Categoria: Idiomas

Understanding the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

It is one thing, and it is justifiable, to be indignant over the terrorist action that killed the best French caricaturists. It was an abominable and criminal act, which no-one can support.

Trying to understand analytically why such terrorist acts occur is different. Such acts do not fall from a clear blue sky. The sky behind them is dark, comprised of tragic histories, great massacres, humiliations and discrimination, and not just from true wars, such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan, that sacrificed the lives of thousands upon thousands of people, or forced them into exile.

The United States and several European countries were involved in these wars. Millions of Moslems live in France, the majority in the peripheries of the cities, in precarious conditions. Many of them, although born in France, are discriminated against to the point that it appears to be true Islamophobia. After the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a mosque was sprayed with gunfire, a Moslem restaurant was set on fire, and an Islamic prayer house was also shot at.

The issue is one of overcoming the spirit of revenge, and renouncing the strategy of confronting violence with still more violence. That creates a spiral of never ending violence, that produces countless victims, most of whom are innocent. And it will never achieve peace. If you want peace, prepare the means of peace, which is the fruit of dialogue and of the respectful coexistence among all.

The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 against the United States was paradigmatic. The reaction of President Bush was to declare “endless war” against terror and to pass the “Patriot Act” that violates citizens’ fundamental rights.

What the United States and her Western allies did in Iraq and Afghanistan was a modern war with the loss of countless civilian lives. If in those countries there had only been large date palm and fig plantations, nothing like that would have occurred. But in those countries there are great oil reserves, the blood of the world system of production. Such violence left a residue of rage, hatred and a desire of revenge in many Moslems who lived in those countries and elsewhere, all over the world.

Starting from that background one can understand that the abominable Paris attack was the result of this prior violence, not a spontaneous act. Not that this justifies it.

The effect of this attack is to instill widespread fear. That is the what terrorism seeks: to occupy the minds of the people and make them prisoners of fear. The principal point of terrorism is not to occupy their territory, as Westerners did in Afghanistan and Iraq, but to occupy their minds.

Sadly, the prophesy the intellectual author of the September 11 attempts, Osama Bin Laden, made on October 8, 2001 was realized: «The United States will never again have security, never again have peace». To occupy people’s minds, to keep them emotionally destabilized, to make them distrust any foreign gesture or person, is the essential objective of terrorism.

To reach its objective of dominion of the minds, terrorism follows this strategy:

(1) the actions must be spectacular, otherwise they do no cause widespread commotion;

( 2 ) the actions, in spite of being hateful, must inspire admiration for the ingenuity involved;

( 3 ) the actions must show that they were meticulously prepared;

( 4 ) the actions must be unexpected, to give the impression of being uncontrollable;

( 5 ) the authors of the actions must remain anonymous (using masks) because when there are more suspects, the fear is greater;

( 6 ) the actions must cause lasting fear;

( 7 ) the actions must distort the perception of reality: anything that is different can produce terror. It is enough to see some poor children walking into a commercial center, and the image of a potential assailant is produced.

Let us formalize the concept of terrorism: it is any spectacular violence, done with the purpose of filling people’s minds with fear and dread. Violence itself is not important, what is important is its spectacular character, its capacity for dominating everybody’s mind. One of the most lamentable effects of terrorism was that it promoted the terrorist State that the United States is now. Noam Chomsky quotes an official of the North-American security apparatus, who confessed: «The United States is a terrorist state and we are proud of it».

Hopefully this spirit does not predominate in the world, especially in the West. If it does, we are headed for the worst kind of encounter. Only peaceful means have the secret strength to overcome violence and war. That is the lesson of history, and the counsel of wise humans, such as the Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Francis of Assísi, and Francis of Rome.

Free translation from the Spanish by
Servicios Koinonia, http://www.servicioskoinonia.org

Standing up to Pope Francis’ detractors as the writter Vittorio Messori

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

In several places in the world, but primarily in Italy, among the Cardinals and members of the Roman Curia, as well as conservative lay groups, a strong resistance to, and denigration of, the figure of Pope Francis is developing. They display their discomfort, while hiding behind Vittorio Messori, a famous lay converted writer.

So it was with sadness that I read the article by Vittorio Messori in Milan’s Corriere della Sera, titled: “The options of Francis: doubts about the path of Pope Francis” (12/24-2014). He waited for the vespers of the Nativity to cut deeply at the Pope. Messori especially criticizes his “unpredictability that continues to disturb the tranquility of the moderate Catholic.” Messori admires the linear perspective “of the beloved Joseph Ratzinger” and among pious phrases insidiously injects a great deal of poison. And he does it, as he himself confesses, in the name of those who lack the courage to expose themselves.

I would like to propose a counterpoint to the doubts of Messori. He does not grasp the new signs of the times brought by Francis of Rome. Moreover, he displays three errors: two of a theological nature, and one of interpreting the relevance of the Church in the Third World.

Messori has been scandalized by the “unpredictibility” of this pastor because “he continues to perturb the tranquility of the moderate Catholic.” One must question the quality of the faith of this “moderate Catholic”, who has trouble accepting a pastor who brings the aroma of sheep, and who announces “the joy of the Gospel”. They, in general, are cultural Catholics used to the Pharaonic figure of a Pope with all the symbols of power of the pagan Roman emperors.

Now a “Franciscan” Pope appears who gives centrality to the poor, who does not “wear Prada”, who courageously criticizes the system that produces misery in much of the world, who opens the Church to the people, without judging them, and welcoming them in the spirit he called a “revolution of tenderness” when he spoke to the Latin-American bishops.

There is a great emptiness in Messori’s thinking. His two theological errors are: the near absence of the Holy Spirit, and Christ-monism, this is, that only Christ counts. There is no proper place for the Holy Spirit. Everything in the Church is resolved only through Christ, which does not correspond to what Jesus taught. Why do I say this? Because what Messori laments in the Pope’s pastoral actions is his “unpredictibility”. Well then, that is the characteristic of the Spirit, as Saint John affirms: “The Spirit blows where the Spirit chooses, you hear the voice of the Spirit but you do not know whence it comes, nor whither it goes” (3,8). The nature of the Spirit is its unpredictable appearance.

Messori is hostage to a linear vision of his “beloved Joseph Ratzinger” and other prior Popes. Unfortunately, this linear vision turned the Church into a fortress, incapable of understanding the complexity of the modern world, isolated in the midst of other Churches and other spiritual paths, without dialoguing and learning from others, also illuminated by the Spirit. It blasphemes the Holy Spirit to think that others’ thoughts are all erroneous. For that reason, an open Church, such as Pope Francis wants, is key to perceiving the appearances of the Spirit throughout history. Not without reason do some theologians call it “the fantasy of God”, because of its creativity and novelty for history and for the Church.

Without the Holy Spirit, the Church would become a heavy institutiion, lacking creativity. In the end, she would have little to say to the world, except doctrine upon doctrine, and could not lead to a living encounter with Christ or elicit hope and joy in living.

It is a gift of the Holy Spirit that this Pope came from outside the old and tired European Christianity. Pope Francis is not a subtle theologian, but a pastor who understands the mandate Jesus asked of Peter: “Confirm the brothers and sisters in the faith,” (Lc 22,31). Francis brings the experience of the Churches of the Third World, particularly of Latin America.

There is another deficiency in Messori’s thinking: he does not value the fact that today Christianity is a Third World religion, as German theologian J. B. Metz has repeated so often. Catholics are less than 25% of the population in Europe, while in the Third World, Catholics are almost the 73%, and in Latin America, nearly 49%.

Why not accept the newness that comes from these Churches, that no longer are mirror-Churces of the old European ones, but source-Churches, with their own martyrs, confessors and theologians?

We can imagine that in the not too distant future, the See of the Primate will no longer be Rome with the Curia, with all their contradictions Pope Francis recently exposed with courageous words, heard only from the mouth of Martin Luther, and in my 1984 book, Church: Charism and Power, that, if read with today’s eyes, is more innocent than critical. It would make sense that the principal See would be where the majority of Catholics are, which is in Latin America, Asia and Africa. That would surely be an unequivocal sign of the true Catholicity of the Church within this new globalized phase of humanity.

I was sincerely hoping for a greater intelligence of faith and more openness from Vittorio Messori, with his credentials as a Catholic, faithful to one type of Church and a well known writer. Pope Francis has brought hope and fresh air to many Catholics and to other Christians, who are very proud of him.

Let’s not waste this gift from the Spirit with analysis that is more negative than positive, and does not strengthen the “joy of the gospel” for all.

 

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar,
done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

The end of an era, a new civilization or the end of the world?

Leonardo Boff3 Comentários

Some well respected individuals warn that we already are within a Third World War. The most authoritative is Pope Francis. Last September 13, visiting a cemetery of Italian soldiers killed in Radipuglia, near Slovenia, Pope Francis said: “The Third World War may already have began, fought in pieces, with crimes, massacres and destruction.” On December 12, 2014, former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, now 95 years old, warned of a possible Third World War (Boletim Carta Maior, 22/12/2014). And other authoritative voices are heard here and there.

To me the most convincing analysis, which I consider prophetic because what he foresaw is already taking place, is by Jacques Attali in his well known book, Brief History of the Future, (Breve historia del futuro, Paidos 1999). He was an advisor to François Mitterand and now presides over the Commission of the «brakes on growth». He works with a highly qualified multidisciplinary team. Attali foresaw three scenarios: (1) The super-empire, composed of the United States and its allies. Its strength lies in its capacity to destroy all of humanity. But it is in decline, due to the systemic crisis of the capitalist order. It follows the Pentagon’s ideology of «full spectrum dominance» in every field, military, ideologic, political, economic and cultural. But it has been surpassed economically by China, and has trouble forcing its imperialist logic on others. (2) The super conflict: With the slow decline of the empire, a Balkanization of the world occurs, as is presently seen in the regional conflicts in Northern Africa, the Middle East, Africa and the Ukraine. Those conflicts can intensify, with the use of weapons of mass destruction (look at Syria, Iraq), then with small nuclear weapons (there are thousands the size of an executive briefcase) that destroy little but leave entire regions inhabitable for many years due to high radioactivity. With the wide-spread use of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, a time could come when humanity realized that it could self destruct. And then would come (3) the final scenario: the super democracy. So as not to destroy itself and a great part of the biosphere, humanity would develop a world social contract, with various instances of global government. With scarce natural resources and services we must guarantee the survival of the human species and the whole life community that is also created and maintained by the Earth-Gaia.

If that phase did not happen, we could see the end of the human species and a great part of the biosphere. The fault would lie with our rationalist civilization paradigm. Economist and humanist Luiz Gonzaga Belluzzo recently put it well: «The Western dream of building the human habitat based only on reason, repudiating tradition and rejecting all transcendence, has reached a blind alley. Western reason cannot simultaneously realize the values of universal human rights, the ambitions of technical progress and the promise of well being for one and all» (Carta Capital 21/12/2014). With its irrationality, this type of reason develops the means to bring about its own destruction.

It would probably then take the process of evolution thousands or millions of years for a being to appear that was sufficiently complex, and capable of sustaining the spirit that, first of all, is found in the universe, and only thereafter, in us.

But it could also bring about a new era that unites sensible reason (love and caring) with instrumental-analytic reason (techno-scientific). Finally there would emerge what in 1933, in China, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin called the noosphere: minds and hearts united in solidarity, in love and in caring for the Common Home, the Earth. Attali wrote: «I want to believe, finally, that the horror of the future mentioned above will help make it impossible. Then would be fulfilled the promise of an Earth that was hospitable to all the travelers of life» (op. cit. p. 219).

And in the end, he leaves this challenge to us Brazilians: «If there is a country that looks like that into which the world could convert, in both the good and the bad, that country is Brazil» (p. 231).

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar,
done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

The Nativity: the holiday of God’s humanity and human comensality

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

The Nativity is full of meaning. One of its messages has been co-opted by the culture of consumerism that prefers the figure of the good natured old man, Santa Claus, over that of Baby Jesus, because Santa attracts more business. The Baby Jesus, on the other hand, speaks of the inner child that is always within us, who feels the need to be cared for, and who, once grown, has that caring impulse. That is the part of paradise that has not been wholly lost, made of innocence, spontaneity, enchantment, play and living together with the others, without any kind of discrimination.

For Christians it is the celebration of the “proximity and humanity” of our God, as it is told in the Epistle of Tito (3,4). God became so passionate about human beings that He wanted to be one of us. As Fernando Pessoa expresses so beautifully in his poem on the Nativity: «He is the eternal Child, the God we lacked; the divine being who smiles and plays; the child so human who is divine».

Now we have a child God, not a God who is a severe judge of our actions and of human history. What inner happiness we feel when we think that we will be judged by a child God. Rather than condemning us, the child God wants to live together forever, and amuse Himself with us.

His birth provoked a cosmic commotion. A text of the Christian liturgy says in a symbolic form: «Then the chattering leaves became quiet, as if dead; the whispering wind remained still in the air; the crowing rooster went silent in the midst of his song; the swift running waters of the creek were motionless; the grazing sheep became immobile; the pastor who raised his staff was as if petrified; then, in that precise moment, all went still, all went silent, all was suspended: Jesus, the Savior of the people and of the universe, was being born».

The Nativity is a festival of lights, of universal fraternity; of family gathered around a table. More than eating, it is a festival of sharing our lives and that of others, of the generosity of the fruits of our Mother Earth and of the culinary arts of human labor.

For a moment we forget the daily toil, the weight of our hard existence, the tensions between family and friends, and happily we become brothers and sisters joining in comensality, which means to eat together, gathered around a table as was done before, when the whole family, parents, sons and daughters, sat at the table, conversing, eating and drinking.

Comensality is so central that is linked to the appearance of human beings as human. Seven million years ago the slow and progressive separation from a common ancestor began between higher apes and humans. The singularity of the human being, unlike other animals, is the gathering of food, distributing it among all, starting with the youngest and the elderly, and after that, everyone else.

Comensality presupposes cooperation and solidarity with each other. It was comensality that facilitated the leap from beast to human. What was true yesterday, is still true today. This is why it is so painful to realize that millions and millions of humans have nothing to share, and live with hunger.

On September 11, 2001 occurred the atrocity of the planes that crashed into the Twin Towers in New York. Nearly three thousand people died in that action.

That very same day, 16,400 children under the age of 5 died. They died of starvation and malnourishment. The following day and throughout the whole year, twelve million children were victims of hunger. And no one was terrified then, nor is terrified now, in the face of that human catastrophe.

On this Nativity of joy and fraternity we cannot forget those that Jesus called “my little brothers and sisters” (Mt 25, 40); those who will neither receive gifts nor have anything to eat. But this sad fact notwithstanding, we celebrate and sing, we sing and are happy because we will never be alone. The Child’s name is Jesus, the Emmanuel that means: “God with us”. On this occasion this little verse is appropriate. It makes us reflect on our understanding of God, as revealed in the Nativity:

Every little boy wants to be a man.

Every man wants to be a king.

Every king wants to be “god”.

Only God wanted to be a child.

Happy Feast of the Nativity of the year of grace of 2014.