Heroic martyrs spur Latin America in new direction

 Christianity, Corporate agenda, Human rights, Latin America, United States  No Responses »
Mar 152007
 

I find Latin America a fascinating continent, though I have never been there. But I am inspired by the stories of the suffering of countless numbers of ordinary people who resisted the authoritarian rule of US-backed right-wing regimes. Many of these regimes served to protect the economic interests of the local (largely white) wealthy elite as well as the economic agenda of US corporations. Thousands were killed or tortured – brutally – at the hands of death squads during the Reagan years. Others simply disappeared. Heroic peace- and justice-loving women and men rose to resist such tyranny and oppression through sheer moral force. And their blood soaked the soil of the continent. People like Oscar Romero (El Salvador), Chico Mendes (Brazil), Ita Ford (El Salvador)… It’s a long list. Today, their sacrifices have inspired a new generation to take a more independent political, economic and social path, rooted in their [Read more]

Misguided Christian Zionists

 Christianity, Israel and Palestine  1 Response »
Mar 032007
 

I sometimes come across Christians with a distorted view of the Middle East. Blindly supporting Israel, they fail to see that oppressive and expansionist Zionist policies have led to much misery and suffering among Palestinians, who live in dehumanising conditions whether in Gaza or the West Bank or as refugees in neighbouring countries. This is an excerpt from a piece I wrote last August for the Herald in Malaysia: To be anti-Semitic (anti-Jew) is to be bigoted and racist. To be anti-Zionist, on the other hand, is to legitimately oppose a political and ideological movement that reflects a sense of Western European ethnic supremacy and domination in the Middle East. Unfortunately, some people – including Christians who misguidedly support the Zionist movement – sometimes accuse critics of Zionist ideology of being anti-Semitic. These Christians invariably subscribe to ‘Christian Zionism’, a modern theological and political movement that embraces the most extreme [Read more]

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