African churches join grassroots opposition to economic exploitation
-31/08/06
Somalis
African churches join grassroots opposition to economic exploitation
-31/08/06
Somalis of all faiths and none are planning to walk for some 1,500 kilometres from Mogadishu to Nairobi to attend a civil society meeting in January 2007 on alternatives to neo-liberal globalisation, delegates to the Ecumenical Consultation towards the World Social Forum (WSF) were told yesterday (30 August 2006) in Nairobi, Kenya.
The World Social Forum coordinator for Kenya, Onyango Oloo, pointed out that the decision by Somalis was a clear sign that Africans were responding enthusiastically to the international grassroots gathering being held for the first time in Africa.
The meeting, jointly hosted by All Africa Conference of Churches and Caritas Africa (the Catholic relief agency) was also told that some 130,000 former and present child-soldiers in Africa could form networks of “African home-grown mafia gangsters” if the continent fails to ensure effective healing and rehabilitation.
Opening the meeting at the AACC conference centre, the Rt Rev Pie Ntukamazina, the Anglican Bishop of Bujumbura, Burundi, declared that the crisis facing young people across Africa included the existence of an estimated 80 million child labourers.
The three-day meeting is being attended by heads of churches in Africa and church-related agencies. They are seeking to make the most of their presence at the WSF. Also present at the meeting is a delegation from Brazil where the first World Social Forum meeting was held six years ago.
The chairman of WSF’s Content and Methodology Commission, Professor Edward Oyugi, expressed the hope that the World Social Forum would encourage Africans to formulate a truly African agenda to liberate the continent from the yokes of neo-liberalism and inform its future international relations and development policies.
Referring to one-sided economic globalization, Professor Oyugi, who is also a member of WSF International Council, pointed out that the popular concept of ëthe global villageí. is misleading.
ìWhat it really means is that the world is a village for the powerful to roam in and a big jungle for the poor”, he declared to applause.
[Related items on Ekklesia: Pope questions United Nations president about globalisation; Sacred Longings: Ecofeminist Theology and Globalisation – book; Spirits of Globalisation: The Growth of Pentecostalism and Spirituality in a Global Age – book; Gospel requires justice not charity, says Jesuit writer; Christians called to challenge selfish spirit of globalization; WCC Assembly to offer alternative global vision; Globalization and the Good – book; Theologians gather to address religion, violence and globalisation; [PDF] Is God bankrupt? – by Simon Barrow, an Ekklesia response to ‘Prosperity With A Purpose’; Mali people’s forum challenges top-down G8 agenda; Churches express solidarity with migrants and asylum seekers; Christianity and the Culture of Economics ó Alan Kreider and Donald Hay – book]
African churches join grassroots opposition to economic exploitation
-31/08/06
Somalis of all faiths and none are planning to walk for some 1,500 kilometres from Mogadishu to Nairobi to attend a civil society meeting in January 2007 on alternatives to neo-liberal globalisation, delegates to the Ecumenical Consultation towards the World Social Forum (WSF) were told yesterday (30 August 2006) in Nairobi, Kenya.
The World Social Forum coordinator for Kenya, Onyango Oloo, pointed out that the decision by Somalis was a clear sign that Africans were responding enthusiastically to the international grassroots gathering being held for the first time in Africa.
The meeting, jointly hosted by All Africa Conference of Churches and Caritas Africa (the Catholic relief agency) was also told that some 130,000 former and present child-soldiers in Africa could form networks of “African home-grown mafia gangsters” if the continent fails to ensure effective healing and rehabilitation.
Opening the meeting at the AACC conference centre, the Rt Rev Pie Ntukamazina, the Anglican Bishop of Bujumbura, Burundi, declared that the crisis facing young people across Africa included the existence of an estimated 80 million child labourers.
The three-day meeting is being attended by heads of churches in Africa and church-related agencies. They are seeking to make the most of their presence at the WSF. Also present at the meeting is a delegation from Brazil where the first World Social Forum meeting was held six years ago.
The chairman of WSF’s Content and Methodology Commission, Professor Edward Oyugi, expressed the hope that the World Social Forum would encourage Africans to formulate a truly African agenda to liberate the continent from the yokes of neo-liberalism and inform its future international relations and development policies.
Referring to one-sided economic globalization, Professor Oyugi, who is also a member of WSF International Council, pointed out that the popular concept of ëthe global villageí. is misleading.
ìWhat it really means is that the world is a village for the powerful to roam in and a big jungle for the poor”, he declared to applause.
[Related items on Ekklesia: Pope questions United Nations president about globalisation; Sacred Longings: Ecofeminist Theology and Globalisation – book; Spirits of Globalisation: The Growth of Pentecostalism and Spirituality in a Global Age – book; Gospel requires justice not charity, says Jesuit writer; Christians called to challenge selfish spirit of globalization; WCC Assembly to offer alternative global vision; Globalization and the Good – book; Theologians gather to address religion, violence and globalisation; [PDF] Is God bankrupt? – by Simon Barrow, an Ekklesia response to ‘Prosperity With A Purpose’; Mali people’s forum challenges top-down G8 agenda; Churches express solidarity with migrants and asylum seekers; Christianity and the Culture of Economics ó Alan Kreider and Donald Hay – book]