Peace rally prays to no one in particular
By Parker T. Williamson, The Layman Online, February 22, 2006
PORTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL – Drumbeats, dance steps, and diatribes amplified by four huge speakers ricocheted off the tall buildings that surround Praca da Matriz. The ruckus drew a crowd, for at 10:00 p.m., life is just getting started in the heart of this Southern Brazilian city.
The subject at hand was peace, although at times clenched fists and angry rhetoric on stage and a carnival atmosphere in the crowd made one wonder if everyone was working off the same script. Wearing Brazilian costumes and pounding the stage with their feet, a line of young women danced to Sob a Figueira while the crowd clapped and cheered.
Then the organizers turned to heavier fare, a warning to the world’s warmongers that those who gathered in this square will not tolerate further militarism, sexism, structural violence, imperialism, ageism, poverty, economic inequities, capitalism, fundamentalism and discrimination against indigenous people. Rev. Bernice Jackson Powell, a delegate from the United Church of Christ and vice president of the World Council of Churches, announced that this crowd would settle for nothing less than peace.
Jackson Powell thanked a group whom she identified as “the Palestinian Society” for presenting her with a PLO scarf which, she said, symbolized their “desire for peace.” Salting her speech with quotes from Martin Luther King and others, she announced that although the law is important, one must never forget that “the law bends toward justice.” “We cannot have peace without justice,” she said.
The crowd cheered when she mentioned justice. As if on cue, peace balloons were rhythmically thumped skyward (apparently, helium was in short supply) and groups of WCC “stewards” billowed hand-painted sheets, covered with “mantras and slogans.” Several youth gagged themselves with bandanas in silent protest to the fact that they were not allowed a vote in WCC plenary sessions, and a “National Movement of Recyclable Materials Catchers” moved through the square distributing flyers describing an injustice that had been visited upon them. Everyone with a beef found opportunity to resonate with the UCC delegate’s words.
The “Catchers” were especially aggrieved. According to their flyer, they had organized a project through the Lutheran Foundation of Diaconia to collect and dispose of recyclable materials generated during the WCC assembly. But project leaders had not obtained approval from the administration of the university where the assembly is being held. “On Saturday (Feb 12) the Mayor of the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) denied our participation and with this he took off our possibility of work to give it to a private company.”
Privatization!
No nastier word could have been uttered in this assembly. “Prohibition of the work of the catchers” contradicts “the spirit of Social Responsibility and Solidarity,” said the catchers. Suffering from hasty translation, but still making its point, the catchers’ document zeroed in on the primary issue, which turned out to be capitalism. The dispute, said the catchers, has to do with the “generation of PROFIT for the private companies” versus the “generation of income, dignity, rescue of citizenship and social inclusion for the poor persons and catchers.”
Nowhere in the catchers’ document was there any recognition of the fact that the university’s longstanding contract with a “private company” generated wage earning jobs throughout the year for Brazilian workers.
Meanwhile on stage, Jackson Powell worked at weaving this cacophony of protests into a litany of peace. She showcased the WCC’s Decade to Overcome Violence as a major initiative of the ecumenical organization, and she called the crowd to a renewed involvement in that campaign.
Finally, the event moved toward its conclusion, a candle-lighting ceremony, punctuated with prayers for peace. But, in a crowd as diverse as this, to whom should one pray? Event organizers settled that problem generically. They would pray to no one in particular.
Appearing on stage to lead the ceremony were a Buddhist monk, a Muslim Imam and an Anglican bishop, with Carlos Dreher, pastor of St. Luke’s parish in Porto Alegre orchestrating the ceremony. Representatives of each “religious tradition” played a role in offering audible prayers to “the spirit of the universe.” Pointing to the east, they prayed for the people who live in that sector. Then they moved around the compass, making sure to mention when they got to the north that this is “the place of rich nations.” Still, the north needs prayer, and indigenous people live there as well, so the north was included.
Jesus was there. Out on the edge of the square, someone had constructed a huge poster depicting the head of Christ. Supported by two poles that were lofted by four Brazilian boys, the Prince of Peace looked out over the crowd. But at a distance.
Scripture warns that for those who do not accept the gospel, Jesus Christ is a stumbling block. WCC peacemakers appeared to take that counsel seriously.