| (右起)记者会主持胡露茜、Jane Kelsey、 印度People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights召集人Lenin Raghuvansi、 Ofelia Ortega,以及Josef Widyatmadja。 |
该会议有二百多名来自廿九个国家不同宗教的人士参加。他们于十一日上午的记者会发表致信仰群体的公开信,指经济全球是反生命、反人民、反创造中的融贯、反公义和反和平。所有信仰群体必须一致向后自由主义和世贸说「不」。公开信进一步指,若然接受当今「市场原教旨主义」形式(market fundamentalism)的全球化进程,并认为别无他途,就是罪(Sin)。公开信指,信仰群体应致力于人民福祉,并鼓励另类农业、生计及经济模式。
记者会于铜锣湾维多利亚公园举行。出席记会的纽西兰奥克兰大学法律系教授Jane Kelsey相信,区域性的贸易协议(例如南半球的贸易圈)远比全球划一的贸易协议好,较能照顾个别国家的独特需要,避免现时世贸所产生的问题。她说,世界各地很多社群过着跟香港不同的生活和经济模式,但这些另类模式和生计正备受催残。
Kelsey指,世界强权从不容许全球出现另类经济模式,为了谋利忘记公义。而世贸强制要求成员国,其本身所签的区域贸易协议改以世贸的协议为基础。虽然不少贫穷国家曾讨论如何建立区域性的另类贸易协议,但在此之先他们须脱离世贸。
亚洲基督教议会(CCA)代理副总干事Josef Widyatmadja在记者会上批评世贸总干事拉米早前「世贸是为了财富创造,不是为了财富分配」的言。他说,制造财富没问题,但这财富到底如何创造,又为谁创造?Widyatmadja说,香港人民热爱和平,亦多年生活于和平之中;而得和平的重要因素是人人得公平和饱足。然而世贸并不带来公平和食物,而是带来饥饿和迷失。他说,世界各国的人民来到香港,就是为了要表明大家热爱和平,而食物亦应彼此分享。「你从农夫手上夺去食物,即是夺去他们的生命。……食物为养生,而不是为谋利。」
关于过去世贸会议多次出现的暴力示威,Kelsey表示其实上届墨西哥坎坤(Cancun)的世贸会议,只有一宗韩国农民自杀事件,并无其他暴力事件。她认为事件是被渲染了。她担心港府的示威区太封闭,示威者有机会堕海而产生惨剧。而古巴Evangelical Theological Seminary的欧德嘉教授(Prof. Ofelia Ortega)则指,她们过去长年进行和平教育,暴力绝不是他们的意愿。
而主持记者会的香港基督徒学会总干事胡露茜则指,世贸的所作所为其实是更大的暴力。她指香港政府的渲染令香港市民视她们为敌人,但真正人类的敌人是这种极不公义极具压迫性破坏力的所谓自由贸易的经济发展。
Conference on Globalising Economic Justice and Social Sustainability
December 9-11, 2005.
Hong Kong
Message to the Faith Communities
We, 200 participants from 29 countries and different religious faiths, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, who have met at Wu Kai Sha, Hong Kong, from 9-10 December 2005 to protest the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and to work towards a vision on "Globalising Economic Justice and Social Sustainability", address the following message to the faith communities of the world:
We are meeting in Asia, the birth place of some of the world's great religions. Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam all originated here. Despite the difference, faith communities hold fundamental values in common based on our belief in the Divine: the pursuit of truth and love, the assertion of equality of all human beings, respect for life and integrity of creation, the quest for peace and harmony, protecting the dignity of others, upholding justice and righteousness and compassion for those who suffer, who are poor and marginalized. Members of all faiths are involved in building sustainable communities with the participation of all. To us, as people of faith, it is imperative that these values be reflected in the economic and political order of our societies.
Today these values are under assault by transnational corporations and governments in their comprehensive pursuit of profits and economic growth. Economic globalization promoted by the WTO destroys the economic basis of communities in many parts of the world and causes irreversible damage to the natural resources of our world. The liberalizatio0n of financial markets allows for the uncontrolled flow of capital in search of the greatest gain. Investment is taking place where labour is cheap, labour rights are suppressed and where laws on industrial health and safety are lacking or not being implemented. Privatization results often in a drastic worsening of employment conditions and deprives the poor of essential services such as water, health and education. Deregulation of the economy destroys local manufacturing industries, creates unemployment and drives farmers and indigenous people from their land. Economic globalisation is anti-life, anti-people, anti-integrity of creation, anti-justice and anti-peace. Faith communities must say an unequivocal "No" to neo-liberalism and the WTO. It is sin to accept the proposition bhat there is no alternative to the present process of globalisation, in the form of market fundamentalism. The logic of globalisation leads to imperialist wars, conquest and plunder.
Motivated and sustained by faith we are committed to collaborate with people from different backgrounds to redress and transform the situation we face. Together, we must seek alternatives and work with social movements of resistance and transformation. Our aim is to establish a new social order based on ethics of the common good and ethics of care.
We call on our faith communities to:
- critically look at our complicity, and challenge our membership to dismantle the destructive structures within own institutions and to act as agents of transformation in a globalising context.
- move towards sustainable systems that celebrate life, hope and liberation, connect with the healing power of land and foster positive consumer-producer relationships that go beyond the exchange of goods, and include the exchange of stories and wisdom.
- engage in educational processes and aid in the creation of popular materials that are appropriate to the local population and mindful of language and culture, in order to expose how our governments are exploiting people and natural resources in the guise of free trade and increased market opportunity. Through education and action we must hold our governments accountable.
- work together with civil society and people's movements and take proactive roles in strengthening community-based organizations.
- create communities safeguarding rights of women, youth and children, and marginalized gropus.
- recognize the importance of the role of youth in carrying the vision of faith communities.
- uphold education as a right not a privilege and to orient it towards the needs and aspirations of communities rather than the market economy.
- use our resources for peoples' livelihood and promote sustainable agriculture/alternative livelihood options and peoples' economy.
- organize and participate in an interfaith round table conference during the World Social Forum, Nairobi 2007
- lobby our governments to get out of the WTO
- support and create a human and earth centered economy for life and peace
(http://www.christiantimes.org.hk,时代论坛时代讲场,11.12.2005)