Global Inequity and the local context: ‘Breakfast at the Parktown’ Wildwood Mennonite Church - 19 February, 2017
I Scriptures: Isaiah 58: 1-4; 6-9 Acts 2:43-47
II Intro: Place setting at the Parktown Hotel Order a fresh fruit platter, coffee and a bagel/cream cheese
Fresh cut fruit made in Canada from imported ingredients – Image Costco Grapefruit – Israel; Pears – China; Mangos – Peru, Kiwi – Italy, Honeydew – Guatemala; Pineapple – Costa Rica, Oranges – Swaziland
Beautiful spot overlooking the river…
This fruit dish takes us around the world - as does the coffee we drink, the clothes we wear and the everyday utensils we use. What I want us to reflect on this morning is the interconnectedness of our lives with those of people around the world – whether we pay attention to it or not. There are many perspectives to consider and we’ll look at some of them as we go along. This series on Faith & Finances is encouraging us to delve a bit deeper into understanding our underlying assumptions about our economics and the decisions and choices we make in relation to them.
III Global Connectedness
Global trade realities connect us with almost every corner of the globe. Clothes from Taiwan, Innumerable items from China, cellphones from India, cars from Japan, and food from every continent… https://blueshift.io/international-trade.htmllive image of world trade movement (each dot represents $1bn in trade with any on trading country)
When looking at the globe as a whole, trade is concentrated into obvious hubs. The United States, Europe, and China/Japan are the most evident ones, and they are all lit up with color. There are also obvious have-nots. Take a look at most of the countries in Africa, or click on an individual country like North Korea to see a lack of international trade.
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Now click on South Korea, and the situation is completely different. By the way, South Korea exports $583 billion of goods per year. This map also shows how dependent some countries are on others for trade. Look at Canada, a country that sends close to 75% of its exports to the United States. Mexico has a similar situation, where it does most of its business with the U.S. as well.
NAFTA, the recently signed CETA free trade agreement with the European union and others encourage the movement of goods across multiple borders with minimal restrictions. All of us assume and depend that these commodities are available when we want them at reasonable prices for our pocketbooks. While what we call ‘free trade’ does have significant benefits in that it allows easier movement of goods, reduces costs overall, encourages competition, improves efficiencies etc. it is by no means a free playing field – and in fact it is not necessarily fair at all.
IV Economic Systems and their impact on our lives
In the Isaiah passage we just heard the Lord took a pretty stern stance vis-a-vis his people for not practicing righteousness in relation to those around them (v1-4). So how relevant is that reminder for us today?
Let’s have some fruit salad: Love fresh grapefruit but when I realize it’s imported from Israel I’m reminded of the longstanding conflict in the region and the reality that the citrus growing area of Jaffa has been essentially annexed from the Arab community by the Israeli government and all citrus export controlled by the Israeli marketing board – so most likely the Arab farmers who used to excel at producing these tasty fruits are no longer benefiting from their hard labour. The pineapple industry on Mindanao is dominated by two corporate giants: Del Monte Philippines Inc. and Dole Philippines. At least 24,000 workers working on the plantations and in the factories of these companies earn poverty wages well below a living wage ($6 vs $13/day minimally required), leaving them unable to afford basic needs, such as food, medicine and education. Lois and I lived in Swaziland from 85-89. These oranges always remind me of the time when we noticed that the export of oranges from Swaziland far exceeded the local capacity to produce this fruit. What we discovered was that Apartheid South Africa – under sanctions – was driving its orange crops across the border into Swaziland and then having them exported to the US and Canada, and other places with Swazi labelling to make a profit while oppressing their labour force. Bananas – now there’s a story but we’ll come back to that later.
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Maybe it’s time for some coffee. Fair trade I hope. In 2001 I visited Guatemala and during my time there toured the German run Dusseldorf coffee plantation. The coffee was wonderful and we all bought some to bring back to Canada. Later that day we spent some time with the Vice-president of the Mennonite church. In the course of his dialogue he relayed that he and his family historically worked the coffee plantation we had just visited. He talked about how they had been mistreated and hassled and harassed when they showed some initiative. As we heard his story we slowly removed our coffee bags from view and felt embarrassed about our affirmative talk of how good their coffee was. Since most of the Dusseldorf coffee went to Starbucks I also decided not to purchase their coffee anymore as a personal protest at what had happened to this brother in Christ.
Our economic systems are based on control of the means of production and its operation on a for profit basis. Characteristics central to capitalism include private property, capital accumulation, wage labor, voluntary exchange, a price system, and competitive market. Much of this has been positive but unchecked and unmonitored it has created a monster that knows no end to its hunger. People and environments are routinely sacrificed for the bottom line. That reality may not be obvious when we sit down to a meal but it is true nevertheless.
Economist Branko Horvat has stated: "... it is now well known that capitalist development leads to the concentration of capital, employment and power. It is somewhat less known that it leads to the almost complete destruction of economic freedom [and I would add –except for those in control of the levers of power]."
Our global reality and the dynamics of trade and politics has created a very uneven playing field around the globe in terms of trade and economics. We even experience that in our own North American context and it is so much more exacerbated in places with more limited resources.
Here are a few examples: We know that the US heavily subsidizes its farmers. One outcome of that is that USAID will purchase excess production of corn/maize in the US and then market that at cutthroat prices in other parts of the world. Some years back that was very evident in Zimbabwe as it was cheaper to purchase US corn on the market than it cost to grow it locally – killing off the local corn/maize industry and hurting local producers. In Honduras some 120 people have been killed in the last decade protesting local big business and corporate America that is pushing them off their land and the environment and building hydro-electric dams that ignore local issues and concerns. Not so long ago a survey indicated that there were more South African trained doctors in Saskatchewan than Canadian trained doctors. When the Ambassador for South Africa
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registered a formal complaint to the Cdn govt the response of our then Health Minister was that it was cheaper for Canada to acquire doctors that way. By luring them away from South Africa with good transition and salary packages it met Cdn medical goals but left the South African health system in a very bad state of function – further reducing accessible health care. The United Fruit Company was founded in 1899. The brand name Chiquita was registered as a trademark in 1947. In 1928, thousands of workers were murdered by military forces in Ciénaga (Colombia). The workers were protesting against the bad working conditions in the company plantations. In 1998 allegations surfaced around bribery, mistreatment of workers, environmental pollution, evading country’s laws etc. These were eventually withdrawn but not because they were inaccurate. More on Chiquita later… A number of Canadian oil companies have a very bad reputation globally with respect to dealing with unsavory govts with significant human rights abuses in relation to oil extraction. MCC has in the past been approached by some of these to see if we would accept funding for our work – giving them a better corporate image. When we said no they they were quite unhappy with us.
From the colonial era till today greed, politics, and the desire for goods and services have fueled economic trade systems that have benefited the few at the expense of many others. That is a reality and we are part of that reality – even if we don’t engage directly in those atrocities or others of a more banal nature. We have benefitted from the economic advantage of global systems that continually feed resources into our economies (sometimes on a 4:1 basis). Essentially our economic systems determine the value of the products we create as well as the bottom prices for the raw materials we import.
This is not just recent history. It is part of the colonial heritage imposed on many nations and still playing out in post-colonial reality to this day:
The reality is that resources from around the world based on inequitable economic systems have made it possible for some to live in in luxury while others hardly have enough to survive.
Wealth distribution is something we’ve heard much about. Global Rich List (globalrichlist.com)
So let’s look for a moment and see where we fit in to this picture.
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There certainly has been a reduction of poverty globally in the last decades. The middle class in many countries has grown – particularly in Asian countries. The MDG reduction of extreme poverty by 50 % achievement has to do mostly with China and the improvements in the lives of 680 millions of people. That is impressive but still leaves out most of Africa, much of Asia and Latin America.
The $1.75 figure is the Canadian equivalent of the extreme poverty line as defined by the World Bank. Some 1.4 billion people around the world live on that amount for all their needs, not just food and drink.
Growing up as a child I had no idea of these things – even though I grew up in the midst of such realities. My parents’ generation just assumed that things were as they should be economically. The churches we grew up in did not question the status quo. Poverty was seen as present because of personal reasons and lack of education – not systemic structural ones. Fortunately that has changed and as we have become aware people have pushed for change to address the structural inequities we see around us:
Fair trade has emerged as one way to redress some of the inequities. Think coffee: Just as we are dependent on coffee to get through a hard day’s work, it is also the most valuable and widely traded tropical agricultural product. Around 125 million people worldwide depend on coffee for their livelihoods, however, many of the 25 million small holder farmers who produce 80% of the world’s coffee fail to earn a reliable living. Level Ground – the fairtrade org that Villages works with has an amazing story of growth. In 1997, four families came together with the idea of improving the lives of disadvantaged producers through trade. They were inspired by the work of Ten Thousand Villages and were keen to see the principles of Fair Trade applied to foods we consume every day. Big corporations with billions in equity and hiring millions of people have huge impact on the lives of countless individuals through their policy and practice. Their practices have begun to change. The Coca-Cola Co. scores well for some practices, including addressing inequality for women working in production and supporting female empowerment for workers in its supply chain. The company is also well-rated for its land-management practices. Unilever: Brands include Lipton tea, Hellmann’s mayonnaise, and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, to name only a few. Unilever generally scores fairly well for its efforts in
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addressing policy issues. Oxfam rated it above all other companies for its worker and farming policies. Warren Buffet’s Kraft Heinz Co is currently attempting a takeover of UK based Unilver. Nestlé is also the top-rated company by Oxfam for its approach to major policy issues. It received the highest scores for addressing transparency, water use, and climate change of any major food company. In its 2013 report, Oxfam highlighted Nestlé’s efforts in addressing labor abuses the company discovered in its cocoa supply chain in the Ivory Coast. In 1998, a coalition of social activist groups, led by the European Banana Action Network (EUROBAN), targeted the banana industry in general and Chiquita in particular, aiming to create a new climate of corporate social responsibility. Their strategy was to encourage small farming of bananas rather than large scale monoculture, and to push for subsidies and other government relief to level the field for small producers. Chiquita responded to the activism with changes in corporate management and new patterns of global competition. Chiquita partnered with the Rainforest Alliance, an environmental group dedicated to preserving the rainforest, and made major reforms in the way they plant and protect their bananas. In 2000, Chiquita adopted a new code of conduct that included the Social Accountability International's SA8000 labor standard.
These shifts are encouraging. Part of it is because it is good business to respond positively to consumer demand. We as consumers have a much larger capacity to affect change than we sometimes think we do. These examples are an indication of that.
Maybe also there is that emerging sense of corporate responsibility – at least at some level and fueled by our capacity now to record and document and share what goes on around the world at a moment’s notice via the internet. We can hold systems to account in ways that we never could before.
Earlier on in this series we asked the question: What is the purpose of business? The answer to that question has changed. For decades, most business leaders would say their corporate mission was to maximize profits for shareholders and owners (Corporate social responsibility was not part of the equations). Today, the answer most commonly is that the ultimate purpose of a corporation is to serve society and to make the world a better place.
CEO Lynn Good of Duke Energy. “I don’t know that any business can sit on the sidelines. You have to engage, because that’s the expectation if you’re going to move your company forward.
Billionaire Mark Zukerman in his Facebook manifesto notes the following: "But we have to make sure the global community works for everyone. It is not just automatically going to happen. "All these different kinds of institutions, whether they are
Page 6 of 8 governments, or non-profits, or companies, need to do their part in building this infrastructure to empower people so that it creates opportunities for everyone, not just some people.
"Being a good corporate citizen is really important," he said. "We operate in a lot of different countries all around the world. We need to be help build those communities and that is what I am trying to do in my personal philanthropy - setting an example hopefully for other entrepreneurs who will build things in the future for how you should give back to the community and to the world.”
V Sabbath Economics (Ched Meyers) The Biblical vision of Sabbath Economics - 2012
“We read the Gospel as if we had no money,” laments Jesuit theologian John Haughey, “and we spend our money as if we know nothing of the gospel.” It would seem the topic of economics is exceedingly difficult to talk about in most First World churches, more taboo than politics or even sex.”
At the heart of the biblical narrative (both old and new testaments) lie three basic axioms:
1) the world as created by God is abundant, with enough for everyone – provided that human communities restrain their appetites and live within limits;
2) disparities in wealth and power are not ‘natural’ but the result of human sin, and must be mitigated within the community of faith through the regular practice of redistribution;
3) the prophet message calls people to the practice of such redistribution, and is thus characterized as ‘good news’ to the poor.
This perspective is rooted in the real life experience of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt as noted in Genesis right through the Acts experience of the New Testament. From the manna story of the exodus to the story of Zacchaeus to the parable of the talents the Biblical story consistently and creatively pushes us to look more closely at how our economics and our faith are linked.
The Isaiah passage we read clearly indicates God’s unhappiness with a people who did not follow this calling – he refused to listen to their voice as they intentionally forsook what God had asked of them – and pretended to be righteous while oppressing their neighbours and not offering justice to the alien.
Isaiah does not mince words … and is clear on what the driving force for equity and justice is in the kingdom of God – it is the practice of righteousness. (v 6-9). It is a call to repentance from Page 7 of 8 selfishly looking after our own needs at the expense of others (the oppressed). What God wants is for his people to loose the bonds of injustice, break every yoke, let the oppressed go free, share our bread with the hungry, bring the homeless poor into our homes, cover the naked….
And if we do that – our light will break forth like the dawn and our healing shall spring up quickly... then you shall call and the Lord will answer quickly. You shall cry for help and he will say, Here I am!
Jesus’ inaugural speech as noted in Luke 4 echoes this sentiment as he reads from the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
The operative language of Acts in the New Testament pushes this even further… (2:44-47) In the context of worship the disciples made their resources available ‘… and distributed it to whoever had need.’
These are the tensions we hold before us. The reality of the world in which we actually live, the hope and desire of its people who like ourselves seek the better life, and our call to discipleship to practice justice and live looking after each other’s needs (including our global neighbour). The challenge before us is to consider how the economic systems we participate in address the injustices we see and/or how we personally engage in working for change and a better world for all. I hope this breakfast rumination offers some grist for discussion and reflection. There are many ways to work at this concretely and hopefully - it’s our calling to find and create them.
So our breakfast comes to an end and the day begins.
Bruno W. Baerg 19 Feb 2017
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