The above quote is from Archbishop Oscar Romero. It has recently become a bumper-sticker in the US for fans of steady-state economics.
Romero was a hero of the Central American Liberation Theology movement and someone I heard about as a child because my stepfather was a Liberation Theologian and writer and was active in Central and S America. It’s a branch of theology I can relate to. It’s about justice for the poor and is very political in its nature. Romero was assassinated in 1980 whilst giving mass. He was just too outspoken in his work for justice. He is an ‘unofficial’ saint and likely to be made an official one in time.
Romero and others were outspoken in what they wrote and said about dictatorships but also about both Marxism and Capitalism. They saw the failings of both systems. It’s interesting that since the 80’s the failure of state-capitalist-Marxism and neoliberal Capitalism has become well accepted.
Politicians from the left and the right are now fighting to argue the case for a new updated ‘capitalism with a conscience’. As Professor Tim Jackson says in Prosperity Without Growth “the banking crisis of 2008 redefined the boundaries between market and state.” There is an emerging consensus that the current mania for neoliberal free-market economic solutions is dead. Jeremy Paxman has announced ‘the end of capitalism’; Martin Wolf of the FT has said that “the dream of global free market capitalism is dead. Bank of England Chair Sir Mervyn King has agreed saying Wolf’s comment “strikes a cord.”
In January 2009 Tony Blair joined with President Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen and others for the ‘New World, New Capitalism’ symposium to debate the possibility of new blueprints for updated capitalism. Charlie Mayfield, Chairman of John Lewis has said recently “business leaders, policy makers, commentators and citizens have begun to reflect on what alternative types of capitalist structures might be more inclusive of all stakeholders, be more resilient in the long term and reduce the risk of future crises. And in March 2009, Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric and poster child of the ‘shareholder value’ movement, admitted that “shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world.”
In 1985 the Christian Church put out the Faith in the City report attacking Thatcher’s neoliberal policies – it was dismissed angrily by Norman Tebbit as ‘Marxism’. But are theologians and faith leaders of our time as outspoken as they could be on these issues?
Richard Reeves said in his 2003 pamphlet the Politics of Happiness (pdf) that “the voice of the world’s faiths are mere whispers in the storm” and that Rowan Williams “has yet to press home his deeper attack on the culture of consumption.” This was perhaps true in 2003. But it is perhaps less so now with the various faith leaders finding a voice on these issues and really helping to encourage a deeper debate about the values shift from consumer to citizen which we discuss in our book.
I was interested and heartened to hear the Bishop of London’s Xmas message this year berating our current fixation on economic growth and consumerism. John Sentamu had similar things to say here and Bishops Winchester, Manchester, Carlisle, Hulme and the Archbishop of Canterbury have all said things about hyper-borrowing, unregulated financial markets, monopolistic powers of multi-nationals, over-spending and hyper-consumerism. The Pope has also said similar things and a German churchman, meanwhile, has accused Deutsche Bank of “immorality” in insisting on a 25% return from equity deals.
Last week Archbishop Rowan Williams gave a wonderful speech about the environment and politics, warning against looking for a single solution to the complex environmental challenges which face us. “Instead of a desperate search to find the one great idea that will save us from ecological disaster, we are being invited to a transformation of individual and social goals that will bring us closer to the reality of interdependent life in a variegated world”. Dr Williams urges action at the personal and local, as well as at the national and international, levels. He acknowledges “the potential of the crisis to awaken a new confidence in local and civic democracy [and] … a new sense of what is politically possible for people who thought they were powerless”. “Our response to the crisis needs to be in the most basic sense, a reality check, a re‑acquaintance with the facts of our interdependence within the material world and a rediscovery of our responsibility for it”. “When we believe in transformation at the local and personal level, we are laying the surest foundations for change at the national and international level”.
It’s heartening to hear the world’s faith taking voice and pushing for political change. Whether you are one of the faithful or not, it is time we all aspire not to have more, but to be more.
