wfn.org | Church people in Zambia o influence European Union trade negotiations

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

> World Alliance of Reformed Churches
> News Release
> 25 May 2009

Church people in Zambia use popular media to influence European Union trade negotiations

In a groundbreaking initiative, the United Church of Zambia is using street theatre and broadcast media to encourage church members to get involved in efforts to influence negotiations between the European Union and their country on trade issues.

At a time when the majority of countries in Africa are involved in bilateral talks with the European Union about the terms of Economic and Partnership Agreements, intended to open up African markets through deregulation, church people are learning from popular media about the importance of telling their government not to agree to policies which would affect health and education services.

"Up until now, the church has not been involved in trying to influence the government on global multilateral trade issues," says Puleng LenkaBula a consultant working on economic justice issues in the region on behalf of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC).

"But the deterioration in the economy in Zambia has affected health and employment. Now the church is working to influence the response of the government to the negotiations in order to ensure that the agreements allow for protection of people's lives and health,' says the feminist ethicist from the University of South Africa. Popular education techniques are helping get that message across and mobilize response.

As meetings of WARC's executive committee get underway in Geneva, stories such as these are being received from many of the organization's member churches. WARC, which represents 75 million Reformed church members in 107 countries, is known for its commitment to economic justice and concern for the protection of the earth's natural resources. Two-thirds of the organization's membership is in the Global South.

The general secretary, Setri Nyomi, says in his report to the executive committee that a key focus of WARCâ??s activities during the two years since the governing body last met has been to mobilize church membersâ?? involvement in social justice issues, especially at the grassroots level.

â??The challenges of life today require a radical transformation of the prevailing economic system which is centred on capital accumulation and competition. There is urgency for a vision which puts people at the centre, supporting social well-being, racial, ethnic and gender justice, exercise of freedom and cooperation among people,â?? Nyomi writes.

Projects such as the one in Zambia show that churches are taking up the challenge.

â??We want people in church to think beyond being happy communities of people who love Jesus, says LenkaBula.  â??Jesus talked about health and about caring for people.  The church cannot lose that connection between social witness and theology.â??

The prime minister of Namibia is calling the final declaration of the Durban Review Conference a moral compass that should inspire global citizens by its moral authority.

â??I am satisfied with the deliberations of the review process and with the final declarationâ??, Prime Minister Nahas Angula told members of the ecumenical press corps in Geneva on Wednesday.

Angula was accompanied by Namibiaâ??s ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Kaire Mbuende.

In comments made during a briefing at the Ecumenical Centre, Prime Minister Nahas Angula said churches should be in the forefront of efforts to combat racism as they were in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

The Durban Review conference convened by the United Nations in Geneva (20-24 April) is reviewing progress towards the goals set in 2001 at the World Conference against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance held in Durban, South Africa.

Participants at the 2001 conference issued a programme of action which includes calls for tougher anti-discrimination legislation, better education, improved support for victims of racism, greater multi-culturalism and respect for the rule of law and human rights.

Nahula noted that the process of the Durban Review serves to remind Namibians that even though Namibia was born from the struggle against racism and colonialism, â??unresolved racial problemsâ?? persist in the country.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the general secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), Setri Nyomi, welcomes the Durban Review process and writes, â??We hope that this process will stimulate the improved educational programmes and enforced anti-racism legislation that can bring lasting changes in behaviour.â??

WARC has a long-standing commitment to justice for all, regardless of race, creed or gender.  In 1982 WARC declared apartheid a sin and its theological justification heresy.  WARC also welcomed the Belhar Confession developed within the Reformed family in South Africa as a gift for the ecumenical movement.

In 2007, WARC delegates to an ecumenical conference in Jamaica on the British transatlantic slave trade signed a joint declaration which said that human trafficking, child labour, child soldiers, enslaved labour in the Amazon and elsewhere, are modern forms of slavery that need to be addressed by churches today.

â??WARC continues to say clearly and loudly that the churches must repent of past involvement in racism and intolerance and commit to processes which will lead to the elimination of all forms of intolerance in the modern world,â?? says Nyomi.

> ***

> Contact:

> Kristine Greenaway

> Executive Secretary, Communications
> World Alliance of Reformed Churches
> 150 Route de Ferney
> P.O. Box 2100
> 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
> tel.  +41.22 791 62 43 / +41 79 508 20 43
> fax: +41.22 791 65 05

> web: www.warc.ch
> e-mail: kgr@warc.ch