Chile: What the Presbyterian News had to say....

Growing gap between rich and poor cited as reason

by Kathy Melvin | Presbyterian News Service

The equestrian statue of Manuel Baquedano in La Plaza Italia in Santiago, Chile, was covered with protesters this week. (Photo by Robert Brashear)

LOUISVILLE — Chile, considered one of the most stable countries in South America, erupted into violence this week and the Rev. Dr. Robert Brashear got an up-close view and an experience he wasn’t expecting.

Brashear, a retired minister and seminary professor from New York City, was in Chile at the invitation of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission partners the Theological Community of Chile (CTE) and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Chile to lead a series of workshops on urban ministry and the challenges of migration. Understanding the unique dynamics of urban ministry and the realities of the global migration crisis are new areas of discernment and reflection for the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s partners in Chile.

Everything was going well. Brashear felt good after two successful workshops in Santiago and Concepcion, where the participants looked at current global migration realities and engaged in biblical study and theological reflection.

And then, he said, everything took an unexpected turn.

“We knew that protests were taking place in Santiago ever a proposed raise in the metro rates,” he said. It began with simple fare evasion. Graffiti read: “Evade, don’t pay, struggling in a new way.”

Returning to Concepcion from a post-conference visit to the beach with his local hosts, they began receiving texts about “solidarity actions” in Concepcion — and in all other major cities, as it turned out.

“We returned to closed streets and the smell of burning rubber and tear gas,” he said.

Dennis Smith, World Mission’s regional liaison for South America who has been working closely with global partners in Chile, said the rise in metro rates was just the tipping point.

“The key issue is the rapidly-growing gap between rich and poor, and the sense on the part of the people that all social programs are motivated by charity, not by being inherent rights of all citizens,” he said.

In response to the protests, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew.

That same night, Presbyterians Daniel Godoy, Rector of CTE, and Jorge Cardenas, President of the Council of Historic and Protestant Churches, joined with their colleague Raquel Riquelme from the Methodist Seminary to issue a pastoral letter inspired by Isaiah 32: 16-18 and Romans 14:17. The letter reviews the historic circumstances leading up to the uprising and ends with a dramatic call:

“It is time to take the discomfort and the causes of the violence, and address in an emergency the real problems of the people, from the lack of water for the use of the people, their few animals and crops in impoverished areas, while others have it in large quantities, to a pension system that has failed wildly. The problem is no longer solved with more water, gas, and threats of use of force.

 “It is time for the government, parliament, and institutions, across the board, all sectors with leadership responsibility, to assume that responsibility and manage the situation, with some simple and immediate measures of relief for the affected population, and not indulge in  speeches that blame only ‘the other’ without self-criticism, and to assume the task of building justice from which peace will emerge.”

Simultaneously, CTE faculty member Cecilia Castillo joined with other ecumenical leaders in forming a network “For Life and Dignity” that became a communication vehicle for connecting people through social media to share information and develop common strategies.

The Rev. Dr. Robert Brashear

“On Sunday morning, we walked to the Lutheran church for services where I preached,” Brashear said. Smells of fire and tear gas were in the air. There was broken glass and burned- out buildings. Pastor Luis Alvarez, who had lived in exile for 18 years, welcomed Brashear.

“As I went out, soldiers and tanks were on every street corner. That

night I experienced tear gas for the first time since the 1969 Moratorium March in Washington, D.C.,” Brashear said.

By Tuesday, airports were shut down, stranding as many as 5,000 people. Brashear boarded a bus back to Santiago.

“On the way to the station, long lines wrapped around the one open grocery store,” he said. It was a six-hour ride back to Santiago. The hotel was running out of food. Only sandwiches were left.

By Wednesday, Brashear said streets were jammed. Protesters were drumming, chanting, singing and dancing. Mimes, clowns and a brass band joined the protest.

“The heroic equestrian statue of Manuel Baquedano in La Plaza Italia was covered with people,” he said. “A bus of indigenous people — heroic symbols of Chilean resistance to tyranny — arrived to applause. Everyone was young, like my own millennial sons. There was also tear gas and water cannons. “

Faith leaders issued an open letter based on a prayer for the restoration of God’s favor:

“For he will speak peace to his people… lest they return to madness … justice and peace have kissed. Truth will sprout from the Earth, and righteousness will look from heaven.” (Psalm 85: 8,10-11)

While confessing a share in the complicity that has created injustice, and agreeing that unity must be restored, the faith leaders made this call to Chilean leaders:

“… the only way to achieve this unity will be through sincere gestures of empathy with the feelings and emotions that engulf the citizenry. It will not be possible to restore public order and governance without restoring trust, and for this it is necessary that your government, and all other political sectors, make credible gestures of assuming responsibility and asking forgiveness for their inability to discern the depth of citizen indignation …”

Brashear said it appeared the fare increase (since abandoned) was just the proverbial last straw. Chileans share some of the same concerns as Americans — especially the growing gap between rich and poor, the cost of living, minimum wage, privatized education, health care, student debt and consumer debt.

“On the way back to my hotel, muchachos in black were hurling stones that clattered off the tanks,” he said. “There was more tear gas. Volunteers offered me a mask and a lemon.

Later, at my hotel, I was on my way to have dinner with my friend, longtime Presbyterian pastor Fred Milligan of the English-speaking Santiago Community Church. But volunteer médicos were pulling gassed people into the hotel lobby. Two asthmatics were suffering. I offered my inhaler. There were army trucks outside. The air was thick with gas. No one’s going anywhere. Lentils had been found. There would be soup.”

The government has announced some concessions.

Of Chile’s 16 regions, about half remained under an emergency decree this week. Some were under military curfew — the first, other than for natural disasters, that’s been imposed since the country returned to democracy in 1990 following a bloody 17-year dictatorship, according to CBS news.

Cardenas issued a second pastoral letter:

“As Christians, called to weep with the one who cries and stand beside the one who suffers, the spirit of the Lord constrains us to accompany and to grieve with all those affected without distinguishing between them, and to seek true acts of justice, equity, and reconciliation.”

 He concludes:

“It is time for greatness, for willingness to change, for generosity and solidarity. It is time for government, parliament, civil society, as well as the churches, across the board, all sectors that have responsibility for social leadership, and that model customs and values, to assume our responsibility in the task of building justice from which peace will emerge, and to involve ourselves all in making promises a reality. In our case, it judges the truth, the sincerity and the seriousness of our faith.”

The situation remains fluid. PC(USA) ministry partners ask for prayers.

Central America 1: Bienvenidos a Honduras!

6/11

Presbyterian Church Central America Study Team

Honduras. San Pedro Sula.  My first time back in Honduras in  36 years.  And my first time ever in this city. Honduras. The awkward kid in the back of the classroom . The one who gets picked last for teams. The poor cousin. Back in the '80's, the  Sandinistas sang:

Si Nicaragua vencio
El Salvador vencera
Y Guatemala prepara ya con fusiles de libertad
Somos el Central America, la esperanza de la humanidad.

(If Nicaragua won, then El Salvador can win. And Guatemala is now preparing with bullets of liberty. We are Central America, the hope of humanity.)

Yep. Not one word about Honduras. Nicaragua had the victorious Sandinistas. El Salvador the valiant FMLN in the face of daily death squads. Even Guatemala had a genocidal born-again Christian madman to contend with. There was just nothing sexy about Honduras.

The wet tropic middy heat hits my lungs and I remember. Honduras trying  to contend with refugees from Salvador and Nicaragua. I remember the massive US airbase at Comeagua. The people joked that the US had turned Honduras into an aircraft  carrier. And that the brothels near the base were a metaphor for the country. 

A random connection with an old classmate on our taskforce led to an invitation to Rafael Leonardo Callejas' birthday party. As a what you might call an agrotechnocrat phd from Mississipi State, in 1990  he would be elected President in the first peaceful transfer of power in Honduras since 1932. 

My photo of a Tegucigalpa barrio graced the Presbyterian AD magazine cover in a feature article on the region. I wrote an extended article for a Synod of the Covenant newspaper series on the five countries of Central America pretty much by default. Someone had to do it.  It was called "On the space of a tear." Even then, it was a story of unremitting sadness.

Historically one of the poorest nations in the hemisphere, last year it was the murder capital of the world. 

The hotel, like most local businesses, has a security gate with a red "ALTO"sign and an  armed guard. We are instructed if we go out, not to leave the perimeter of the hotel. 
 Our hosts are against going to  see la plaza in city center or where the caravans gather. The local papers are filled with stories and pictures of the latest murders. Four teenagers. A kidnapping. Traffic disruted by burning tires and striking teachers and doctors.  A pile of tires was ignited on the door of the US embassy leaving it scorched. A few pages later feature the smiling faces and classy celebrations of a lighter class's 2019 graduates. Caravans...why are the people leaving? What would it take to make it livable enough for people to want to stay?

That's what we're here to explore....

Bienvenidos a Honduras.....

From other steps: Chicago, reflections in urban ministry

11/3

Our task force

From other steps: Chicago

Reflections on Urban Ministry

From around the country we have gathered at McCormick Seminary on the campus of the University of Chicago in the tawny Hyde Park neighborhood of the city's  southside.  It was the the apocalyptic situation in  Detroit that had inspired the 2014 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to call for a new study. (http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/today/gospel-detroit-0614/)

committee begins its work, Ruth explains the church

The last one was in 1995. Our chair, Phil, just having left the Obama administration, and myself are the only people left from that ’95 group. And I may be the he only one who goes back to 1980,(though I was not actually a member  of the task force, I contributed…) I’ve been thinking about urban ministry for a long time.

First, to talk about urban, what is that? Phil’s preferred definition is if it feels urban, it is urban. It’s not about geography or political boundaries, it’s about an ethos, a way of understanding oneself in the world.

There is, of course, a long anti-urban bias in the church. It was Cain, after all, who built the first city.  Perhaps the most challenging Bible scholar out there today may be Wes Howard-Brook who basically sees the city as hubris and rebellion against God.  Cities lead to walls to protect an empire. It is in the open and vulnerable where we experience ourselves as  completely dependent upon God. On the other hand, as someone else said, the Bible begins in a garden and ends in a city.

Kevin makes a pont

So looking back, what do I see? When we first started, the basic issue was white flight and would the cities survive. New York City had the feeling of a dystopian sci- fi movie. And as Howard Cosell informed us, ladies and gentlemen , the Bronx is burning. The high minded experiments of the Model Cities  Program  had resulted in rebellion and smoldering fires.

In Tulsa when  I arrived there in 1976, the south and eastern boundaries of the  city kept expanding. To be supportive of downtown development was to be a liberal and  anyone white living in the once grand north Tulsa neighborhoods was considered eccentric or hopelessly romantic.

By the time we wrote our 1995 report, a paradigm shift had occurred. In a rust belt city like Pittsburgh, the industrial core which fed a solid organized middle working class. was gone forever.  My best friend went from organizing steel workers to organizing unemployed.  And a diaspora spread across the US.

Urban/suburban splits became more meaningless as near in suburbs began to change and most of the southern suburban coast of Long Island began  to undergo dramatic shifts in population.  A town like Freeport went from the home of Guy Lombardo’s boat to a place that would produce Lou Reed and Public Enemy. Meanwhile the beginning s of gentrification and yuppifcation had begun.

Gentrification has become rampant as expanding  white protected communities shove the working class further out. Latino members  of my church,who grew up in NYC’s successful projects, head to Jersey and even the Poconos to own property. Bloomberg’s luxury city expands daily while the income disparity hits new heights.  I like the  Yankee Stadium analogy: when I attended a game in 1973 the ratio from most expensive to bleacher seats was 4 to 1. When the new stadium opened in April 2009, the ratio had expanded to 500 to 1. And now a moat around the most expensive boxes ensured the rich that no commoner would ever get too close to them by moving down.

Meanwhile the slaughter of black men and women by an occupying army and  mass incarceration has grown at shocking levels and homelessness has hit an all time high under progressive mayor Di Blasio. 

As barriers fall for the lgbtq community, the lingering challenge of race and class will be more visible. Those who got their liberal bona fides by supporting gays will face a new set of realities and many lgbtq folk will be all too happy to join the  empire.

Occupy Wall Street comes and goes and Black Lives Matter hits the streets, some of the same people staying, continuing  the fight. Queer kids right up front with the New York Justice League in leading the charge.   For the first time in a long time, the whole system itself is being questioned.  Occupy changed the public discourse on disparity with the  idea of the 1%.  Marchers chant indict, convict send those killer cops to jail, the whole damned system is guilty as hell. And more and more realize that stop n frisk, mass incarceration and gentrification are all tied together.

Meanwhile, the church as a structure and institution continues into the postlude. Our new urban ministry efforts will have to begin with networks created at the grassroots level. That’s part of why we’ve come together, to plan regional consultations to hear each others’ stories and make the connections at the grassroots level.

Presidential candidates range from Donald Trump to Bernie Sanders who is making the word socialist acceptable in public discourse  at long last. 

Looking back, I’ll say this as well…when we began, urban ministry, to be honest, was largely (not exclusively) a white man’s project.  Equal parts  selfless giving of oneself for the city and its people and unrealized paternalism.  We drank too much, smoked too much and unless our wives were committed to our ministry as their ministry, got divorced all too often, like our comrades the community organizers. This time around, the leaders are women …and men…of color.  They are taking needs  like sabbath and self care seriously. Luckily Phil has located some  younger leaders as well, though they’re hard to find, we have not been as good as those who found and encouraged us to find and engage the net generation.  We’ll be looking at expressions of church we haven’t even  imagined yet.

On the flight home, I read the Church & Society Magazine I edited for the November/December 1995 issue.(http://www.amazon.com/Church-Society-November-December-Volume/dp/B000V9S5L6 ). Exactly 20 years ago, I was fresh and new at West-Park.  It’s interesting…and sad…to see what I wrote then. The hope that was  there.  I was actually pretty prescient. But knowing what was coning down didn't mean I was ready or able to deal with it.  There’s a lot of sadness in that awareness, of the losses of those years.

wrapping it up.....

Phil and I realize that we went from being young turks to graybeards as our mentor Warren Dennis described it. It's strange having others look to us as we looked to who  inspired us, the Ray Swartzbachs and  Clarence Mc Crackens. (And for me, George Todd, Philip Newell, Rodney Martin..that’s why we still do this…we owe it to them….) God bless this work,  May we be faithful still.