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INTENTION : |
That governments may foster the protection of creation and the just distribution of natural resources.
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Will pour out my spirit on all humankind.
Your sons and daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men see visions. (Joel 3:1)
In the late 1980s, the Polish Solidarity movement challenged the collective state system imposed by the Soviet Union after the Second World War. The workers at the Lenin Shipyards, located at Gdansk, Poland, struck and declared that they wanted to be part of collective bargaining on their own terms. They were not depersonalized automatons of an almighty state.
Furthermore, the workers knew that the system was dysfunctional, and they wanted a voice in worker goals, safety, and general working conditions. Polish workers wanted a democratic but non-capitalistic system controlled by worker councils. In fact, these Polish workers were inclined to favor a socially just system influenced by fellow Pole, Pope John Paul II.
Sadly, the Polish workers' aspirations were crushed in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse by the global capitalist system. The striving for something new and better awaits a new day.
A Global Commons vision refutes all forms of materialism, whether of communist or capitalistic origin; these will not triumph. It is becoming apparent through the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and the surging of the unemployed and dissatisfied youth in Spain and other nations that something new is in the wind. All people, including the poor and unemployed, have the same rights as the economically privileged - and they are stirring. The current world with its heavy emphasis on consumption of goods, leads to an insensitivity that distracts us from the social responsibility required to create a new order. And people with common sense - an aspect of the Global Commons - are coming to realize that we share a common vision that deserves its full flowering in a new birth.
Saving our wounded Earth calls forth our deepest spiritual aspirations. The future is a divine/human, people-to-people, public/private and present/past/future generational sharing. All time belongs to God, but our God-given time is limited and we are moved to steward it properly.
Believers challenge those who see no or little future: deniers walk away; excuse-makers refuse to engage themselves; escapists cannot bear to face reality. Action involves risks; so does inaction, for this means the destruction of our world. Believers are called to work, assist, encourage, pray, and support the reclaiming process.
Compassion is at the heart of a Global Commons for it energizes the sharing work ahead. It is compassion that emerges from the Resurrection Mystery, from the Light of the World. The Global Commons is a shared hope absent of privilege, except the privilege of being of service to and for others. We seek to restore a natural world damaged, a perceived beauty marred; and finally we share because we would otherwise deny the hope that keeps us going forward. In sharing, we reclaim; in failing to share we allow the path toward destruction to go unchallenged.
We are parents of a new birth. Our labour and all suffering are not in vain; our fruitful work is our offspring, even if beyond our lifetime. We endeavor to give birth to and nurture the efforts that will surely come. If we regard them as solely "ours" of this generation, we have distorted ownership and excluded future generations from their rightful share.
Our shared efforts will yield fruit in due time in a common destiny if we can muster the courage to see it through. We seek to identify all people of good will and believers in the future; we invite them even before their birth to help with the noble efforts we strive to undertake here. We are one community, this present world and a new future, but we can only share it if we renounce ownership and privilege - and that is why we must convert the capitalists whether in China or the West.
We refuse to be enslaved or indebted to this pervasive economic system. Instead, we strive to use appropriate technologies to live simply with a conservation ethic at the local level; we accept responsible environmental concerns at a regional level; we participate in innovative civic actions at a national level; and we accept and support international and global programs.
We announce the vision of an emerging Global Commons, a human and divine inspiration. How else would it be for a true believer? Stand at the city gates with Jeremiah! Cry "Woe!" A new day is dawning. Carpe Diem! (seize the day).
Fr. Albert J. Fritsch, S.J.
Environmental Researcher and Director, Earth Healing,Inc. and pastor of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church, Ravenna, Kentucky, USA
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