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| Volume 3, Issue 24 -- December 2006 |
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From the JPIC Office Dear Readers,
We share with you the news that Fr. Arturo Aguilar has assumed the role U.S. Region director for the Missionary Society of St. Columban. We congratulate him, and look forward to working closely with him and the incoming leadership team in the coming years. Peace and Justice
Massive protest demands closure of the SOA
22,000 rallied in Georgia; thousands more in 10 other countries Contact: Joao Da Silva, 202-302-4706, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Columbus, Ga.—22,000 people from across the Americas gathered this weekend outside the gates of Ft. Benning, Georgia, to demand a dramatic shift in U.S. foreign policy and the closure of a military training school that is synonymous with torture and repression for millions around the world. Protest attendees cited the resumption of U.S.-backed military training in Latin America, the Bush Administration’s support for legislation allowing torture, and the results of the recent mid-term elections as catalysts for this growing, hemisphere-wide movement for human rights. The demonstration—at times lively and at others solemn — was the largest yet in a 17-year history of opposition to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly called the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC), a combat-training school for Latin American soldiers. The gathering culminated today with a symbolic funeral procession to the gates of Ft. Benning led by torture survivors from Latin America, Father Roy Bourgeois and other human rights activists. As of 12 p.m., at least 13 people were arrested in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience, despite a 10-foot barbed-wire fence on the base’s perimeter. They took this action knowing that they likely face three to six months in federal prison. Since protests against the SOA/WHINSEC began sixteen years ago, 211 people have served prison sentences of up to two years for civil disobedience. The SOA/WHINSEC narrowly averted closure earlier this year when a bill to cut funding to the school lost in Congress by a margin of 15 votes. The mid-term elections saw 34 Representatives who opposed the bill lose their seats. “The Bush Administration and the School of the Americas are out of alignment with the values of everyday Americans,” said Chris Inserra, 48, a teacher and mother of three who attended this weekend’s events. “We need a foreign policy that reflects our values of justice and democracy.”
Support for the SOA/WHINSEC is eroding across Latin America. Earlier this year, the governments of Argentina and Uruguay became the second and third countries to announce a cessation of training at the SOA/WHINSEC. In January 2004, Hugo Chavez announced that Venezuela would no longer send troops to train at the school. The SOA/WHINSEC, a military training facility for Latin American security personnel, made headlines in 1996 when the Pentagon released training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. Despite this shocking admission and hundreds of documented human rights abuses connected to soldiers trained at the school over its 60-year history, no independent investigation into the training facility has ever taken place. For more information, visit www.soaw.org/new/index.php Genetic Engineering Experimental GM Rice Wins Post-Contamination Approval
Genetically Engineered Rice Wins USDA Approval
By Christopher Lee The Department of Agriculture declared safe for human consumption yesterday an experimental variety of genetically engineered rice found to have contaminated the U.S. rice supply this summer. The move by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to deregulate the special long-grain rice, LL601, was seen as a legal boon to its creator, Bayer CropScience of Research Triangle Park, N.C. The company applied for approval shortly after the widespread contamination was disclosed in August and now faces a class-action lawsuit filed by hundreds of farmers in Arkansas and Missouri. The experimental rice, designed to resist Bayer’s Liberty weedkiller, escaped from Bayer’s test plots after the company dropped the project in 2001. The resulting contamination, once it became public, prompted countries around the world to block rice imports from the United States, sending rice futures plummeting and farmers into fits. In approving the rice, the USDA allowed Bayer to take a regulatory shortcut and skip many of the usual safety tests by declaring that the new variety is similar to ones already approved, in this case two varieties of biotech rice that Bayer never commercialized because farmers did not want them in their fields. The department gave its preliminary approval Sept. 8. “The protein in the company’s herbicide-tolerant rice varieties . . . is well known to regulators, who have affirmed the rice poses no human health or environmental concern,” said Greg Coffey, a Bayer spokesman. Coffey said the company has no plans to sell the newly approved variety. Joseph Mendelson, legal director of the nonprofit Center for Food Safety, said the quick approval shows that the USDA is more concerned about the fortunes of the biotechnology industry than about consumers’ health. “USDA is telling agricultural biotechnology companies that it doesn’t matter if you’re negligent, if you break the rules, if you contaminate the food supply with untested genetically engineered crops, we'll bail you out,” Mendelson said in a statement. “In effect, USDA is sanctioning an ‘approval-by-contamination’ policy that can only increase the likelihood of untested genetically engineered crops entering the food supply in the future,” he said. Most critics agree that the new rice is safe to eat. The bacterial gene that is in LL601 is also in several approved varieties of engineered corn, canola and cotton. Experts say the key gene in the new rice is sure to move via pollen into red rice, a weedy relative of white rice and the No. 1 plant pest for rice farmers in the South. By September, rice prices had slumped about 10 percent and experts predicted that market losses would reach $150 million. Adam Levitt, an attorney for about 300 farmers suing Bayer, said yesterday’s approval does nothing to change that outlook. Officials in Europe, where genetically altered rice is derisively dubbed “Frankenfood,” made clear as recently as last week that European countries will not accept any U.S. rice, he said. “Unless the U.S. export countries change their view and begin to regain a sense of confidence in U.S. rice, the U.S. rice farmers are still hurt and this whole ruling is illusory in its effect,” Levitt said. “It’s not a victory at all, because at the end of the day people are not purchasing U.S. rice and the exports markets are absolutely closed still.” While Bayer may have received some legal help—it can no longer be said to be responsible for introducing an illegal variety of gene-altered rice into the U.S. rice supply —the USDA is still investigating how the variety escaped from test plots into farmers’ fields, where it was quietly amplified for years until its discovery. USDA officials said yesterday that the decision to deregulate the rice is separate from the question of whether Bayer complied with federal regulations in its handling the gene-altered rice. “The deregulation doesn’t preclude any legal action against the company for violation of APHIS regulations,” said Rachel Iadicicco, a USDA spokeswoman. “Violators of APHIS regulations can face criminal penalties, civil penalties and remediation costs.” Staff writer Rick Weiss contributed to this report. Migration Pope Benedict XVI message on migration Message from Pope Benedict XVI on the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which is on Sunday, January 14, 2007. On the occasion of the coming World Day of Migrants and Refugees, and looking at the Holy Family of Nazareth, icon of all families, I would like to invite you to reflect on the condition of the migrant family. The evangelist Matthew narrates that shortly after the birth of Jesus, Joseph was forced to leave for Egypt by night, taking the child and his mother with him, in order to flee the persecution of King Herod. Making a comment on this page of the Gospel, my venerable Predecessor, Servant of God Pope Pius XII, wrote in 1952: “The family of Nazareth in exile, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, emigrants and taking refuge in Egypt to escape the fury of an evil king, are the model, the example and the support of all emigrants and pilgrims of every age and every country, of all refugees of any condition who, compelled by persecution and need, are forced to abandon their homeland, their beloved relatives, their neighbors, their dear friends, and move to a foreign land.” In this misfortune experienced by the Family of Nazareth, obliged to take refuge in Egypt, we can catch a glimpse of the painful condition in which all migrants live, especially, refugees, exiles, evacuees, internally displaced persons, those who are persecuted. We can take a quick look at the difficulties that every migrant family lives through, the hardships and humiliations, the deprivation and fragility of millions and millions of migrants, refugees and internally displaced people. The Family of Nazareth reflects the image of God safeguarded in the heart of every human family, even if disfigured and weakened by emigration. The theme of the next World Day of Migrants and Refugees—the migrant family—is in continuity with those of 1980, 1986 and 1993. It intends to underline further the commitment of the Church not only in favor of the individual migrant, but also of his family, which is a place and resource of the culture of life and a factor for the integration of values. The migrant’s family meets many difficulties. The distance of its members from one another and unsuccessful reunification often result in breaking the original ties. New relationships are formed and new affections arise. Some migrants forget the past and their duties, as they are subjected to the hard trial of distance and solitude. If the immigrant family is not ensured of a real possibility of inclusion and participation, it is difficult to expect its harmonious development. The International Convention for the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families, which was enforced on July 1, 2003, intends to defend men and women migrant workers and the members of their respective families. This means that the value of the family is recognized, also in the sphere of emigration, which is now a structural phenomenon of our societies. The Church encourages the ratification of the international legal instruments that aim to defend the rights of migrants, refugees and their families and, through its various institutions and associations, offers her advocacy that is becoming more and more necessary. To this end, she has opened centers where migrants are listened to, houses where they are welcomed, offices for services offered to persons and families, with other initiatives set up to respond to the growing needs in this field. Much is already being done for the integration of the families of immigrants, although much still remains to be done. There are real difficulties connected with some “defense mechanisms” on the part of the first generation immigrants, which run the risk of becoming an obstacle to the greater maturity of the young people of the second generation. This is why it is necessary to provide for legislative, juridical and social intervention to facilitate such an integration. In recent times, there is an increase in the number of women who leave their countries of origin in search of better conditions of life, in view of more promising professional prospects. However, women who end up as victims of trafficking of human beings and of prostitution are not few in number. In family reunification, social workers, especially religious women, can render an appreciated service of mediation that merits our gratitude more and more. Regarding the integration of the families of immigrants, I feel it my duty to call your attention to the families of refugees, whose conditions seem to have gone worse in comparison with the past, also specifically regarding the reunification of family nuclei. In the camps assigned to them, in addition to logistic difficulties, and those of a personal character linked to the trauma and emotional stress caused by the tragic experiences they went through, sometimes there is also the risk of women and children being involved in sexual exploitation, as a survival mechanism. In these cases an attentive pastoral presence is necessary. Aside from giving assistance capable of healing the wounds of the heart, pastoral care should also offer the support of the Christian community, able to restore the culture of respect and have the true value of love found again. It is necessary to encourage those who are interiorly-wrecked to recover trust in themselves. Everything must also be done to guarantee the rights and dignity of the families and to assure them housing facilities according to their needs. Refugees are asked to cultivate an open and positive attitude towards their receiving society and maintain an active willingness to accept offers to participate in building together an integrated community that would be a “common household” for all. Among migrants, there is a category that needs to be considered in a special way: students from other countries, who are far from home, without an adequate knowledge of the language, at times without friends and often with a scholarship that is insufficient for their needs. Their condition is even worse if they are married. Through her institutions, the Church exerts every effort to render the absence of family support for these young students less painful. It helps them integrate in the cities that receive them, by putting them in contact with families that are willing to offer them hospitality and facilitate knowing one another. As I had the opportunity to say on another occasion, helping foreign students is “an important field of pastoral action. ... Indeed, young people who leave their own country in order to study encounter many problems and especially the risk of an identity crisis.” Dear brothers and sisters, may the World Day of Migrants and Refugees become a useful occasion to build awareness, in the ecclesial community and public opinion, regarding the needs and problems, as well as the positive potentialities of migrant families. My thoughts go in a special way to those who are directly involved in the vast phenomenon of migration, and to those who expend their pastoral energy in the service of human mobility. The words of the apostle Paul, “caritas Christi urget nos,” urge us to give ourselves preferentially to our brothers and sisters who are most in need. With these sentiments, I invoke divine assistance on each one and I affectionately impart to all a special apostolic blessing. Economic Justice Interfaith Lobbying Effort Raises Concerns about Peru FTA In November, the Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment coordinated a lobbying effort against a lame-duck, post-election consideration of the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement. Intelligence on Captiol Hill suggested that the agreement would be sent to Congress as long as the U.S. trade representative thought the bill would pass. That effort, backed by calls by people of faith from across the country, was key in keeping the agreement off the table until the new Congress convenes in 2007. The Columban JPIC office kicked off the lobbying effort with a visit to U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes’s (D-TX) office. Columban Father Bill Morton and lay missionary Ariel Presbitero accompanied us on the visit, speaking with heart about their experiences on the U.S.-Mexico border and in Peru, respectively. We are grateful to both for their willing participation. Ariel provides the following reflection on our visit: The Columban JPIC Office visited the office of Rep. Sylvestre Reyes, 16th District of Texas, on November 13 to raise our concerns about the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement. We presented the office with a statement signed by the United States and Peru regional directors and the Columban Sisters to address this issue, reiterating that the treaty will be bad for the economy of Peru, a grave threat to the ecology of the Amazon forest and worsening social problems, such as migration, by displacing more people to big cities or to the United States. Our Columban team was received by Alison Rosso, the legislative director for Rep. Reyes. We expressed our concerns that the Peruvian Congress already passed the treaty in its own lame-duck session despite the referendum petition call by the Peruvian people to oppose it. Now that the mid-term election is over and it’s a lame-duck period for the U.S. Congress, the Bush administration is looking into the proposed economic treaty between the two countries. Our lobbying intended to raise our concerns and the concerns of the Peruvian people with the free-trade agreement. One major concern is the rising cost of medicines. In Peru, more than 7,000 Peruvians in 2001 died of AIDS, not to mention deaths from other illnesses unattended due to lack of basic medications. Under the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement, many people will not have access to more affordable, reasonably priced medications as the market will be controlled by large foreign pharmaceutical companies. A large majority of Peruvians do not have medical insurance. They rely on what government hospitals and clinics provide. The problems are worse in rural areas where medical doctors are rarely able to visit and attend to patients’ needs. Another concern is the intellectual property rights provisions in the treaty. Multinational corporations will be able to disown farmers of their rights over their indigenous crops. This situation will lessen the farmers’ capabilities to grow crops, and many will perhaps be forced to sell their land as they will be unable to compete with large foreign agricultural corporations. This would cause the displacement of rural people as they seek better living conditions in nearby cities and other South American countries and contribute to another wave migration, such as we have seen in the United States, as people seek better opportunities. Trade is an important and integral part of relationships among countries. We are concerned, however, that this free-trade agreement will only benefit the wealthy and powerful few while marginalizing a growing number of poor people. We hope that the U.S. Congress will vote wisely and consider the ill effects that the treaty may cause Peruvian people, including the campesinos, HIV-AIDS patients, women and children, workers and other marginalized sectors of Peruvian society. Contact Us
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