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Kairos Times comes to you this month in a new format, bursting at the seams with ecumenical social justice news!

We had some challenges this fall when a reset of our website imposed an extended “internet sabbath” until we were able to restore the site. We still have a few problems that we are continuing to work on... thanks for your ongoing patience!

Website or not, the work continued with all the busyness of fall—regional meetings, urgent actions, new resources, events and much more.

We are please to add new staff to our complement — Nik Beeson, as the New Media Coordinator, and Maya Johnston, as Program Coordinator for Middle East Partnerships.
And we send our best wishes with Yunis Kariuki, Partners and Networks Associate, who leaves us for a position in fundraising with the University Health Network in Toronto.
The Partners and Networks Associate is now open to applications. Please check out this newsletter for a link to the posting.

This issue brings you disturbing news—from the Congo, Colombia, Honduras, Asia-Pacific and Canada—and yet you will also hear the inspiring, courageous work of our activist partners who are seeking your accompaniment and solidarity.

At this time of thanksgiving, we are grateful for the growing, global ecumenical justice movement and the solidarity of our God who walks with each of us when we take steps in justice and peace.




Stand Up and Sign the Kyoto Plus Petition!




Beyond the traditional categorization of climate change as an environmental issue, it is clearly also a development issue; a poverty reduction, food security, economics, health, human rights, governance and equality issue. It is a Millennium Development Goal issue. (UN Millennium Campaign)

With the December climate change negotiations in Copenhagen looming, greenhouse gas emissions from rich countries continue to rise while poverty and inequality grow in the countries of the global South, whose people are already suffering the worst consequences of climate change.

This year KAIROS is marking two important days for Global Action: October 17 (Global Day of Action Against Poverty) and October 24 (International Day of Climate Action), by calling for a Global Week of Action that highlights the connection between poverty and climate change.

Go to the 'KAIROS Week of Action' page:
Download the 4 page resource for churches and faith communities, sign the KyotoPlus petition, and participate in the UN's Millenium Campaign to 'Stand Up & Take Action' against poverty. Last year, 116 million people participated in Stand Up - shattering the Guinness World Record for the greatest number of people taking action for a social cause in a set time. Be a part of breaking the record again!

Please let us know about your action in advance so that we can keep track and help spread the word.

For more information, and to share details on your local week of action event, contact Sara Stratton, Education and Campaigns Coordinator, Sustainability:
416.463.5312 x241
1.877.403.8933 x241
sstratton@kairoscanada.org






From the midst of the devastation...

Connie Sorio, KAIROS Coordinator for Asia-Pacific partnerships, sent KAIROS a letter from her current trip to Fiji, Philippines and Indonesia (October 2, 2009)


Thank you for your thoughts and concern. I am now in Jakarta, just arriving a few hours ago. I'm fine. I left the Pacific a day after the tsunami struck Samoa and Tonga while the whole of the South Pacific was put under tsunami alert. Simultaneous to this tragedy in the Pacific were the earthquakes that hit Sumatra and Padang in Indonesia. At the same time, in the Philippines, many parts of the capital and 25 other provinces are still recovering from the flash floodingand mudslides. The condition of victims was further aggravated by the lack of support and immediate relief and assistance.

This is almost too much to digest and come to terms with as someone who is not directly affected but who happened to be in the region while these tragedies were happening. It is so much more devastating to the people who are living it and are directly impacted. What can we do, how can we be relevant? These are the questions raging inside me at the moment...

Read the rest of Connie's letter, and find links for how to respond, on the KAIROS website





Honduras In Crisis: Take Action

KAIROS is gravely concerned about the violence and human rights violations in Honduras in the aftermath of the coup d’état staged on June 28 and the recent escalation in violence and use of excessive force by the coup regime. On September 21, nearly 3 months after being forced from power and expelled from the country by a military-backed group of politicians, democratically elected President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales clandestinely returned to Honduras and is residing in the Brazilian Embassy. President Zelaya has called for negotiations with the de facto regime as a first step towards the peaceful resolution of the crisis.

Thousands of Hondurans surrounded the Brazilian Embassy in support of President Zelaya’s return and other peaceful demonstrations emerged throughout country. The de facto regime has responded with force and brutality, sending in heavily armed police and military to repress demonstrators. Hundreds of protestors were rounded up and taken to detention sites across the city, making them vulnerable to torture and forced disappearances. The use of these military detention centers has brought chilling comparisons with the military coup in Chile....

To read the rest of this urgent action, including a backgrounder on Honduras, as well as video links, go to the KAIROS website.

For more information contact Rachel Warden, Latin American Partnership Program Coordinator:
416.463.5312 x242
1.877.403.8933 x242
rwarden@kairoscanada.org






4th Annual Sisters in Spirit Vigil

According to the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), there are more than 500 Aboriginal women across Canada who are missing or have been murdered.

On October 4, 2009 NWAC joined with Amnesty International, KAIROS, the National Association of Friendship Centres and the Canadian Federation of Students to host the 4th Annual Sisters in Spirit (SIS) Vigil in Ottawa. The vigil in on Parliament Hill was one of 73 gatherings across the country - plus one in Nicaragua - to remember, honour and raise awareness of the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and their families. This is almost double the number of vigils held last year.

A joint statement supported by KAIROS called on all levels of government to work with Indigenous women in Canada on a national plan of action that would, among other things, improve public awareness and accountability, ensure an effective and unbiased police response, and reduce the risk to Aboriginal women by closing the economic and social gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada. The vigil is part of the ongoing Sisters in Spirit initiative, which is supported by a number of churches and ecumenical groups. The main objective of this five-year research, education and policy initiative (launched in 2005) is to address racialized and / or sexualized violence against First Nations, Inuit, and Métis women... n other words, violence that is committed against the victims because they are Indigenous women.

To read the joint statement, go to the NWAC web site: www.nwac-hq.org.

For more information contact KAIROS Indigenous Rights Program Coordinator Ed Bianchi:
613 235.9956 x221
ebianchi@kairoscanada.org





Update on the fate of Congolese human rights defender Golden Misabiko

On August 31st, KAIROS issued an urgent appeal for the release of Golden Misabiko, the 53-year-old President of the Katangan branch of the Association africaine de defense des droits de l'homme, ASADHO-Katanga, a respected Congolese human rights organization.

Click here to view the original appeal.

We wish to thank everyone who has written so far, and ask others to consider writing.

On September 23rd, a Lubumbashi court sentenced Mr Misabiko in absentia to four months in detention with a further eight-month suspended prison term. According to reliable sources who attended the trial, the proceedings did not conform to international standards for a fair trial.

Please read the rest of John Lewis' update on Golden Misabiko, and the relationship between his imprisonment and the mining companies lining up to exploit the DRC's minerals.

For more information contact KAIROS Human Rights Program Coordinator, John Lewis:
416.463.5312 x224
1.877.403.8933 x224
jlewis@kairoscanada.org





World Council of Churches Statement on Just Finance and the Economy of Life

In response to the global financial and economic crisis the World Council of Churches invited KAIROS to participate in an Advisory Group on Economic Matters (AGEM) that has produced an important statement on just finance and the economy of life. On September 2 the WCC Central Committee adopted the statement based in part on work by KAIROS staff.

The statement notes that the global financial system has "enriched some people but has harmed many more, creating poverty, unemployment, hunger and death" and "widening the gap between rich and poor."

"The challenge for churches today is not to retreat from their prophetic role," the statement said, observing that churches "have also been complicit" in "this speculative financial system and its embedded greed."

It cites the need for "a new ethos and culture which reflects the values of solidarity, common good and inclusion" and for "new indicators of progress," such as the Gross National Happiness Index and Human Development Index. It calls on world governments to uphold their commitments to the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals and to take numerous other actions to bring about the needed changes.
Click here to access the full text of the statement.

For more information contact John Dillon, Economic Justice Program Coordinator :
416.463.5312 x231
1.877.403.8933 x231
jdillon@kairoscanada.org




WCC Ecological Debt Statement

On June 27 and 28th, KAIROS staff participated in a World Council of Churches' (WCC) forum on Ecological Debt and contributed to a statement approved by the WCC's Central Committee. The statement advances the position that the ecological crisis which the world is facing has been induced largely by the consumerist cultures of the Northern industrial countries. It challenges the commodification of the earth as only "natural resources" to be exploited for profit. Further, the statement acknowledges the ecological debt that the North owes to the peoples of the South for the historical and present plundering of both their land and atmospheric commons. The WCC statement calls for action on the part of each of its member churches to advocate on behalf of climate justice by insisting that their governments adopt a fair and binding agreement at the UN negotiations on climate change when they meet in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Click here for the full text of the statement and its demands
.

For further information contact Dorothy McDougall, Program Coordinator for Ecological Justice:
416.463.5312 x222
1.877.403.8933 x222
dmcdougall@kairoscanada.org






Murders and Threats Against Church Leaders in Colombia


Click map to go to Google maps >>

Six Protestant church leaders from the southern Córdoba region of Colombia have been murdered by paramilitary armed groups in 2009.

In the province of Córdoba alone in 2008 there were 512 violent deaths, including six massacres. This is the highest murder rate in the past 18 years.

Click here to read more about the escalation of paramilitary violence and displacement in Colombia.


For more information contact KAIROS Human Rights Program Coordinator, John Lewis:
416.463.5312 x224
1.877.403.8933 x224
jlewis@kairoscanada.org

or

Rachel Warden, Latin American Partnership Program Coordinator:
416.463.5312 x242
1.877.403.8933 x242
rwarden@kairoscanada.org




Canadian Parliament continues to debate free trade with Colombia

The Canadian government continues its push for a trade deal with those same authorities named above. But opposition to the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) is growing in strength and effectiveness.

Recent reports are that the government of Canada has notched the CCFTA down on the order paper, which means that it may come back up for debate later in the fall. Bill C-23 (the number given to the CCFTA) was expected to go to a vote early in this session of parliament. The second reading, or at least part of it, took place in September but thanks to people's calls and letters to MPs, the vote did not go ahead.

This past spring we reported a partial victory in parliament as the Liberal Party called for a human rights impact assessment (HRIA) before ratifying the deal. It seems that some Liberals hoped that we would forget their commitment to an HRIA over the summer months and voiced support for the CCFTA when debate resumed in the fall. We have not, but it is very clear Canadians need to continue to pressure their members of parliament not to ratify this deal, voicing concerns and citing documents like those described above.

Take Action against the Free Trade Agreement
Please continue to make calls and send letters to your MP regarding concerns about the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement and urging them not to ratify the deal.
Click here to find out how.



For more information contact KAIROS' Human Rights Program Coordinator, John Lewis:
416.463.5312 x224
1.877.403.8933 x224
jlewis@kairoscanada.org

or

Rachel Warden, Latin American Partnership Program Coordinator:
416.463.5312 x242
1.877.403.8933 x242
rwarden@kairoscanada.org




KAIROS is hiring a Partners and Networks Associate

KAIROS is looking for a creative, energetic individual with a passion for engaging people in social justice.

View this Job Posting Online.







donate to KAIROS





FEATURE RESOURCE

Creating a Climate for Justice

KAIROS' new 20 page resource, 'Creating a Climate for Justice', is the Education and Action Guide for Year 3 of the Re-Energize Campaign.

Order it from KAIROS by calling Caroline Foster:
416.463.5312 x221
1.877.403.8933 x221
cfoster@kairoscanada.org




FEATURE PARTNER

Franklin Canelo

Franklin Canelo visited the KAIROS office on Monday. In an interview with Rachel Warden he discusses the issues that the Latin American Council of Churches, based in Quito, Ecuador, is engaged in, including creation theology and the slavery and dictatorship of external debt.

"...of course, not everything which is immoral and illegitimate is also, or can be, illegal, because the laws do not accept 'ethical' criteria."


Click here to listen
to the interview >>


 

"What beautiful coffee groves,
what fine cane and cotton fields,
what farms, what lands God has given us!
Nature is so beautiful!
But we see it groan under oppression, under wickedness,
under injustice, under abuse,
and the church feels its pain.
Nature looks for a liberation
that will not be mere material well-being
but God’s act of power.
God will free nature from sinful human hands,
and along with the redeemed it will sing a hymn of joy to God the Liberator.
"

Oscar Romero
December 11, 1977