CNS STORY: In Latin America and Africa, following one path to economic justice

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CNS Story:

LATAM LETTER Sep-28-2007 (780 words) Backgrounder. xxxi

In Latin America and Africa, following one path to economic justice

By Barbara J. Fraser
Catholic News Service

LIMA, Peru (CNS) -- A developing country went deeply into debt in the 1970s and was obligated by international lenders to establish free-market policies in the 1980s. However, the country continued to borrow to service a heavy debt burden.

Today, mining is one of its main economic activities, but despite high international prices for minerals much of the population lives in poverty.

When Jesuit Father Peter Henriot presented that scenario to pastoral workers in Lima in late September, he was not talking about Latin America, but about Africa.

Father Henriot, director of the Jesuit Center for Theological Reflection in Lusaka, Zambia, sees lessons for Latin America in the African experience, and he sees the Catholic Church's social teaching as a path to social and economic justice for both continents.

Developing countries that are rich in natural resources are a "sad paradox of wealth in the midst of poverty," said Father Henriot. He drew comparisons between Zambia and Peru. In both nations, mining is one of the main economic activities and, with international prices high, it is feasible to drill for oil and mine metals in places where it would not have been cost-effective 10 or 15 years ago.

"The biggest challenge in Africa and Latin America can be expressed in the question, 'What is our understanding of development?'" Father Henriot said.

Church social teaching sees development as "much more than economic growth," he said. Although Zambia's economy is growing by more than 5 percent per year and Peru's by more than 7 percent, "the central question is what is happening to the people, especially the poor, not what is happening to the economy, especially to the rich," he said.

Even before the United Nations began measuring development with indicators that evaluate progress in areas such as health care, education and maternal and infant mortality, Popes Paul VI and John Paul II had written encyclicals that redefined development in terms of quality of life, not simply economic growth. Encyclicals such as "Populorum Progressio," for which 2007 is the 40th anniversary, and "Sollicitudo Rei Socialis," issued 20 years ago, were ahead of their time in emphasizing human beings over economics in the development debate, he said.

"In Latin America and Africa, this challenge to the orthodox view of development has been extremely necessary and vitally important," Father Henriot said.

Politically, the challenge now is to translate social teaching into "practical, everyday policies. A people-centered approach must underlie national and international development plans," he said. If the church "preaches the good news of social teaching by the way it lives, then it will indeed be credible."

That approach is crucial as developing countries swing into what could become another in a long line of boom and bust economic cycles -- the exporting of minerals and petroleum. From Guatemala to Patagonia, bishops and church activists are facing off against mining companies, calling for responsible water use, environmental safeguards and benefits for local communities.

In the rush to take advantage of high metal prices, governments opt for "extractive industry that is destructive to the environment, then (say) later on we'll take care of the environment," Father Henriot said. "Environmentalists are not opposed to development. They want good development that takes care of the people and the earth. The people will only develop in harmony and stewardship with creation."

People of faith must press governments to "look (at) other potentials, rather than just extracting" raw materials, "or if there is to be some extraction, to do it with the care and caution that are necessary so that the people are not hurt in the long run," he said.

Church social teaching is "not an academic exercise, but a political agenda" that "should move us to action for justice and the transformation of the world," Father Henriot said.

Bad development choices carry a high cost, he said.

AIDS -- which has shortened average life expectancy in Zambia to just over 37 years -- is not simply a medical issue, he said.

"We see HIV/AIDS as a development problem" related to issues such as women's status in society, lack of access to education and health care, and poor nutrition, Father Henriot said.

While only about 5 percent of the world's HIV/AIDS cases are in Latin America, compared to 64 percent in Africa, experts say the illness is underreported. The African perspective could provide guidelines for a response in Latin America, as well.

"It is not enough to provide more medication or tell people they must behave better, unless we are addressing the development issues," Father Henriot said.

END

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