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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.
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FEATURE RESOURCE
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 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 >>
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