Taking a Preferential Option for the...

The Common Good No 60

The

Common Good Taking a Preferential Option for the Poor

A newspaper of the Christchurch Catholic Worker No 60, Lent 2012 Price: free or donation

Trading our Sovereignty Mary-Ellen O’Connor

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) is a so-called ‘free trade’ agreement currently under negotiation between New Zealand and eight other countries – the United States, Chile, Peru, Brunei, Singapore, Australia, Ma-laysia and Vietnam. Three other countries – Japan, Canada and Mexico – are waiting to join the negotiations and there is a vision to extend it to all the countries of APEC. But however many coun-tries join, the reality is that the US controls the negotiations in the interests of its own powerful multi-national corporations.

But trade is only a minor part of the agreement. ‘Free trade’ is just a clever branding exercise. Most trade between the countries con-cerned is already quite ‘free’. So what is it about?

The TPPA is effectively a bill of rights for big corpo-rations that shackles fu-ture governments and our democratic right to decide future policy and laws.

The TPPA would be an agreement that guarantees special rights to foreign investors that operate from any of the TPPA countries. If these negotiations succeed they will create a mega-treaty across all countries that will put a straitjacket around what policies and laws sovereign governments can adopt or enact. In the case of New Zealand, these provisions could impact on the labelling of genetically modified food, laws restricting foreign investment, price of medicines, regulation of dodgy finance firms, regulation of mining activities, all aspects of ACC, Treaty claims preventing sales of taonga, intellectual property protection especially in digital media, limiting of tobacco advertising, or provision for local content on TV. Protection for labour or the

environment could be severely weakened and there would be no preference for New Zealand busi-ness in major government procurement projects. Our commitments under the Treaty of Waitangi would be read through the lens of this ‘trade’ treaty. Put simply, anything that interferes with the untrammeled profit-making of corporations risks being challenged. And it is the US cor-porations that are the largest and have the most to gain.

The TPPA is effectively a bill of rights for big corporations that shackles future governments and our democratic right to decide future policy and laws. This works at several levels. Firstly, laws about foreign investment would be locked so they could only be weakened, not strengthened. Sec-ondly, it would guarantee foreign firms are consulted over any pro-posed new laws, and governments would have to show how they had responded to their views. (NZers

have no such guarantee of input into our own laws!) Thirdly, if the government goes ahead with a new

policy or law that the investors say affects the value of their investment, they could sue the government for millions of dollars for breaching their rights under the TPPA, thereby trumping our domestic laws. Phillip Morris (Asia) has already invoked these provisions under an investment agreement with similar rules to sue the government of Australia about its decision to have plain packaging of cigarette packets. Such cases are heard in secret international tribunals run under World Bank or UN rules, not in our domestic courts. (This decision is pending.) Even if governments say they have a good defence, as Australia does, these long and expensive cases are a way to harass governments and the threat may be enough to achieve a backdown.

Ron Cribb


Who are we? Members of Te Wairua Maranga Trust, which

publishes this paper, have since 1989 been operating as a community following a Catholic Worker spirituality. We view the Treaty of Waitangi as our nation’s founding covenant. We try, however inadequately at times, to live the Sermon on the Mount and its modern implications. We operate three houses of hospitality in Christchurch named after Suzanne Aubert, Thomas Merton, and Joseph Cardijn. We offer hospitality to people in need either on a temporary or more permanent basis. We have a continuing outreach to a number of families offering friendship and support. We usually receive back more than we ever give. We promote non-violence and a ‘small is beautiful’ approach to life, practise co-operative work and peace making, focus on issues of justice, support prison ministry, help create intentional communities, and try to practise voluntary poverty and personalism. We also engage in regular prayer and generally struggle along like everybody else.

We celebrate a liturgy every Wednesday at 6:00 pm at the Suzanne Aubert House, 8A Cotterill St, Addington, (off Poulson St, near Church Square), followed by a shared meal. Anyone is welcome – phone Francis, 338-7105.

We do not seek funding from traditional sources. We hope to receive enough to keep our houses of hospitality open and our various works going. Catholic Worker houses do not issue tax receipts since they are running neither a business nor a church social agency. We invite people to participate personally and unconditionally. Should you wish to make a regular contribution, you may do so through our Te Wairua Maranga Westpac Trust holding account (number 031703-0036346-02). Donations may also be made to Te Wairua Maranga Trust, Box 33-135, Christchurch.

In New Zealand, in the case of The Hobbit and Warner Bros, we have already seen how one company could bring pressure to bear to both change labour laws and winkle massive tax subsidies from a government that maintains there’s no money for health, early childcare or public transport. All negotiations are secret. The bits we do know are garnered through leaks. The final text does not have to be approved by Parliament, it can be ratified just by Cabinet. Once the negotiations are over and the treaty is signed it does go to a select committee, but this committee has no power to change its substance, but merely to report back to parliament about any concerns. Parliament’s only power is to block changes to New Zealand’s laws that a TPPA might require, creating a standoff with the government that has already agreed to them. All documents except the final text would remain secret for four years after signing. This secrecy means that the media is not really attuned to what is happening and most people are simply unaware of its potentially draconian nature. The agreement is forever unless a party withdraws, but that is not a real option for a range of legal, diplomatic and economic reasons.

How does the New Zealand government justify the TPPA? The familiar line is that it is all about better access for Fonterra into the huge US market. But as US economist and former World Bank president Joseph Stiglitz frankly stated ‘Most of these ‘free trade’ agreements are…managed trade agreements and they’re mostly managed for the advantage of the United States,

which has the bulk of the negotiating power… One can’t think that New Zealand would ever get anything that it cares about.’ A Wikileaks cable showed that even NZ’s lead negotiator didn’t expect any significant gains.

So why would the government secretly sell out our right to make our own choices about public health and safety, our environment, our tino rangatiratanga, sovereignty, in fact our future? Partly because they are true believers in free trade ideology.

Losses is what we’ll get. Even the Australian Productivity Commission has said these agreements are bad deals.

So why would the government secretly sell out our right to make our own choices about public health and safety, our environment, our tino rangatiratanga, sovereignty, in fact our future? Partly because they are true believers in free trade ideology. Partly because they think a TPPA can morph into an Asia-Pacific-wide free trade agreement that will spread their gospel to the new powerhouses that will dominate the 21st century. Partly to pander to the US in its moves to strengthen its role in Asia and counter the influence of China.

TPP Action is required. And the best action is to throw spanners in the works – highlight the awful possibilities, bad examples of what might happen, extrapolate from other ‘free trade’ agreements. Organise meetings. Put the heat on politicians of all varieties. Reflect on the insanity of it all. As was commented the other day ‘If you loved multi-national banks, you’ll really love multi-national blood banks’ (globalised blood supply being one ambition of the US corporate health lobby).

The next formal negotiating round takes place in Melbourne in March. While they keep changing dates and places (all part of the secrecy agenda) it seems there will be a big meeting in New Zealand in September. We need to get it off the rails before then!

What we can do about it and how can we find out more?

Get the word around all your networks, facebook pages, websites and media.

Organise meetings and action around the TPPA. Ask your MPs, local government and iwi leaders if

they know what’s going on. Demand the government holds an inquiry to bring the

negotiations into the daylight -’Release the Text’.

For information and campaigning websites on the TPPA in Aotearoa and internationally, see www.tppwatch.org, www.tppdigest.org, www.nznotforsale.org, and follow the links.

Mary-Ellen O’Connor is a coordinator of TPPWatch, the national organisation formed to educate New Zealanders about the dangers of the TPPA.

Editorial 1 Sell-out New Zealand – the TPPA


The picture of the Italian luxury liner Costa Concordia tilting dangerously on its side provides an apt metaphor for what the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) offers our region.

Shapely but hopelessly unbalanced, its guts have been wrenched out forcing people to die below decks in terror and darkness, swamped by the in-rushing sea and trapped by a powerlessness to change their situation. The captain and owners are denying all responsibility. The public spin-controlled image of the TPPA resembles this doomed ship. With the whole world’s economic system tilting dangerously and listing lopsidedly in choppy seas, the TPPA promises millions more will become victims of neo-liberal economic policies as the rich seek to maintain their grip on their wealth and power. There is every incentive for the rich and powerful to further entrench inequality into the current social and economic systems. Why would they not? The TPPA does that. It seeks to trade away New Zealand’s sovereignty in everything but name.

In essence, this treaty is about investor clauses which allow foreign corporations to rip the guts out of NZ public services. Economic control of our own future simply slips further from our hands. Such corporations are unelected and unaccountable. In these international agreements, these huge conglomerates wield almost total power and use their muscle to fend off the competition.

There is every incentive for the rich and powerful to further entrench inequality into the current social and economic systems. Why would they not? The TPPA does that

Take for example the issue of smoking and tobacco sales. If the NZ parliament decided that packets of cigarettes should be black with only death warnings on the packaging, under the TPPA the government here could be prevented from allowing such health warnings and instead be forced to promote the brand in glittering letters. So much for sovereignty!

The talks are being conducted in secret. The public have virtually no idea of what is going on. All the public have been given is a bit of political spin, like a tourist brochure for a cruise liner. Deny it as they may, it is the weaker economies which will suffer most. New Zealand has one of the weaker economies. The nine governments have agreed to not release texts and background documents until four years after negotiations have concluded! This is intolerable.

Section 9 of the SOE Act requires the government to comply with ‘the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi’. Is the abolition of Section 9 the smoking gun the government wants to hide in its TPPA negotiations? It makes sense that it should if you follow the government’s thinking. Rest assured that overseas investors will not want a bar of any talk of the Treaty in their dealings with NZ. No need to give preference to Maori if Section 9 is abolished. Secrecy is essential for this further act of betrayal.

Moral Issues and Christian Teaching There are however huge moral issues at stake which

the Church should be gravely concerned about. The TPPA process undermines some very core concepts of Church social teaching. These are insights which flow from the Gospels and have formed part of our social teachings framework for more than 800 years. Take the issue of the common good, first spelt out in detail by St Thomas Aquinas and held as sacred Catholic teaching ever since.

Christians should be concerned. These are all issues that the Church has strong moral teachings on. The recent social justice document from the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in Rome is damning in its condemnation of ‘economic liberalism’ and ‘the idolatry of the market.’

In our time, the common good is based on the presence of five integral features - the protection and enhancement of the environment, the need for solidarity with all those affected, the protection of the principle of subsidiarity so that the weak and powerful don’t dominate the poor and weak, protection of human rights and a ‘preferential option for the poor and the oppressed’.

Where is there any evidence that these conditions are being met? Where is the analysis which says that trade pacts like TPPA are good for the ordinary people, that they fit the prescriptions of the common good? Where is consideration of issues of justice for workers and consumers? Do worker organizations and consumer groups get a say in the formation of the agreements?

What rights will workers have to a fair wage and decent conditions when trans-national companies are totally dominating the world’s economies? What about the freedom of manufacturers to get a just return for their products? If countries are locked into a pact with ‘slave labour’ economies, where will free will and choice fit into their efforts to promote fair trading practices?

Christians should be concerned. These are all issues that the Church has strong moral teachings on. The recent social justice document from the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in Rome is damning in its condemnation of ‘economic liberalism’ and ‘the idolatry of the market.’ The TPPA is a process of economic liberalism and a product of a desire to make the ‘free market’ control everything. That’s another word for idolatry.

These secret negotiations are all about further enriching the corporate elite of world capitalism. This involves blatant theft on a grand scale. There will be virtually no accountability. It further disenfranchises the very people Jesus blessed while on earth – the poor and the disadvantaged.

Our Government needs to be told in no uncertain terms to withdraw from these talks.

—Jim Consedine


Editorial 2 Small Parishes Jesus told us, ‘Wherever two or three are gathered

together in My name, I am in their midst. I am right there with them.’ Two or three, that's all it takes to come together in God's name and Jesus is with them. Now, think about that, especially as we anticipate the changes in the diocese.

So often it seems as if what is happening means that small parishes can't exist any more, and I think that will be such a loss because I think I've been in every parish in this diocese at some time or other over the years that I've been a bishop. I must tell you that it's in the small parishes where I most of all experience the presence of God, because in a small parish, people do gather together and they know one another.

They care about one another. There is a bond of love based on common faith that makes them very close, so you really experience the presence of God in a small community, and yet the diocesan officials talk about the demographics. People have moved so now we have to let go of the churches that are too small so we can take care of the big churches where everybody becomes anonymous. What a tragedy. Jesus is present wherever two or three are gathered in his name, and in a small community, that presence of Jesus is very real.

I sense it here. I sense it in any small community

where I go. The faith of the people is alive. They come together because they do believe. They want to be there and they care about one another, and Jesus is in their midst. I hope you don't lose that as we follow the demographics, as the people say. I hope you don't lose the fact that God is really present in every small community, that we find a way to give leadership to those communities so they don't have to die.

God is present and God can keep them vibrant and alive. This, then, is what we reflect on as we begin this second week of Advent, the coming of Jesus into our lives. We anticipate that final coming when God will bring to fullness God's reign, and all of creation will be blessed and brought into a fullness. Every human being will be living a full human life of joy and peace.

At Christmas we're alert to the fact that this is God's love becoming part of our human history, and then we especially look forward at any moment to God entering into my life right now. I have to be alert and ready to respond in order to experience what Isaiah promised, ‘Be comforted, my people. Be consoled. Be filled with joy and deep peace.’

—Bishop Thomas Gumbleton is a retired bishop from Detroit.

A new year of nonviolence John Dear SJ

‘When a per-son claims to be nonviolent, he is expected not to be angry with one who has injured him,’ Gandhi wrote. ‘He will not wish him harm. He will wish him well. He will not swear at him. He will not cause him any physical hurt. He will put up

with all the injury to which he is subjected by the wrongdoer. Thus nonviolence is complete innocence.’

That was Gandhi's editorial message on 3 September 1922, in his newspaper, Young India. He was trying to inspire his nation to reach the highest ideal of peace, love and nonviolence as they resisted British imperialism.

Who could possibly be that nonviolent? Most of us get angry and vengeful at the slightest put-down. I know I do. If I'm disrespected or attacked for one reason or another – and that happens frequently to anyone who speaks against war – I feel hurt, then get angry, then want to retaliate with a verbal attack or worse. If I repress those feelings, I end up with a pool of resentment that

eventually needs to be addressed or it will lead to even greater judgmentalism, self-righteousness or explosive violence.

‘Complete nonviolence is complete absence of ill will against all that lives,’ Gandhi continued. ‘Nonviolence is, in its active form, good will towards all life. It is pure Love. Nonviolence is a perfect state. It is a goal towards which all humanity moves naturally though unconsciously. The goal ever recedes from us. The greater the progress, the greater the recognition of our unworthiness. Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory.’

Gandhi reminds me that the full effort to resist evil, respond nonviolently and deal with hard feelings without further retaliation is at the heart of the spiritual life. This journey can break the cycle of violence and take us deep into forgiveness, compassion and unconditional love. And isn't that what Godly living is all about? Isn't that real peacemaking? Isn't that the life Jesus invites us to live?

As we begin another year fraught with uncertainty, injustice and war, Gandhi points us toward our highest ideal and invites us to a new year's resolution of renewed nonviolence for the coming of a new world of nonviolence.

That's what's on my mind as we start this (US) election year, as I survey the global landscape of violence, war, poverty, executions, corporate greed and


environmental destruction. There's simply no better beacon in modern history than Gandhi and his ideal of nonviolence. He shows us, I suggest, the Christian way.

Over the past few years, I've reprinted Pax Christi's vow of nonviolence at New Year's as a friendly reminder of our ongoing commitment to embody the peace we seek, to renew our personal nonviolence and to help the global movement for justice and disarmament. Gandhi's vow of nonviolence encouraged him to remain nonviolent until his last breath. It pushed him, he claimed, beyond himself to his ideal, fully realized, true self. Such a vow can help us do the same. It has certainly helped me, first of all, by urging me not to say or do something I would later regret, which will only continue the spiral of violence.

Recently, I read how my friend Buddhist teacher Joanna Macy concludes her workshops on hope by inviting people to profess five vows as a way to solemnize their commitment to hope, peace and right action. They read: I vow to myself and to each of you: • to commit myself daily to the healing of our world

and the welfare of all being; • to live on earth more lightly and less violently in the

food, products and energy I consume; • to draw strength and guidance from the living Earth,

the ancestors, the future generations, and my brothers and sisters of all species;

• to support each other in our work for the world and to ask for help when I need it;

• to pursue a daily practice that clarifies my mind, strengthens my heart and supports me in observing these vows.

Joanna Macy's vows remind me of the ‘Metta Sutta,’ a kind of prayer-vow, used at the end of meditation sessions at various Buddhist centers I have visited. It is recited slowly and together by the community as an act of renewal and re-centering, and can be a very disarming experience. It acts like a compass to point us in the right direction for the journey ahead.

May I be free from enmity and danger. May I be free from mental suffering. May I be free from physical suffering. May I take care of myself happily. May all beings be free from enmity and danger. May all beings be free from mental suffering. May all beings be free from physical suffering. May all beings take care of themselves happily. May all beings be happy. May all beings be free from suffering. May it be so. ‘Wage peace with your breath,’ Mary Oliver writes in

one of her poems ‘Breathe in fire and rubble, breathe out whole buildings and flocks of redwing blackbirds. Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields. Breathe in confusion and breathe

out maple trees. Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact. Wage peace with your listening. Hearing sirens, pray loud. Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers. Make soup, play music ... Wage peace! Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious. Act as if armistice has already arrived. Don't wait another minute.’

The New Year has arrived. If we dare to dream about the highest ideal, we could wish for the end of the US war in Afghanistan; the abolition of the death penalty, hunger and nuclear weapons; and a national change of heart that will bring true universal health care, as well as decent jobs, housing and education for all, and a global rededication to the earth. For ourselves, we long to remain centered in the peace of Christ, to live and breathe that deep peace and to cultivate that peace in our personal lives, our workplace, our families, and in the various movements for social justice and disarmament we support.

As we wage peace, we send a ripple of peace into the world to join the waves of nonviolence that wash over nations and empires and disarm us all.

And so I offer the Pax Christi Vow of Nonviolence again and invite you to read it slowly and prayerfully, to profess it by yourself or with friends. May it help us to follow the nonviolent Jesus on our journey to peace, that we might all hasten a new year, a new world, of nonviolence.

Recognizing the violence in my own heart, yet trusting in the goodness and mercy of God, I vow for one year to practice the nonviolence of Jesus who taught us in the Sermon on the Mount: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called the sons and daughters of God. Love your enemies that you may be sons and daughters of your Creator in heaven ...’

Before God the Creator and the Sanctifying Spirit, I vow to carry out in my life the love and example of Jesus --

by striving for peace within myself and seeking to be a peacemaker in my daily life;

by accepting suffering in the struggle for justice and peace rather than inflicting it;

by refusing to retaliate in the face of provocation and violence;

by persevering in nonviolence of tongue and heart; by living conscientiously and simply so that I do not

deprive others of the means to live; by actively resisting evil and working nonviolently to

abolish war and the causes of war from my own heart and from the face of the earth.

God, I trust in your sustaining love and believe that just as You gave me the grace and desire to offer this, so You will also bestow abundant grace to fulfill it. Amen.

—John Dear SJ visited NZ in 2010 as a guest of the Catholic Worker. This article first appeared in NCR, 3 January 2012

Waihopai Ploughshares Update


One of the Waihopai Ploughshares participants, Otaki CW farmer Adrian Leason, provoked considerable discussion at the annual Waihopai spy base protest in late January when he publicly apologized to ‘those caught up on the peripheral of our action including police’. Accompanied by five of his seven children, Adi spoke of his action and what the aim was. In a very humourous address, he talked of how much of the astute planning went awry – yet the action went better than anticipated. ‘The hand of God was everywhere guiding us’.

‘I went through a lot of soul searching as to what was an ap-propriate action to take against what we consider to be a danger-ous installation which sits at the heart of the massive murder and destruction caused by American wars in several parts of the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan. Inevitably workers at installations, police and security officials get caught up in such actions. We sought to minimize any inconvenience to them.’

‘Our reason for acting was of course to prevent any further damage from New Zealand’s involvement in such wars. As such it was morally justifiable, indeed an imperative. We cannot simply sit by and allow these destructive policies to continue. We all have blood on our

hands if we do that. I want my family to grow up knowing what is right and what is wrong with all these issues, and that is why they are here today.’

‘I in no way resile from the action taken to deflate the dome at the centre of US intelligence gathering operation

in New Zealand. New Zealand generally has good laws on property protection as well as protecting human rights. But in relation to the spy base, one far outweighed the other. Hence the action.’

‘But I want to say that as a Catholic Christian and as a New Zealand state primary school teacher, damaging property is not what I normally do. I get no sense of pleasure at damaging the

government’s property and regret the inconvenience caused to public servants including the police. They treated us with respect and we appreciated that.’

All three will appear in the Court of Appeal in Wellington later in the year to appeal against a decision granting the Crown permission to pursue $1,229,289 in damages to the spy base. ‘As Catholic Workers, we don’t have much more than $100 between us in assets, so we face a bit of a problem there.’

Increase the Tax on Profiteering Aussie Banks Murray Horton

News that the Big Five Australian-owned banks made a combined profit of NZ$3 billion in 2011 means only one thing – they’re making too much money out of us. They must be laughing all the way to the bank. Hang on, they are the bank.

These banks always make a big PR fuss about how much they contribute to the NZ community. But these are exactly the same banks who, in December 2009, settled out of court with IRD for attempting to dodge payment of an astonishing $2.2 billion of taxes that, between them, they avoided via deliberately complicated structured financial transactions. And that out of court settlement was for 20% less than what IRD was seeking – plus they would have had to pay costs if they’d persisted in going to court and losing (two of them had already lost in court before they all decided to throw in the towel).

That's how they rode out the recession, by not paying nuisance costs such as taxes. Not an option for the rest of us mugs who have to pay our taxes, like it or not. This was the biggest tax avoidance case in NZ’s history – and it happened at the same time the deposits in those Australian-owned banks were guaranteed by NZ taxpayers (who got no say in the governance of those banks).

As a result they paid 47% more tax in 2011 than they did in 2010. But they still sucked $3 billion out of the

country. These super profits need to be taxed more. This comes at a time when the Government is wringing its hands about how is it going to finance NZ’s recovery from the global financial crisis? Its’ only ideas are to borrow more; sell public assets; slash the State sector and public services; and bash beneficiaries. Here’s an idea – instead of grinding the faces of the poor to pay for a global crisis caused by the crimes of transnational banks, it should raise the tax on the transnational banks that are creaming it here in this country.

Specifically the Government is asking loaded questions about how Christchurch’s multibillion dollar post-earthquake recovery will be financed. There are less-than-subtle hints about flogging off Christchurch’s large and valuable portfolio of publicly-owned assets. Wrestling back some of the ill-gotten gains of big foreign banks is a much more palatable alternative. Make the rich pay.

That would be poetic justice in the case of at least one of those Aussie banks. Westpac can definitely afford to pay more tax. It paid its CEO $5.8 million and $5.4 million respectively, over the past two years, making him the highest paid CEO in NZ.

Squeeze them until it hurts. They’ve been bleeding NZ dry for too long.


aftershocks 22 February 2011 how does normal feel with power lines down sewer-festered beaches shops boarded water, neither hot, nor cold nor running how does normal feel without lights blacker than pitch losing one’s way in familiar territory crossing broken roads randomly potholed how does normal feel as sadness gnaws from the shock lives broken, taken jobs gone security threatened in the earthquakes

—Jim Consedine

The Great Poverty Divide – The Philippines Shay Cullen

Manuel, a semi-illiterate teenager just rescued from the filthy jails of Metro Manila, was longing to see his parents and family. He told us that they had no home and lived on the street. They had a food stall near Baclaran Church and lived there under a plastic sheet. They eked out a living selling bananas cooked in recycled vegetable oil and brown sugar to the church goers at the weekly novena and daily masses.

Both rich and poor filled the Wednesday novena prayers. The poor, the vast majority, were begging divine help to find enough food for their families and medicines for their sick, and the irresponsible and unrepentant rich praying for forgiveness and donating coins for a ticket to heaven. Alas that's the great divide; the poor trying to live for a few days more, the rich trying to live forever.

Blessed are the responsible well-off rich people, the Zacchaeus people of this world who are enlightened and see the social and human reality and are determined to use their influence and resources to change it for the better. They are agents of change and have compassion for the poor, exploited and the abused, and they dedicate their talents, wealth and efforts to change this unjust divide between the haves and have not. But it’s not an easy task. In Davos, Switzerland the world leaders have lost their way. Greed and excess has damaged the world economy and they can't fix it.

Trying to make this a more honest, loving and compassionate world where equality and justice reign is the true goal of Christianity. When Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed that it was coming, the corrupt rich elite called him a blasphemer and a rebel, a danger to the nation and to their elite status and tortured him and handed down the death penalty in cruelest way possible. Today around the world, human rights advocates and those committed social workers dedicated to helping the victims of abuse and hardship, work to bring about a just society based on democracy and greater equality. They are vilified and condemned, tortured and killed. Yet more heroes rise up to take their place and carry on the mission.

The irresponsible rich and their deluded followers call such heroic striving for spiritual and social transformation class warfare, Jesus called it the road to the Kingdom of God where the poorest and their supporters would live in dignity and be the most blessed instead of being the most despised and cursed.

In the Philippines there is much to be done to reduce hunger and poverty. In a recent survey made in December 2011, 45% of those surveyed said they were poor, that's an improvement from the previous year when 52% said they were poor. Another 36% of those surveyed said they experienced hunger. The Philippine situation still remains ‘serious’ according to the Global Hunger Index.

Back at the Parañaque jail a group of visiting German Parliamentarians from the Economic Cooperation and

Development Committee, led by the dedicated human rights defender chairperson Dagmar Wohri, saw the worst of all. They were visiting the jails and witnessing the over-crowded cells of hungry inmates, minors among them, so symbolic of the condition of the urban poor squeezed into shacks and shanties and living on scraps and recycled left-overs.

The committee will be reviewing their assessment of the Philippines as a semi-developed middle-income country as some agencies rate it and will hopefully deliver development aid in a way that directly impacts the lives of the poor.

There is hope that justice will emerge. The government of President Aquino is fighting corruption and social welfare secretary Corazon ‘Dinky’ Juliano-Soliman is delivering poverty reduction programs through conditional cash transfers. Cash transfers will ease the hunger for a while and will get more children vaccinated and into school, they will not change the deeply rooted causes of poverty and hunger in the Philippines.

That's due to structural inequality in society where the top 1% of the 96 million people owns 70% of the wealth. That calls for government reform and a just redistribution of wealth in such a way that the poor will develop through equal opportunity into a strong dignified middle class. But human and civil rights must be top priority.


Columban Fr Shay Cullen has worked with the poor in the Philippines for more than 40 years.

Around the Traps A good grouping of CWs took the road to

Waihopai again this year to protest the spy base there and its use in gathering intelligence (so-called!) to aid the US war machine. Adi Leason came from Otaki accompanied by five of his seven children and was on hand to speak to the gathering in Blenheim. They were joined by Krista Fullerton, Forrest Chambers and their four daughters, over from D’Urville Island for the day, while Francis, Richard, Frank, Jim, Leony and John all made the 370 km trek up from Christchurch. It was a great rally and had national news coverage, sparked probably by Adi’s decision to apologise for any inconvenience that ‘peripheral players’ incurred as a result of the Ploughshares action in 2009. We are all grateful for the amount of preparation the Anti-Bases Campaign, especially Murray Horton, puts into preparation for the day. It is a vital gathering, but takes a lot of organizing.

We were all a bit shocked to hear that, due to a

family genetic condition, Fr Jim is in need of a kidney transplant. We knew he hasn’t been his usual energetic self but thought he was just getting a bit lazy. Now it seems he needs a kidney transplant – as do many others in the community. It is believed that there are more than 400 people waiting for a kidney in New Zealand. Many will receive one from a family member or friend. With keyhole surgery available for the donor, it is not the complex operation it was years ago. Jim’s sister Marie, who is herself a kidney donor, is available to hear from persons of interest who think they might help.

Her email is [email protected] Christmas at the CW was a great success again

this year. Aware that many have left Christchurch since the earthquakes, we were uncertain how many would come to celebrate with us. In the end, about 50 people came on a lovely warm day and enjoyed the multi-course meal prepared under the supervision of Francis by people as diverse as Jock and Lynne, Richard, Sister Judith, Frank, Raewyn, Brian and Sharmaine. Brian led us in the tradional grace and mid course we paused to remember Blanche, who died during the year. We presented her husband Barry with a framed photo of him and her taken 20 years ago at the CW. Barry responded with thanks ‘from the bottom of his heart.’

In the US, one of the headlines in a recent edition

of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel dealt with fraud committed by some food stamp recipients. It may be true that about 1% of the recipients take advantage of the program, but it neglects the biggest culprits of fraud in our society. There are 37 corporations that currently pay no income taxes, not because they are war tax resisters or because they want to share their money with others. No,

they do it because they will never have enough for themselves. They find the loopholes in the system or store their money outside of the country. Then there is the Pentagon which, according to former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, cannot account for over $2.3 trillion of taxpayer money. The sacred cows in our country, the 37 corporations and the US military, are seldom made accountable for their fraudulent ways. No one in Congress or the White House is going to bite the hand that feeds his or her political campaign. As usual, the ones who are blamed most for taking advantage of the taxpayer are the poor and disenfranchised while nothing much is said about the biggest culprits.

The economy is not weak because of the poor, the unemployed, the mentally ill, the homeless and the refugees. The economy is weak because greed has eaten away the very fabric of our society. Those who have the most want more from the less fortunate and needy. The more they have the more they want. The reason you will not read about this in a major newspaper or hear it on the network news is that these media sources are run by the very same corporations who are guilty of the problem with the economy. As Christ and many others after Him have told us, we must learn to be nonviolent, which entails loving one’s neighbor and being willing to suffer so that his or her neighbor may have what she or he needs to survive. —Don Timmerman, The Sparrow Sings, December 2011

Putting an End to War 2012 A five day residential convocation advancing faith-

based, non violent direct action in this time of perpetual war will be held 23-27 April 2012 at the Silver Wattle Quaker Centre, Lake Road, Bungendore NSW.

With the war in Afghanistan poised to continue in-definitely, with a new war on Iran pending and with our Parliament unresponsive to the will of the people, men and women of good faith and conscience must resist.

Join us for a week of discussion, theory and practice in the art of ending war via non violent direct action.

Our discussions will review the lessons learned from recent small group NVDA actions trespassing and inter-fering with military operations at Pine Gap, Shoalwater Bay and Swan Island.

We will also participate in the Anzac eve Peace Lan-tern Vigil at the Australian War Memorial and support the Frontier War Remembrance March there on Anzac Day. We will climax our gathering with a NVDA action at HQJOC, the Australian military operations centre near Bungendore.

Contact : Helen Bayes, [email protected] website: www.silverwattle.org.au


Australian Leaders Call for Nuclear Weapons Ban More than 700 prominent Australians have called on

the Government to show leadership on outlawing nuclear weapons, saying the need is urgent. Australians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention is a group of 713 Order of Australia honorees who say there is a growing consensus among world leaders on the urgent need for a ban on nuclear weapons.

‘The increasing risks of nuclear weapons proliferation and use in our region and beyond mean there has never been a more important time for Australian initiative and leadership in global efforts to free the world from nuclear weapons,’ the group says. They want Australia to support UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon's call for negotiations on an international treaty that would outlaw and eliminate all nuclear weapons.

Former prime ministers Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke and Gough Whitlam, and former foreign ministers Gareth Evans and Andrew Peacock are among the signatories. Professor Evans has long been active in government work against nuclear weapons, having chaired an international commission on non-proliferation and disarmament from 2008 to 2010. Mr Fraser's Government established the convention that Australia would only sell uranium to countries that had signed the non-proliferation treaty.

Eight former state premiers and four former armed forces chiefs as well as prominent media, literary, sporting and community personalities also endorsed the statement.

‘We wanted to show that nuclear disarmament isn't a left-wing issue. This is something that has support across the political spectrum,’ campaign director Tim Wright said. ‘Nuclear disarmament is something that we as a nation should care about and that the government should show leadership on. This is an urgent threat that needs urgent attention.’

He said while Australia had been a leader in non-proliferation activities in the past, its position was undermined by current defence policies stating the importance of the US having nuclear weapons and moves to sell uranium to India, which makes nuclear weapons. ‘Although the government does state that it supports nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, that position isn't matched by its actions,’ he said. Former Victorian premier Steve Bracks hoped Australia could become a ‘prime mover’ on a new nuclear weapons convention. ‘International cooperation provides the only route to a nuclear weapons-free world,’ he said.

‘Australia Day 2012 is an appropriate day for all Australians to nail their colours to the mast for an eventually nuclear weapons-free world,’ said scientist Gustav Nossel, who was Australian of the Year in 2000. ‘The convention is already supported by a veritable legion of Australian leaders, and I now call on the Australian public to raise their voices for a truly important cause.’

Review When a City Falls – Written and directed by

Gerard Smyth. General distribution, running time 107 minutes. Reviewer: Sister Pauline O’Regan RSM

Yesterday, I went to see the film When a City Falls. It is made by Christchurch film-maker Gerard Smyth and tells the story of the earthquakes that have all but destroyed the city of Christchurch, beginning September 2010 and going into the year 2012.

I count the viewing of this film as one of the most significant experiences of my life. The truth is, it is an experience you could have only once in any lifetime and a privilege at that. To have lived through this extraordinary time during which our earth constantly quivered and shook beneath us and then to sit and watch it all in retrospect, presented with such authenticity and immediacy, is a truly profound human experience.

The film opens with the first earthquake of 4 September 2010. It was 7.1 in magnitude, but, mercifully, it happened at night. The film shows people utterly stunned by the experience. They were shocked at the unexpectedness and intensity of the quake, but equally shocked that it happened at all. There is no doubt that Smyth understood the deep significance of what was happening and with the insights and hunches he had already acquired over years of film-making, he went into

action with astonishing speed. He caught the events and the reaction of people to them within the first 24 hours.

Up to that point, what he had filmed was important archival material, an invaluable contribution to future city historians. Not even Smyth could have seen how important that first cinematic record was to become. It has, in fact, become the amazing prologue to a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions.

As the screen turns back at the end of this first episode, I thought back to the mood of those first five months after that first big quake. We were still shocked by the experience aware of the damage it had done to buildings, the disruption of so many people’s lives, the unnerving aftershocks and, added to all this, there was this strange new phenomenon called liquefaction. But we were at peace, it was over, there had been no loss of life, we could move on.

But it was not over. The screen comes back to life. The unbelievable has happened. On 22 February of the new year, another earthquake strikes, more terrifying than the last, this time much nearer the surface and worst of all, during the day. You feel that Smyth snatched up his camera in the first few minutes and was out on the heaving streets of Christchurch. He shows us the buildings as they crumble before our eyes and he talks to


people who were racing to find their children and to people pouring out of shops and offices, distraught with fear. He captures the first signs of official action as people are directed to leave the city immediately. We see ourselves as we were at that moment, as we look at the faces of men and women, bewildered and disorientated. There were no strangers in Christchurch that day. It was profoundly heart-warming to see people reaching out to one another as they gathered in groups in a nearby park.

This film is extremely well edited. It has moments of humour and moments of great poignancy. Because of my poor sight I was unable to read the credits, but whoever chose the music did so with sensitivity and a sense of the appropriate. When a City Falls has been well served by whoever made those choices. The music is subtle and

fitting for such an emotionally-charged story. That applies to the commentary as well. It is economical and natural. We are with the maker of the film as he himself absorbs each experience. He speaks quietly with us and we are with him as even his emotions become too much for him to contain. This film has been made overall with intelligence and sensitive awareness of its profound significance. You feel that it set out with the one intent and that was to tell the truth and to be faithful to the facts.

It is my sincere opinion that everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand should see this film. The people of Christchurch should see it because it happened to them. The people of the rest of the country should see it for the simple reason that it could yet happened to them as well.

Letters

PO Box 22, Gizo, Western Solomons Dear Friends

I hope that this email letter finds you healthy and happy. I'm grateful that I can say the same about myself; I'm well, and happy to be alive.

The biggest news for me is that after 20 years in Auckland, I am about to leave to work in the Solomon Islands. I will be working with the young men who are wanting to become Dominican friars. These novices spend their first whole year with us at Gizo, about an hour's flight west of the capital, Honiara.

In case you're wondering, I'm not fleeing from the law-suit started against us by the GCSB, New Zealand's spy department. I'll come back to the Wellington court for any major encounters. No, I volunteered for this work when I was in Port Moresby last year, and saw again the need for more men from Australia and New Zealand to support the Melanesian part of our large province.

It's not, I hope, a case of ‘an old dog trying to learn new tricks’, for I was working with novices in Australia for some years. I shall be living on a small island just north of the town of Gizo, which though small is big enough to have a hospital, a gaol and cathedral.

Nearby is the island of Nusa Tupe, consisting entirely of an airstrip. I hope the planes test their brakes regularly! Another landmark – or rather seamark – is the round island of Kolombangara, a mile-high volcano, fortunately dormant. It's like a super-sized Rangitoto, the volcanic island in Auckland's harbour.

I leave on 31 December, so I'm pretty busy cleaning out my room, getting rid of as much as I can so as to travel light: scanning notes etc into the computer; downloading e-books instead of paper volumes; even digitising old cassette tapes and newer CDs. After all this, the diesel generator will probably blow my hard drive!

Although I'll be in the Solomons for a few years, depending on old age, malaria, heat stroke or a few other factors, I will probably be back for a break every year or so. Please keep in touch by email – [email protected] - or even an old-fashioned paper

letter. Remember them? I'll be in the Solomon Islands before the end of

January, but in Australia for a few weeks after New Year, so hope to see many of you who live on that side of the Tasman Sea.

Have a lovely celebration of Jesus' birth! Peace and Love, Peter Murnane OP

5701 8th Street, Camps Parks, Dublin, CA 94568 Dear Jim,

What a gift to get your letter! Thanks. Thanks too for your prayers. And thanks for your clear analysis about our need to work for the common good as opposed to corporate economics. I see the trends you mentioned in Ireland and New Zealand right here in the US – the rich are richer and fewer, everything is being privatized. The military, schools, prisons, mail, - all these are not totally private yet but the trend is clearly there.

Right now I am in the law library, in the education building where I work. This place is mostly a place for women who are going to be deported, and I am thankful to be able to teach ESL classes.

Life here is simple in some basic ways. In prayer, I don’t have to discern whether to live or work here or there, cross the line at this or that military base, or begin to disarm these drones or that nuclear capable missile. What I can do is be neighbour to the people around me, sharing, listening, reminding myself and others that the use of violence is never in conformity with the gospel or the God of Love.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists just moved the doomsday clock a minute closer to midnight.

Our country still spends half of our federal tax dollars on war making, and as William Stringfellow reminded us, the only sanction the state relies on is death, or some status which embodies the same meaning as death - imprisonment, deportation, loss of reputation, property or employment, or intimidation which causes fear and


CW website • Leading articles from the first 14 years of

The Common Good • Alternative funerals • Restorative justice • Other theological issues

www.catholicworker.org.nz

Funeral Choice

www.funeralchoice.co.nz A Catholic Worker project Cheaper alternatives to

consumer funerals

National CW Hui A lightning visit by Jim Consedine to the St Francis Farm in Whirinaki at the end of January proved to be a vital one. Carrying representations from other CW people from Otaki, D’Urville Island, Christchurch and elsewhere, it was agreed that the next national CW hui would be hosted in the Far North on the weekend after Easter, 13-15 April 2012, commencing at 5pm on the Friday. People wishing to attend and/or present workshops, please contact Jim on [email protected] for further details.

conformity. I really don’t know what or where I get out. Part of

that is the fact of being on supervised release and (me) not being able to let a federal probation officer supervise my life. So I can’t exactly make plans until that is dealt with – maybe trade some prison time for getting out without paperwork? But I have to get out first and go through the process. I probably will be near a CW community on the West Coast where my children are living. I need to go up to Tacoma to thank all the good people who have encouraged us and prayed for all of us.

It is still amazing that the Waihopai Ploughshares were acquitted. Actually, we have oral arguments (!) on our appeal March 8th in the Federal Court of Appeals, and our lawyers think we could even win (another trial). They will argue that nuclear weapons are illegal and that we were not ‘malicious’. Lots of love and thanks for your encouragement, Susan Crane

105 Manawatu Street, Palmerston North 1 December 2011 Dear Friends at CW

I have really appreciated this most recent edition of The Common Good (No 59), particularly Jim’s article on the Robin Hood tax and the one on Kathy Kelly.

I enclose an Advent donation and thank you for the continual opportunity to be challenged by the international Catholic Worker movement. Here in Palmerston North there is a small group of us inspired by the Catholic Worker philosophy and we have a shared garden on the outskirts of the city. We are looking for a caravan to provide shelter for people on a short term basis. Yours sincerely, Mary Nash

Quakers – Religious Society of Friends, Yearly Meeting December 2011

Dear Trust members,

A number of Quakers in Aotearoa read and appreciate The Common Good. At our annual meeting for business this year, it was agreed that we make a regular grant to the Trust to support you in your work and in particular in publishing this excellent periodical. In peace, Murray Short Yearly Meeting Treasurer

7 Valron Rd Te Atatu South Waitakere 0602

Dear Editor,

Thank you for the Advent edition of The Common Good. There is so much to ponder on in your paper which I agree with. We must get it out there and educate the population and conscientize people. I support changing 5th November to Parihaka Day. The Maori Party must campaign on this issue. As they are around the table of

Government now, let’s hear from them. God bless your endeavours and may they continue.

Yours faithfully,

Brian Fitzsimmons.


In this issue Page

Trading our Sovereignty – the TPPA .................................................................................................... 1-2

Sell-out NZ – editorial by Jim Consedine ................................................................................................ 3

John Dear on principles of nonviolence ................................................................................................ 4-5

Murray Horton on profiteering banks....................................................................................................... 6

Shay Cullen on structured poverty in the Philippines .............................................................................. 7

Pauline O’Regan reviews When a City Falls ...................................................................................... 9-10

Letters, including Peter Murnane OP, Susan Crane, and Quaker Yearly Meeting ........................... 10-11

Pssst! Pass it on— When you’ve finished this issue of The Common Good, why not share it with someone else? You could give it to a friend or workmate, or leave it for the next reader to find - in the creche, bus depot, magazine rack at Bellamy’s, local library…

Help The Common Good get around.

The Common Good Te Wairua Maranga Trust Box 33-135 Christchurch 8244 New Zealand

76935

We are not violent and we are not destructive. Perhaps you can say we are utopian, we are idealists, maybe even naïve, because we are a people of the gospel, the good news of Jesus, a good news that calls us to proclaim the reign of God and to transform our world into as close an image of that reign of God as possible.

Ignacio Ellacuria SJ, Director, Catholic University in San Salvador, martyred 1988

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