1
After my joining the Regional Office in June 193, this is the
first time I am formally communicating to all of you, students and long-time
friends of WSCF Asia-Pacific region. With much anxiety and excitement, I
believe I am coming back from my student time to join this community, which
strives rigorously to live our faith amidst the harsh realities of
Asia-Pacific.
I am coming back to this community with excitement because I
am looking forward to be in touch with all of you, your concerns and struggles;
I am returning also with anxiety because I realize this significant ministry to
students and the academic community is facing a critical moment. Despite its
centennial celebration in 1995, this mission embodied in the Federation is
facing immense challenges to critically assess its identity, its contribution
in relation to the student community as well as the church at large.
Since June, we have had the Regional Committee Meeting and SET'93
(Student Empowerment of Transformation). In between, there was also the
Inter-Regional Finance Committee meeting in Stuttgart. Therefore, it has been
some exciting months in which many important issues have been raised and
discussed and some decisions have been reached. One of the important decisions
is the theme for the next two years for movements in the Asia-Pacific Region, and
that is: "Responding in Faith to Creation's Longing to be Free." The
other is the Region's determination to respond actively to the Centenary
celebrations.
The concrete expression of the biennial theme is the focus of this
year's SET on "Development" and its impact on the marginalized
communities. We have included in this issue Chhaya Datar's critique on development and women, an input for the
Regional Committee Meeting in June 1993, which has, in a way, set off our
continuous discussion on the topic.
Many movements in the Region are undergoing a process of self-study. The
SCM of the Philippines and the Indian SCM have just concluded their studies. A
part of the study of the SCMP is included in this issue. I hope as we are
preparing ourselves to celebrate the 100th birthday of the WSCF, we will engage
with all our critical spirit to look at the life of our movements, the
struggles, the concerns of the current generation of students and to envision
anew our mission in the academic community in the future.
Another significant feature of this issue is the creation of the
"Women's Space." It is a new column designed by Tsui Ling, our
Regional Women's Coordinator, to highlight the concerns for gender issues in
our national movements. It also reflects our Region's continuous commitment to
provide space for women's voices and greater exchanges among women to encourage
young women's leadership.
There are more movement news included in this
issue. The aim is to facilitate a greater sense of our regional fellowship and
a stronger sense of solidarity with each other's struggle. We also hope to keep
the publication of Praxis as close to a quarterly issue as possible, yet
believing that you would understand even if we fail eventually due to the
overwhelming workload in the regional office.
In any sense, I shall treasure very much Praxis as a forum for exchange
of ideas and concerns for members of our Asia-Pacific fellowship. So please
take active part in it and send in your thoughts, comments and challenges from
time to time. They will be more than welcomed.
Finally, wishing all of you a very Happy
New Year. Till we
meet,
Shalom,
Wong Wai Ching
2
The Korean
Student Christian Federation (KSCF) held its summer mission rally under
the theme "Come! Let's Change our world" (Luke 12:49) from August 12
to 15, 1993 at the Goyang Youth Hostel. Some 150
people participated.
The KSCF met
under the slogan "For a New Korea" enabling the participants to reflect
upon the contemporary issues and to search for the meaning of mission that is
demanded of Christian students. Through a rediscovery of the Gospel that heals
the pain of Korean history and people the KSCF re-dedicated itself to work,
together with the God who became human, for the transformation of the world.
Rev. Hong, Gun
Soo (Hyang Lin Church,
Vice-director of the KSCF), on the opening day, challenged the participants to
discover the Jesus who wants of bring change to the world. He based his sermon
on Jesus' statement, "1 came to light the fire of the world." In his
keynote address, Rev. Kim, Sang Gun (Chairman of the Christian Presbyterian
Mission Education Council) taking the parable of the Good Samaritan as the text
addressed the question of the KSCF's determination
for social change. He said, "essentially the
process of the Christian Student Movement requires that we free ourselves from
the thinking that revolves around the self." Relationships between people
must be restored and through a life of faith and social scientific approaches
the movement will be a catalyst of change.
The second day
of the rally was devoted as the day of social mission, the third as the day of
campus ministry and the fourth day as the day of reunification.
Rev. Lee, Choon Sub's (Sung Soo Church)
spoke on the theory of social mission. The delegates also heard reports of
those working to establish strong neighborhoods and visited various missions -
the Hagye dong poor region, left-over missions, Uijongboo "My Sister's Place", the Korean
Teacher's Educational Worker's Union office, the Minjung Tang Jae Won, Grandfather's Community (a community of former
long time prisoners), Minjung church, etc. The social mission of the KSCF was
strengthened and sharpened at this session and the passion for such a direction
was very evident in the way the students participated in the discussions.
On the day of
campus mission, Rev. Lee, Gye Joon (Yonsei
University) spoke about the campus ministry and its current challenges. He
stressed that there must be a clear perspective and understanding of mission as
well as the reality of the various campus-ministry organizations. The KSCF also
acknowledged the importance of student movements and in strengthening
relationships between them. The various campus ministry materials that were
prepared and presented by students will be a good resource base for the
activities of the KSCF.
On the day of
peace and reunification, Professor Lee, Jong Oh (Kye Myung University) gave a
lecture about the peaceful reunification theory, the road one must go on for
reunification. Students' responses confirmed how important are people's
problems and therefore the question of reunification. A peace worship service
was led by KSCF General Secretary, Rev. Chung, Myung Gee on the concluding day.
Human Chain Links
Koreans for Reunification
The annual
Korean Christian Convention for Peace and Reunification toward the Jubilee
(August 12-14) also witnessed a new
3
event
this year, namely, the Human Chain Rally for North-South Peace and Reunification.
This event produced some important results.
The 60/000-odd
participants in the Human Chain included both NCCK member- and
non-member-churches (Protestants), Catholics, Buddhists, Chondogyo
believers, Confucianists and secular persons and organizations representing all
social spheres. This surprisingly large turnout confirmed the desire and will
of the Korean people for national reunification, and marked a turning point in
the reunification movement. What had thus far been a government-led process has
now become a citizens' movement.
The peaceful
character of the Human Chain made it possible for all kinds of persons to join
in without fear of tear gas or other police suppression. This was due to the
fact that the forces for reform in the new Kim Young Sam Government positively
supported the event, as did all the major broadcast media. So another
important outcome of the Chain was the realization that the civilian movement
in cooperation with the reform forces in the Government can expand the people's
participation for reunification.
The success of
the Chain was also due largely to the enthusiastic participation, of church
members and their pastors, who mobilized far more than the 43,000 persons
needed to cover the 43 kilometers from Independence Gate in Seoul to Imjingak (near the DMZ). Participants throughout the length
of the Chain were able to listen to the worship service at Imjingak
over CBS radio. (Christian Broadcasting System is the only South Korean
channel that can be heard in
The Human Chain
was initiated by the South Korean churches. North Korean
A section of the human chain
4
5
Christians
were invited to take part by forming another chain, which would have been
linked across the border with the one in the south. Unfortunately, this did not
work out, because of still-unresolved political differences between the
two governments.
Building on
the success of the 1993 Human Chain, a much longer chain is being planned for next
year, and in 1995 to have it the full length of North and
In 1991 the
Student Christian Movement was revived^ and reorganized by the chaplain of the
University, who acts as the coordinator. The SCM group in the University of South Pacific (USP) has students from the various
countries in the Pacific Region. Some former SCMers of the USP who are working in Fiji are also
involved.
One of the
basic difficulties is the pietistic orientation of the students. To them the
question of personal salvation is uppermost in their minds, all the rest are
of low priority. Those from fundamentalist church backgrounds still need time
to understand the concept of God's design for nation-building and God's will
for those who are oppressed. The other difficulty is that the traditional
political system (of chieftains) in many countries in the Pacific has made it
hard for the students to speak up on justice issues.
The chaplain
takes on the added responsibility of designing programs for student-members
taking into account the cultural milieu of the Pacific.
On September 7
and 8 (1993), a camp was held in one of the resorts near Suva. The general
objective of the camp was to help members understand the goals of the SCM,
create awareness on the theological understanding of God's purpose in
creation, human stewardship of natural resources, and the dignity of human
beings.
The keynote
address was presented by the chaplain, Fr. Leslie Fugui,
on the topic "God's supreme authority in all spheres of development in the
Pacific Region."
There were
group discussions after the address and then a plenary session. Students
expressed themselves strongly against the nature of development in the Pacific,
corruption, bribery, nepotism and favoritism, the problem of logging companies,
fisheries and other forms of exploitation. This camp was the beginning of a new
life for many students and is expected to be followed-up by larger camps
encompassing students from the other academic institutions in
To commemorate the
centenary of the World Parliament of Religions, a Congress of religions in
The Congress acknowledged
the role of religions in promoting unity and peace among the citizens and
stated that personal integrity of humans becomes full only when they share the
life of others. One of the problems acknowledged by the Congress was the
increasing secularization. In the midst of modern living, religion loses its
identity and it was accepted that unless religions can come up with answers to
the problems of modern human society, they
6
will
lose their relevance. Searching and finding new roles for religions in the
context of modern pressures has been posed as one of the challenges facing the
Indonesian context today.
All over the world,
street theatre has been playing a major supporting role in the people's
movement. The so-called "mass media" is promoting a consumeristic
culture in support of the dominating and elite classes of the society. A
"culture of silence" is on the rise and this begets superstition/
fatalism, dependence, and fundamentalism.
The Student
Christian Movement of India has been giving special attention to the
development of alternative media and has been promoting the same among students
so that they can participate more meaningfully in negating the culture of
silence. As part of this thrust a week-long National Workshop on Street
Theatre was organized in Calcutta from the 28th of December '93
to the 2nd of January '94.
The main
objective of organizing such a workshop on street theatre was to promote the
development of group communication wherever possible as a means of sharing and
communicating ideas on relevant issues. This would help in raising
consciousness, fostering a spirit of community leading to cultural action.
Street theatre can be an alternative medium to the existing mass media to
capture the interest of the people on crucial issues at a very nominal cost.
One main aim
of the SCMI is to prepare street theatre troupes, both at the national and area
levels, and if possible even at the local unit levels, so that these students
can work with the people at the grass root level and help them in their cry for
life.
Thirty-two participants from 13 different
7
states
of the country participated and they were welcomed in true Bengali tradition accompanied
by songs and dances portraying the life and culture of West Bengal.
The workshop
followed a rigid pattern with the participants applying their skills in
dramatics after observing the daily life of various sections of the people -
slum dwellers, women, head-load workers, construction workers, and so on -
through exposure trips and then writing a script to perform. Professional
critiquing coupled with theoretical inputs by the staff of the Centre for
Communication and Cultural Action/
For a community
of students sensitive to the contemporary realities of the society and having
the basic skills of acting, the workshop provided an excellent opportunity to
interact with the people in their daily struggles and to find creative and innovative
ways of presenting their aspirations to a larger audience.
Jaideep Pande
The five-day
annual conference was held at Ghora Dhaka, Ayubia, a hill resort 8,500 feet above sea level in the thick,
dark-green pine forest overlooking the valley of Kashmir and attended by 55
participants which included students and teachers (male and female) from
Peshawar, Abotabad, Rawalpindi,
Sheikhupura and Lahore SCM Units.
The program of
the conference was formulated so as to facilitate the students with adequate
knowledge and to bring out their leadership qualities. Topics for discussion
were chosen with great care keeping in view the current problems confronting
our world in general and Pakistani community in particular. The WSCF theme
"Responding in Faith to Creation's Longing to be
Free" was on top priority. The conference also aimed at creating awareness
on ecology, child labor, and men-women partnership.
Seminars on
the above topics were led by resource persons specialized in the respective
areas. Each seminar was followed by a workshop. The workshops were conducted in
a very constructive manner making it mandatory for each student to participate
actively and effectively. The seminars on environment and men-women
partnership were particularly successful. The latter was fully conducted and
managed by the students.
The
participants learned the amount of harm being done to our environment due to
over-crowding (over-population), noise pollution, deforestation, flooding,
killing of wild animals and ozone layer depletion. The students realized how
the tourists from the plains of Pakistan visiting the mountains during summer
season were ruining the pure, clean and healthy environment of the mountains by
throwing away rubbish, empty cans, etc. Trees are being constantly cut to
construct huge, concrete buildings for tourists. Hence, it was decided in the
concluding session that each participant will work with a missionary zeal to
plant a tree each in their home vicinity and to spread the awareness among
those who are still ignorant of the environmental issues.
The
participants were shocked to learn for the first time about the official
figures regarding the number of children in the age group of 5 to 14 years who
are either self-employed, paid workers or under bonded labor. The students
decided that they would collect figures about children employed in brick-kilns,
restaurants, in-
8
dustrial
and mechanical workshops, etc. in their localities.
Daily devotion,
both in the morning and evening were an important part of the conference
programme. The devotions were conducted by the students themselves.
The five-day
gathering provided an opportunity for the students to get together from
different parts of the country in true Christian spirit. The students and
teachers also got a chance to ^now each other more intimately, to share their
problems and to help each other as equal partners.
Momtaz Shah
SCM Aotearoa
held its annual conference and Annual General Meeting (AGM) from the 23rd to
the 26th of August, 1993 at Methven, in a scenic part
of the
A major focus
was on group dynamics. Anne Kilgour, an SCM senior
friend, gave some insights and skills, that became
useful not only at the Conference but that can also be used in the local SCM
groups.
The
participants explored different theological and social models and did some
'dreaming' and 'visioning' together of SCM and Aotearoa. They shared in
creative worship and music but also had an enjoyable and relaxing time.
The AGM
decided to locate the Working Group (the Management Committee) at
Rebecca
Hayward, secretary for the past three years, who decided to go to Cambridge
University, England, to pursue her higher studies, was given a warm and sad
farewell.
A gathering of
Australian Student Christian Movement (ASCM) men was held at the SCM campsite
at Chum Creek, some hours outside the state capital,
Eleven members
from South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria, participated; two visitors
attended part of the programme. The group adopted an anarchist or "self
regulatory" model of operation. There were three presentations, one presentation
from each of the States, an introduction, and a conclusion with worship, apart
from the socialization, eating and sleeping that were essential. These tasks
were completed during two days and nights.
Women's camps
have been held for many years. The idea of men getting together to confront
personal issues is a relatively new occurrence. Women have provided a lead, but
men need to look again at themselves, especially in relation to patriarchy.
Both secular
and spiritual Western society imposes stereotypical expectations on men as well
as on women. If Christians are to be truly liberated one must respond to the
call of the Gospel in all aspects of life, including sexuality. The Buddha has
said that each is to be a light to themselves. Men
need to take responsibility for their own liberation instead of expecting women
to do all the work.
The Victorian
presentation originated from a Gay-Straight Dialogue. A guided discussion
included What is Sex?, Ethics and Sex, Sex and
Spirituality.
South
Australia invited participants to
9
share
the experience of violence and affection without commentary. This session's
success was assisted by holding it in the evening with port wine and chocolate.
During the
evaluation, a clear desire for a regular National Men's Conference emerged. The
format used for this gathering was seen as appropriate for the next Conference
too. However, some thought the inclusion of a "keynote" speaker
would be an added attraction. Popular suggestions included talks on domestic
violence or the exploration of sex and spirituality.
Since that
week-end camp some chapters have held irregular meetings of male SCMers. These
gatherings are sometimes very casual social activities, or are presentations
led by a designated member. Material is being collected from the local chapters
for a "Male Musings Collection" magazine. It is envisioned that the
activities of the small gatherings of men throughout
Denis Voight
ASCM Men's Project
Coordinator
10
Chhaya Datar
Dr. Chhaya
Datar is Reader, Women's Studies Unit, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay, India.
Eco-feminism may be defined
as Alternative Development Paradigm in the context of ecological
sustainability and gender equality. The present production system creates a
material base for women and nature to be subjugated, and pinpoints the exact
elements, which allow the exploitative production system to continue. The task
is to find out the key principles, based on which an alternative production
system that is sustainable and equitable can be evolved.
Overview of Marxist Perspective for Women's
Liberation
In short, it
states that emergence of technology was an important event in the primitive
times. It helped generate and accumulate surplus through domination of one
tribe over another, creating stratification along class lines. As a part of this process men, as a group, overpowered women and
relegated them to the 'private sphere', imposing the strict division of labor
along gender lines. Engels called women as the first subjugated class.
Production was carried out in the private sphere by women. Individual man
started owning his wife, and the progeny she produced in the framework of
family institution. It ensured that she produced his heirs for his property.
It entailed the sexual control a husband can exercise over his wife .within the
family, as well as laying down the sexual norms under the title 'good woman',
prescribed by the society, that is, men in collectivity.
For
liberation, two factors are necessary. First, the woman needs to work in the
public sphere, transcending her role of a reproducer in the private sphere.
Second, the concept of ownership of property needs to be abolished, doing away
with the necessity to produce heirs to the property of her husband. It would
mean that there is no need for the husband to have sexual control over his
wife, through ownership right. This will enable women to become mobile and free
to participate in public life, production as well as politics.
The concept of
ownership of women was considered as a part and parcel of the concept of
ownership of property, that is, means of production, which is the basis for any
exploitative society. Marxists envisaged that for women to enter public life,
her domestic work and their reproduction roles had to be socialized and
industrialized. Thus women would be free from 'monotony' - the drudgery of domestic
chores. Along with material changes, cultural changes were viewed as necessary
by the Marxists. Integrating women into the mainstream of production and
politics had been the objective of this project of change and enlightenment.
A few Marxists
are willing to look critically at their own formulation of women's question,
particularly after the collapse of socialist regimes in Russia and Eastern
Europe, where the women's question, for-
11
mulated on the above
premise, could not be sustained.
Valentine M. Moghadam noted,
The 1989 revolutions in
Eastern Europe, have conservative cultural component, in as much as new
discourses are emerging, which emphasize women's reproductive role and
responsibility for children and the family unit. In a manner reminiscent of the
liberal discourse of Enlightenment and the French Revolution, women's family
attachment during the era of socialist construction is regarded as
"unnatural." The power of discourse is strong and is internalized by
women as well as men (Moghadam 1989:26).
Progress of any society is
measured by how much of its population is involved in industrial activity and
is living in the cities. Also, by the presence and influence of that society,
in the global market.
I have shifted
from this position long time ago, ever since I became sensitive to women's
issues which could not be explained through this framework. It is more
interesting to offer a critique of this position and to point out how the said
framework goes against ecological concerns and sustainable development.
Impact
of Industrial Mode of Production based on Technology and Production, on Women
Without going
into the details of all the flaws of the Marxist position on. women's question,
let us try to analyze and pose counter arguments to the position that
technology, that is, the process of industrialization, can make way for women's
liberation.
The present
production system is industrial mode of production and encompasses the world
economic system, where many other modes of production are controlled and
manipulated by the dominant industrial mode. It is an accepted fact that
industrialization based on ever-revolutionizing technology is considered a key
element for progress.
Progress of
any society is measured by how much of its population is involved in industrial
activity and is living in the cities. Market is another key element of this
process of industrialization, and the progress of any society is measured by
the presence and influence of that society, in the global market.
The major
effect of the present development process, in trying to create a global market
encompassing all the economies of the world, is polarization of natural resources
in the hands of certain classes of people. The same process has also caused
deprivation of these resources for the people at the other end. The gap
between the pairing categories is widening, sometimes leading to abject
poverty, or at the least poverty. We observe that in 1983 the ratio of wealth
in developed countries to that in underdeveloped countries was 46:1 (Mies Maria 1991:3).
Even the World
Bank Development Report for 1990 conceded that poverty has increased during
what some have called the 'lost development decade' and aggravated differences
between regions. Valentine M. Moghadam quotes from
the foreword by Barber Conable, to the World
Development Report 1990 which focuses poverty,
The plight of poor women is troubling in itself. It is even
more troubling because the health and education of mothers greatly influence the
well-being and future of their children (Moghdam,
1991:15).
It is not only
the level of poverty for the majority of women that is creating concern but it
is also the problem of depleting natural resources in general, the degradation
of soil cover, the depletion of water and forest that
12
pose
greater danger to immediate livelihood of masses of women in the underdeveloped
countries, thereby threatening their very survival.
If everything is available
in the market, then people are linked through markets and not through any
obligations or love, which reduces people to be atomized and lonely.
Globalization
of world markets is accentuating this problem, by giving new impetus to the
process of accumulation. In
James 0'
Connor observes that it is no longer a classic capitalist crisis of
'overproduction' that is, the crisis from demand side, but, at present, world
capitalism is facing a crisis from the supply side, that is, because of the
cost of pollution control and due to the rising cost of natural resources,
there is a crisis of 'cost of production'. The cost of surplus realization is
becoming higher. The effect is, in many developing countries, structural
adjustment, which exacerbates gender bias by overlooking, if not denying,
women's access to and consumption of the types of productive resources and
services such as credit and input subsidies.
Myth of the Positive Impact
Yet, the
polarization of resources has made it possible for professional women in the
developed countries, and to some extent elite women in the underdeveloped
countries to buy the commodities and services. The variety of processed food
available has made cooking redundant. Old-age care is socialized through the
homes or pensions. The child-care centres are not that easily available yet,
and costs a lot, denying many professional women the choice of having children.
In America, cheap petrol and cheaper cars provide immense mobility to these
women. However, if the above-mentioned material situation creates a myth of
liberation or accomplishes the dream of 'becoming a part of the mainstream,'
the other repercussions of the same process need to be understood carefully. If
everything is available in the market, then people are linked through markets
and not through any obligations or love, which reduces people to be atomized
and lonely. The safety net of the family or kinship gets thwarted.
The situation poses a real
question to women. Will the present efforts of equality, that is, helping women
get into the mainstream of market-oriented production system by industrializing
her reproductive activity achieve liberation for all women in the world? Under
the command economies, industrialization of women's reproductive activities
could not be achieved fully because most of the resources got diverted to
militarization and women's participation in public production was achieved by
paying very low wages thus making her double burden even more
heavy. However, the direction of the economy and the underlying
principles were the same as the capitalist economy. The impact on these women
is a part and parcel of the impact of the industrial mode of production
elsewhere.
13
It is safe for
us to conclude that what is apparent in this industrial mode of production/at
the very high level of technological achievement, women's reproductive activity
also gets industrialized. Gender bias of the planners may be one reason why the
industrialization of reproductive activity is not prioritized on the
development agenda, but the market for labor-power plays an important role in
determining at what stage women's reproductive activities can be bought in the
public sphere. At the lower level of industrialization, it keeps women either
as a reserve army of labor or would like to use them as 'cheap labor', that is,
it does not prefer to increase the cost of labor power by industrializing the
reproductive activity.
Critique of Industrial Mode of Production
based on 'Energy'
And what are
the ecological costs of this strategy? Consumerism of all kinds is considered
enemy of the delicately balanced ecological system. The ecological consequences
of this strategy of industrialization of reproductive activity hangs upon the
question of 'energy'. Industrializing women's 'reproductive work' means mainly
using a lot more energy in the present market system. First, processed food on
a large scale does require a large-scale production of agriculture with the use
of exogenous resources, which require large amount of energy. Second, even
though large-scale processing may be advantageous in terms of less energy
consumed, its packaging, cold storing using CFC2, transportation and disposal
of plastic and Styrofoam wrappings require a lot more energy. The effect of
cfc2 on ozone layer and other polluting aspects add new dimensions to the
ecological crisis.
Babysitting, nurturing
and socializing of children cannot be yet fully industrialized, however
efficient the child-care centres are organized. Old-age homes are not found
satisfactory as they stand today. Handling human beings does pose technological
problems. Thus, this area has remained 'humane' and oppressive at the same
time, since women exclusively look after these activities. Many feminist
futuristic novels have depicted that genetic solutions are being sought by
scientists to control the unpredictability of human behavior. This may prove
to be a reality in the near future -handling 'humans' in an industrial, medical
and technological way.
On one level
medicalization and marketization deprive women control over their own bodies,
and on another level, genetic engineering, coupled with IVF techniques, makes
female bodies available for racists and fascists.
Questions are
also raised regarding intervention in the process of human reproduction.
Contraception technology - although found liberating in the beginning and still
is when it comes to the understanding of natural body rhythm and using barrier
methods - has become invasive and disturbing to natural cycles through
hormonal imbalances. The amniocentesis and IVF (test tube baby) techniques are
found more useful in the process of genetic selection and engineering than for
the sterile couples. Thus, on one level, there is medicalization and
marketization, which deprive women control over their own bodies, and on
another level, genetic engineering, coupled with IVF techniques, makes female
bodies available for racists and fascists. There is, therefore, a definite
reason to worry about the destruction of human ecology and plurality as it
manifests now.
One must be
aware of the implications of
14
the
integrationalist view. It envisages that by getting rid of domestic work, women
can transcend their gender identity. It is yet to take a position regarding
interventions in human ecology, particularly reproductive technology. The
interventions in human ecology are dreaded because they have the potential of
eliminating women as the reproducers of human beings. Thus, those who argue
that sexual division of labor is the cause for the subjugation of women provide
the rationale for the development of reproductive technology. Also, for them integration
into the mainstream means women becoming, acting, and behaving like men - in
effect acquiring equality at the cost of feminity. It is a grave mistake to
define feminity in terms of sheer domesticity and to reject it without
understanding its crucial importance in the reproduction of society. The
approach is based on the wrong conceptualization of the production system,
which overlooks the vital contribution of women at the level of subsistence. Frederique Apffel Marglin says,
For women to develop their minds and to achieve in the
public sphere is to liberate themselves from one of the repressive entailments
of the industrialization of society, namely, the ideology and reality of domesticity.
But the white middle class woman achiever, liberator from the bondage of
domesticity has shown herself to reproduce the
dominating discourse of dominant (mostly white) men as the critique of
mainstream feminism by minority women in the
Critique of Industrial Mode of Production based on Ideology of
Development
After
reviewing the disastrous impact of the 'energy'-based industrialization
process, one must also review the ideological impact of this production system.
This system believes in development of all regions, all communities, both the
genders, in the image of its own. What is 'Development'? Vandana
Shiva puts it thus:
On the one hand, it carries the meaning of self-evolving
organic growth, exemplified in the development of the child into an adult, or a
seed into a tree. Carried to the level of society, the metaphor of development
suggests desirable transformation. Yet 'development' as it has concretely
taken shape is a process that has attempted to model Third World political and
economic power, which lies in the West and this in turn has created new
divisions between the North and South, between the rich and poor, between men
and women, even as it has created new partnership between elites in the North
and South.
It uses science as
universal and neutral system to legitimize and justify the direction of transformation.
Patriarchy takes on new dimensions in an age of science-based transformation
of society and nature, creating ever new colonies and new instruments of
colonization (Shiva, Note, p1).
There is a need to
critique modern science, particularly the reductionist or mechanical paradigm
which has projected science as a universal value-free system of knowledge which
has displaced all other belief and knowledge systems.
There is a
need to critique modern science, particularly the dominant trend, that is, the
reductionist or mechanical paradigm which has projected science as a universal
value-free system of knowledge which has displaced all other belief and
knowledge systems. Women are particularly harmed by this because they had very
little access so far to the formal knowledge and has
relied mainly on traditions, customs, folk tales, and oral history to transmit
15
knowledge.
Modern science tends to disregard everything else as superstition and
humiliates the existing knowledge.
Women have
been responsible for collecting and preserving seeds, and for grafting.
Biotechnology is taking over this function and is industrializing agriculture
by centralizing seed production and homogenizing crop varieties. This is
similar to what genetic engineering and reproductive technologies are doing to
human ecology. All these technologies are based on what can be called
'secondary productivity' of land. It requires exogenous resources such as
chemical fertilizers, pesticides and excessive water. Thus, these technologies
necessarily consume excessive 'energy' and cater to consumerism depleting the
limited natural resources. Biotechnology and genetic engineering have raised
ethical issue of invasiveness, mainly because they cause adverse effects on the
natural evolutionary order thus inviting unforeseen bio-hazards.
Critique of
Industrial Mode of Production based on 'Wage Labor'
Another issue
that needs to be raised is the issue of using human labor as 'wage labor',
which is a very alienating and dehumanizing experience. Frederique
Appffel Marglin calls any
mode of production using wage labor, may it be a part of capitalist system or
socialist system, as an 'industrial mode of production.'
In short, one
can say that the entire logic works in the following way. As the mechanistic,
reductionist trend of scientific methodology provides the basis for creating
the kind of technology that uses mainly exogenous 'energy' resources, and
creates large scale production leading to large scale markets and consumerism,
recruitment of 'wage labor', either under capitalist or socialist forms of
industrial production, becomes its essential character. The wage labor
ideology is so dominant in this era that people lose their creativity and
change their self-perception as dependents. Frederique
Apffel Marglin describes
the process of labor being converted to 'wage labor' in following way:
Wage labor as a commodity is a type of labor separated out
from work performed in personalized social context and from work performed in
the making of finished objects or in completing a task. The characteristic
feature of the industrial mode of production as contrasted with craft
production are the fragmentation of the task and the removal of the worker from
kinship or community setting (Marglin, 1991:14).
Marglin
further says,
The new type of person has a tripartite structure: a self
as the sole owner of a body and mind. The unitary proprietary relationship
between self and a body and a mind that excludes other's claims is it that
makes commoditized labor free as opposed to slave and self labor as well as to
the claims on other's labor arising from kinship and other community based
obligations. It is this unitary and therefore exclusive proprietary relationship
between a self and its body and mind that enables the owner of labor power to
sell it on the
market (ibid: 16).
The
description of wage labor mentioned above spells out the extreme individualism
that is very useful to the market processes where a person enters either as a consumer
or as a supplier of labor power. The impact of the industrial mode of production
and its accompanying rationality, scientific methodology and alienation of
wage labor on women, according to Marglin, is much
more devastating and repressing than it is on men. Marglin
contends the reason for that is.
Whereas the male body's ability to act productively was
enhanced by the development of reasoning capacities, in the case of
specifically female bodily processes, the development of the same capacities was
a threat.
16
She has cited
Emily Martin's study of the medical metaphors at play in birth which proves
that the science of obstetrics created a myth of involuntary nature of uterine
contractions. It also transforms the woman in labor into an unthinking,
unfeeling machine. She comments that the phenomenon of birth is perceived as
women 'make' babies but the (male) doctor 'manages' their pregnancies and
'delivers' them.
With
feminization of the domestic domain men became peripheral to most non-instrumental,
non-market social relations, except in the sphere of 'religion' which was
relegated to the domain of personal choice of individuals. Marglin
attributes this to the phenomenon of separation of the place of residence and
the place of work and separation of work activity from socializing, eating/
resting, bathing where these bodily processes were relegated to the private,
domestic domain.
By using the
same framework one can analyze the slogan of 'mainstreaming' women as making
them work as 'wage laborers' in the present industrial mode of production. If
the present struggle against domesticity ends up in acquiring a status of 'wage
labor,' it cannot be called the final destination of 'liberation'.
Need for Reconceptualizing the Women's Position in Production System
The solution
lies in reversing the ideological perspective and in Marx's words, putting
theory upside down. In the exploitative production system, as Marx perceived,
there exists only one sphere of production where exploitation takes place through
class relations of production and surplus is accumulated. In reality, women's
work of reproduction is subsumed by men within the family institution. In the
prevalent industrial mode of production, women's work, that is,
subsistence-oriented activity, is considered marginal activity, as
'unproductive' or only as the production of 'use values' but not the 'exchange
values' and hence justified as 'unpaid labor.'
At the same time men's
work, which is oriented to production for the markets - not just the local but
even the global markets - is considered to be the most crucial activity,
because it acquires 'surplus' which is the key element for expansion of
production, or for the process of extended reproduction. This process of
extended reproduction is .considered as 'mainstream.'
Feminist scholars have
conclusively proved that women's labor in reproduction also gets exploited and
it contributes to the surplus accumulated in the sphere of extended
reproduction.
Several
feminist scholars have conclusively proved that women's labor in reproduction
also gets exploited and it contributes to the surplus accumulated in the
sphere of extended reproduction. The men in the family act as conduits for
this, enjoying quite a few privileges in the process. There is an organic
relationship between surplus accumulation process in the public production
sphere and the ongoing original surplus accumulation process in the private
production sphere. The activities in the private sphere, or reproduction as it
is known, can be called subsistence oriented activities which mostly
women, tribals and small peasants carry out.
To put the
theory upside down, we have to place the subsistence activity at the centre of
the new production system, and the 'surplus accumulating activity' would play
17
a
secondary role. Subsistence activity does not mean that people will have to
live in the stone-age, or in an ascetic manner. But it means that importance
will be given to the livelihood and reproductive needs of the society.
The production system that has to emerge will do away
with the contradiction between public production and private production spheres
and encourage men to share many tasks of daily reproduction, which is one way
of eliminating the dichotomy between public and private production spheres. The
markets will be localized, eliminating the necessity of distancing residences
with the place of work and traveling for a majority of people. Women will have
easy accessibility to local markets. In a society based on simple reproduction,
women used to market their and family products. Frederique
Apffel Marglin puts it
succinctly,
What has to
become of primary concern is the regeneration of human communities undivided into
a subordination of life-environment not as the mechanized, inert, backdrop to
human endeavor but as inseparable human endeavor.
No
Day-dreaming: Concrete Efforts Visible
It is a
foregone conclusion that the present industrial mode of production must change
if we take the above analysis seriously. Changes must occur on three fronts.
First, the technology which requires excessive energy, which is depletable and
polluting such as fossilized and nuclear, has to be discarded gradually,
reducing its primary importance in the present system. Alternative energy
sources, which are regenerative, and that require less investment have to be
the basis of production activity. Second, the market system has to be two-tier,
where mostly local markets, with the cycle of commodity-money-commodity
pattern will predominate. Third, the predominant form of labor has to be the
labor in the cooperative, or small collective structures which will produce
mainly for local needs and are satisfied through local markets, that is,
use-values. Only a very small proportion should be produced for the
global/distant markets.
This is not
day-dreaming. There are concrete efforts going on to build units of
production, adhering to these new principles, to create sustainable livelihood
for agricultural laborers and small farmers in the countryside of Maharashtra, India. The vision it encompasses is that if
land and water are managed optimally, in a certain crop-mix, including
agro-forestry and fruit trees, there is enough production possible to take care
of food, clothing and shelter needs of not only existing population but also
for posterity. This production system can be called 'bio-mass-based' production
system. It has been proved that there are several eco-systems and subsystems, and
that nature thrives on plurality. If the traditional knowledge base of people
is used along with the scientists who are willing to learn and cooperate with
people, tremendous mobilization of ideas and productivity can be realized.
The efforts
that envisage the use of exogenous resources should be the least, reducing
investment costs in agriculture. The endogenous resource use always increases
labor utilization along with the increase in the per acre productivity of
land. It will encourage the small farmers to cultivate their land reducing the
'leasing out' processes. Thus, the main enemies of environmental degradation
in the countryside - excess use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and surface
irrigation - would be curbed. The landless are also encouraged to claim the
right to natural resources, such as sharing of water, fodder and fuel. In fact,
one of the failures identified with some of the programs such as Employment
Guarantee Scheme is that it talks about 'right to
18
work'
but does not link it up with the 'right to resources'/ and hence are unable to
motivate the landless laborers in a sustained manner.
Implications
for Organizing
This development
perspective has several implications for organizing of urban and rural poor.
Although much sloganeering has taken place regarding land reforms and land
distribution, nobody has taken it seriously. Mechanization of agriculture has
resulted in bigger landholdings, making small peasants pauperized. Now that a
new integrated planning process based on small watersheds is able to assure the
sustenance, they will be willing to come together. In some parts of
To strive for a new society, politics and philosophy purely based on
the interests of the organized working class will not be favorable. There is a
need to accept pluralist efforts, which will give impetus
to real democracy
This vision
provides a concrete alternative to the development efforts such as damming of
the
This vision
also visualizes several industries based on bio-mass production being set up
in the rural areas, decentralizing the industry base. This would mean that a
reverse migration flow to the countryside will take place. Immediately, there
is a need to develop linkages between urban and rural producers, de-linking
them from the market catering to 'wants.' Exchange circuits based on a
'need-based production' should be developed.
Once the
optimal use of energy, together with the best use of regenerative energy,
available in bio-mass and water, is defined as the key element for
sustainability of livelihood and environment, the necessary technological and
economic models, the ideal production relations and gender relations can be
developed which are in consonance with one another.
Of course, it
is not a matter of drawing a blueprint, but it has to get developed in course
of practice, or in Marxist terminology, in the course of praxis. One thing is
sure and that is, to strive for a new society, politics and philosophy purely
based on the interests of the organized working class will not be favorable.
There is a need to accept pluralist efforts, which will give impetus to real
democracy.
19
The crisis
brought about by the ailing and decaying semi-colonial and semi feudal system is
far from being remedied. The economic crisis we are in right now,
is being aggravated further by the capitalist recession in the international
market. On the other hand, the US-Ramos regime remains deaf to the clamor of
the people for change and has no intention of putting an end to land monopoly,
backward feudal system and to the import-dependent export-oriented economy.
Our country
continues to suffer from financial hemorrhage, as our government continues to
pay foreign and local loans. The government could not allot enough for social
services and infrastructure, and continues to be subservient to the IMF-WB
policies and dictates.
There is
continuous recession inside the country. The 6-8 hours brownout (power
shut-down) compounds the economic problem, as the business sector accumulates
losses every month. As a consequence, there is a massive lay off in the ranks
of the laborers. But the main culprit in the stagnation and the worsening of
economic crisis is the maintenance of a backward, agricultural and
semi-colonial economy of the present dispensation.
There is
massive poverty brought about by the economic crisis, natural calamities and
the continuous destruction of our environment. Eighty percent of the total population live below poverty line and 4.2 million are
unemployed and 9 million are underemployed.
Sixty to
seventy percent of our 800,000 hectares of virgin forest are considered concession
areas. Within seven years, we would no longer have forest if logging is not
stopped.
Deepening
Political Crisis
The logical
consequence of economic crisis is political crisis. On the political front,
though Ramos has relatively succeed in quelling the
factional strife among the ruling elite in his first month in the office, the
collaboration among this faction remains vulnerable.
The Catholic church, particularly Cardinal Sin, continues to criticize
the government on the issue of condoms, consumerism, power rate increase and
demolition, despite owning vast tracts of land.
Factional
squabbles in the military remains unresolved. Crucial peace negotiations have
been cancelled many times.
The total war
in the countryside is intensifying. Bombing, forced evacuation, food blockade
and other forms of militarization are being further intensified. The peace
negotiation between Ramos administration and National Democratic Front (NDF)
continues to be unclear.
With the
worsening economic and political crises, elements in the Ramos faction are
trying convincing Ramos that what the country needs now is an authoritarian or
military rule. This even made Ramps to ask
20
for
emergency power, to "resolve" the energy crisis, from the Congress
without seriously presenting a comprehensive plan on energy. The emergency powers granted to Ramos is just a front in conditioning the
minds of the people for the resurgence of fascist rule.
The prevailing
economic and political situations of our country provide favorable conditions
for the whole national democratic movement to further advance its struggle.
However, the movement has to consolidate its forces, strengthen its ranks and
take lessons from its previous years of struggles and experiences for it not
to repeat the mistakes and to advance new strategies for the national
democratic struggle.
SCM Response
The Student
Christian Movement of the
It is also
important to assess our education work, which is a key factor in deepening the
ideological foundations and the political awareness of our mass membership. We
should, likewise, immediately and seriously contribute to the advancement of
the national democratic propaganda movement of youth and students.
Also, in the
past biennium, the organization responded once again to integrate with the
basic masses. We successfully implemented our basic masses integration programme in summer 1993 and
conducted a short-span exposure trip to the basic masses during the school
year. Now, we have the task to continue to integrate and learn directly from
the masses, to have an advocacy programme in the campuses to popularize the
struggle of the basic masses, and to deploy SCM organizers into the ranks of
peasants and workers, as our concrete contribution to the struggle of peasants
and workers.
We have, for
the past two years, painstakingly sown the seed of awareness regarding women's
question in our ranks. We only have to hold on to what we have started,
continue to integrate the self realization process down to our chapters, for us
to internalize further the women's issue in our ranks.
The fall of
socialism in Europe and the apparent "victory" of capitalism in
modern society demand us to study alternatives to capitalism and uphold our
national democratic line, and to engage in serious dialogue with our friends on
the contours of a new world order.
In the last
biennium, we successfully revived and gave new vigor to our ecumenical
relations work. What we need now is to continue forging closer ties with other
Christian youth organizations and make it an avenue for our expansion work.
Influence and maximize church programs in arousing, organizing and mobilizing
the Christian youth and students.
We have to
bear in our minds that we have to grasp and hold on to our ecumenical
21
principles and tasks, for us to
respond comprehensively and contribute much in giving birth to a new protest
movement of the people.
General Thrust: Consolidate ranks
and arouse, organize and mobilize the broadest number of youth and students and
integrate them to the basic masses for national democracy.
Essential Tasks Ahead
·
Build and consolidate dynamic SCM chapters in the campuses
nationwide by
·
Launching summing-up sessions at the regional, island-wide
and chapter levels.
·
Building chapters in all National Strategic Schools and by
producing one full-time organizer in each chapter within 2 years.
·
Building the National Organizing
Committee in the first semester of the school year 1993-1994.
·
Unifying and implementing the revised ED Curriculum.
·
Uniting the whole membership on the revised movement
building.
·
Integrating faith reflection in chapter dynamics. Regularize
Biblico-theological reflections and Bible Studies.
·
Launching self-realization process towards awareness on patriarchy
and gender partnership, through
- men-women caucuses and dialogues on national and chapter
levels
- definite guidelines on men-women caucus education on
patriarchy
- render sensitivity training and exposure programs
- the women's programme defined in GPC
- gender balance in all committee structures and activities
·
Raising funds at all levels of the SCMP for programs,
projects and other activities.
·
Integrate with and consciously deploy forces to the basic
masses and support their struggle by
·
Living with the basic masses at least for one month during
summer break and by regularizing
weekend exposure programs
(boycott summer classes)
·
Launching basic masses advocacy programs in the campuses,
through
-
actual integration internal
education
-
advocacy using/allowing
strategies:
-
launch
a one-week sustained propaganda in the campuses on the issue of the basic
masses (BM). Forms of propaganda may be film shows, liturgical mobilizations,
photo exhibits, worship dialogues, room to room visits tap and maximize
academic institute and church for BMI
-
attend peasant and workers
organizers' trainings
-
coordinate with peasant or
workers' organizations in building support groups in the campuses
-
contribute in research work of
basic masses' national organizations particularly with the peasants on the
needs of the peasants in the regions
-
encourage
dialogue between BM leader and SCM leaders from national to local chapters for
coordination of programs and activities.
·
Contribute to the advancement of the national democratic
propaganda movement of youth and students by
·
Exposing the anti-people and fascist character of
the US-Ramos regime with emphasis on the exposition of total war policy.
(Mechanisms: regularize student forums, study circles, discussion groups,
alternative classes, and break through and integrate with the basic masses.)
·
exposing the bankruptcy of, and counter current
ideas (expose and oppose the state abandonment of education.)
·
Issuing statements containing analysis on
22
burning
issues of the day regularly.
·
Propagating National Democracy.
·
Props gating the need to
integrate with the basic masses.
·
Participating in the local struggle
and maximizing this to condemn the state for its abandonment of its
responsibility to education.
·
Exposing reactionary and
fundamentalist groups.
·
Comprehensively implement our
Ecumenical Relations Work.
·
The tasks in relation to the Church are to
·
Improve our ecumenical relations
(ER) work concept and unify the whole mass membership on the improved ER concept.
·
Challenge the institutional
church on social issues confronting our society.
·
Maximize church programs and
ecumenical activities for arousing, organizing and mobilizing Christian youth
and students for basic masses struggle.
·
Launch dialogues and activities
with the people particularly the youth of other faiths and encourage them to
participate in the National Democratic struggle.
·
Seek assistance of other
ecumenical groups in studying and analyzing biblical traditions and Philippine
history of Christianity.
· The tasks in the Campuses are to
·
Launch activities that would
propagate and relate our ecumenical understanding to Christian youth organizations
and other youth/student organizations towards our National Democratic agenda,
through
relief operations
ecumenical mass/services
dialogues/fellowships
prayers and faith reflections
recollection/retreat
·
Propagate the anti-Imperialist line
and uphold our National Democratic struggle in international campaigns by
·
Having exchanges of campaign
relative to anti-imperialist campaign with our international friends
·
Establishing bilateral links
between SCM local chapters directly with units of WSCF member-movements, and
other groups
·
Studying and analyzing the new
world order, specifically
Socialism
Modern
revisionism
Struggles of
national democratic movements
·
Projecting positions on
international issues and by building solidarity with other oppressed people of
the world
·
Facilitating study forums and
cultural exchanges with foreign friends
23
Under the
supervision of Women's Concerns Program, University Christian Work (Myanmar
SCM), a gathering and discussion
of women students attending
Bible Studies
were conducted by Daw C.C. Htu
Ra every morning. Talks on "Women and Men Relationship,"
"Women's Role in the Christian Family," "Self-esteem/"
"Customary Laws of Myanmar and Women's Rights," formed the main
inputs of the gathering. Group discussions and inputs on the WSCF and SCM
enabled the students to understand better the role of students in the social
and political milieu of Myanmar. Evening Devotions formed a regular part of the
program.
The ASCM
National Women's Conference, on the theme Through a Glass Darkly: Images of Women in Australian
Society was held from April 23 to 26 (Friday to Monday),
1993 at Katoomba. The conference was attended by Kate
Leeson, Karen Dimmock, and
Marianne Vreugdenhil from the Adelaide University,
Susan McMichael from Armidale,
Kate O'Sullivan from Melbourne, Meredith Hughes from Newcastle, Terri Fealy and Louise Pitts from New South Wales, Edwina Hunter
from Sydney, Belinda Groves, Michelle Simper, Lucinda
24
Newell and Vereena Mauldon who are all
senior friends living in Sydney and Helen Davids who
was visiting from
On the first
morning
Berneice
Moore spoke of The Beauty Myth, showing some segments from
popular films such as Pretty Woman and Steel Magnolias and
what messages these gave about women in our culture today. On Sunday morning,
Rowena Curtis led a study of the 'hidden' role of women in the early Christian
church, basing some of her ideas on Elizabeth Schussler
Fiorenza's material.
On Saturday
night, the group had dinner in a very groovy new age restaurant in Katoomba and returned to the house for a worship service in
the spirit of Taize.
The Conference came to an
unexpected early end on Sunday the 25th as many had left by that morning to
meet bus and plane schedules.
The first SCM
Aotearoa national women's event of 1993 was an Assertiveness and Self Appreciation
Workshop held in the Otago region on the 18th of May.
The idea for
an assertiveness workshop arose from the observation among SCM women that women
lack a certain degree of assertiveness and self-confidence that is apparent in
the men. A suspicion surfaced that what most women hold in common as a reason
for this lack of assertiveness could be the underlying Christian doctrine that
says that women are ideally meek and servile. Although not existing in as
blatant a form as it once was, this idea is still lingering on in the hesitancy
and/or inability to express one's opinion fully, especially if they may be of
offence or possible threat to others.
This inability
for free expression by women is a serious problem for SCM as a
25
movement.
To begin with, the valuable experiential and conceptual insights of these
silent women are left out. It also poses a threat to the claim of the SCM
calling itself a student, or people's movement, when the vast majority of
dialogue is restricted to its male membership.
The problem is
not a case of women being inadequate communicators. Women have excellent
communication skills especially fine-tuned in facilitation and listening, but
still their voices are not heard often enough.
The
assertiveness workshop was designed to expose all of these factors that dictate
to women why they should not be speaking. This consisted of structural analysis
in small groups looking at family systems, role models, cultural expectations,
and also addressing the mechanics of speaking to be heard.
From this
analysis, women discovered family structures that held built-in expectations
of the role of women that disallowed speech. If the father's opinion is the
last word and opposition from mother will
cause
verbal or physical violence, the message is well learnt - don't risk talking.
This silencing violence is often more effective in its verbal form. The memory of ridicule, threat, or being ignored are destructive
and lasting voices that can stay speaking for a lifetime.
A practical
component of the workshop dealt with assertive techniques in voice projection,
posture, and language: explaining who the speaker is and where she came from,
clearly and directly, to a person at the opposite end of the conference room
(in front of ten others); standing with good posture at her true size, looking
directly at the person with whom she is speaking, and having the courage to own
her statements, that is, "I think, I feel," etc.; and, avoiding
diminutive or negative adjectives of herself and others, not using
introductions or statements that could demean such as "I am only.......,"
"I'm just a ........," "This is Rebecca, she is
the terribly
famous general secretary," and so on.
All of these
exercises were done within the conceptional framework of rediscovering and
reclaiming one's worth as woman in the equality that heralds the community of
God, and with the recognition of female history and of the women who have
lived and struggled before. This activity of looking into the women of
yesteryears was an attempt to acknowledge the unheard or unappreciated
voices. In doing this, one feels connected to a huge wealth of experience and
power that has been denied attention, in a cultural history recorded by, for,
and about, men.
The need for
assertiveness and self-appreciation for women is a far greater issue than can
be addressed in a day, a week or even years, but every time we give it space
for analysis and energy, it gives the chance of invigorating and enhancing the
life of the SCM.
26
A National Women Students Conference was
held at Whitefield,
The theme of
the conference, "Women for the Fullness of Life" brought out vividly
the various aspects of the role of women, especially students, through Bible
studies, paper presentations, group discussions and workshops. They convinced
the participants of the urgent task to work for a common
theological-ideological framework within which the fullness of life can be
experienced by one and all.
Thirty-three
participants from 10 States of the Indian Union and belonging to various
denominations and confessions attended the program.
Rev. Dr. K.C.
Abraham, Moderator's Commissary, Karnataka Central Diocese, Church of South
India, inaugurated the conference by lighting the lamp. Rev. Thomas John,
General Secretary of the Student Christian Movement of India, gave an
inspiring talk on the theme focusing on the evils that distort the fullness of
life and on the importance of seeking and achieving the fullness of life in a
patriarchal society through transformation and empowerment of women within the
church and society. He also emphasized the importance of uprightness and
perfectness within the individuals and the community for achieving the fullness
of life.
The inaugural worship was followed by
27
The
keynote address by Rev. Dr. K.C. Abraham who stressed the importance of
relationships not only between human beings but also between human beings and
nature. He drove home the point that fullness of life
comes only in terms of fullness of relationships both with human beings and
with nature. This can be brought to realization only through commitment to
justice and commitment to conserve nature, he said.
All the four
Bible Studies were highly appreciated by the participants. Ms. Corrine Scott led the Bible study on
"Women for justice and justice for women" giving a new and
thought-provoking interpretation to the story of Martha and Mary. Rev. Nirmala Vasanthkumar enlightened the participants with new insights
on the problem of pollution and imbalance in the eco-system and called for a
responsible stewardship in using earth's resources and protecting the environment.
Rev. G.D. Anandarajan
in his Bible study on the theme called the participants to be peace-makers and
to be responsible for promoting communal harmony.
There was a
dialogue session with representatives of women’s organizations, which provided
an opportunity to the participants top discuss some of the common problems
facing women.
A workshop on
"Understanding the process of socialization, breaking stereotypes and
rewriting personal scripts" was conducted by Ms. Saroj Welsch from
Manav Vikas Kendra. This
was acknowledged to be a very useful session for many as it enabled them to
see themselves.
Bible Studies,
papers and other presentations along with the consolidated group reports and
plan of action drawn out by the participants will soon be published by the
organizers for wider circulation.
Elizabeth Joy
28
The Big E was
a festival organized by WSCF Europe. The E stands for Event but during the
festival, it also came to mean Ecumenical, Europe and Enthusiasm.
This festival
was held in Zeist, in is the southern part of the
Netherlands, from August 3 to 11 1993. One of the most exciting aspects of the
event was the vast range of countries that participants had traveled from.
There were people from North, South, East and West Europe as well as guests
from Nicaragua, Canada, Egypt, Hong Kong, Jordan, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Tanzania
and, of course, myself from Aotearoa.
One of the
themes of the festival was "Many gifts. One Spirit." This theme was
developed throughout the event in two ways. First, on the personal level. The
participants were encouraged to use their talents as a means of reflecting on
the topics of discussion put forward each day. In the morning, a guest speaker
would share thoughts and experiences on specific topics that ranged from
"Ecumenism in East and West" to "Ecology and Theology in Orthodoxy."
The afternoons were spent either in small study groups or in expressive
workshops. The expressive workshops provided resources for many craft
creations. I was able to mould thoughts about a green theology into pottery,
whilst others were involved in book-binding or drama workshops.
On the second
level, that of Christian community, the idea of "many gifts one
spirit" was a bit harder to make into reality. The Big E revealed some of
the difficulties that Christians in Europe are struggling with, as they strive
for ecumenism. For example, the introduction to the Orthodox faith only
produced glimpses of the depth of their spiritual tradition. However, one could
really feel the passion of emotion that came out, as both Orthodox and
Protestant Christians shared what being ecumenical meant to them. One came
away from these discussions with hope that ecumenism is possible. And more
importantly, people are committed to working towards it.
One of the
speakers that I was most impressed by was Kami Khouri,
who spoke about "A multi-cultural/religious dialogue". Mr. Khouri,
is a Palestinian/Jordan. In 1991, he was appointed to the World Council of
Churches' Commission on Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation.
29
He spoke about
solidarity being more important than dialogue. Noting that there has always
been multi-cultural and religious plurality, he said that more ought to be
done than discuss the problems, to go beyond and support and stand
alongside the oppressed peoples in all societies.
This
solidarity is becoming even more necessary as the instability and violence of
the Middle East spreads to Europe and North America. Mr. Khouri
recognized that the future of
The war in
Iraq was "technological barbarism" which put Iraq's infrastructure
back to the level of the pre-industrial era. The damage was far greater than
anything done in the first or second world wars.
Europe and
North America have a lot invested in maintaining the fractured society of the
Middle East. If the
Mr. Khouri predicted that in the next one hundred years the
majority of Christians will be living in the South and will be poor. Christianity
will go back to its roots of being an oriental religion. "We need now to
set terms of reference for human dialogue and solidarity with the South."
A series of
discussions were held in the afternoons where the tales of horror in the lives
of the children of
Within WSCF
Europe, a lot of work is being done to develop links with young Christians in
the East. Hopefully, the Big E will have revealed some ways that Ecumenism can
developed throughout the whole of Europe.
Personally,
for me, one of the most fun ways of learning about European cultures was
through dancing. Greek dancing was extremely popular. But those from Belarus
showed how to really dance.
The Big E was
a true festival. It involved celebration, worship, discussion and creativity.
However, I did come away with some sadness and a few unanswered questions. My
sadness is for the women in WSCF Europe. I came across a lot of wonderful women
who were giving a great deal of their energy to the movement. Yet, male culture
dominated throughout this event. The organizers had not given adequate thought
to the safety of women. This resulted in women experiencing sexual harassment
and having no support system- in place to deal with it.
My unanswered questions
are: What did the BIG E achieve? and who benefited? As
a participant who came from the other side of the world, with only a little
knowledge of WSCF Europe, I am unable to answer these questions on broad scale.
For me, though, it was a really positive experience of a wide variety and large
number of people coming together. By talking to people about their lives I was
able to find out a lot more about
Alison Greenaway
30
The Asia-Pacific Regional Committee met in
The other
week, termed the 'business week,' was devoted to discussions and decisions on
WSCF/SCM matters such as the Centennial celebrations, programs for the coming year
and the election of Standing Committee Members.
Amanda Tibbey
(Australia) was re-elected Chairperson of the new Standing Committee of the
region for 1993-1995. Daniel Peters Penumaka (
For more
details of this meeting, look out for minutes of the Regional Committee Meeting
that will be published and circulated soon.
Student
Empowerment for Transformation (SET) 1993 was held at the SCM House,
A Joint Consultation on
"Community of Women and Men" was held by the WSCF Asia-Pacific in
collaboration with the Asian Women Resource Centre for Culture and Theology
(AWRC) and the Christian Conference of Asia's Women's Desk from November 7 to
14, 1993 in
Delegates from
31
strengthen
animators for the student movements and for long-term commitment to the
ecumenical movement in general.
A workshop focusing on patriarchy, development and
ecology will be held in
During the 100
years of its existence, the WSCF has played a key role in the modern missionary
and ecumenical movements; the rich archives and the living memories of many
senior friends have seldom been used, and few, mainly old, publications are
available on the WSCF History. At its last meeting in Chantilly, France/ the
30th General Assembly decided to launch a Centenary Archives and History
Project for the period leading up to 1995.
This project
comprises various aspects: 1) the archives, which need to be sorted out, put
into chronological order and computerized; 2) publications which include a
History Series, a popular history volume, and occasional papers; 3)
consultations on relevant issues in the history of the WSCF; 4) senior friends'
network; 5) coordination through a History Working Group composed of nine
senior friends and the two Co-Secretaries General.
Since 1988,
much has been achieved in terms of archival work with the help of three interns
and several volunteers who have covered the periods of 1895-1931 and 1956-1968,
as well as the minutes collection. Preliminary work
has been done on the reports and publications, and efforts are currently
focusing on the years 1945-1955.
The
publications are well underway with Dr. Philip Potter writing the popular
history volume scheduled to come out in 1995, and the History Series with two
issues, A Community
of Memory and Hope, and the translation of Suzanne de
Dietrich's Fifty
Years of History. The third issue, a collection of travel
reports and other articles by Federation leaders of the past and present, is
near completion and will be ready for publication soon.
Two
consultations focusing on different important aspects of the life of the Federation
were held in February 1990 and April 1993. Plans are being made for a third
history consultation on the university question, tentatively to be held in May
1994 in the
By 1995, this
project will reach its completion and will serve as a valuable basis for
carrying the work of the Federation into the next century.
Courtesy: Federation News
A Centennial Fund is
being set by the WSCF with an initial target of US$ 1 million to be collected by
1995, and a longer- term target of $3 million.
The Fund is
intended to help students throughout the world who participate in the life of
the Federation, to support WSCF international programs, the Ecumenical
Assistance Programme and Inter-regional coordination. At present, the
Federation is totally dependent on the generous contributions made by some 30
churches and donor
32
agencies.
Funds collected will be invested ethically, that is, in companies that apply
non-discriminatory policies, are not involved in military production and are
ecologically friendly.
On July 8, the
last day of the Regional Committee meeting in
On the 30th of
June 1993 Miralyn Gamba,
former General Secretary (1991-1993) of the Student Christian Movement of the
Philippines (SCMP) and participant of SET 1992 was abducted and detained in
Davao at a village fiesta, raided by a paramilitary group. This group assists
the Armed Forces of the Philippines in its counter- insurgency operations.
According to
information received from SCMP, it was understood that Miralyn
was visiting SCM units in the province and was on an 'immersion' programme to
better understand the daily life and realities of the people, in the village in
After almost
three weeks of frantic search, Miralyn's whereabouts
became known. She was charged of violating Presidential Decree 1066 (illegal
possession of firearms). The allegation was that she was
possessing a 45 caliber pistol and an M30 grenade at the time of her
arrest.
At present, Miralyn is temporarily released, that is, on a bail.
Efforts are on to talk to representative military personalities to drop her
case. The SCMP and her legal counsel are also working for a speedy trial to be
arranged.
In her
fax-letter dated 26 November 1993 to WSCF Asia-Pacific regional office, besides
soliciting funds for payment of her bail, she also appealed the regional office
and movements to write letters to the following persons:
1.
Letters of appeal reiterating her
innocence and appeal for a speedy trail to: Hon. Salurdarea,
Judge, RTC Branch 1, Tagum, Davao
del Norte, Philippines.
2.
Letters of. appeal
reiterating her innocence and to drop the case to: Castor Durado,
Fiscal Prosecutor, RTC, Tagum,
33