June 8, 2006

Joining Hands Against Hunger
An expression of repentance and solidarity

Joining Hands Against Hunger has been launched at a time when the funding agencies all over the world have mostly shifted to a high-tech, corporate, impersonal, prescriptive and one-suit-fits-all mode of operation. They like to relate to and fund NGO conglomerates that function in the same culture as globalization and draw credibility from the poor but are rarely willing to treat them as makers of history or subjects of their own destiny. In the process, many have lost their will to do political action and now perform ancillary activities for the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, etc. taking care of the victims of neo-liberal economic policies. Voluntarism has been turned into a tool for de-politicization of the masses and keeps them oblivious to realities around them. A large section of the poor remain sidelined and voiceless.

It is the joy of the Presbyterian Hunger Program and Joining Hands Against Hunger to realize this and live out its vocation in a distinctly Christian way by remaining in solidarity with the poor. This is the practice of the “politics of the cross,” of kenosis, taking the form of a servant and becoming obedient and responsible to the will of God for the world. Thus JHAH represents an alternative way of relating to the world that is contrary to that of the empire. That is its witness and honor.

I offer some personal reflections on the foundational premises that gave shape to JHAH

JHAH works from a holistic understanding of life and development. While it is important to understand the root causes of hunger and fight them, material prosperity cannot be the goal of development. The goal of development is a qualitatively better life in community, dignity, and freedom. Community is to be understood as the community of creation, a delicate web of inter-relationships, including all flora and fauna, in which life is sustained.

Hunger is a sign of our estrangement from the core of our being, and its causes are to be identified in the micro- and macro-level structures of domination and exploitation. Hence, we must deal with hunger issues by deeper analysis, political mobilization of the hungry, and actions of solidarity across national boundaries by people committed to a world of equity, justice, and peace. Action against hunger should come as a genuine response of repentance, metanoia, by those who are affluent, and it should be done in solidarity and humility.

It is acknowledged that there is an unjust international economic order prevents the poor from pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps while at the same time offers to the rich all possible opportunities to indulge their instinct to accumulate. To turn this world around, we must fight the neo-liberal economic agenda propagated and legitimized by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization. JHAH is committed to further an “oikumene of solidarity” over an “oikumene of domination and exploitation.”

The poor must be recognized as the subjects of their own destiny. Our good intentions do not legitimize interventions to control, direct, and steer the poor, and thus thrust upon them our developmental agenda, further eroding their dignity and reinforcing their status as victims. JHAH is committed to empowering the poor in all senses and encouraging them to form networks in their own countries. These networks decide their priorities and embark upon their own course of action, which their U.S. partners are then invited to join. Financial assistance is provided, but without infringing upon the networks’ right to decide how to allocate resources within the campaign in which both the in-country networks and the partners in the United States participate together.

JHAH is undergirded by a deep spirituality that has not been flaunted but lived in a multi-religious, multi-racial, and multi-national context. This spirituality is characterized by a commitment to the “other,” solidarity with the poor, responsibility to God’s creation, and hope for the establishment of a world of justice and peace.

While financial assistance is provided to in-country networks to facilitate their campaign agendas, rather than doling out favors in a patronizing way, assistance takes the form of a sharing of resources. By providing logistical support, accompaniment, sharing of knowledge and skill, and international solidarity action, greater responsibility and accountability for the networks is achieved. This is done within the framework of mutuality, reciprocity, and solidarity, not domination.

For the poor, Joining Hands is the right hand of fellowship extended to them; for the affluent, it is a means of living out repentance as Peter and John did in Acts 3:

• Establishing a relationship that goes beyond being looked at (in, perhaps, condescending ways) to one of looking at each other in the eyes (“Look at us,” verse 4).
• Working to alter the expectations that have been developed over years of living on the charity of the affluent (verse 6).
• Extend the “right hand” of fellowship and acceptance (verse 7).
• Empowering the lame man to stand up, enter places where he has been denied entry, and claim his rights as a dignified human being (verse 8).

The model of being with the most deprived and vulnerable of this earth in repentance and renewal—recognizing they alone can lead the way for a political re-ordering of the world as it exists today—makes it unique and Christian. Thus, Joining Hands stands out as a unique model of Christian witness in a pluralistic society where the market is considered the supreme regulator of life.

Rev. Thomas John
Companionship Facilitator for JHAH, India