Looking ahead: church groups seek new models of solidarity

National Catholic Reporter, Nov 26, 2004 by Barbara Fraser, Paul Jeffrey

Networks and coalitions make it possible to link local actions with those that have an international impact. The growing concept of a "global South"--that poverty and exclusion are not just characteristics of southern hemisphere countries, but also exist in industrialized countries--helps people link local actions with the bigger picture.

"People have to begin where they are, opening themselves to the immediate social and economic realities around them--who is hurting, who is in need, who is excluded and why that is happening," said Wright, who joined EPICA in 1991 after spending eight years working in Honduras and El Salvador.

Despite the strength of the economic and political forces that solidarity groups aim to combat, activists find reasons to keep fighting.

"I think the biggest challenge, is to keep people feeling like there's some hope, because the issues we're dealing with are so enormous that it's hard to see what success will look like and whether we'll recognize it when it shows up," Dennis said. "But I fired hope at local levels all over the world. In every single place, people are actively engaged in trying to change things."

Danaher sees it as "the human species exiting adolescence and entering adulthood. We're realizing that we can't keep going the way we've been going. It's all coming together in our favor. I'm very confident that we're going to win."

Wright finds hope in the "local, regional, continental and global South movements against the dominant economic paradigm. They are trying to propose alternatives and saying that the world could be organized differently--economically, socially, culturally--in a way that would distribute resources more justly and respect the diversity of peoples and cultures. And that, I think, is laying the foundation for real peace in the world."

[Barbara Fraser, who worked in Peru for 14 years as a Maryknoll missioner, now lives in Peru as a freelance writer. Paul Jeffrey is a United Methodist missionary who lived in Central America for two decades. He now lives in Eugene, Ore.]

THE LATIN AMERICA SERIES

PART 1: Introduction: Power or credibility?

PART 2: Economics: Little relief in sight for poverty, debt and unemployment

PART 3: Development: Lasting change by helping the poor without paternalism

PART 4: Immigration: Opportunity and challenge for Latin America's poor

PART 5: Reconciliation from the grass roots up

PART 6: Indigenous people: Fighting for rights after centuries of discrimination

PART 7: Women In Latin America: The gender gap kills

PART 8: Children: Poverty cuts children's chances for a future

PART 9: Church: Despite crisis, Latin America's grass-roots communities remain strong model for effective church

PART 10: Solidarity: Church groups find countless ways to put faith into action