Where Do We Stand?

by Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J.

Copyright © 1997 National Jesuit News
All rights reserved

An Introduction to and Commentary on: "Neoliberalism in Latin America" (A letter from Latin American Provincials to Jesuits and Colleagues in their countries) by Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J., senior fellow of Woodstock Theological Center’s North-South Dialogue Program, for the National Jesuit News.

Three cheers for the Latin American Jesuit Provincials! On November 14, 1996, all eighteen of them issued a five-page ethical reflection on the human problems that stem from neoliberalism. The letter expresses their deep concern that the values of neoliberalism, of unchecked economic adjustment and liberalization policies, spell disaster for the people of Latin America.

Their intention is to initiate a major collaborative project whose purpose is to help develop other democratic ways of modernizing their economies. They conclude with a detailed variety of tasks for all the communities and ministries of the Society in an unprecedented continental process of study, debate, and concerted action.

With the letter they also sent out a fifteen-page working document entitled, "Contributions to a Shared Reflection (an aid for study, discernment, and the community-based pursuit of courses of action)." It clarifies what they mean by neoliberalism:

Neoliberalism, as it is understood in Latin America, is a radical conception of capitalism that tends toward an absolutist view of the market, transforming it into the means, the method, and the end of all rational and intelligent human behavior.

The provincials are concerned that, if left unchecked, the policies derived from this conception of capitalism will continue to worsen the quality of life of the poor and cause untold hardship. They even threaten to destroy the moral foundations of Latin American societies and cultures.

This courageous message went out not only to Jesuits but "to everyone across the continent who participates in the Jesuit apostolic mission, and to all those who are concerned about and committed to the situation of the people, especially the poorest." The Society's provincial leaders wanted to encourage all those who are aware of the current situation of injustice, and to offer intellectual and moral support amid a "growing repudiation of the general direction of the economy that, far from improving the common good, is deepening the traditional causes of public discontent: inequality, misery, and corruption."

The contents of the letter follow a simple format. First they describe the current situation and they list neoliberal policies. Secondly they critique neoliberalism's ethical ideal and discuss what it means to be human. While the letter acknowledges the positive role of market-oriented policies and their rightful place in contributing to the common good, However, it points out the destructive and devastating effects that they have on entire populations. Thirdly they describe the kind of just society for which Christians hope and strive. Finally they list the many tasks that need to be undertaken. The working document goes into greater detail on each of these topics.

What moved these eighteen men to initiate such an enormous undertaking? Their reason was quite specific: to question the kind of thinking that gives legitimacy to neoliberal policies. "We are unwilling to accept with equanimity that the economic measures, applied in recent years in every Latin American and Caribbean country, constitute the only possible way to shape the economy, and that the impoverishment of millions of Latin Americans is the inevitable price of future growth."

They encourage a process of study, debate, and practical initiatives, the best way, they think, the Society could contribute to an intelligent search for alternatives among those who are committed to promoting justice for the poorest and the weakest members of society.

The letter emphasizes the need for a public policy strategy that is more reasonable and just than the existing one and that is international in scope. Consequently, its practical suggestions call for unified international strategy of solidarity that counters the strategy of neoliberalism. "We will seek, with many others, a national and Latin American community of solidarity, in which science, technology, and the markets are at the service of every person in our countries." In this way, they want "to contribute to the construction of a Latin American community among our countries."

Here they echo GC 34 ("Our Mission and Justice, " Par. 10): "Full human liberation, for the poor and for us all, lies in the development of communities of solidarity at the grass-roots and nongovernmental as well as the political level, where we can all work together toward total human development."

Furthermore, initiatives that confront neoliberal policies through communities of solidarity go beyond the life of neoliberalism. They promote the justice that stems from and deepens faith, "according to the changing needs of our peoples and cultures. . . . Men and women will always be threatened by the avarice of wealth, ambition for power, and the insatiable search for gratification. Today neoliberalism embodies this threat, tomorrow it will find other ideological manifestations, and new idols will emerge." The way to insure such continuity is that we remain "among our friends the poor, as our friend Jesus Christ did."

One can detect at least two significant developments in the thinking behind these documents. To achieve their purpose, first the provincials shifted from individual provincial action to international cooperation. Secondly they incorporated cultural analysis into their international ethical reflection.

The first development, embodied in their international strategy of solidarity, indicates that they realized the need to confront Latin America's basic human problems together. Unless people work together internationally and in a unified way, they can no longer confront their economic and ethical problems.

National boundaries can no longer mark the horizon of the Society's work in the way they have in the past. No single nation can meet the challenge alone, because with communications technology people now share information freely across national boundaries. We live in an open world in which societies are open and must cooperate if the human race is to survive. In a recent issue of Atlantic Monthly George Soros, a very wealthy business man, reflects this insight in an article entitled, "The Capitalist Threat." For Soros the neoliberal form of capitalism undermines the type of open society that the West has defended.

A second significant development is the incorporation of cultural analysis into ethical reflection. The letter reflects the same massive breakthrough the Society made in its document "Our Mission and Culture": "One of the most important contributions we can make to critical contemporary culture is to show that the structural injustice in the world is rooted in value systems promoted by a powerful modern culture which is becoming global in its impact." (GC 34, D.4, Par. 24)

Neoliberal policies produce injustices rooted in neoliberal value systems. Each Latin American and Caribbean culture now finds itself involved in a deadly encounter with the culture of neoliberal capitalism. As it becomes global, the culture of neoliberalism invades local cultures with a distorted notion of what being human and living together in our world means. It "defines the value of men and women exclusively by their capacity to generate monetary income."

To counter this distortion, the Latin American provincials are not content with solidarity among themselves. They envision collaboration with Canadian and United States Jesuits and colleagues. The working document explicitly refers to the hope for "a pan-American continental solidarity that allows us to dialogue with our North American colleagues in order to undertake joint studies and pursuits. . . . " It goes on to say that "the moment has come for Latin American Jesuits, united, to join with our brother Jesuits in the north, and to shoulder together common pursuits, in all their complexity, for the good of the human community of the American continents which we, as Church, serve."

How can Jesuits in the United States respond? The first step is easy: download the letter and document from the US Jesuit Conference web page! The next step is to be aware of some differences in terminology. For example, in the very first paragraph of the letter we encounter the term "political strategy." When the Latin Americans say that neoliberalism is a political strategy they mean what we call a "public policy strategy," not a conspiracy!

Next we can share the text with our lay colleagues and even talk about it with them. Then we can exchange questions and ideas with colleagues in the United States and Latin America through the NJN or the Internet. Moreover, all this could become an aid to the Bishops as they prepare for the Synod of the Americas scheduled for November 1997.

However, the documents trigger an urgent question. Independently of any direct interaction with our colleagues in Latin America, we face the challenge to reflect together ourselves on the global economy and its impact on peoples and cultures. Do we really agree with what the Latin American provincials are saying about neoliberalism? Or do we judge that the neoliberal brand of capitalism and its value system is the only possible way to shape the global economy?

Where do we stand?

See also: