Maravi

Preferential option for the poor

Preferential option for the poor
By The Post
Mon 09 Apr. 2012, 13:30 CAT

THERE is an Easter message from Reverend Japhet Ndhlovu that shouldn't be forgotten, that shouldn't be glossed over. Rev Ndhlovu says that "the country needs to practice politics which will enhance development and human dignity. We need to practice politics which will always put the needs of the poor ahead of any selfish agenda".

We believe that in last year's elections the great majority of those who voted for Michael Sata believed that he was better placed to protect the interests of the poor. And we believe that the great majority of those who voted for Michael were poor people.

Why did they vote for him? They voted for Michael not because of the way he looks, the way he talks, not because he hails from Mpika's Chitulika village. They voted for Michael in the firm belief that he would win them some material benefits, he would give them an opportunity to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, and would help guarantee the future of their children.

They saw a relatively higher commitment to their needs in Michael that they did not see in the other candidates. And Michael showed greater concern for them than any other candidate. He promised them a life, a future that made them believe in him and trust him more than the others. This is why they voted for Michael.

These poor people who voted for Michael in large numbers deserve preferential attention. This is not so simply because they voted for Michael and made him win but because it is in these poor people that the image of God is obscured and violated. For this reason, God becomes their defender, loving them.

For those who are Christians, the objective of the preferential option for the poor is to proclaim Christ as the saviour. This will enlighten them about their dignity, help them in their efforts to liberate themselves from all their wants, and lead them to communion with the Father and their fellow human beings through a life lived in evangelical poverty.

Jesus came to share our human condition through his sufferings, difficulties and death. Before transforming day-to-day life, he knew how to speak to the heart of the poor and open their eyes to light on the horizon, and fill them with joy and hope.

This option, demanded by the scandalous reality of economic imbalances in our country, should lead us to establish a dignified fraternal way of life together as human beings and to construct a just, fair and humane society.

The required change is unjust social, political and economic structures which will not be authentic and complete if it is not accompanied by a change in our personal and collective outlook regarding the idea of a dignified, happy human life.

This is turn disposes us to undergo conversion. We should not forget that poverty is impoverishment caused by unjust political, economic and social structures. We should also not forget that there is a great danger that government policies, if not combined with clear social concern, will bring economic deprivation.

It is, therefore, very important for us to maintain and strengthen democratic structures if we are to enjoy a peaceful and developing future.

And committed to the poor, we should condemn as anti-evangelical the extreme poverty that affects an extremely large segment of the population of our country. We should make every effort to understand and denounce the mechanisms that generate this poverty. We should combine our efforts with those of people of goodwill in order to uproot poverty and create a more just, fair and humane society.

This is the hope our churches and our politicians should offer.

It is something new among our people that today the poor see in the Church a source of hope and support for their noble struggle to move themselves out of poverty and to liberate themselves from everything that shackles them to poverty.

And the hope that our Church encourages seems to be neither naive nor passive. It is rather a summons from the word of God for the great majority of the people, the poor, that they assume their proper responsibility, that they undertake their own conscientisation and that they set about organising themselves.

The hope that is being preached to the poor is intended to give them back their dignity, to encourage them to take charge of their own future. In a word, the Church has not only turned toward the poor, it has made of the poor the special beneficiaries of its mission because God takes on their defence and loves them.

In this way, the Church has not only incarnated itself in the world of the poor, giving them hope; it has also firmly committed itself to their defence. The majority of the poor in our country are oppressed and repressed daily by economic and political structures.

The terrible words spoken by the prophets of Israel continue to be verified among us. Among us, there are those who sell others for money, who sell a poor person for a pair of shoes; those who, in their mansions, pile up violence and plunder; those who crush the poor; those who make the kingdom of violence come closer as they lie upon their comfortable beds.

Amos and Isaiah are not just voices from the distant centuries; their writings are not merely texts that we reverently read in the liturgy. They are everyday realities. Day by day, we live out the cruelty and ferocity they excoriate.

This is the situation in which the Church has placed itself at the side of the poor and has undertaken their defence. The Church cannot do otherwise, for it remembers that Jesus had pity on the multitude.

By defending the poor, it has entered into serious conflict with the powerful. The Church has made an explicit preferential option for the poor - against poverty and in favour of social justice. From among the poor, the Church sees with ever great clarity that society must undergo structural transformation.

The Church has no concrete political or economic strategy; it simply calls for greater participation by the people in national decision making. It supports those that call for greater justice in working conditions and fosters those that struggle for a society that is neither rich nor poor, but is just and fraternal. Clearly, the Church has an undisputed social mission.

It is in this light that we call upon all our politicians, in the spirit of Easter, to rededicate themselves to serving the people and to holding themselves responsible to the people and ensure that every word, every act and every policy of theirs confirms to the people's interests and wellbeing.

We urge them to serve the Zambian heart and soul and never for a moment divorce themselves from the plight of the masses and place their personal interests ahead of those of the people.

Labels: MICHAEL SATA, POVERTY

posted by MrK @ 1:40 PM