and ignore the incredible suffering of one billion hungry people. The brutal reality is that this hunger exists even though we already produce enough nutritious food to feed everyone on the planet. We expect from our governments more creative solutions to the global food crisis than just a completion of the outdated Doha Round." Wage Theft and Worker Exploitation (excerpts) [You can find the whole article at loyno.edu/jsri/e-newsletter/november-2009/wage-theft.htm] How unscrupulous employers steal from poor workers
Wage Theft and Exploitation Kim Bobo, founder and executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice, was one of the keynote speakers at JSRI’s conference this month—People on the Move and the Common Good. Her newest book is entitled Wage Theft in America. November 19 was the National Day of Action to Stop Wage Theft, sponsored by Interfaith Worker Justice.
Such activities may seem unusual or even incredible in this country, but a recent study that interviewed 4,300 workers in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago indicated that two-thirds of low-wage workers are denied full pay, each losing over $2,600 annually. Lax Enforcement and None The federal government, states, and localities are supposed to protect workers from illegal activities on the part of employers. Do they? The primary government enforcement body is the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and its Wage and Hour Division (WHD). In a 2005 study by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, researchers reported a dramatic stagnation or decline in enforcement resources and activities by DOL between 1975 and 2004. The Example of Austin, Texas A prime example of the "New South," Austin is the second fastest-growing urban area in the U.S., with extensive new construction in homes, commercial buildings, and infrastructure. The June 2009 Building Austin, Building Injustice report by the Workers Defense Project reflected findings of a year-long study that included surveys with 312 construction workers, seventeen in-depth worker interviews, twenty in-depth interviews with industry leaders, and analysis of existing government data. Among the findings of the report were these:
Wage theft in the Gulf South is not limited to Austin. In New Orleans and in Miami, workers currently are advocating for ordinances to strengthen wage enforcement and protect workers. Wage Theft among Post-Disaster Workers A particularly egregious form of wage theft occurs in the confusing, intense rebuilding that occurs in areas trying to recover from disasters. In post-Katrina New Orleans and on the Gulf Coast, widespread abuses by employers were documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center (http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?pid=295) and Interfaith Worker Justice (http://www.wagetheft.org/moreinfo/archive/WTDOLPK.doc). Four months after Hurricane Ike hit the Houston area, the Houston Interfaith Worker Justice Center reported specific forms and cases of wage theft and worker abuses in Abuse after the Storm: A Report on Hurricane Ike Recovery and Worker Exploitation [December, 2008]. As might be expected, migrating workers are drawn to such areas by employment prospects and are actively recruited by contractors and sub-contractors, too many of whom are unscrupulous and exploitative. Cf. http://www.hiwj.org/e107_files/downloads/english_ike_report.pdf for details.Advent resources from Churches for Middle East Peace are available at www.cmep.org/resources/advent2009/index.html. The Moral Dimensions of Health Care Reform A fact sheet from the Center for American Progress lays out in detail how the health care bills now under consideration in the House of Representatives and the Senate reflect the criteria laid out by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as important to health care reform. The criteria were taken from an official statement submitted by the USCCB to the Congressional Record on May 20, 2009. Fact sheet: A Comparison of Catholic Teachings and the House and Senate Health Care Reform Bills (pdf).
8808 Cameron St., Silver Spring, MD 20910 This newsletter is sent to members and associate members of CMSM. |
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In the evening there was a candle-light procession around the campus, followed by a mass attended by thousands, including Jesuits from around the world and the Cardinal Archbishop of Edinburgh, Keith O'Brien. Also present were relatives of many of the slain Jesuits, including the brother of Ignacio Ellacuría and the sister of Segundo Montes. After mass there began an all-night celebration with music, dancing and a lot of food. For many years ownership of this celebration has been taken by the people from the countryside.
