“The rich do wrong and boast of it, while the poor are wronged and beg forgiveness. As long as the rich can use you they will enslave you, but when you are down and out they will abandon you.As long as you have anything they will live with you, but they will drain you dry without remorse.” (Jesus Sirach 13,3-4)
From July 7 to 8, 2017 the G-20 will meet in Hamburg, Germany to discuss the state of the world. They will try to solve its most urgent problems – or at least make them manageable. They will talk about the future of this world. So let us do the same, or even better: let us express what everybody should know by now: THIS world in THESE conditions has no future!
Despite its enormous technological opportunities, despite sufficient resources and despite its vast treasure of historical experience the question arises how long we will be able to go on like this.
The conditions under which people scrape a living and reproduce – let us call it capitalism – produce squalor: unemployment, inequality in its different forms and poverty and death. Capitalism has nothing on offer to oppose the wars, the displacement, the terror and the uncertainty. In its deluded strife for growth it floods our world with garbage and also produces “human garbage” through marginalisation, as stated by Pope Francis.
And above all: It creates a lack of alternatives and infects people with it: Some defend a globalised and seemingly open capitalist world (such as the Fed. Rep. of Germany), others put their hopes in authoritarian, non-democratic politics (in different ways in Brazil, Russia or Turkey).
Many people all over the world are convinced that there is no alternative. Increasingly they support right-wing, nationalist and anti-democratic demands, without realising that this will cement their misery or that they have only a limited chance to defend their humble wealth against the others. Meanwhile capitalism and its logic are devouring the last bits of democracy which it had granted us now and then.
It is therefore hardly surprising when during this year’s G-20 meeting government and state heads, finance ministers and central bank chiefs, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the OECD are discussing the problems of our world and its future. However, there will be no social movements, peace initiatives, eco groups. In a major spectacle the G-20 will sell us their own miserable and hopeless politics as a way out of the manifold crises of the world and present themselves as problem solvers.
As Christians we believe that we have something to offer in reply to this hopelessness, yes, we feel obliged to do so. From our history, from the biblical tradition we are familiar with exploitation, misery and injustice, which produces rich and poor people. However, these stories also tell us for how long people have been putting their hopes and beliefs in a world which is different. This hope of a world in the here and now, which is fundamentally different, a world of justice and life in abundance for everybody still fills us today.
Our hope is fed by the courage of many people who are prepared to rise and oppose these conditions with their desire for a different world, for a different life.
This is why as Christians we call on you to take part in the protests against the meeting of the G-20 in Hamburg on July, 7 and 8! We will not let THIS world full of misery have the final word. We live in this world and this is why we feel obliged to oppose it.
Let us confront the idol of capital, the logic of exploitation and growth with our hope of a life in abundance for all! Let us contrast the dreary boredom, the eternal continuity of capitalism with our fantasy and creativity! Together let us build the “common house”, a world which has room for many worlds.
Initial Signers:
Prof. Franz J. Hinkelammert / Costa Rica – Pf. em. Norbert Arntz – Dr. Kuno Füssel (Mitglied der KAB) – Günther Salz (Mitglied Bundesvorstand KAB) – Prof. Alberto Moreira / Brasilien – Prof. Jörg Rieger / USA – Thomas Schmidt / Frankfurt – Nancy Cardoso (methodistische Pastorin, MST) / Brasilien – Evaristo Villar (Mitbegründer des spanischen Netzwerkes Redes Cristianas) / Spanien – Prof. em. Dr. Franz Segbers / Marburg – Martin Berchtold (Theologe) – Peter Bernd (Theologe und Pfarrer) – Walter Bochsler (Theologe) – Dr. theol. Urs Eigenmann – Maria Klemm (Theologin) – Dr. theol. Matthys Klemm – Hans-Alberto Nikol (Theologe) – Dr. theol. Xaver Pfister – Dr. theol. Felix Senn – Joseph Thali (Theologe) – Markus Zahno (Theologische Bewegung) – Gaby Zimmermann (Theologin) – Maranta Valladares/ México – Fernando Mondragón / México – Pilar Puertas – Ricarda Koschick – Melanie Wurst – Dr. theol. Stefan Leibold (pax Christi) – Alexandra Hippchen – Norbert Mette (Prof.i.R., TU Dortmund) – Fokke Bohlsen / Münster – Ursula und Stephan Hannay / Münster – Dr. Dirk Klute / Münster – Prof. Ulrich Duchrow / Heidelberg – Juana Ramirez / Chile – Nidia Arrobo Rodas (Fundación Pueblo Indio del Ecuador) / Ecuador – Héctor Martínez Quevedo / México – Ma. Inés Urrutia (Hermanita de Jesús) / Chile – Alejandro Castillo Morga (CEBs-Oaxaca) / México – Lucía García ( CEBs-México) – Raúl Cervera / México – Carmen Gallegos (rscj) / México – Soila Luna Pineda (Fundación Don Sergio Méndez Arceo) / México – Samuel López Padilla (ofm) / México – José Guadalupe Sanchez Suarez / México – Peter Fendel (Theologe) / Lünen – Dr. Katja Strobel / Frankfurt – Hermann Steinkamp (Prof.i.R., WWU Münster)
Organisations:
Stiftung Volksverein Mönchengladbach – Pfarrei Dreikönig / Füllinsdorf, Schweiz – Studien zur Befreiungstheologie im «Collège de Brousse»/Schweiz – Basisgruppenbewegung Schweiz (Jacqueline Keune) – Theologische Bewegung für Solidarität und Befreiung (TheBe)/ Schweiz – Kleine Brüder vom Evangelium / Leipzig – Ökumenisches Netz Rhein-Mosel-Saar – Bund der Religiösen Sozialistinnen und Sozialisten Deutschlands e.V. – Ordensleute für den Frieden – Redes cristianas / Spanien – Religiös-Sozialistische Vereinigung der Deutschschweiz RESOS – Leserinitiative Publik-Forum e.V. – *Sacerdotes Amigos de Don Sergio (Cuernavaca) / México – Círculo Cultural Morelos, A.C. / México – CEB-Derechos Humanos / México – Fundación Don Sergio Méndez Arceo (Cuernavaca) / México – *JPIC de la Provincia Franciscana del Santo Evangelio / México – Misioneras Guadalupanas de Cristo Rey (osb) / México – Curas OPP (en opción por los pobres) / Argentina – Observatorio Eclesial / México – Secretariado Social Mexicano / México – Centro de Derechos Humanos “Fray Francisco de Vitoria OP”, A.C. / México – Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir / Colombia – Servicios y Asesoría para la Paz, A.C. / México