Dominicans oppose capitalism

Gary MacEoin, our correspondent in Latin America, reports from Bogota, Columbia, on a radical call by the Dominican Order to oppose the ideology of capitalism
"DEATH in Latin America has fundamentally the characteristics of a carefully planned structure whose fatal consequences for the life of the poor escalate from one day to the next." This conclusion was formulated at a week-long reflection by a group of Dominican theologians who had met to formulate goals for the Order of Preachers in the hemisphere. Participants included Bishop Tomas Balduino of Goias (Brazil) and Bishop Jesus Mateo Calder6n of Puno (Peru). The 22 others came from Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain.
The extensive analysis reflects many themes already found in the theology of liberation. The final documents of the encounter specifically endorse this theology. Sharpening the challenge with a logic fully in the Dominican traditi n, they call on the Order "fo the sake of faithfulness to its wn charism and to the best in i s tradition in Latin America to adopt it as `good, useful and necessary'." (The subquote is from Pope John Paul Irs May 1986 Letter to the bishops of Brazil). The result is a Christian manifesto on Latin America comparable to the recent Kairos Document on South Africa.
Latin American society is described as based on high prices and low wages, malnutrition, high infant mortality, high unemployment, endemic illnesses, all to benefit a small wealthy class. It is perpetuated by torture, disappearances, assassinations, the elimination of labour, student and intellectual leaders, as well as priests and lay church leaders.
The "basic historic reason" for this structural violence is the capitalist economic system, source of the current NorthSouth contradiction that enables a few countries to grow progressively richer at the expense of the many who grow progressively poorer. The same system produces centreperiphery contradictions both in the North and in the South.
This colonialism, which made possible Europe's original capitalist accumulation, has adopted various forms over five centuries. The Church was one of the elements used to provide ideological justification for slavery, oppression, and the continuing exploitation of native Americans.
"This heritage of colonial capitalism has been developed and maintained to the present time under the hegemony of the United States. Capitalist domination has acquired scientific and planned characteristics imposed by force as can be seen from the 1823 Monroe Doctrine to the 1980 Santa Fe Document. The individualistic logic of capitalism leads to the disarticulation of every social group, both those who resist or oppose capitalism and all others. It standardises life and causes alienation of individuals and societies.
A key element in its survival is the imposition of a legitimating ideology. Presented as a defence of western culture, its real objective is to affirm the history of the dominator (the North: Europe and the United States) as being universal history, that is, the model, measure and norm for all other cultures and peoples.
From this comes the ideology of developed and underdeveloped or developing countries, as well as the ideology of anticommunism. The dominator cannot allow any substantive critique of or opposition to the history and structure of its power.
"Also from this source comes the anticommunist myth the elaboration and imposition of the Doctrine of National Security, the primacy given politically to the East-West relationship, and the practical denial in economic, political and church terms of the North-South relationship."
Since 1980, the capitalist system has been trying more shamelessly than ever before to co-opt the church. "It has created special organs, like the Institute for Religion and Democracy in Washington, with the concrete objective of fighting popular liberation movements in Latin America at this moment, particularly in Central America — seeking to delegitimate them in their Christian content and to underline their liberating pastoral practice and theology. There are also efforts to introduce from Europe into various Latin American countries a Christian Democrat project (parties, trade unions) backed by sectors of some European churches."
The strategy includes massive support for new religious cults or sects that are alienating, pseudoChristian, individualistic, a historical and spiritualising message underpinning the social and political organisations of the people and provoking conflict by misuse of Christian symbols and motivation. Even sectors of the church have manipulated the religion and the faith of the people by presenting the church as above and free from ideology because of their fear of popular movements and projects.
Given this situation, the encounter concluded, our theologians and other members in Latin America should constantly reexamine the theological tradition of the church and of the Dominican Order in terms of the economic, social, political, cultural and theological challenges posed by the reality of the hemisphere. "Let them give pride of place to the theological themes that are essential to recognise our situation of death and domination and to proclaim the Good News to the poor."
The role of the Church is always presented as one of service: to listen, accompany and serve the forces of liberation present in the popular movements and projects. "The Church's mission is always to promote the building of the People of God, to make it again the subject of its own destiny and agent of a new society of justice and solidarity, the historic mediation of the Kingdom of God". A vision radically different from that of medieval Christendom.