News
By Mirjam Schubert
There are two sides to Johannesburg. One is Sandton City with its high-rise towers, up-market hotels, luxury shopping mall and a conference centre whose corridors, from 22 August, were filled with delegates hurrying to the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). The other side, only six kilometres away as the crow flies, is Alexandra Township, the tin sheds of its slums leaning against each other. Many township residents don't know whether they will have anything to eat tomorrow.
Alexandra, not Sandton, was where an ecumenical team attending the WSSD prepared for the Summit. Led by South African Council of Churches (SACC) general secretary Dr Molefe Tsele and coordinated by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the team included over 60 people from all continents and a wide range of churches and persuasions. Some had participated in all the preparatory meetings (prepcoms). In visiting South Africa's oldest township, the team was giving a clear sign: "The residents of Alexandra are the people this Summit must concern itself with," explained Dr Martin Robra of the WCC.
At an ecumenical service in Alexandra, members of the local Presbyterian Church congregation greeted their overseas guests with song and dance. "I was overcome by the joyfulness and positive atmosphere in an area that seems so hopeless," said team member Miragh Addis from Canada. "We are here to ensure that the voice of those who have no voice can be heard at the Summit," said Rev. Dr Alan Boesak in his sermon.
This was the task the ecumenical team set itself. "We have firm faith that there is still hope to change the world," said Shanti Sachithanandam from Sri Lanka. But the reality of the negotiating table is often complex, and some team members arrived with lower expectations. Said Demba Moussa Dembele from Senegal: "I had no illusions about the result of this Summit."
"Recognition of the sacred nature of creation and the spiritual interrelationship among all its parts" is how a team policy statement describes the basis of its commitment. That involved upholding an ethic that defends and fulfils life.
"Such an ethic," the statement continues, "involves respect for the integrity of the cosmos and commitment to respecting the dignity and promoting the wellbeing with, and of, all members of the Earth community. "
This faith-based ethic, and the images of Alexandra Township, shaped the team's efforts in Johannesburg. Many team members joined non-governmental organization work groups - on women, energy, water, or particular regions - where the NGOs shared information and prepared their lobbying. In the official negotiations, that were open to NGOs, and in the conference building, team members put their message directly across to politicians: sustainable development cannot be contemplated without justice. "NGO pressure on the delegates had considerable impact on the negotiations," reported Henrik Grape from Sweden. "Many delegates were pleased if they could refer to civil society and so give their arguments more weight."
Team members also interacted with other participants and participated in the events at the "Global People's Forum". The NGO summit was sited in the Nasrec exhibition centre, a long way from Sandton. "For me, the opportunity for real exchange was here rather than in the negotiations at the conference centre," said Jackie Moreau from the USA. "Nasrec was a place to get inspiration and inspire others, a place to build up networks for your work at home."
The ecumenical team also organized two meetings: one on the ecological debt of rich countries, and the other on corporate accountability. In that setting, NGO, government and business representatives responded to questions from the audience and press. During a podium discussion on "A climate for justice", Karen Lexèn from Sweden introduced an appeal, co-sponsored by the WCC and development and aid organizations from the USA, Canada, Aotearoa-New Zealand and Europe. "The development organizations have woken up and recognized that they too must take a clear position on climate change," said Lexèn. "Together, we're on the side of the poorest and weakest, who are most affected by climate change...Together we want to call on governments to tackle the causes of climate change faster and more effectively."
While in Johannesburg, the ecumenical team made a special effort to meet people beyond the WSSD. One opportunity was a worship service on HIV/AIDS at Christ the King Anglican Church in Sophiatown at which one of the team members, Hellen Wangusa from Uganda, preached the sermon. After the service, parish youth led team members through a neighbourhood from which, under apartheid, thousands of people had been sent to settle in faraway townships. Eyewitnesses and the young people told the story of that turbulent past in word and song.
At the end of an exhausting week, the ecumencial team returned to Alexandra where the SACC, the Global People's Forum and other NGOs had organized a demonstration in solidarity with the township's inhabitants and deprived people all over the world.
From Alexandra Stadium, demonstrators marched and danced their way in the sweltering heat through the narrow township streets to the wide boulevards of Sandton nine kilometres away. "On this march people could at last bridge the gap between Sandton and Nasrec, "commented Sipho Mtetwa from South Africa. "In the poor area, people gathered to wave, touch and greet us," said David Hallman from Canada. "After that, just a few people watched the demonstration from behind a police barrier." And Miragh Addis reported that a small boy from Alexandra thanked her "for demonstrating for me".
The outcome of the WSSD was unsatisfactory in many respects. The ecumenical team was particularly disappointed at the negotiating parties' inability to set any goals or timetable on energy. But, says Larisa Skuratovskaya from Russia "we could also celebrate some victories". "Canada, Russia and China ratified the Kyoto protocol. We no longer expected that. Now it can come into force. Also, as a result of the massive protests by women, the stipulation of 'human rights and basic freedoms' was included in the paragraphs on health care. This means that we can prevent genital mutilation, for example, from being interpreted as legitimate."
Such accomplishments are modest. Yet what can be celebrated goes beyond changes and openings in the language of agreed texts. As David Hallman, WCC Climate Change programme coordinator and programme officer with the United Church of Canada, notes in his WSSD report, "Beyond small victories within the formal agreements, the network and capacity-building that occurred among civil society groups will reinforce the justice movements of resistance and the modelling of alternative approaches that could genuinely lead to sustainable community."
Mirjam Schubert, a German journalist, accompanied the WCC ecumenical team during the World Summit on Sustainable development in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26 August-4 September 2002.