Letter from the Coordinator 2008-01-28

Though this is coming rather late, let me say I join you in looking forward to yet another year of renewed commitment to justice and peace, a new year of intensified resistance to the forces militating against God’s design of abundant life for all. Not the least of which are the forces currently fomenting unprecedented tragedy and imperiling life in turmoil-ridden Pakistan, Kenya and Lebanon. Nor the equally murderous and undiminished US interventionism in Iraq and Afghanistan in the name of the war on terror. And far from having abated, violence and human-rights violations in Sri Lanka and the Philippines continue. Only a few days back another rural-based United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) pastor was brutally slain and yesterday, a young Methodist deaconess was arrested with her husband but subsequently released.

The last quarter of 2007 was concededly our busiest during the year. Though we had decided to postpone the Second People’s Forum and assembly of Peace for Life (PfL) originally slated for 2007, the work in connection with the preparations for the peace and solidarity mission to Palestine-Israel (a scaled-down and streamlined version of the People’s Forum which was to be held also in Palestine and Jordan), proved to be no less taxing and overwhelming.

So exhausted were we in the Manila-based secretariat after the Palestine initiative that we thoroughly savored a long Christmas and New Year break from whose languorous spell most of us have yet to be fully released. Not even our solidarity and fellowship party to greet the New Year on January 11 could break that spell. The affair was also an occasion to express our appreciation to Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Duremdes, PfL co-founder and former National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) general secretary who completed her second term in December; welcome her worthy successor, Fr. Rex Reyes, who assumed office at the beginning of this year; and bid goodbye to PfL founding member Rev. Dr. Bosse Temneus who was due to return to Sweden after several years of teaching at a seminary of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI).

Also slowing us down is the dislocation, including annoyingly prolonged internet and phone disruptions, attendant to our move this month to a new office on the second floor of the Bp. La Verne Mercado Ecumenical Center, just adjoining the NCCP building where we were formerly located.

Interfaith Peace Pilgrimage and Solidarity Mission to Palestine-Israel

Our principal project last year, the Interfaith Peace Pilgrimage and Solidarity Mission to Palestine-Israel which took place on November 4-12, primarily aimed to bring on board our faith-based network specially from the South in the world-wide effort to seriously address the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, viewed as a microcosm of the larger problem of hegemonic power and control over the Middle East region and the whole world. It also sought to give an inter-religious testimony to justice and peace in Palestine-Israel as well as help deepen and sharpen the methodology of interfaith work based on interfaith solidarity.

Divided in two parts (the 7-day peace mission in Palestine-Israel and the 2-day International Conference on Justice for Palestine held in neighboring Jordan), the initiative was also in response to the recently launched ecumenical campaign led by the World Council of Churches (WCC) to end illegal Israeli occupation. The local organizing committee, headed by Yusef Daher of the WCC office in Jerusalem and Nidal Abuzuluf of the Coalition of Christian Groups in Palestine, did a great job in organizing a relevant program. This included meetings with the Sabeel Center for Liberation Theology, Israeli Committee against House Demolition, Christian Peacemakers Team as well as with political leaders of both the Hamas and Fateh parties. There was also opportunity for home stay with Palestinian families and visits to the Holy Land as well as exposure trips to the Apartheid Wall, expropriated lands in Beit Jala, and refugee camps. The Palestine program culminated in a one-day public forum during which both local and international participants deepened their comprehension of the geopolitical context of the Palestinian-Israeli confict with the superb help of Palestinian analysts Omar Barghouti and former WCC staffperson Riffat Odeh Kassis as well as Israeli intellectual Uri Davis.

Capping the Palestine mission was the Amman conference that addressed the theme, “Breaking the Yoke of Empire and Occupation: People of Faith with Palestine in Struggle”. Middle East Council of Churches general secretary Guirghis Ibrahim Saleh gave the welcome speech, while PfL Moderator Eunice Santana gave a compelling keynote address. Other speakers included US theologian Dr. Mark Taylor, CC member and political analyst Dr. Ninan Koshy, Jewish peace activist Jeremy Milgrom, Sri Lankan social activist Nimalka Fernando, South African Muslim solidarity leader Jeenah Naeem, and CC member David Wildman who is spearheading in the US a church-based Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. The conference issued a powerful statement drafted by a committee headed by PfL co-founder and New York-based WCC executive Rev. Chris Ferguson. Titled “Pledge of Commitment: People of Faith with Palestine in Struggle”, the 5-paged conference declaration intoned, “For the US empire, the ‘primary, vital focus’ is the Middle East; Occupied Palestine is at the center of this imperial project and dreams of conquest.” It called for “key focused actions to strengthen a counter-imperial faith in solidarity with Palestine and all those who suffer under empire.”

Drawing the participation of some 50 people from the Middle East and different parts of the world, the Palestine mission and the succeeding conference in Jordan have elicited much enthusiasm (described as life-changing by some). With a good number representing Muslim, Hindu, and Jewish faith traditions from all the major global regions, our main project for the year 2007 marked a major step in building PfL as both a profoundly interfaith and international movement for global justice and peace. Also participating in the mission were representatives from PfL’s major partners since its inception, the Karibu Foundation and United Church of Canada (UCC). The latter sponsored a Canadian team for exposure to Palestine. The November activities galvanized our solidarity links with justice-oriented groups in Palestine-Israel and opened new, potential partnerships in neighboring Jordan, including our host group, the Ecumenical Study Center. The central task of following through with the results of the mission presents Peace for Life with a formidable challenge that needs to be addressed in a decisive, innovative and sustained manner. We are elated, meanwhile, that some members of the international delegation to Palestine have already taken initiatives to give reports on the mission to their respective constituencies, organize forums on the Palestine initiative (like the forum today in Vancouver led by Canadian-Jewish peace activist Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta of the Summer Interfaith Institute) and write about their experiences through narratives (like the series of articles circulated by Working Group (WG) member Irfan Engineer), and poems (like the haunting piece written by South African participant Stiaan van der Merwe).

Caucus of the Continuation Committee in Amman

Following the mission and the Amman conference, we held a one-day caucus of our Continuation Committee (CC) which, among others, endorsed the election as PfL Co-Moderator of Dr. Farid Esack, our Muslim member of the WG from South Africa and a visiting professor at the Harvard Divinity School. Said recommendation of the caucus, chaired by PfL Co-Moderator Dr. Kim Yong-Bock, was subsequently upheld by the CC and specially cited for enhancing the interfaith character of PfL and ensuring a more balanced representation of the regions of the South. Among the CC members who attended the caucus were Bp. Aldo Etchegoyen, Alexa Habib, Ranjan Solomon, Rev. Akuila Yabaki and WG member Gabriel Habib. The latter helped put together the program for the Palestine mission and mobilize participation from the Middle East.

The caucus also proposed to convene the next People’s Forum on the general theme of power, spirituality and counter-imperial faith in September-October 2008 in Jerusalem or Cairo, a major initiative which could also form part of the follow-up to the Palestine mission. The theme of spirituality is envisaged to have two dimensions: spirituality drawn from insights of religion and spirituality that emerges from struggle. The theme also underlines the prophetic role of progressive or counter-imperial faith.

The meeting likewise supported an earlier proposal to hold a major conference on empire right in the belly of the beast, that is, in the US around January 2009 immediately following the November 2008 elections. It is envisioned that the target participants in the US and neighboring Canada shall be a broad mix of religious leaders, theologians, academics, social movement leaders, labor union organizers and activists working for the rights of minorities like indigenous peoples and immigrants.

Final Drafting Consultation of the Peace Charter

The Palestine mission was not the only activity that occupied us during the past quarter. Barely a couple of weeks earlier on October 25-30, PfL was involved in organizing the final drafting consultation of the Peace Charter once again hosted by the county of Hwacheon, South Korea. CC members Ninan and Yong-Bock, who are spearheading the charter project, plan to widely circulate the final draft for endorsement, not only of the PfL network, but of various other groups and networks of activists, interfaith groups and NGOs. The charter is to be inaugurated and formally adopted at an international peace conference to be held in Hwacheon in October this year.

The charter meeting also explored various other projects in which PfL is expected to play a leading role, notably the proposed peace institute to train and equip a new generation of peace activists and solidarity workers, a task that has long been identified as a priority for PfL. It is envisaged that the project will be run by a consortium of established ecumenical institutes and linked with new, innovative peace education initiatives in various parts of the world.

Manila Visit of WCC General Secretary

Being the lone Filipino member of the WCC Central Committee, I had to rush back to Manila immediately after the Amman meetings to assist NCCP in welcoming WCC general secretary Samuel Kobia who made his first visit as WCC head to the Philippines in connection with the 48th General Convention of the NCCP in early December. I had the honor of introducing Dr. Kobia, who was accompanied by WCC executive for Asia Dr. Mathews George Chunakara, at an IFI mass where he gave a memorable sermon to commemorate the martyrdom of PfL founding member and former IFI Supreme Bishop Alberto Ramento. I had another occasion to introduce Dr. Kobia as keynote speaker at the opening session of the NCCP convention and joined him in various other meetings and forums, like the one with families of victims of human-rights violations.

The visit of Dr. Kobia, who was accompanied by an ecumenical team that included representatives from NCCP and PfL partners (UCC, National Christian Council of Japan, Uniting Church of Australia and the Christian Conference of Asia), highlighted once again the issue of extra-judicial killings, forced disappearances and abductions and other human-rights atrocities in the Philippines. In various forums and press conferences, he called for an end to political slayings and criticized the Philippine government for resorting to terrorist means in conducting its war on terror. He condemned the labeling of churches, pastors and church workers who work for justice and peace as communists or subversives. At the same time he reiterated the local churches’ call to encourage the resumption of peace talks in order to address the root causes of both the Muslim and communist insurgencies.

Particularly empowering to the local ecumenical community was Dr. Kobia’s reassurances of enhanced WCC accompaniment of the churches in their prophetic witness and struggle for the marginalized and the poor through intensified global advocacy on the Philippine human-rights situation at all levels in the international arena, specially the UN Human Rights Council and ECOSOC in which the WCC has consultative status.

Meanwhile we had the opportunity of renewing ties with CC members Bern Jagunos, Lester Ruiz and Levi Bautista who also came for the NCCP convention. Bern met with UCC partners in the Philippines regarding the future of UCC’s strategic partnerships with local programs.

Conclusion

Before closing I wish to beseech your prayers for one of the most loved and progressive Filipino church leaders, PfL champion and former UCCP general secretary Bishop Elmer Bolocon, who from his hospital bed has issued a Letter of Thanks with these profoundly moving words, “My body may be broken, but my faith is strong. I can face the future, confront my own mortality…I know that beyond the shadows that we now see, another dawn is breaking, bringing with it all the promises of that first morning and all the other mornings of my life”.

Again I thank you for this opportunity of sharing the highlights of our work during the final quarter of the previous year, which hopefully will help usher in a more fruitful year of service in 2008.

In solidarity,

Carmencita

CARMENCITA P. KARAGDAG

Coordinator

Peace for Life