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"We believe that God calls all People to peace and unity through justice and
a sharing of world resources and goods. We wish to challenge and dissolve
the barriers that divide people and Church and nations. We stand for oneness
in the body of Christ".
Spirit and Lifestyle
Exploitation can be expressed in a number of different ways: using people to
our own advantage, deriving unjust profit from the work of others, or an
unbridled use of resources for the purpose of profit.
We've already seen that water is turned into a commodity which will be
available only to those with the economic capacity to purchase it.
The same goes for the world's fisheries. In eastern Canada, the cod fishery
has been closed for 15 years without any sign that the moratorium on cod
fishing has permitted the cod to recoup. Worldwide, fisheries are depleting
the last of the fish - a tragedy for all of us but especially for poor
coastal people for whom fish is the staple of life and their livehood.
Last year, my eyes were open to this tragedy when I visited the coastal
regions of Newfoundland and Labrador. This weekend a three-page feature in a
Toronto newspaper mentioned that three processing plants - 650 jobs in just
one of these plants - are ready to close down. These plants were most likely
built with government money to create these very jobs. But now the companies
are "losing" money. Primary processing is shifted to China where the labour
costs are about a 10th of what they are in Newfoundland. The trouble is that
the private firms have to compete with publicly traded entities that don't
care about Newfoundland/Labrador jobs but only about the profits for
shareholders.
The article goes on: There is no Canadian seafood industry - just a world
industry. The typical fillet cooking on a North American grill has been
harvested by a Russian trawler or raised in a Chilean fish farm, sent to
China for gutting and filleting and transported to Lunenberg Nova Scotia or
Buring Nfld for slicing into portions, and neatly rolled, stuffed or
slathered with sauce. The challenge is finding a profitable niche in this
transnational supply chain.
"Profitable" for whom? It's hard to living "justly" these days. That's the
challenge of Spirit and Lifestyle.
I'll be in Brazil until April 9. Volunteers will send you the next two
Tuesday Reflection.
Cecily
