Nouvelle
Without giving up the claim that "nothing less than a fundamental shift in political-economic paradigms is necessary", the World Council of Churches (WCC) reaffirmed its willingness to discuss possible reforms of the present economic structures and policies with the international financial institutions.
This was one of the main outcomes of a two-day encounter of about 70 representatives of WCC member churches, church-related agencies and ecumenical partners from social movements, meeting in Geneva, September 11-12, 2003. The meeting was called in preparation for the next encounter between the WCC and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB), to be held in Washington, D.C., October 28-29, 2003.
Based on the "far-reaching and adverse impacts on the basic human rights and survival of millions" caused by "harsh economic measures imposed by the IMF and WB" as well as the "unremitting flow of payments for debts", participants at the meeting reaffirmed that churches and Christians are called to "advocate for reforms and fundamental changes so that political and economic structures serve life".
This advocacy is part of a mission that includes prophetic critique of injustices, courageous resistance to political and economic powers, and the living out of alternatives. Rooted in the Christian hope, this mission builds on wide ecumenical experience that shows that "there are possible and viable alternatives to the currently unjust and unsustainable global political-economic systems and policies".
The present economic system was characterised at the meeting as "The Champagne Glass Economy" by Rogate Mshana, WCC programme executive for economic justice. The analogy graphically illustrates that the upper 20 percent of the world's population consumes 83 percent of the world's wealth, the next 20 percent make use of 11 percent of those resources, while the remaining 60 percent have access to only 6 percent of them.
"Our global problem", said Mshana, "is the inequality in global resource sharing, and it will not be solved only by economic growth without equitable distribution". That is why "justice is at the heart of our encounter with the international financial institutions", he added.
Intended to elaborate a common vision and coherent strategies to address the policies of the IMF and WB, the meeting highlighted several challenges to the churches raised by the encounters with both institutions. Key among them is to avoid giving "unwarranted legitimacy" to policies "which run counter to our basic convictions". But the list includes also self-critical "appeals for consistency in terms of levels and styles of consumption and production within our churches".
In addition to the agreed four themes to be discussed with the IMF and WB in the forthcoming encounter - Participation of civil society in development; Institutional governance and accountability; Respective roles of public and private sectors in development; and Challenges of globalisation - the meeting recommended that the concern for privatisation and the question of possible and viable alternatives be added.
The meeting also recommended the inclusion in the agenda of two additional issues: responsibility and conditionality. Participants referred to the question of "who takes responsibility for grave mistakes made by major actors such as the IMF and WB in the course of time (e.g. 'odious debt')"; they also criticised both institutions for imposing "conditionalities" for providing loans and debt relief in times of crisis, which "reflects the prevailing political-economic power relations and ideologies, and is contrary to the stated objectives of their policies".
In addressing the meeting on "Spirituality of resistance", WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser stressed that, far from a romanticised stereotype, spirituality "as the energy for life in all its fullness implies the commitment to resist all forces, powers and systems which reduce, deny or destroy life". In particular, he emphasised the need to challenge "any form of power which sets itself as absolute", and to engage in discernment regarding "the allegedly irrefutable logic of the prevailing economic paradigm".
Expressing gratitude to the participants for their involvement in this highly-valued process, the WCC general secretary-elect Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia highlighted that the encounter with the international financial institutions is in line with the legacy of the work on justice done by the WCC for decades. Recalling statements from WCC assemblies on this issue, he concluded, "Economics is a matter of faith".
The report with the main conclusions of the meeting is available at:
www2.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/200309conclusions.html
The paper on "Spirituality of resistance" by Konrad Raiser is available at: