Give us, Lord, that strange Peace
that springs up in the midst of struggle like a flower of fire;
that breaks in the middle of the night like a hidden song;
that comes in the midst of death like a long-awaited kiss.
Don Pedro Casaldáliga
On the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, Claretians of the Americas and the Caribbean and the Churches and Mining Network seal the commitment for the disinvestment in mining. Entities make a call to the religious congregations and faith organizations to break, from within the Church, the circles of violence that threaten the indigenous peoples.
On August 9, the International Day of Indigenous Peoples was commemorated in a Latin American context of pressure, threats and death for thousands of native peoples who are the guardians and caretakers of the jungle, the forests, the rivers, the fruits and the future. Commemorating the existence and resistance of indigenous peoples today calls us to a deep commitment to the defense of endangered territories, the care of the lives of millions of people who, through their culture and their relationship with the Earth, take care of the future and the creation that has been given to us.
Through the testimony of the Mapuche People and the entire population of Chubut, in the Patagonia, to their struggle against mining, the event recalled the violent and colonizing processes to which the peoples have been subjected. “They do not know that we are here and that we want a way of living. They do not guarantee us indigenous and communal ownership of the land and thus allow the advance of extractive industries.” Angel Callupil, Mapuche leader and member of the Aboriginal Pastoral Team of Argentina.
The occasion was also an opportunity to reinforce the struggles, joy and hope with which day by day they celebrate life, in resistance, in continuous defense and in search of the common good.
Prophet and Poet Pedro Casaldáliga
A year after the death of the Claretian bishop Pedro Casaldáliga, in memory and living offering of his legacy, the congregation of Claretians of America and the Caribbean has sealed its firm commitment to denounce the genocidal and overwhelming violence that is woven in the interests of extractive companies. “We have assumed as one of our continental priorities the struggle and resistance to mega mining and the commitment to life in its different manifestations” adds Emilia Sena, laywoman and member of the SOMICLA team …. The congregation of Claretians of America and the Caribbean, with the organization Solidarity and Mission – SOMICLA, says NO to mining investments.
Pedro Casaldáliga was bishop of São Félix do Araguaia, in the northeast of Mato Grosso. He left Spain under Franco’s dictatorship to settle in São Félix, then a town of 600 inhabitants. He arrived in Brazil in 1968 and was ordained bishop three years later. The Xingu Prelature had 150,000 square kilometers and it was there that Pedro was active. The latifundia was violently installed in this region, expelling villages and indigenous people, enslaving landless workers with the support of the police and public funding. Pedro identified the latifundia as the enemy of the people.
In memory of the Claretian prophet, the congregation together with the Churches and Mining network call for the Mining Divestment Campaign denouncing the financial violence that kills the populations; they denounce the capitals that want to continue accumulating at the cost of people’s lives and the devastation of the land. Many sectors of the Church have their investments in mining and other extractive companies, which cause the most acute threats to indigenous peoples now.
The Churches and Mining Network and the Claretian Missionaries of America through the Area of Solidarity and Mission, promote the Mining Divestment campaign, in the search for an evangelical economic model, which promotes justice and dignity of persons and Peoples. “We assume our co-responsibility in ethical investments, which favor the life and initiatives of the communities,” states the letter (READ THE LETTER) signed by members of the organization Solidarity and Mission. “We commit ourselves to promote solidarity economies based on the values of cooperativism, for an ecological conversion (cf. DfS 70 and LS 101).”
The endorsement to the Divest in Mining Campaign by the Solidarity and Mission Network of the Claretian Missionaries of America with UN Presence, is a sign of hope and light for many more congregations and faith-based organizations on a path of ethical coherence, transformation and action from within the Church, in a process towards Samaritan economies where no one is left behind and on the horizon of a land without evil.
To learn more about the Mining Divestment Campaign, visit the website (divestinmining.org) or write to the Churches and Mining Network team.
