BREAK THE CHAINS OF OPPRESION AND THE YOKE OF ...

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side of the poor and those deprived of their rights in order to be committed together
to a better justice. And because we believe that the earth was made by
God and was entrusted to humanity we are united in striving for the conservation
of creation on the basis of an ecological justice.
It seems to me noteworthy that we decided at a crucial point to begin with the
question of Human Rights. Commencing with the theological foundation outlined
we understand human dignity as a inalienable gift of God to every person,
regardless of sex, ethnic origin, skin colour, ability, religious affiliation or political
conviction. And from this God-given human dignity is then derived the validity
of human rights for every person. To human rights belong the General
Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, the International Agreement on civil and
political rights of 1966 and the International Agreement on economic, social
and cultural rights of the same year. The decision to begin with Human Rights is
important because it can surmount conscious or unintentional paternalism in
the relationships between rich and poor. The approach shows that the poor are
not the recipients of the compassionate contributions of the wealthy for which
the poor should be thankful; the poor have a right to political and economic justice
and a right to a decent life in which e.g. the right to sufficient healthy nourishment,
adequate accommodation, education and political participation becomes
a reality.
On this basis the ethical consequences of significant aspects of economic globalisation
are then developed. The concrete demands on politics and finance can be
sketched in outline as follows:
● The achievement and protection of the human rights of the poorest is the
criterion on which we judge politics and finance.
● Conservation �with �a just and � sustained development � � must take precedence
over the interests of profit.
● The primacy of politics over the globally-trading financial and economic
concerns must be recovered.
● Human dignity and justice demand the democratic participation of all in
the processes of decision which affect them.
● The financial and trade-markets do not need liberalization and deregulation
but legal rules which promote a humane and ecologically just development.
As might be expected the debate on “Empire” proved extremely difficult. For the
representatives of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa there could
be no joint document without reference to what was called “Empire” in the
“Confession of Accra”. Some representatives of the Reformed Church in Germany
would have preferred to relinquish the concept of “Empire” completely. It
became very clear to me: In the conflict over the concept of “Empire” different
experiences of globalisation clash. If I understood it correctly one can say: People
in the countries of the South experience themselves first and foremost as the victims
of neo-liberal economic globalisation. They experience exploitation and
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– The Joint Globalisation – Dialog on Basic Issues – 115