Categoria: English

The Earth will defeat capitalism

Leonardo Boff2 Comentários

There is an indisputable and sad fact: capitalism as a mode of production and its political ideology, neoliberalism, are so thoroughly established globally that it seems to make any real alternative impossible. It has in fact occupied every space and aligned almost every country to its global interests. Since society has been commercialized and turned everything, even the most sacred things, such as human organs, water and the capacity of flowers to be pollinated, into an opportunity to gain wealth, most countries feel obliged to participate in the globally integrated macro-economy and much less inclined to serve the common good of their people.

Democratic socialism in its advanced version of eco-socialism is an important theoretical option, but has a small worldwide social base of implementation. The thesis of Rosa Luxemburg in her book, Reform or Revolution (Reforma o Revolución), that «the theory of the collapse of capitalism is at the heart of scientific socialism» has not become reality. And socialism has collapsed.

The fury of capitalist accumulation has reached the highest levels of its history. Practically 1% of the wealthy population of the world controls nearly the 90% of its wealth. According to the reputable NGO Oxfam Intermon, in 2014, 85 members of the super-rich had the same amount of money as 3.5 billion of the poorest in the world. This level of irrationality and inhumanity speaks for itself. We are living explicitly barbaric times.

Until now, the usual crises of the system occurred in the peripheral economies, but since the crisis of 2007/2008, it exploded in the heart of the principal countries, in the United States and Europe. Everything seems to indicate that this is not a usual crisis which can always be solved, but that this time it is about a systemic crisis that destroys capitalism’s ability to reproduce itself. The solutions put forward by the countries that have hegemony in the global process are always alike: more of the same. That is, to continue with the limitless exploitation of natural goods and services, guided by a clearly material (and materialistic) measure, such as the gross national product, GNP. And woe to those countries whose GNP decreases.

This growth worsens the state of the Earth even more. The price of trying to reproduce the system is what its spokesmen call «externalities» (things that do not enter into the business accounting). There are principally two of these: a degrading social injustice with high unemployment and growing inequality; and a threatened ecological injustice with the degradation of whole ecosystems, the erosion of biodiversity (with the extinction of between 30-100 thousand species of living beings each year, according to data of the biologist E. Wilson), the growing global warming, the scarcity of drinking water and general unsustenability of the life-system and of the Earth-system.

These two aspects are bringing the capitalist system to its knees. If it wanted the well being it offers the rich countries to be universal, we would need at least three Earths equal to the one we have, which clearly is impossible. The level of exploitation of the «goodness of nature», as the Andean people call the natural goods and services, is such that this September the «Earth Over-Reach Day» occurred. In other words, the day when the Earth no longer has the capacity, by herself, to meet human demands. She needs a year and a half to replace all that is taken from her in one year. She has become dangerously unsustainable. Either we restrain the voracity of wealth accumulation to let her rest and replenish herself, or we must prepare for the worst.

Since it is about a living super-Being (Gaia), finite, with scarce goods and services, and now infirm, but still combining the elements that guarantee the physical, chemical and ecological bases for reproducing life, this process of excessive degradation could cause an ecological-social collapse of Dantesque proportions.

The consequence would be that the Earth would definitively defeat the capitalist system, which would be incapable of reproducing itself, with its materialist culture of limitless and individualistic consumption. What we historically have been unable to accomplish by alternative processes (that was the goal of socialism), nature and the Earth would accomplish. The Earth, in fact, would free herself from the cancer that threatens to metastasize throughout the whole organism of Gaia.

Meanwhile, our task is within the system, to widen the openings, exploring all its contradictions to guarantee the essentials for subsistence: nourishment, work, housing, education, basic services and some free time, especially to the humble peoples of the Earth. This is being done in Brazil and in many other countries. From the bad, we must take only the necessary minimum for the continuity of life and of civilization.

And, also, we must pray and be prepared for the worst.
Leonardo Boff is theologian and writter.
Free translation from the Spanish by
Servicios Koinonia, http://www.servicioskoinonia.org.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

Nativity: Every Child’s birth is a sign that God still believes in humanity

Leonardo Boff2 Comentários

We are in the time of the Nativity, but the aura is not one of Christmas, but more nearly of Good Friday. There are so many crises: the terrorist attacks, the wars the bellicose and militarist powers (The United States, France, England, Russia and Germany) jointly carry out against the Islamic State, practically destroying Syria, with the dreadful killing of civilians and children. As their own press has shown, the environment is contaminated by bitterness and the spirit of revenge in Brazilian politics, not to mention the astronomic levels of corruption. All this turns out the lights of the Nativity and fills with darkness the holiday trees that should create the environment of joy and childlike innocence that still exists in all humans.

Those who can see the movie All the Invisible Children, in seven different scenes, directed by well known film directors, such as Spike Lee, Katia Lund and John Woo, among others, can understand the destroyed lives children live in many parts of the world, children who are condemned to live off garbage and in garbage dumps. And yet there are moving scenes of comradery, of small joys in those sad eyes; and of solidarity among them.

And to think that there are millions in the world today and that the baby Jesus Himself, according to the Scriptures, was born in a manger, because there was no room for Mary, who was nearing childbirth, in any hostel in Bethlehem. He, the Son of God, joined Himself to the destinys of all the children who are mistreated by our lack of sensitivity.

Later on, that same Jesus, as an adult, would say: “who welcomes these brothers and sisters of mine, the smallest ones, welcomes me”. The Nativity takes place when this welcome is offered, such as the one Father Lancelotti organizes in São Paulo for the hundreds of street children under a viaduct, that for several years counted with the presence of President Inacio Lula da Silva.

Amidst all these disgraces in the world and in Brazil, there comes to mind a piece of wood with a fire engraved inscription, that an intern in a psychiatric hospital in Minas Gerais gave me during a visit I made to encourage the staff. Inscribed in that piece of wood is written: «Whenever a child is born it is sign that God still believes in the human being».

Can there be an act of faith and hope greater than this? In some cultures of Africa it is said that God is especially present in those we call “mad”. For that reason, the insane are adopted by everyone, and everyone cares for them as if they were their brothers or sisters. This way the insane are integrated into society, and live in peace. Our culture isolates the insane, and refuses to recognize them.

This year’s Nativity takes us to this degraded humanity and to all the invisible children whose suffering is like that of baby Jesus, who certainly in the winter of the countryside of Bethlehem shivered in the manger. According to an old legend, baby Jesus was warmed by the breath of two old horses that, as a reward, thereafter regained complete vitality.

It is worth remembering the religious meaning of the Nativity: God is neither an old bearded man with penetrating eyes, nor a stern jurist who judges all our actions. God is a child. And as a child, God judges no one. A child wants only to live and to be loved. From the manger comes this voice: «Oh, human creature, do not be afraid of God! Don’t you see that His mother has swaddled his little arms? He threatens no one. More than help, He needs to be helped and carried in an embrace».

No one understood better than Fernando Pessoa, the great portugiese poet, the human meaning and the truth of the child Jesus:

“He is the Eternal Child, the God who was missing. He is so human that He is natural. He is the Divine One who smiles and plays. This is why I know with all certainty that He is the true Child Jesus. He is a child so human that he is divine. The two of us get along so well, in the company of all, that we never think the one of the other… When I die, beloved Child, let me be the child, the smallest one. Take me in your arms and carry me to your home. Strip naked my tired and human being. Put me to bed. Tell me stories if I awaken, that I may go back to sleep. And give me your dreams to play with, until the day dawns, the one you will know”.

Seeing such beauty, can we contain our emotions? For that reason, in spite of all the distress, we still can quietly celebrate the Nativity.

I end with another message whose meaning I like: «Every child wants to be man. Every man wants to be king. Every king wants to be a “god”. Only God wanted to be a child».

Let us embrace one another as if we were embracing the Divine Child that hides within us, and who never abandoned us. And may the Nativity still be a quietly happy holiday.
Leonardo Boff is theologian and writter

Free translation from the Spanish by
Servicios Koinonia, http://www.servicioskoinonia.org.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

The West has chosen the worst path: War

Leonardo Boff1 comentário

The terrorist actions perpetrated in Paris on November 13th, by terrorist groups of Islamic extraction, were certainly abominable and totally worthy of condemnation. Such nefarious acts do not fall from the sky. They have a prehistory of rage, humiliation and the desire of revenge.

Academic studies conducted in the United States have shown that the continuous military interventions of the West, its geopolitics towards the Middle East, and to guarantee the supply of oil – the blood of the world system, that is abundant in the Middle East, further aggravated by the unconditional support of the United States for the State of Israel, with its notoriously brutal violence against the Palestinian people, are the principal motivation for Islamic terrorism against the West and against the United States (see the vast literature by Robert Barrowes: Terrorism: Ultimate Weapon of the Global Elite, in his site: http://www.WarisaCrime.org ).

Starting with George W. Bush, vigorously retaken now by François Hollande and his European allies, plus Russia and the United States, the reply the West has been the path of implacable war against terrorism, be it internal, within Europe, or external, against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. But this is the worst path, as Edgar Morin noted, because war is not combated either with another war, or with fundamentalism (the cultural fundamentalism of the West that presumes to be the best in the world, with the right to impose it on everyone). War as a reply, which most likely will be interminable, given the difficulty of defeating fundamentalism, or those who decide to turn their own bodies into highly destructive bombs, is still based in the old pre-globalization paradigm, a paradigm harbored by nation-states, without realizing that history has changed and that the human species and life on planet Earth now share a collective destiny. The path of war has never brought peace, at best some pacification, leaving a macabre burden of rage and a will for revenge on the part of the defeated, who, to tell the truth, never will be totally defeated.

The old paradigm answered war with war. The new paradigm, of the global phase of the Earth and of humanity, responds with a paradigm of comprehension, hospitality of all for all, of dialogue without boundaries, of inter-exchanges without borders, of the win-win and of alliances among all. Otherwise, with war becoming ever more destructive, we could put an end to our species, or make our Common Home uninhabitable.

Who can guarantee that the current terrorists will not adopt sophisticated technologies and start using chemical and biological weapons that, for example, are released in the water system of a great city, and end up causing unprecedented loss of human life? We know that they are preparing to mount cyber attacks, and attacks on computer systems that could affect the entire energy system of a big city: including hospitals, schools, airports, and public services. The war option could be carried to these extremes, all of which are possible.

We must take seriously the warnings of the wise, such as of Eric Hobswbam at the conclusion of his well known book, The era of extremes: the brief XX Century, (1995:562): «The world runs the risk of explosion and implosion; the world must change … the alternative to change is darkness». Or the warning of the eminent historian Arnold Toynbee, who, after writing ten volumes about the great historical civilizations, in his autobiographical essay, Experiences (1969:422) tells us: «I lived to see the end of human history become an intra-historic possibility, capable of being made real, not as an act of God but as an act of man himself».

The West has opted for war to the end. But the West will never again have peace and will live full of fear, and hostage to the potential attacks that are the Islamicists’ revenge. Let’s hope that the scene described by Jacques Attali in, A brief history of the future (Una breve historia del futuro, 2008): regional wars, ever more destructive to the point of threatening the human species, does not come to pass. And humanity, to survive, will have to consider a global government with an hyper-planetary democracy.

What is important, this is what we think, is to accept as a fact the existence of an Islamic State, and then, to create a pluralistic coalition of nations and diplomatic means and peace, so as to create the conditions for dialogue, to address the common destiny of the Earth and humanity.

I am afraid that the typical arrogance the West, with its imperialistic vision of itself as being better in everything, will not welcome this peacefull path and prefers war. In that case, the prophetic phrase of Martin Heidegger, discovered after his death, will again become significant: «Nur noch ein Gott kann uns retten: then only God can save us».

We should not naively wait for divine intervention, because our destiny is our responsibility. We will be what we chose: either a species that preferred self-extermination and holding on to its absurd will to power, above everything else, or better, that we forge the bases for a lasting peace (Kant), that allows us to live both different and united, in our one Common Home.

Free translation from the Spanish by
Servicios Koinonia, http://www.servicioskoinonia.org.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

Letter of Support to Pope Francis, who was very glad with this letter

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

Dear Pope Francis:

In Brazil, the Caribbean, in all of Latin America, and in other parts of the world, there are many who follow with concern the strong opposition and the attacks on you by small, but powerful, conservative minorities from both within and outside of the Church. Perplexed, we have seen something unusual during recent centuries: a rebellion of conservative cardinals against your way of conducting the Synod and, above all, the Universal Church.

That group of cardinals wrote you a strictly personal letter that was leaked to the press and published, as occurred with your encyclical letter Laudato Si’, before it was released, in clear violation of the principles of ethical journalism.

These conservative groups seek to return to a model of the Church from the past, conceived of more as a closed fortress than as «a working hospital with open doors to welcome all those who come»; a Church that must «seek and make company with the humanity of today with open doors, because with closed doors, she betrays herself and her mission and instead of being a bridge, she becomes a barrier». These were your courageous words.

The pastoral approach of the type of Church your speeches and symbolic gestures propose are characterized by warm love, by a living encounter among persons and with Christ present among us, by limitless mercy, by a “revolution of tenderness” and by a pastoral conversion. This implies that the pastor must bear the “odor of sheep”, because the pastor lives with the sheep and accompanies them during their entire journey.

We lament that what such conservative groups do best is to say no. No to communion for those who divorced and remarried; no to recognition of the homo-affective; no to any opening to the world that may imply substantive changes.

We must remind these brothers of the more obvious aspects of the message of Jesus. He did not come to say no. To the contrary, He came to say yes. Saint Paul, in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, reminds us that “in the Son of God all has been yes … because all God’s promises are yes in Jesus” (2 Corinthians 1,20).

In the Gospel of Saint John, Jesus explicitly says: “If someone comes to me I will never reject him” (John 6,37). It could be a prostitute, a leper, or a frightened theologian such as Nicodemus: He welcomes all with His love and mercy.

The fundamental features of the God of Jesus, “Abba”, are His infinite mercy (Luke 6,36) and His preferential love for the poor, for the sick, and for the sinners (Luke 5,32; 6,21).

More than founding a new religion with pious parishioners, Jesus came to teach us to live and bring to life the tenets of His central message, the kingdom of God, namely: love, compassion, forgiveness, solidarity, a hunger and thirst for justice, and for us to sense that we are the beloved sons and daughters of God.

The attempts to deny legitimacy to your way of being, as the Bishop of Rome and Pope of the Universal Church, will be in vain because nothing can resist the goodness and tenderness of which you are giving us such a splendid example. Through history, we know that when power prevails, as they would like it to prevail, love disappears and mercy is extinguished – eliminating the central values preached by you, and by Jesus.
In this context, we Christians who are open to the challenges of the present world, to facing up to the new planetary phase of history and the threats that weigh down the life-system and the Earth-system, courageously addressed in your encyclical letter Laudato Si’ on “the Caring for the Common Home,” want to close ranks around you and show our total support for your person and your ministry, for your pastoral vision of an open Church, and for the charismatic form by which you make us feel once again that the Church is our spiritual home. And many people from other Churches and religions and from the secular world support and admire you for your manner of acting and speaking.

Much meaning can be found in the fact that the great majority of Catholics live in the Americas, in Africa and in Asia, where one sees great vitality and creativity in the dialogue with the different cultures that reflect the multiple faces of the same Church of Christ. The Catholic Church is now a Church of the Third World, because only 25% of Catholics live in Europe. The future of the Church is unfolding in these regions, where the Spirit blows with great strength. Not to see this fact is to continue being Euro- and Vatican-centered.

The Catholic Church cannot be hostage to the Occidental culture. That is a regional culture, no matter how big and important its accumulated merits may be. The Church must stop being Occidental, and open herself to the process of being worldwide, one that favors encounters among cultures and spiritual paths.

Dear Pope Francis: You are a participant in the destiny of the Master and of the Apostles, who also were misunderstood, slandered and persecuted.

But we are tranquil because we know that you accept such tribulations in accordance with the spirit of the beatitudes. You endure them with humility. You ask for forgiveness for the sins of the Church, and follow in the footsteps of the Nazarene.

We want to be close to you, support you in your evangelical and liberating vision of the Church, to give you the inner courage and strength to modernize, with words and gestures, the tradition of Jesus, that is comprised of love, mercy, compassion, intimacy with God and solidarity with the suffering humanity.

Finally, dear Pope Francis, continue showing us all that the Gospel is for humanity, that the Christian message is an inspiring force in “caring for the Common Home” and a small forerunner of an Earth reconciled with herself, with all of humanity, with nature and especially with the Father who displayed the characteristics of a Mother of infinite goodness and tenderness.

In the end, together we will be able to say: “all is very good” (Genesis 1,31).

The Pope Francis was very glad to receive this support, according voices from Vatican

A translation from the Spanish sent by
Leonardo Boff, lboff@leonardoboff.com.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.