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March, 2004
by Clare Overlander
What is globalization? Whom does it serve? Whom does it hurt?
These questions and more will be hot topics during a three-day, New England-wide conference this spring. “Transforming Globalization through Community” will be a dynamic and interactive conference exploring the effects of globalization here in the U.S. and worldwide, particularly in the “two-thirds world” (formerly called the third world or underdeveloped countries). It will be held April 22-24 at Mont Marie Retreat Center in Holyoke.
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This biennial economic justice conference, sponsored by the six New England State Conferences of the United Church of Christ, is organized this year by the Jubilee Taskforce of the Commission on Mission and Justice of the Massachusetts Conference. It is open to the public.
Further questions to be answered include: What is Fair Trade? Have you ever bought “fair trade coffee?” Why should you bother? What is the effect of globalization on workers’ rights here and abroad? On people in the villages of Kenya? Would you like to be part of a mission trip to learn more for yourself?
The event features Dr. David Korten and Professor Richard Horsley as principal speakers, who will also interact with participants in panels and conversations throughout the conference.
David Korten, best known for his book, When Corporations Rule the World, is a leading thinker, speaker and writer on matters of economic and environmental justice. He was keynote speaker at the 2003 National Council of Churches Annual Meeting. Dr. Korten is currently the Chair of the People’s Development Forum and also serves as Chair of the Board of Yes! A Journal of Positive Futures, a quarterly magazine focusing on global issues and people-centered responses. Korten’s current work is focused on the articulation of a new story of the American Experiment, one which would critique the present “bottom line” criterion for policy making and offer a more humane and deeply spiritual one in its place.
Richard Horsley is Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Best known for his recent book, Jesus and Empire, he has published numerous works examining life in the Palestine of New Testament times and the role that the Imperial Roman occupation of that region played in the formation of New Testament texts. Professor Horsley’s work draws parallels to the American Empire of our time and raises important questions for persons of faith particularly, as well as for all U.S. Americans.
Guest preacher will be Dr. Edith Rasell, Minister for Labor Relations and Economic Development with the UCC Justice and Witness Ministry. Dr. Rasell has both a medical degree (she served for many years in low-income Native American communities) and a Ph.D. in economics. She was co-author of the General Synod XXIV pronouncement “Calling for a More Humane Form of Economic Globalization.”
This is the essential message of the conference, for as Stan Duncan, chair of the planning committee, says: “The church and other faith communities offer an alternative vision to the economic one. We need to learn how to bring the values we speak of inside the church outside and into the market place. If we truly believe in the Realm of God, we need to learn how to model it in our lifestyles and voting habits.”
The conference will include workshops, drama, interactive experiences and worship elaborating on the themes of globalization and the development of positive responses toward the mitigation of its negative effects, particularly through churches and other small communities.
“ This will not be just another intellectual exercise,” said Duncan. “We want people to come away from this experience knowing some of the ways that these huge international forces affect their lives and the lives of their neighbors around the world so that we can develop some ways to do something about them.”
A very important part of the Economic Justice Conference will be the sharing of ways in which we, as the Body of Christ, can take action. One church in the Massachusetts Conference which is already participating in transforming globalization through community is the Church of the Covenant in Boston. Contact Newell Hendricks at wnhen@aol.com to learn more.
— Clare Overlander is a member of this year’s planning team for the UCC New England Conference on Economic Justice, held every other year in a different New England state. Her church affiliation is with The First Churches, ABC and UCC of Northampton.