A RUNOFF WITH A LOT OF FAITH AND PROPHETIC HOPE   #WITHFAITHWITHOUTFASCISM

Blessed are those who are persecuted because

of righteousness,for theirs is the kingdom

of heaven, (Matthew, 5 – 10)

 

CESE seeks inspiration in the text of the Beatitudes to call upon people of faith, whether or not they work together with social movements, to reflect and stand in the face of the current political framework.

What we are experiencing with the keenness that invades the social networks and strikes hearts and minds with manifestations of hatred and intolerances at this electoral process, cannot be dissociated from the malaise that affects humanity.  It moves through so many crises in the midst of globalization – financial, energetic and environmental – leading to a humanitarian and civilizing crisis with crowds of humiliated migrants, calling into question the bases of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, built on the debris of the last Great War. We and half of humanity, who were still belatedly pursuing the affirmation of economic, social, cultural and environmental rights, now live the relegation of civil and political rights under the heel of the measures of exception – a social fascism that as a whip strikes even consolidated democracies of the so-called central countries.

As in many moments of our history in which the country pointed to its own development and less inequality, the motto of the fight against corruption appears as a low explanation for the legitimate disclosure of the conflicts, creating a misdirected political-cultural broth of popular indignation in the midst of operations which deepened the economic crisis and a huge army of unemployed. As in the rest of the world, workers face a dramatic mutation in their class structure – dispersed and precarious – from which capital´s counter-reforms are used to impose subjection and greater exploitation.

Together with organized civil society, we want to overcome this sense of fear, public and social insecurity, misogyny, racism, religious intolerance and gender bias as quickly as possible. Disbelief in institutions and politics, resulting from the unemployment situation and lack of opportunities, especially for sectors of our youth, who starts to ignore the institutions and seek adventurous outlets marked by violence and all sorts of intolerance of the diversity, of people’s values and of their beliefs. We must be attentive to overcome the creation of a belligerent climate by any social grouping or within the institutions that make up the Brazilian State.

We are convinced that the failure of politics is a kind of death of democracy, as well as the insane search for “national savior” who confront the institutions without worrying about democratic life and the legitimate dispute in the field of ideas. It is no coincidence that social groups and movements, public opinion and the international media follow with keen interest and concern the destinies of Brazil that will be decided on October 28. What is at stake is the future of our democracy in the face of measures that increasingly disfigure the Constitution of 1988, when new collective identities have been recognized.

For the CESE and the ecumenical movement, the economic, social and environmental crises are inseparable from the struggle for rights, the resumption of inclusive public policies to meet the dignified conditions of the broad sectors that have historically been excluded. It is in this spirit of trust in institutions and democracy that the CESE calls on churches, social movements and all people of good faith to exercise their active citizenship in this historic October 28th. Let’s go to the polls with consciousness!

#ComFéSemFascismo (# With Faith Without Fascism)

 

CESE –  ECUMENICAL SERVICE COORDINATION

Salvador, October 14, 2018