Tag Archives: economic justice

The Nuns on the Bus go Round and Round Across Ohio

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The snappy headline comes from the Columbus Dispatch  on October 2, 2012, in a report written by Randy Ludlow.

Nuns criss-cross Ohio to advocate for "the least of these" in federal budget.

Roman Catholic sisters board the bus in Ohio to speak our for Catholic social justice teachings, caring for “the least of these” in the federal budget.

Roman Catholic sisters board the bus in Ohio to speak our for Catholic social justice teachings, caring for “the least of these” in the federal budget.

A group of Roman Catholic nuns launched a 1,000-mile anti-poverty bus tour across Ohio on Wednesday to call for a federal budget “that affirms the life of all God’s children — not just the wealthiest few.”

Led by Sister Simone Campbell, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC, the tour will take them to Catholic social service agencies across the swing state which stand to lose significant funding if the budget proposals of Republican vice presidential nominee, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) are passed.

Their Nuns on the Bus Tour message  echoes the campaign last year of Sojourners magazine, a progressive Protestant publication, which rallied public support for the idea that a budget is a moral document, because of the values it represents through its funding priorities. Sojourners’ Jim Wallis wrote in his blog, God’s Politics, that the Republican budget proposal “is an immoral document.”

In Wallis’ testimony on Aug. 1, 2011 as part of a call from faith leaders across the religious spectrum urging Congress to extend the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit for low- and moderate-income Americans, Wallis said:

Here is what the debate reveals from the highest moral lens: the House GOP budget wants to extend tax cuts and credits for the wealthiest people of our society while cutting tax benefits for the poorest — including millions of low-income working families with children at risk.

Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne wrote in a recent column:

Sister Simone points to a study from Bread for the World, a nonpartisan group that advocates on hunger issues, to suggest one useful line of questioning. To make up for the food stamp cuts in Ryan’s budget, the group found, “every church in the country would have to come up with approximately $50,000 dedicated to feeding people — every year for the next 10 years.” Can government walk away like this? Can we realistically expect our houses of worship to pick up such a tab?

I say, “Keep on truckin’ (or busin’), Sister Simone!”

Spain: anti-austerity masses take to streets in Valencia to fight education cutbacks

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Spaniards in Valencia protest austerity cuts in education.

Thousands in Valencia protest austerity cuts in education.

Spanish students, including children, took to the streets of Valencia to protest cutbacks in education spending as part of an austerity program to satisfy the European Union. Spain is one of the less prosperous countries of the EU, along with Portugal and Greece.

Every now and then, I will post raw footage of breaking news coverage of events which create in me a sense of outrage. I don’t claim to have evaluated thoroughly this crisis in Spain. My readers are intelligent and web savvy. (I will do more research and post what I find.)

A major Spanish newspaper, El País, published a slide show of the street demonstrations

A personal disclaimer: I was an exchange student in Spain (Madrid) in the 1970s, while “El Caudillo” Francisco Franco was still the dictator. Demonstrations such as the one in Valencia in this video would have been impossible back then during his Fascist rule. Fascist is the correct word, given his love for Hitler and Mussolini.

When Franco died, a certain amount of pent-up anger expressed itself in politics, followed by some electoral turmoil, as Spaniards sought to reclaim their long-denied freedom. I’ve followed Spanish news over the years, and have remained in contact with Spanish friends, and it seems to me that the Spanish people clearly recall their experiences under a totalitarian leader, and they are simply unwilling to accept policies which seem authoritarian to them. There is still a tension between those who desire order and tradition, and those who crave progress and prosperity. Whenever uniformed officers confront them on the streets, this historical memory of dictatorship reasserts itself.

Spain, Portugal and Greece are all under extreme economic pressure, and austerity measures are squeezing citizens of all three countries. Education cutbacks in Spain virtually guaranteed street rebellions, just as they did in London. Spaniards are tired of being forced to emigrate to wealthier countries in the Europe to earn a liveable wage.

For many who took to the streets of Valencia, the issue was, “No economic justice, no peace.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/embed

Occupy Movement: Interfaith Worker Justice joins forces

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Ecumenical economic fairness group reaches out to all faiths

IWJ reaches beyond its Chicago home to people of all faiths worldwide.

As the Occupy Wall Street movement spreads to cities around the world, a Chicago-based interfaith worker justice group has published a downloadable model prayer service format.

Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) says the prayer service template is designed to help people reflect on a moral economy and basic human rights within the context of their religious tradition. Written for clergy and religious leaders, the prayer service is aimed for those in the Occupy Movement, both at the New York Stock Exchange and in other cities, and for congregational use.

Religions believe in justice for workers, proclaims Interfaith Worker Justice

Interfaith group takes to the streets in support of the growing 'Occupy' movement.

“Many people of faith are seeking to understand how their tradition calls them to respond to the (Occupy) movement,” the IWJ stated in its press release.

Joe Hopkins, a young adult missionary of the United Methodist Church, working with IWJ’s Workers’ Center Network, was one of 175 arrested on Saturday, October 15, in an act of non-violent civil disobedience at an Occupy Movement site in Chicago’s Grant Park.  (See video clip below from ABC’s Channel 7.) The crowd chanted together, “We are unstoppable; another world is possible.”

Hopkins said, “Imagine that world: families live together in their houses, the sick and elderly receive care, workers receive payment before the sun sets. I invite you to take a moment of silence to reflect on the voices so often ignored. Then when you’ve listened to those voices, break the silence. Join us in that possible world. We are building that world together right now, and you can build it with us.”

Kim Bobo, Executive Director of Interfaith Worker Justice, told the National Catholic Register, “The core issues here are the growing inequality in the nation, the lack of responsiveness to that and the job crisis.”

“There is a growing frustration,” Bobo said, “with what people have witnessed in Congress, which almost had a total meltdown this summer and couldn’t get anything done at all. People are just like ‘What are our options right now?’ We’ve got to get attention from our policymakers on these issues.”

The Interfaith Prayer Service is available as a free download here.

Interfaith Worker Justice and faith and labor communities across the nation were holding meetings Nov. 17-20 to prepare for action to develop an economic system oriented around workers rights and Just Jobs.

Interfaith Worker Justice has been organizing, educating and advocating at the intersection of faith and work since 1996.  Organizers has sensed a natural fit between IWJ and the Occupy Movement.  IWJ is located at 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.,Chicago, IL 60660, and may be reached by phone at 773-728-8400.  For more information, contact Kelly Fryer via email at kfryer@iwj.org.