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From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

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FROM POVERTY TO POWERJain: ‘A man should treat all creatures in the world as he himselfwould like <strong>to</strong> be treated.’(Wisdom of the Living Religions, #69 – I:II:33)Taoism: ‘Regard your neighbour’s gains as your own gain andyour neighbour’s loss as your own loss.’(T’ai Shang Kan Ying P’ien)Zoroastrianism: ‘That nature alone is good which refrains fromdoing un<strong>to</strong> another whatsoever is not good for itself.’(Dadistan-i-dinik 94-5)Besides framing attitudes, beliefs, and personal behaviour, the impac<strong>to</strong>f religion crosses over in<strong>to</strong> the social world. Many faiths directlypromote active citizenship. Jubilee 2000, the debt campaign across40 countries that persuaded the rich credi<strong>to</strong>r nations <strong>to</strong> cancel billionsof dollars of debt owed by the world’s poorest countries, was based onthe biblical concept of the Jubilee – every fiftieth year – in which thoseenslaved because of debts are freed, lands lost because of debt arereturned, and community <strong>to</strong>rn by inequality is res<strong>to</strong>red. Many ofthe 70,000 Jubilee 2000 protes<strong>to</strong>rs that ringed the G8 meeting inBirmingham, UK in 1998 and forced debt on<strong>to</strong> the agenda wereconventional church-goers who saw a direct relationship between thedebt issue and scriptural calls for social justice.In Southern Africa, many of the powerful and charismatic womenwho typically run community projects helping those living with HIVor orphaned by AIDS are active church-goers and draw on their faithfor inspiration and energy in what is often an exhausting and thanklesstask. Across Latin America, radical Catholics have made a ‘preferentialoption for the poor’, leading movements against oppressive governments.This prompted one no<strong>to</strong>rious right-wing death squad inEl Salvador <strong>to</strong> print bumper stickers urging its followers <strong>to</strong> ‘be a patriot,kill a priest’. The killers went even further, assassinating San Salvador’sArchbishop Romero in 1980 because of his public stand against militaryrepression. In Iran, Muslim clerics led the popular insurrectionagainst the Shah and his no<strong>to</strong>rious secret police in 1979.38

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