Ecologisch eenzijdige benaderingen leiden tot vernietiging van het milieu en ontwrichten het leven van inheemse culturen. Dat beeld kwam naar voren tijdens een seminar in Yogyakarta, onder meer georganiseerd vanuit de Radboud Universiteit in Nijmegen.
De Radboud Universiteit (Instituut van Missionaire Studies) was een van de organisatoren, samen met de Duta Wacana christelijke universiteit in Yogyakarta en het Oecumenisch Instituut in Bossey van de Wereldraad. Het seminar vond plaats van 17 tot 20 augustus in Yogya en er waren zo’n dertig deelnemers; theologen van de deelnemende instellingen en verder vertegenwoordigers uit kerken van Indonesië, de Filippijnen en India.
Er werden casestudies besproken uit diverse landen, die steeds weer een zelfde beeld vertoonden van bedreiging van het ecosysteem die gepaard gaat met bedreiging van inheems cultureel leven. In verschillende sessies werd de spiritualiteit van inheemse volkeren vergeleken met die van het christelijk geloof. Frans Dokman, directeur uit Nijmegen, benadrukte de mogelijkheden voor de theologie om hier een rol te vervullen als mediator.
Aan het einde van de bijeenkomst werd een slotverklaring vastgesteld, die naar buiten is gebracht voor een iets breder publiek (zie hieronder). Daarin wordt ingegaan op de visie van inheemse volkeren, waarin de betekenis van de grond centraal staat als bron van leven. Die visie loopt parallel, zegt de verklaring, aan de rol van de Geest (‘ruah’) in de Hebreeuwse Bijbel. ‘De Geest was present in het begin van de schepping. Daarom kunnen we met de inheemse volkeren zeggen dat God al present was bij hen voordat de missionarissen naar deze gebieden kwamen. Ze waren nooit zonder de aanwezigheid van God. En God is tegenwoordig ook aanwezig, als we ‘de Heer bezingen als degene die het leven schenkt’, zoals het verwoord is in het lied Veni Creator Spiritus’, aldus de verklaring.
Gelet op de pijn en het lijden dat inheemse volkeren is aangedaan, zou een verontschuldiging op zijn plaats zijn, meent de slotverklaring.
Dr Marina Ngursangzeli Behera uit Bossey legde de link van het seminar naar het thema ‘pelgrimage van gerechtigheid en vrede’, waartoe de Wereldraad in 2013 in Busan heeft opgeroepen.
Hieronder volgt de slotverklaring die in het Engels is gesteld, en die de titel heeft: ‘Statement on Indigenous Ecological Spiritualties and Christian Faith’
24 August 2015
As we come to the close of our meeting on Indigenous Ecological Spiritualties and Christian Faith, we recall the process we have undergone in order to understand the pain and suffering of the indigenous peoples (IP) as well as to appreciate the gifts their spiritualities bring. We began each day prayerfully, invoking God for light and listening to God through the Scriptures. Only then did we begin our reflections. Coming from diverse cultural backgrounds and different traditions of Christianity, we reaffirmed the willingness to work together for justice and peace. Presentations by speakers were complimented by open fora and small group discussions.
Assessing the challenges to ethics and spirituality arising from the recently developed discipline of ecology, we set to listen with our hearts to the pain and suffering of those who are both the most vulnerable and the least culpable – the indigenous peoples. Again and again, in the different presentations, mention was made of the commodification of land and culture for the sake of profit which results in loss and devastation of land and destruction of ways of life. Rampant land grabbing and destruction of the environment in the guise of development and the ruining of a people’s culture pretending as the showcasing of their traditions are instances of this. We saw here the contestation between the IP’s view of land and culture as life lived relationally in a cosmic community and that of the Enlightenment-influenced globalization as primarily in the service of monetary gain. In this contrast we are rightly being made to choose the path to life. These indeed are soteriological issues at stake.
It has been pointed out that in opting for the IPs view that “land is life” is to highlight the life-giving work of the Spirit, “ruah” in the Hebrew Bible. She was present in the beginning of creation. Therefore, we can say with the IPs, that God was really present to them even before the missionaries came. They were never without the presence of God. And God is present today in our midst, as “the lord and giver of life,” as the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus sings.
With the intertwining of land and culture in the IP’s perspective, we saw the need to retrieve their basically positive spirituality within their culture that orients their way of life and that energizes them as a community. To this end we attempted to find the wisdom behind the practice of honouring ancestors and key concepts like “Khanko” among the Kuki people, “Tajahan” among the Ngaju Dayak, among others, while keeping in mind the ambiguities found in every culture.
We were also confronted with the challenges the youth are facing in Yogyakarta and how art and cultural interventions are being used to address them in a “praxis spirituality”.
While violent and peaceful solutions in order to preserve IP’s land have been tried with varying outcomes, the ways of education, strengthening communities’ identities, learning from their wisdom, seem to be promising. But only when they are respectful of the IP’s culture and operate with their cultural processes will they achieve their goals.
In response to the pain and suffering of the IPs, might not the consideration of asking an apology to them be a simple significant step to right the wrong we have done? After all, the theologies which had contributed to this woeful situation were the ones we held and propagated.
It is with deep humility that we have come together to say together with our indigenous sisters and brothers, “Land is precious and sacred; indigenous cultures and spiritualties are of inestimable value. We have to continue to believe. We have hope. We are together.”
This statement was issued at the Duta Wacana Christian University, 17-20 August 2015, at the seminar organized by the Faculty of Theology of the Duta Wacana Christian University, the Nijmegen Institute for Mission Studies and the World Council of Churches. It was attended by thirty people (church leaders, theologians, activists and staff of Christian organizations) coming from different parts of Indonesia (Java, Bali, Papua), from the Philippines and India, together with representatives from the organizing institutions.
Foto: Frans Dokman