Indeed,
the limitation of Patel’s state-centric approach to the understanding of Food
Sovereignty calls for other ways through which the issue of human sufferings
such as hunger should be understood.
This paper therefore offers the wisdom of the Catholic Social Teachings,
which ultimately provide an ethical foundation upon which to illustrate the disparities
in terms of enforced dependence of the poor on the rich as a result of free
trade and free market imposed by transnational corporations that increasingly
control agro-inputs and distribution of agricultural goods. The Catholic Social Teachings strongly argue
against the strained incorporation of the poor and hungry peasants into the
global market relations, which are characterized by long-term price instability
and distorted competitions, which result in massive dislocation that further
deepens poverty and hunger.
Discussion
The
conversion of Food Sovereignty as an ethical agenda is provoked by the reality
of human suffering and the possibility of redirecting the global food system
through more inclusive policy and practice. Through faith-based ethics, this
paper hopes to justify the need to make the issue of hunger and other forms of
suffering a moral issue. Specifically, by using the Social Doctrines of the
Catholic Church, it emphasizes the need to look at the global food system and
therefore the plight of the poor and marginalized peasants in the context of
social justice
Domination
and Exploitation
In the
last twenty-five years a hope has spread through the human race that economic
growth would bring about such a quantity of goods that it would be possible to
feed the hungry at least with the crumbs falling from the table, but this has
proved a vain hope in underdeveloped areas and in pockets of poverty in
wealthier areas, because of the rapid growth of population and of the labor
force, because of rural stagnation and the lack of agrarian reform, and because
of the massive migratory flow to the cities, where the industries, even though
endowed with huge sums of money, nevertheless provide so few jobs that not
infrequently one worker in four is left unemployed. These stifling oppressions
constantly give rise to great numbers of marginal persons, ill-fed, inhumanly
housed, illiterate and deprived of political power as well as of the suitable
means of acquiring responsibility and moral dignity (Justicia in Mundo #10)
When
poverty, hunger and displacement become part of the lives of the producers of
food in spite of the significant amount of global food surpluses, it is an
affront not only to the individual peasant but to human society as a whole. It
is a contradiction of modernity’s promise of freedom and human development, and
fundamentally it is an insult against our notion of human dignity and social
justice, and therefore ultimately, of our humanity. The dire situation of the
peasant since the globalization of agricultural modernization and introduction
of trade liberalization is characterized by capital-driven corporate domination
of the social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental spaces. A good number of biblical and doctrinal
references, such as the Catholic Social
Teachings, can help provide vivid descriptions of how the
peasant world looks like.
The church locates the cause of peasants’
miseries in the increased faith by corporate institutions in modern economics,
which when “left to itself works rather to widen the differences in the world’s
level of life: rich people enjoy rapid growth and the poor develop slowly….some
produce a surplus of foodstuff, others cruelly lack them and see their imports
made uncertain” (Popularum Progresso
#8).
In
the context of the social and economic advances made in many countries,
pronounced imbalances are increasingly discernible: first, between agriculture
on the one hand and industry and services on the other; between the more and
the less developed regions within countries with differing economic resources
and development (Mater et Magistra
#48).
According
to Gaudium et Spes (#63), the world
is in a moment of history when the development of economic life could
potentially diminished social inequalities if the development were guided and
coordinated in a reasonable and human way; yet all too often, economic
development programs, too often, serves to intensify the inequalities and
promotes the decline of social status of the weak and in contempt for the poor.
While an enormous mass of people still lack the absolute necessities of life, a
few number of people live sumptuously and squander wealth. Both in developed
and developing countries, there are clear “manifestations of selfishness and a
flaunting of wealth which is as disconcerting as it is scandalous” (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis #14:1).
Indeed
luxury and misery are within each other’s vicinity, that is, while few enjoy
very great freedom of choice, many are deprived of almost all possibility of
acting on their own initiative and responsibility and often subsist in living
and working conditions unworthy of human beings (Gaudium et Spes #63). The contrast “between the economically more
advanced countries and other countries is becoming serious day by day, and the
very peace of the world can be jeopardized in consequence” (Gaudium et Spes #63), and this gives us
“a sign of a widespread sense that the unity of the world, that is, the unity
of the human race, is seriously compromised” (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis 14:2).
The
peasant world is ruled by a despotic economic domination and immense power that
is concentrated in the hands of the few who exercise a dictatorship through
complete control of financial regulations, hence “the life-blood whereby the
entire economic system lives, and have so firmly in their grasp the soul, as it
were, of economic life that no one can breathe against their will” (Quadragesimo Anno #106). This accumulation of power – the characteristic
mark of contemporary economic life is a natural result of limitless free
competition which permits the survival of those who only are the strongest,
which often means, those who fight most relentlessly and pay less heed to the
dictates of conscience (Quadragesimo Anno
#107). The dominative financial and
social mechanisms, which are denounced by the church, are functioning almost
automatically in favor of more developed countries and the people manipulating
them, thus accentuating the situation of wealth for a few, and suffocating the
economies of the rest (Sollicitudo Rei
Socialis #16:1-3). Along the
manipulation of financial mechanisms and the unbridled ambition for economic
supremacy, conflicts have been generated that are characterized by
bitter fights to gain supremacy over the State in
order to use in economic struggles its resources and authority… [and] between
States themselves, not only because countries employ their power and shape
their policies to promote every economic advantage of their citizens, but also
because they seek to decide political controversies that arise among nations
through the use of their economic supremacy and strength…. Unbridled ambition
for domination has succeeded the desire to gain; the whole economic life has
become hard, cruel and relentless in a ghastly measure (Quadragesimo Anno
#108-11).
As
the developed countries export manufactured goods, which are rapidly increasing
in echnological capacity, content and market access, the raw materials from
less developed countries are continuously being subjected to price instability,
a state of affairs far removed from the progressively increasing value of
industrial products (Populorum Progresso
#57). The effects of free trade on poor countries are caused by economic
inequalities put in place by rich countries which undermine international
relations. Populorum Progresso (#58)
explains this further:
The rule of free trade, taken by itself, is no
longer able to govern international relations. Its advantages are certainly
evident when the parties involved are not affected by any excessive
inequalities of economic power: it is an incentive to progress and a reward for
effort. That is why industrially developed countries see in it a law of
justice. But the situation is no longer the same when economic conditions
differ too widely from country to country: prices which are freely set in the
market can produce unfair results. One must recognize that it is the
fundamental principle of liberalism, as the rule for commercial exchange, which
is questioned here.
These
inequalities are further exacerbated by the phenomenon of international debt
crisis. Less developed countries accepted offer of abundant capital from
international financial institutions with the hope of accelerating economic
development, but served instead as a counterproductive mechanism. Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (#19) argued
that the instrument chosen to make huge contribution to development failed
because debtor-countries, in order to service their debts find themselves
obliged to export capital needed for improving the sectors for development.
This brings to mind case of improving the agricultural sector through foreign
aid which requires governments, in order for them to obtain new financing, to
implement structural adjustment policies (SAPs) that demand a decrease of
government subsidies to farmers and opening the market to free trade. This
mechanism has eventually placed the debtor-countries in a cycle of debt
servicing, new loans, and structural adjustments which has “turned into a break
upon development and indeed in some cases even aggravated underdevelopment” (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis #19:5).
Another
disconcerting phenomenon that the neoliberal economic paradigm has introduced
is the concept of super-development, which is typified by high
consumerism. With the unacceptable
miseries of the underdevelopment, proponents of liberal economic development
defines what is good and happiness in the context of excessive availability,
multiplication and continual replacement of material goods, which easily makes
people to become slaves of possession and immediate gratification. The church calls this the civilization of
consumption or consumerism, which refers to the blind submission to pure
consumerism characterize by crass materialism and radical dissatisfaction
promoted and motivated by the flood of publicity and tempting offers of
products (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis
#28:2-3). This is used both in
consumption and marketing of productive input to satisfy consumption demands.
The
domination of neoliberal economics imposed on the agricultural sector by
transnational institutions as discussed above directly reflects not only the
greed and corruption in corporate and government structures but also the
inadequacy of governments in bringing about genuine development. The promise of abundance through modern
agriculture technology and financial mechanism has produced an unquenchable
thirst for riches and temporal possessions. Again, Quadragesimo Anno admonishes that this thirst for material goods,
which is conditioned by the present economic development paradigm, has led to
the breaking of God’s law and trampling of the rights of neighbors:
Since the instability of economic life, and
especially of its structure, exacts of those engaged in it most intense and
unceasing effort, some have become so hardened to the stings of conscience as
to hold that they are allowed, in any manner whatsoever, to increase their
profits and use means, fair or foul, to protect their hard-won wealth against
sudden changes of fortune. The easy gains that a market unrestricted by any law
opens to everybody attracts large numbers to buying and selling goods, and
they, their one aim being to make quick profits with the least expenditure of
work, raise or lower prices by their uncontrolled business dealings so rapidly
according to their own caprice and greed that they nullify the wisest forecasts
of producers. (Quadragesimo Anno #132).
Indeed,
the neoliberal economic policies the control modern life led to the “scandal of
glaring inequalities not merely in the enjoyment of possessions but even more
in the exercise of power” (Quadragesimo
Anno #9). And the above scandalous corporate scenario is ultimately
reflective of the degradation of the legitimacy of the state. It has reduced the role of the state as
supreme arbiter for justice and common good to a level of slavery to human
passion and greed that result in economic imperialism and oppression of many
people (Quadragesimo Anno 109). The state, weakened by the forces of
neoliberal economics has allowed the introduction of the modern agriculture to
rural areas, which has led not only to economic displacement but to also
cultural displacement that arose when
The conflict between traditional civilizations and
the new elements of industrial civilization break down structures which do not
adapt themselves to new conditions. Their framework, sometimes rigid, was the
indispensable prop to personal and family life; older people remain attached to
it, the young escape from it, as from a useless barrier, to turn eagerly to new
forms of life in society. The conflict of the generations is made more serious
by a tragic dilemma: whether to retain ancestral institutions and convictions
and renounce progress, or to admit techniques and civilizations from outside
and reject along with the traditions of the past all their human richness. In
effect, the moral, spiritual and religious supports of the past too often give
way without securing in return any guarantee of a place in the new world
(Quadragesimo Anno #10).
After
subduing nature through reason and scientific positivism, human beings now
faces another form of alienation – their imprisonment within their own
rationality and slavery to the scientific:
The
human sciences are today enjoying a significant flowering. On the one hand they
are subjecting to critical and radical examination the hitherto accepted
knowledge about man, on the grounds that this knowledge seems either too
empirical or too theoretical. On the other hand, methodological necessity and
ideological presuppositions too often lead the human sciences to isolate, in
the various situations, certain aspects of man, and yet to give these an
explanation which claims to be complete or at least an interpretation which is
meant to be all-embracing from a purely quantitative or phenomenological point
of view. This scientific reduction betrays a dangerous presupposition. To give
a privileged position in this way to such an aspect of analysis is to mutilate
man and, under the pretext of a scientific procedure, to make it impossible to
understand man in his totality” (Octogesima Adveniens #38).
In
agrarian context, the intensive mechanisms to make agriculture better and to
address world hunger have resulted in the introduction of deadly chemicals in
the environment. These chemicals do not
only threaten the natural world but also the social world. “All too soon, and
often in an unforeseeable way… man is not only subjected to alienation [by what
he/she produces] but rather it turns man against himself” (Redemptor Hominis #15).
While
the horizon of man is thus being modified according to the images that are
chosen for him, another transformation is making itself felt, one which is the
dramatic and unexpected consequence of human activity. Man is suddenly becoming
aware that by an ill- considered exploitation of nature he risks destroying it
and becoming in his turn the victim of this degradation. Not only is the
material environment becoming a permanent menace -- pollution and refuse, new illness
and absolute destructive capacity-but the human framework is no longer under
man's control, thus creating an environment for tomorrow which may well be
intolerable. This is a wide-ranging social problem which concerns the entire
human family (Octogesimo Adveniens #21).
The
growing demand for resources and energy, in order to support the high rate of
consumerism in the developed countries, result in the exploitation of the whole
of material world and in irreparable damage to the essential elements of life
on earth and the in the destruction of the whole of humanity (Justicia in Mundo #11). This state of
destruction demands therefore an awareness of the limitations of the planet
which should prompt us to rationally and honestly plan beyond considering the
natural environment for immediate consumption (Redemptor Hominis #15). With
the furious development and ascendancy of technology in production processes,
development planning must be framed by a proportional development of morals and
ethics and “the first reason for disquiet concerns the essential and
fundamental question: does this progress, which has man for its author and
promoter, make life on earth more human in every aspect of life? Does it make it more worthy of man?” (Redemptor Hominis 15). In speaking about
the world, the church stated that the “modern underdevelopment is not only
economic but also cultural, political and simply human….[and] the result of a
too narrow idea of development” (Sollicitudo
Rei Socialis #15:5-6).
Exodus from Poverty and Hunger
Having thoroughly looked at the
present social alienations, the church declares that there remains a human
aspiration, in which “Women and men… crave a life that is full, autonomous, and
worthy of their nature as human beings; they long to harness for their own
welfare the immense resources of the modern world” (Gaudium et Spes # 9). The church hereby offers a way of building
another world that is founded on the “conviction that humanity is able and has
the duty to… establish a political, social, and economic order at the service
of humanity, to assert and develop the dignity proper to individuals and to
societies” (Gaudium et Spes # 9).
The Book of Exodus, which is a
history of the liberation of the poor, tells the story of a people whose society
is founded on liberation from oppression and domination, and the communion of
the liberated people in active solidarity. The importance of this historical
narrative lies in its pointing out of a people’s intimate experience of the
domination of central power, and the emphasis on tradition, as expressed in the
ten commandments, and the tribal laws, as the loci of a new ethical and social
awareness that served as the basis for a new social formation (Exodus 20:1-2).
It
is a fundamental principle of faith that “In the design of God, every man [and
woman] is called upon to develop and fulfill himself [or herself], for every
life is a vocation. At birth, everyone is granted, in germ, a set of aptitudes
and qualities for him to bring to fruition” (Populorum Progresso #15).
The point of this principle is that the human being is “necessarily the
foundation, cause, and end of all social institutions” (Mater et Magistra #219). It is the principle that brings to bear a
paradigm of human development toward a just and human society. Through its
biblical teachings and encyclicals, the church recommends a path for social
renewal – first, the recognition of the sin of social injustice; second, an
education on justice, and; third, the practice of justice. This path is
embedded in the gospel message and mission of the church:
Listening to the cry of those who suffer violence
and are oppressed by unjust systems and structures, and hearing the appeal of a
world that by its perversity contradicts the plan of its Creator, we have
shared our awareness of the Church's vocation to be present in the heart of the
world by proclaiming the Good News to the poor, freedom to the oppressed, and
joy to the afflicted. The hopes and forces which are moving the world in its
very foundations are not foreign to the dynamism of the Gospel, which through
the power of the Holy Spirit frees people from personal sin and from its
consequences in social life (Justicia in Mundo #5).
The
church recognizes that the varying degrees of alienation brought about by the
globalization and the “the unequal distribution which places decisions
concerning three quarters of income, investment and trade in the hands of one
third of the human race”(Justicia in
Mundo #12) are the primary causes of features of social injustice. With
this also comes the recognition of “the insufficiency of a merely economic
progress, and the new recognition of the material limits of the biosphere--all
this makes us aware new modes of understanding human dignity”( Justicia in Mundo #12).
As
the paradigm of liberal economic development continues to evolve and being
co-opted by international institutions and transnational corporations, the
church warns that “In the face of international systems of domination, the
bringing about of justice depends more and more on the determined will for
development” (Justicia in Mundo
#13). This will has to be constituted
within the political system that works for “a development of economic growth
and participation; an increase in wealth implying social progress by the entire
community…overcomes regional imbalance and… constitutes a right which is to be
applied both in the economic and in the social and political field” (Justicia in Mundo #18).
While
the world undertakes rapid globalization, we see various faces of injustice
that reflect the problems which every sector and function of society needs to
address. With the upsurge of new development agenda and policies, the church in
particular needs to prepare for new forms of vigilance and undertake activities
that are directed above all to different forms of oppression especially in
sectors of society where there are voiceless victims of injustice (Justicia in Mundo #20). To undertake actions against injustice, the
church recommends an education for social justice that requires
a renewal of heart, a renewal based on the
recognition of sin in its individual and social manifestations. It will also
inculcate a truly and entirely human way of life in justice, love and
simplicity. It will likewise awaken a critical sense, which will lead us to
reflect on the society in which we live and on its values; it will make people
ready to renounce these values when they cease to promote justice for all
people. In the developing countries, the principal aim of this education for
justice consists in an attempt to awaken consciences to a knowledge of the
concrete situation and in a call to secure a total improvement; by these means
the transformation of the world has already begun” (Justicia in Mundo #51).
In
the process of education, people are decidedly made more human, and they become
no longer the object of manipulation by political, economic or cultural forces
but they rather become capable of working on their own destiny that brings
about truly human communities (Justicia
in Mundo #52). Since this process of education involves every person of
every age, it can be called a “continuing education” – one that is undertaken
“through action, participation and vital contact with the reality of injustice”
(Justicia in Mundo #53). This brings to fore the importance of
considering the cultural self-determination that has been severely trampled in
the process of globalization. Gaudium et Spes makes a clear point in
saying that culture, if it were to develop toward becoming truly human, needs
an
adequate freedom of development… and a legitimate
possibility of autonomy according to its own principles. Quite rightly it
demands respect and enjoys certain inviolability, provided, of course, that the
rights of the individual and the community, both particular and universal, are
safeguarded within the limits of the common good. It is not for the public
authority to determine how human culture should develop, but to build up the
environment and to provide assistance favorable to such development, without
overlooking minorities. This is the reason why one must avoid at all costs the
distortion of culture and its exploitation by political or economical forces
[italics mine] (Gaudium et Spes #59).
This
idea is affirmed by another radical encyclical Popularum Progresso, which states that every country, rich or poor,
“possesses a civilization handed down by their ancestors: institutions called
for by life in this world, and higher manifestations of the life of the spirit,
manifestations of an artistic, intellectual and religious character” (Popularum Progresso #40). The reason for
this is that when a country possesses “true human values, it would be grave
error to sacrifice them. A people that would act in this way would thereby lose
the best of its patrimony; in order to live, it would be sacrificing its
reasons for living” (Popularum Progresso
#40). This also calls to mind Christ’s famous teaching “What profit would a man
show if he were to gain the whole world and destroy himself in the process”
(Matthew 16:26).
Development through Social Justice
Paradigm
Social
Justice, not free enterprise, should be the guiding principle of the economic
world. It has been abundantly proven
that free enterprise or free market, although within certain limits just and
productive of good results, has done more damage than good to many especially
the peasants.
For from this source, as from a poisoned spring,
have originated and spread all the errors of individualist economic teaching.
Therefore, it is most necessary that economic life be again subjected to and
governed by a true and effective directing principle. This function is one that
the economic dictatorship which has recently displaced free competition can
still less perform, since it is a headstrong power and a violent energy that,
to benefit people, needs to be strongly curbed and wisely ruled. But it cannot
curb and rule itself. Loftier and nobler principles--social justice and social
charity--must, therefore, be sought whereby this dictatorship may be governed
firmly and fully (Quadragesimo Anno #88).
Free
enterprise or the “imperialism of money” (Popularum
Progresso #26) as Pope Pius XI called it, can be curbed if institutions of
social life are penetrated by social justice that establishes a juridical and
social order which will in turn shape economic life (Quadragesimo Anno 88). This proposal of reconstituting the whole of
society in justice echoes part of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:
Let us, then, be children no longer, tossed here and
there carried about by every wind of doctrine that originates in human trickery
and skill in proposing error. Rather, let us profess the truth in love and grow
to whole maturity of Christ the head. Through him the whole body grows, and
with the proper functioning of the body joined firmly together by its
supporting ligament, builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:14-16).
Popularum Progresso also warns that
“individual initiative alone and the mere free play of competition could never
assure successful development” and so therefore the “risk of increasing still
more the wealth of the rich and the dominion of the strong, whilst leaving the
poor in their misery and adding to the servitude of the oppressed” must be
avoided (Popularum Progresso
#33). This goes to say that free trade
is not capable of promoting international relations because it works only in
situations when parties involved are not affected by any excessive inequalities
of economic power, even if (or especially that) this power is considered by
developed countries as the law of justice (Popularum
Progresso #58). Indeed the wisdom of Leo XIII applies here: “if the
positions of the contracting parties are too unequal, the consent of the
parties does not suffice to guarantee the justice of their contract, and the
rule of free agreement remains subservient to the demands of the natural law” (Popularum Progresso #59), which means
that “Freedom of trade is fair only if it is subject to the demands of social
justice” (Popularum Progresso #58). This notion of social justice resonates the
narrative of the Last Judgment, which
climaxed in Jesus’ portrayal of his wish to be identified with the poor “I
assure, as often as you neglected to do it to the least of ones, you neglected
to me” (Matthew 25:45). It also brings
to mind the concept of divine justice in Mary’s
Canticle: “He has deposed the mighty from their thrones and raised the
lowly to high places” (Luke 1:52). With centrality of the poor (the Lord’s
least) in social justice, economic reforms must be undertaken intensively.
These reforms must focused on
the reform of the international trade system, which
is mortgaged to protectionism and increasing bilateralism; the reform of the
world monetary and financial system, today recognized as inadequate; the
question of technological exchanges and their proper use; the need for a review
of the structure of the existing International Organizations, in the framework
of an international juridical order (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis 43:2).
The
reform of the international trade system is of primal importance as there are
frequent discriminations against the products of new industries of the
developing countries and an international division of labor whereby low-cost
products made in countries without effective labor laws are sold in other parts
of the world at considerable profit (Sollicitudo
Rei Socialis #43:3). And as mentioned earlier, the world monetary and
financial system is marked by an excessive fluctuation of exchange rates and
interest rates, which worsens the debt situation of the some poor countries;
and lastly, many inappropriate and inadequate forms of technology are
transferred or enforced in poorer countries to the detriment of people and the
environment (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis
#43:4-5).
Just Distribution of Goods
In
its discussion on the construction of social order, Pope Pius argues that not
every kind of distribution of wealth and property among people is such that it
can all adequately attain the end intended by God (Quadragesimo Anno #59).
Wealth therefore which is constantly augmented by social and economic
progress, must be distributed among the various individuals and classes of
society, that the common good of all be promoted. In other words the good of the whole
community must be safeguarded, and this way one class is forbidden to exclude
the other from a share of profit (Quadragesimo
Anno #59). Each class then must
receive its due share and the distribution of created goods must be brought
into conformity with the common good and social justice, for every sincere
observer is conscious that the vast differences between the few who hold
excessive wealth and the many that live in destitution constitute a great evil
in society (Quadragesimo Anno #60).
This concept of distribution is called for in the midst of the immense number
of property-less wage-earners on the one hand, and the superabundant riches of
the fortunate few on the other, which makes the earthly goods that are
abundantly produced far from rightly distributed and equitably shared (Quadragesimo Anno #62). Gaudium
et Spes gives the rationale for this distribution:
God
destined the earth and all it contains for all people and nations so that all
created things would be shared fairly by all humankind under the guidance of
justice tempered by charity. No matter how property is structured in different
countries, adapted to their lawful institutions according to various and
changing circumstances, we must never lose sight of this universal destination
of earthly goods. In their use of things people should regard the external
goods they lawfully possess as not just their own but common to others as well,
in the sense that they can benefit others as well as themselves. Therefore
everyone has the right to possess a sufficient amount of the earth's goods for
themselves and their family (Gaudium et Spes #69:1).
The
distribution of goods should go directly toward providing employment and income
for the people of today and the future.
Whether individuals, groups or public authorities make the decisions
concerning this distribution and the planning of the economy, they are bound to
keep these objectives in mind. They must realize their serious obligation of
seeing to it that the provision is made for the necessities of a decent life on
the part of the individuals and the whole community. They must look out for the
future and establish a proper balance between needs of present-day consumption,
both individual and collective, and the necessity of distributing goods on
behalf of the coming generation. They should also bear in mind the urgent needs
of underdeveloped countries and regions (Gaudium
et Spes #70). More poignantly, Popularum Progresso calls on the duty of
just distribution because “When so many people are hungry, when so many
families suffer from destitution… all public or private squandering of
wealth…becomes an intolerable scandal. We are conscious of our duty to denounce
it” (Popularum Progresso #P53).
Technology is for human development
Another
important part of the proposal of the church for genuine (human and just)
development concerns technology. With
the alienations brought about by modern agricultural technologies, the idea of
progress that is derived from the positivistic and empirical philosophies of
the enlightenment is “seriously called into doubt… A naïve mechanistic optimism
has been replaced by a well-founded anxiety for the fate of humanity (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis #27:2).
Alongside this, the economic development paradigm, in which modern technology
is used as instrument, for the accumulation of goods and services is no longer
enough for the realization of human happiness.
Nor, in consequence, does the availability of the many real
benefits provided in recent times by science and technology, including the
computer sciences, bring freedom from every form of slavery. On the contrary, the experience of recent
years shows that unless all the considerable body of resources and potential at
man's disposal is guided by a moral understanding and by an orientation towards
the true good of the human race, it easily turns against man to oppress him
(Sollicitudo Rei Socialis #28).
Indeed,
technological progress must be fostered, along with a spirit of initiative, for
the purpose of production, but the fundamental purpose of this productivity
must not be the mere multiplication of products, nor profit or domination.
Rather it must be at the service of all people and their humanity, and viewed
in terms of their material needs and demands of their intellectual, moral,
spiritual and religious lives (Gaudium et
Spes #64).
Pacem in Terris
highlights the much needed synthesis between material and spiritual values as
it calls on the fact technological capacity and expertise “although necessary,
are not sufficient to elevate the relationships of society to an order that is
genuinely human: an order whose foundation is truth, whose measure and
objective is justice, whose driving force is Love, and whose method of
attainment if freedom” (Pacem in Terris
#149). It therefore proposes a development that is undertaken within the moral
order: “the exercise or vindication of a right, as the fulfillment of a duty or
the performance of a service, as a positive answer to the providential design
of God directed to our salvation” (Pacem
in Terris #150). It further urges the necessity for human beings, in the
intimacy of their own consciences, to live and act in their temporal lives
towards the creation of a synthesis between scientific, technical and
professional elements and spiritual values (Pacem
in Terris #150).
Conclusion
Give us
today our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin
against us. (Matthew
6:11-12; Luke 11:3-4).
While
Patel focuses on a rights-based understanding of Food Sovereignty, this paper
takes the concept a step farther to the realm of faith-based ethics. Indeed, in
this rapidly globalizing world, more and more people turn to faith for meaning,
hope and guidance in the midst of miseries and alienations brought about
neoliberal development models. As a
relatively new mode of looking at the reality of global food politics, food
sovereignty is a timely and necessary historical project through which the
faith-based ethics can be fulfilled.
Food
sovereignty and faith-based ethics, when fulfilled in the praxis of peasant
resistance against the neoliberal ideology of development, form two sides of
the same coin. These principles work on the same goal of empowering
peasants towards liberation from oppressive and alienating corporate-controlled
agrarian system. While the Catholic Social Teachings provide the moral
backdrop for the attainment of food sovereignty, the principles of food
sovereignty facilitate the realization of the cultural-social-political values
within which the teachings are fulfilled. Indeed, food sovereignty is a
practical historical project that completes the praxis and observance the Catholic
Social Teachings.
Social
change, such as the fulfillment of food sovereignty, is a continuing process.
Framed as a moral agenda through Catholic Social Teachings, food sovereignty offers
a viable and sustainable route to the
creation of a just and humane world. Guided by Catholic Social Teachings, those
in the center and peripheries of development discourse and practice should
continue to assert the dignity of the poor and oppressed, and the integrity of
the environment, and hopefully help emancipate all those who suffer from excessive
neoliberal politico-economic domination.
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