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10/14/2002 Entry: "Rant"
A report of an anti-war protest in Central Park has made religious left watch think again about the protests against the World Trade Organisation in Seattle, drawing (I think) a rather bizarre comparison with the behaviour of the Nazis:
Now to the point: The protestors hate capitalism because they can't stand to see prosperity, and some are willing to commit acts of violence in order to fight it, forcing their way, economic totalitarianism, on others. The Nazis, being National Socialists, had similar motivation.No. In the first place, most of those who protest against globalisation and the activities of the multinational corporations do so entirely peacefully. Second, they do so, not because they hate prosperity, but because they hate injustice. rlw and many others talk of the jobs that such corporations bring to "third world" economies, and on the face of it this might seem like an attractive argument. But the motivations of such corporations are far from benevolent - keeping costs low by employing child labour, escaping responsibilities to protect the environment and using third world markets to dump products which are illegal and unwanted in the west.Some of you reading this will already have me pegged as a whingeing pinko liberal who doesn't understand the real world. So be it.But an economy which is controlled by the values of God's kingdom will not tolerate the exploitation of children. It doesn't matter how you dress it up, giving children a full day's work is exploitation. Nor will it tolerate methods of production which destroy the health of individuals and communities around the globe.Any system which regards people merely as a cost of production, to be kept as low as possible and then discarded, is not merely un-Christian it is anti-Christian. As always, I find John wesley has some helpful things to say on this subject. In his (much misunderstood) sermon "The Use of Money", JW writes of how a Christian ought to earn a living:
...gain all we can without hurting our neighbour. But this we may not, cannot do, if we love our neighbour as ourselves. We cannot, if we love everyone as ourselves, hurt anyone in his substance. We cannot devour the increase of his lands, and perhaps the lands and houses themselves, by gaming, by overgrown bills (whether on account of physic, or law, or anything else,) or by requiring or taking such interest as even the laws of our country forbid. Hereby all pawn-broking is excluded: Seeing, whatever good we might do thereby, all unprejudiced men see with grief to be abundantly overbalanced by the evil. And if it were otherwise, yet we are not allowed to "do evil that good may come." We cannot, consistent with brotherly love, sell our goods below the market price; we cannot study to ruin our neighbour's trade, in order to advance our own; much less can we entice away or receive any of his servants or workmen whom he has need of. None can gain by swallowing up his neighbour's substance, without gaining the damnation of hell![The full sermon is here. Or you could read my abridgement in modern English]Practices which are illegal in the "developed nations" should not be undertaken by our companies in the "undeveloped". Call me naive if you will, even unrealistic. But never pretend that the motivations of global capitalism have anything to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Replies:
Greetings Joel! When you say My motivation for blogging is to point out that religious people of both the left and the right have political opinions and we all have the right to express them I entirely agree.
I think your point about riding tigers is a good one, but might just as effectively be made about those who support the multinationals. They're the real hungry tigers, surely?Thanks for stopping by - and for giving me more material for a future blog entry! God bless.
Posted by Richard @ 10/17/2002 12:23 AM CST
Hi Richard, I am the author of the original RLW article. Thank you for expressing your opinion with reason and respect. I pledge to do likewise, and I respect your position as a clergyman in the Methodist church. I am a layman in the United Methodist Church.
I am not pretending "that the motivations of global capitalism have anything to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ" with my blog or my original post with which you dissent. My motivation for blogging is to point out that religious people of both the left and the right have political opinions and we all have the right to express them.
I am a capitalist and a Christian. I know people in my church who have less respect for capitalism than I do, and I do not doubt their faith. I do not doubt yours. There are some issues I just don't bring up when I'm sitting with them at the table.
I'd like to one of your points briefly, and have a more complete post on my blog later.
You state, "most of those who protest against globalisation ... do so entirely peacefully". You're undoubtably right if you go by the number of people; if everyone were as violent as the anarchists in the protestors' midst, Seattle would have effectively been destroyed. On the other hand, I'm not sure if you would be right if you counted the organizations which mobilized the protests and paid for them. Most protestors probably don't know who they are working for. A columnist for National Review compared well-meaning protestors to a person riding a tiger, who thinks he can control where the tiger goes and what he eats. I am not so sure that the tiger can be tamed, and people who ride this tiger may be in for an unpleasant surprise if the organizations they so actively support today attain political power tomorrow.
Let me close here. There's more I'd like to say, but it would probably be more suitable for the blog.
Posted by Joel Fuhrmann @ 10/17/2002 12:15 AM CST
You are right, no argument from me, either.
Posted by Swan @ 10/16/2002 05:32 PM CST
Not getting any argument from anyone! Drat. Where is this right wing the blogosphere is so famous for...
Posted by Richard @ 10/16/2002 10:28 AM CST
Not getting any argument from me.Blog on!
Posted by Bene Diction @ 10/16/2002 02:07 AM CST
Hear, hear.
Posted by Wood @ 10/15/2002 08:31 AM CST
