TeachingRE Issue 4.pdf - the Second Level Support Service

audacious claim that we had reached the end of history 7 .Highlighting the failures of socialism, Fukuyama says thatits weakness lay in over-recognition of what he refers toas “second and third generation rights, such as the rightto employment, housing or health care. The problemwith this over-concentration is that they are clearly notcompatible with other rights like those of property or freeeconomic exchange” (my Italics) 8 . And in measuring itssuccess, man is the ultimate yardstick. Women scarcelyget a mention notwithstanding what he pejorativelyregards as recent historical trends. His comments onfashions in history are particularly revealing.In the past couple of generations, for example, there hasbeen a movement away from diplomatic and militaryhistory toward social history, the history of women andminority groups, or the history of everyday life.The fact thatthe objects of historical attention have shifted from the richand powerful to those lower down the scale… 9And interestingly the first great clash (in the latest roundthat is) between the proponents of a neoliberal modelof globalisation and Catholic Church leaders was inNicaragua.The Cardenal brothers - both priests - wereto the fore in the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua inthe 1980s as were Father Miguel D’Escoto, appointedForeign Affairs Minister of Nicaragua in 1979 and FatherEdgard Parrales, Social Affairs Minister.They are among awhole generation of Catholic spokespersons, who havehelped transform South American politics by building analternative model of globalization to that of Friedmanand Fukuyama. And they were not alone. There werenumerous others who held similar views right acrossLatin America. Of course there were others too whowere pro-establishment. Those of you who have seenthe wonderful documentary film The revolution will notbe televised 10 will remember the archbishop sitting withmembers of the coup all drawn from the wealthyestablishment of Venezuelan society.However, in the case of Nicaragua, victory went to theReagan, Friedman and Fukuyama triumvirate. Theirmodel of unrestrained capitalism swept away theidealism and selflessness of the Sandinista revolutionleaving the leaders including the clergy that were somuch part of the struggle divided, dismayed and indisarray. And despite all the upheavals of the last year,where capitalism was on the brink of collapse, rumoursof its long-term decline have been greatly exaggerated.The current model of globalisation will remain. So toowill organised religion despite its own upheavals. But ifreligion is to have a role through its capacity to offermeaning, it must continue to actively challenge in thestreets as well as in the pulpit this monolithic structureof capitalistic globalisation in the highly secularisedpolitical arena. Otherwise we will just be left with hoardsof globalised images and we may never get back tosupporting the important work of breast-feeding.Fishing SenegalNotes1Aart Scholte, Jan Globalization a critical introduction. Macmillan Press London. 2000.2King, Peadar. Partners not Masters. KMF Productions. 2008.3http://www.realizingrights.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1064Department of Education and Science. Leaving Certificate Religious Education Syllabus.The Stationary Office 2003.5Transcript of interview with President Lugo for What in the World? 20096YouTube has a number of really good debates where Friedman outlines his thesis but one worth checking out is the debate between him and NaomiKlein on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2kTy7glZ9s7Fukuyama, Francis. (1992).The End of History and the Last Man. Penguin London.8Ibid, p. 439Ibid p. 7210Bartley, Kim and Donnacha O’Brian.The Revolution will not be televised. 2006.26 TEACHING RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ISSUE FOUR SEPTEMBER 2009