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RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN RIGHTS
E-Newsletter
Vol.1 No.22
November 8, 1999
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Religious Perspectives on Human Rights is now available online at: http://www.rghr.net
Religious Perspectives on Human Rights is a weekly e-newsletter issued by Buddhist, Muslim, Catholic and Christian Groups on Human Rights, initiated by the Asian Human Rights Commission.
What makes Engaged Buddhism, Buddhist?
(Extracted from the article ‘Globalization
and the Human Spirit: Buddhism and Social Engagement in Thialnd’
by Paul Francis of the Institute for Development and
Management, University of Manchester)
Marketing co-operatives, micro-credit, holistic
farming, environmental protection, community forestry,
communication, public education, health care – all of these
activities are also promoted by NGOs, and even government. What
then is specifically 'Buddhist' about the initiatives described
here?
Status and ritual
First, the social and cultural characteristics
of the sangha and its relationship to the community give
the initiatives particular features. Although the prestige of
monks has declined in recent years, they retain considerable
status within their communities. In the case of development
monks, this standing is often enhanced by their evident integrity
and commitment. In contrast to government and NGO personnel,
monks very often live in or near the communities of their birth.
They speak the local language or dialect, and their involvement
is of a long-term nature.
A further, and superficially most striking,
characteristic of these initiatives is the widespread use of
local Buddhist ritual forms. Through them, elements of
traditional ceremonies are creatively recombined and invested
with new secular meanings in public performance. The various
ceremonies mentioned above tend to fall into one of two types
according to their principal function: the redistribution of
resources, and the sanctioning of collective agreements. In the
modified phaa paa ceremony, an example of the redistributive
type, the traditional method of obtaining merit by presenting
cloths and other requisites to the sangha is
transformed into a means of raising resources for community
activities, the poor or the sick. These ceremonies consist not
merely of a generalisation of the traditional flow of
material goods, but also by its simultaneous reversal - as
the goods are presented to them, the sangha passes them on
to the community or the needy, that is, back to the lay sphere.
This fact appears to invest the ceremony - whether the
establishment of a rice bank, a collective labour initiative, or
the donation of medicines for AIDS patients - with even more
power, sacralizing both recipient and giver.
The ritual pledge in which members of savings
groups in Luang Pho Nan's village undertake to decrease
unnecessary expenditures is an example of a type of rituals
marking sanctioned agreement. The most common application of this
type of ritual is to environmental protection, as in the 'tree
ordination' ceremony now widespread in Thailand, and the more
locally specific suebjata (life prolonging) ritual adopted
for river protection in Nan Province. Again, these ceremonies
creatively combine elements of the old and the new in a
performance which attaches traditional and mystical sanctions to
community agreements of essentially new and secular kinds. By
applying ritual procedures normally reserved for human beings to
natural objects, they have in common the 'humanisation' of nature
(and, in the case of ordination, its elevation to the highest
order of humanity). This, in turn has two effects. On the one
hand, it implies that the sanction for breaking these community
agreements (and no offence is more heinous than that of harming a
monk) will be both supernatural and severe. More generally,
however, it underlines the interdependence between humanity and
its environment, encouraging participants to think of nature as a
living, feeling, conscious entity rather than as an object
available for exploitation. As Prachak has expressed it:
'Many of us have heard the Buddha's
teachings and understood them here, in our minds - but
not on our hearts. It's the same with the environment. We
hear of its importance. The problem is that we persist in
talking as if there's a difference between the
environment and ourselves' (quoted in Sivaraksa 1996:62).
Points for comments and reflections:
- Can a portion of the gifts and donations
received by the temples and churches be given to the
needy?
- How about the wealth available to temples
and churches by way of lands, buildings, knowledge,
information, skills, etc., being shared with the
communities?
- please feel free to send us your
comments.
- CONGRATULATIONS TO TO Ms. ROSALINE Costa
Ms. Roseline Costa from Bangladesh,
quite well-known in Justice and Peace circles in Asia has
been selected for the Bishop Tji Hak-soon Justice and
Peace Award for the year 1999 sponsored by Tulbit –hoe
(‘light upon the field’) foundation in South
Korea.
It is a recognition of the enormous
work done by her in the field of Justice under very
trying circumstances. Fr. Timm and her have been doing
the pioneering work in justice and human rights both
within and outside the Church circles. She deserves to be
congratulated.
She has been a close ally of AHRC
working on a number of human rights related projects.
Their contribution both at the consultations and the
launching of the Asian Human Rights Charter has been
quite significant and in fact it was later translated
into Bengali by her. This we are certain will give a
moral boost to all who work under trying circumstances to
make the lives of the people more human.
ELECTIONS, VIOLENCE and the ROLE OF
THE Sri Lankan POLICE
By Mr. Basil Fernando
I Had the opportunity of reading the paper
prepared by Godfrey Gunathilaka on Political Violence, which is
not yet published as a paper. I would like to add a few aspects
which are missing in this paper.
The most traditional from of political violence
that is present in both Sinhala and Tamil societies is, caste.
Impact of this is so deep in the Sinhala psyche; still it does
not even try to deal with this issue. However, once you leave out
this issue, there can only be very superficial discussions on
political violence in Sri Lanka and superficial discussions do
not help to solve anything. In the Indian context, the movement
of Untouchables raised this issue and produced such leaders as
B.R. Ambedkar and Ramasamy Periar and many others. As a result,
movements were born to end the most cruel forms political
violence inherent in the Indian society. Ad hoc violence that
erupts from time to time at elections, insurrections cannot be
understood or fought against without going into the continuing
violence that has spread into every aspect of life.
Violence is also related to psychological
factors such as the extent of faith the people have of the state
agencies that deals with violence and social mechanisms that are
available for negotiations, for bringing down tension and to
retaliate peacefully against violence. The existence or
non-existence of an inner capacity to resist against violence,
political or otherwise, is the final guarantee against political
violence. There are many countries, which have built-in
mechanisms for sustaining a continuous resistance to political
violence. Among state agencies, the most important one is the
police. Without direct connivance of the police, no significant
political violence is possible. The analysis of the recent local
elections has shown this very clearly. Any serious attempt to
deal with political violence must address the role of police
either in creating or eliminating violence. A statement made by a
group of persons including some senior police officers on Police
Reforms in Sri Lanka, deals with this issue seriously and makes
some valuable suggestions. (Asian Human Rights SOLIDARITY, June
1999.). In Sri Lanka, talking about political violence without
talking about the role of he police makes the whole discussion
senseless. The countries, which have succeeded in reducing
political violence, have achieved it mainly through police
reforms.
Social factors relating to political violence
are community organizations and community arrangements in dealing
with conflicts. There are times, as it is now in Sri Lanka,
community organizations have suffered great set backs due to
intense forms of violence practiced in recent times. In fact,
even in the past, traditional forms of violence used in society
have been so deep, that communities in Sri Lanka lacked strong
traditions of dealing with political violence. Withdrawal rather
than involvement has been the social response. Both the
traditional Sinhala and Tamil social practices as well as
colonial practices have been so violent, people deeply fear any
involvement.
Other than the police, the main sources of
political violence are the political parties. The instances of
unorganized political violence are rare in Sri Lanka. The
increase in political violence since seventies in particular was
well planed and was considered necessary by the different
political groups. Some forms of violence are developed in
self-defense or retaliation. Besides, a culture of violence is
developed as the political culture of Sri Lanka.
Some intellectuals do not want to address these
issues. They want to advice people not be violent, as if it is
folk culture that creates political violence. For the middle
class intellectuals, people appear as ignorant, foolish and
violent. They know nothing of the wisdom of the ordinary people.
They do not believe that the people have their own ways of
dealing with violence and creating peace. If these natural
processes are dead or appear to be dead, the problem is really at
the top. If there are changes at the top, these natural processes
will rise again and people will intervene in their own ways to
deal political violence.
The Campaign against political violence should
not degenerate into something like the AMADYAMPA VIYAPARAYA, the
anti-liquor campaign. It became a joke among the people, due to
its lack of seriousness and superficiality.
At this stage of the election, AN ISLANDWIDE
MOVEMENT DIRECTED TOWARDS POLICE, CALLING FOR ITS IMPARTIALITY
AND EFFICIENCY, will ensure a less violent political situation in
these months leading to the elections and beyond.
NEWS BRIEFS and ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Indonesian Government decides to create a
Ministry of Human Rights. Quite a first and needs to be
congratulated
- AHRC launches a Human Rights School.
Lessons on selected topics are prepared for educational
purposes and can be made available on request either by
mail or e-mail.
- A Seminar on Fair Trial.
A six day seminar on Fair Trial is being
conducted by AHRC with the Participation
of 12 senior lawyers from 9 countries.
Posted on 1999-11-08
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