1999 Conference Speaker's Texts

 

The Jubilee from an Asian Woman's Perspective
By Sr. Mary John Mananzan, OSB

(A native of the Philippines, Mananzan is president of St. Scholastica's College in Manilla, founder of its Institute for Women's Studies, and co-founder of the Citizen's Alliance for Consumer Protection. With a Ph.D from the Gregorian University in Rome, she is executive secretary of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians, and has lectured in 25 countries on women's issues, feminist theology, consumer protection, Asian religion and spirituality. Her books include "Women Resisting Violence: Spirituality for Life" (1996) and "Woman Question in the Philippines" (1997.)

Introduction:

We find ourselves on the eve of the celebration of Jubilee 2000 of Christianity. First of all I am hoping that the celebration of Christianity 2000 will not just be a triumphalistic glorification of the Church but a real assessment of the impact of Christianity on human society, rejoicing over the positive but likewise acknowledging the failures and saying "mea culpa" for the real sins committed in the name of Christianity. In our celebration of the Jubilee it is important to remember the biblical origins of jubilee celebrations and reflect on them in the light of contemporary world situation so that we may be able to assess what Christianity has done to realize the jubilee vision and to discern what challenges it faces to bring this about in our times. This paper will limit itself to the situation of Asia as seen from the perspective of an Asian/Filipino woman.

Everyone knows more or less the scriptural background of the jubilee. But to have a common ground of discussion, let me give a brief explanation of the relevant biblical texts.

Leviticus 25: A Text of Hope

Leviticus 25 speaks of two important days of observance by Israel-the Sabbatical and the Jubilee Year. Yahweh enjoins Moses to tell the Israelites that when they have taken possession of the Promised Land they should reserve the seventh year as a time of rest for the land (Lev. 25:46). And on the seventh Sabbatical, the 50th year, a Jubilee year was to be announced by a trumpet (yobel-ram's horn). That year, all slaves had to be liberated, ail mortgaged fields and houses would return to their owners without payment for them (Lev. 25:8-13).

The Sabbatical legislation describes a series of concentric cycles-the seven-day cycle, the seven-year cycle, and the seven-times-seven-year cycle or Jubilee (R. Ruether, p. 22). In each of these cycles, not only the land but also the animals and humans are to rest and be renewed in increasingly intensive manner culminating in the Jubilee. This recalls God's own creative pattern of resting after the sixth day of creation. This seven-year cycle is likewise mentioned in Exodus 23: 10-11, with the added objective of the observance "so that the poor of your people may eat." Exodus 21:2 also talks about the setting free of Hebrew (male) slaves without debt in each sabbatical year.

In the 50th year, as it is the accumulation of the blessings of the previous seven sabbaticals, there shall be a profound renovation of relationships among human beings, animals, and land: "Keep holy the 50th year and proclaim freedom for all the inhabitants of the land" (Lev, 25: 10). Since humans are expected to fall again and again into unjust relationships, there shall be this periodic healing and restoring of just relationships.

This Jubilee year is echoed in Christ's own inaugural address in Luke 4:18-19, when the "Year of the Lord's favor" meant concretely "the release of captives, the preaching of the good news to the poor," etc. The petition of the Our Father to forgive debts also really meant the writing off of actual debts, and not the spiritualized remission of sins. And finally, there is the projection of the final renovation of relationships, the restoration of all things in the new heaven and the new earth (Isaiah 65:17-25, Revelations).

The Jubilee Year is a significant example of the concept of integral salvation of the HebrewChristian tradition, which is our own heritage. It is the experience that a God who is concerned and present to people had worked out with the chosen people a salvation that is total and concrete. Total because it concerned the whole person, body and soul, and not only the individual but all the people. Concrete because it meant liberation from concrete evils and the working out of a concrete blessing. Unfortunately, the hellenization of Christianity had altered the idea of salvation into "the salvation of the soul from sin, hell, and death in order to go to heaven." This concept is incomplete and abstract. It does not correspond to the original salvific experience of the Exodus or to the subsequent experiences of the people of God. The Jubilee Year is such an example of this concrete, liberating understanding of salvation.

What does this mean to an Asian woman reading the Jubilee text today-on the eve of the celebration of the Great Jubilee 2000 of Christianity? The Jubilee text just explained confronts the concrete evils of our time. Reading these passages offer a message of hope in relation to three of the most important concerns of women in Asia: the care of the earth, the liberation of modern slaves, and the alleviation of the debt crisis. But before tackling these specific issues, I think that it is important to confront the overall context of these issues, namely: GLOBALIZATION.

Jubilee in the Context of Globalization

It is very necessary to say exactly what we mean by globalization because there are so many things meant by this word. It can mean the worldwide development of technology that makes the world into the so-called global village. As such we have nothing against this development. Some people will take it to mean the networking going on internationally in all fields and if this is all what is meant we also have nothing against it because true international solidarity cannot but be positive. However when globalization is used primarily in an economic sense, this means the integration of the economies of the whole world to the liberal capitalist market economy that is controlled by the Group of Seven. Here is where we have to make a critical stand. I am sure you have read a lot about this so I will just concentrate on its essential features:

1. Borderless economy- It advocates the elimination of protective tariffs and give a free play to the market.

2. Import liberalization- This is a corollary of the borderless economy. Goods from all other countries can enter our country. This may seduce us as consumers to think that it is good because then we have many choices and the competition can put down the prices. But this will also kill local industries and when they are killed we will be dependent for our basic needs on other countries and this certainly will not ensure for example food security. This is not sustainable consumption.

3. Free play of the market- This advocates less control from the state and making the market forces the main criteria of activities. This will make profit and market demand the supreme values. Everything else will be sacrificed to these--consumers, labor, etc. This does away with social and ethical concerns.

4. Privatization- All productive enterprises will be put into private hands and in our case mostly foreign hands. This effectively entrenches the foreign control of our economy (Calabarzone controlled by Taiwanese, Lotto by Malaysians, texthes by Germans, etc. etc.) This will also put basic services such as energy, etc. into private hands which has profit as motive and therefore subsidies will have to be taken away and prices of basic services will soar.

5. Financial Capitalism- Actually today, there is not much productivity going on in our country. What is going on is financial speculation. So even production (construction) is done not to serve needs but for speculation. The only two productions are happening are textiles and electronics but these depend about for 80% of their components on imports!

6. Export-oriented, import dependent, foreign investment controlled and debt ridden economy. Globalization forces the economy to gear its production to export in order to have a balance of trade. In the case of the Philippines it has to depend on imports for the raw materials for its industry (electronics and textile-80% of raw materials imported) . It has to attract foreign investment . It keeps the country in indebtedness and imposes onerous conditions for debt payment negotiations.

The Impact of Globalization on Peoples

Globalization is really not a new phenomenon. It is the euphemistic term for what we have fought against for many years -the foreign control of our economy, in short economic imperialism. But the new word is seductive, because it promises so many things that would make a heaven on earth. And yet when we look at the actual consequences of globalization, it is just the opposite.

Just look at the crisis we are suffering in Asia.Just 2 or 3 years ago, Asian countries were supposed to be "tigers", "dragons" and "cubs". Now no Asian country, not even Japan is spared of currency crisis, stock market crisis, food crisis, energy crisis, employment crisis, etc. etc.

As Janet Bruin so aptly observes:

"Instead of spreading wealth around, 'globalization 'and current macro-economic polices in both North and South are concentrating wealth in fewer hands. Unemployment and the number of people living in poverty are increasing in many countries. Workers are being forced into low paying jobs and women are being forced into unsafe workplaces into the unprotected informal economy where social security and other benefits do not apply, or into prostitution, Children are forced to leave school for work in carpet factories, farms or in the streets to help support their families. And people are forced to leave their countries in search of paid labor elsewhere, provoking an international backlash against immigrants as economic and security threats. Both migration and anti immigrant xenophobia are expected to intensify as population pressures, unemployment, and economic disparities between countries become ever more acute. "(Bruin, 1996)

The Center for Women Resources study on GATT concludes:

"As our economy is oriented more and more towards producing "cash crops" and depending more and more on imports for basic staples such as rice and corn, sources of our daily food consumption becomes unstable, putting the very survival of the Filipinos at stake. "(Piglas Diwa, 1995)

So are we saying no one is benefiting from globalization? Of course not but the question is WHO BENEFITS FROM IT? The upper two percent who have capital and maybe it trickles down to the 10 percent who are used in the management of the enterprises. But basic sectors are not only excluded from the gains of the economic activities going under globalization, they are negatively affected by it. Homes of urban poor were violently demolished during the last APEC meeting hosted by the Philippines. Thousands of Filipino farmers have been dispersed and have lost the lands they till due to land conversions. Indigenous people are suffering the loss of their ancestral lands due to mining and the strip mining done has polluted their rivers and seas depriving them still of another source of living. And workers who are supposed to be the main beneficiary of industrialization are now suffering the loss of the security because of contractual labor practices.

Globalization has no respect for the uniqueness of peoples' culture. It has successfully macdonalized or cocalized the world. Urban youth culture is monoculture of discos, malls and jeans. Indigenous culture is exploited and bastardized for tourists. So the effect of globalization is not only on our economic life but also on our culture.

Although globalization has adverse effects on both men and women, there are particular effects on women because of the phenomenon we already know that has been called "feminization of poverty." In any class or race of oppressed groups, women are still the more oppressed.

If the Church truly shares the jubilee vision it has to confront the phenomenon of globalization which aggravates the problems of the poor and the excluded. Let me now focus on the three specific issues addressed by the jubilee text which are a direct outcome of Globalization. I will already also indicate signs of hope in the people's continuing resistance with regards to each issue.

Land and Ecological Concerns in Asia

Even before talking about the care of the land as stipulated in the Jubilee text, many people in Asia have to contend with landlessness. Colonial history has robbed the people of their ancestral lands. I really find it appalling that many people do not own even a small piece of lot in their own land while foreigners occupy thousands and thousands of hectares and even fence off beaches and other beautiful spots for their private enjoyment .

Globalization has made the picture worse. In the Philippines and in Asia, land conversion of fertile lands into golf courses and industrial complexes have reduced the land for the cultivation of staple food. Some cultivated lands are reserved for cash crops like asparagus and cut flowers. This does not only reduce lands for cultivation of staple food for local consumption but likewise causes adverse effects on soil fertility because of the massive use of fertilizers and pesticides for monocrops. The Philippines now import rice, whereas it used to provide sufficiently for itself in the past. Lack of subsidy and technological help to farmers render agriculture a non-sustainable activity and reduce farmers to continuous debts. The proliferation of prawn farms and fishing pens for growing prawns and fish for export has allotted marine resources, which form part of the peoples' daily fare for the export business.

Open pit mining has also destroyed the top soil of once-fertile fields, and polluted rivers with tailings from these mines. It has robbed indigenous people of their land and of their income generating activities such as small-scale traditional mining, which respects the ecological balance. The polluted rivers contaminate the irrigation systems they pass through. When these flow into the sea, the coral reefs and marine life are destroyed. The fish are driven into deep waters, depriving small fisherfolk of their livelihood, for big foreign trawlers (usually Japanese) are then the only ones capable of deep-sea fishing.

In 1992, in the small island of Ormoc, Leyte, Philippines, a six-minute flash flood killed 6,000 people. This was due to the depletion of the forests in the surrounding area. Responsible for the depletion of forests are the slash-and-burn agricultural method and indiscriminate logging usually done by foreign multinational corporations. The following report grimly describes the extent of the destruction of Philippine forests:

"Dr. Jun Revilla of the UP Los Banos College of Forestry reported in 1980 that the remaining wood wealth of the country, if cut down at a rate of 100, 000 hectares each year would last only until the year 2000. This estimate however was rather ....(some lines of text missing, ed.)..... gone, our hill forests are under attack, and our biological maintenance is breaking down. Under such conditions, [WEAP estimates] that Philippine forests have a life span of only ten years at the most." (Philippine Federation for Environmental Concern)

Modern Slavery

One form of modern slavery is the condition of workers. Globalization which was supposed to benefit workers have given rise to the so-called flexibilization or or contractualization of labor. Workers who have continually suffered terrible working conditions have now lost even their job security because of this recent practice. They are hired only for 3 months and are then fired or rehired for another three months. This contractual workers have no benefits and are not assured of permanency. In this situation union organizing is virtually impossible. Even worse is the condition of women in subcontracting practices and worst is the condition of child workers who are not only deprived of healthy growth and development but are terribly exploited and even suffer physical harm in work places.

The freeing of slaves prescribed during the Jubilee Year is something Asian women would wish for their enslaved sisters who are commodified in various ways in our modem society. Cities of Asia, from Bangkok to Manila, are favorite destinations of male tourists from all over the world. Suffering from dehumanizing poverty, Asian women are forced to sell their bodies in order to survive. They are truly slaves in the hands of their pimps or bar-owners. They get the smallest percentage of the money paid by their clients. They do not have vacations; in fact, they are fined for being absent. They suffer violence, not only from their pimps but from sadistic clients. They are sure to be infected at one time or another with sexually transmitted diseases. Some of them have died of AIDS or self-induced abortions.

Still more pathetic are the prostituted children, aged 7 to 14, who are systematically corrupted in the trade. Usually these children are unable to do what their customers want them to do unless they are on drugs. So the customers introduce them into drugs. Re longer they are in the trade, the more addicted they become. The time comes when their earnings can no longer support their addiction, so they resort to drug pushing. When they are arrested and put in jail they are launched into lives of criminality.

Women entertainers who are exported to Japan suffer worse fates, especially if they fall into the hands of the yakuza. Last year, Maricris Sioson, a pretty 20-year-old F ilipina, died in Japan. The cause of death was supposedly hepatitis B. But autopsy in the Philippines showed a hematoma on her head and a deep wound in her thigh, injuries that had nothing to do with the disease.

Another form of commodification of Asian women is the so-called mail-order brides. Capitalizing on the myth that Asian women are supposed to be meek, obedient, and subservient, agencies have arranged marriages for First World men with Asian women. These are women who wish to escape poverty. They think that going out of the country and marrying a foreigner will afford them a new lease in life. One cannot deny that there are some success stories, but the greater percentage of them are trapped into marriages full of conflicts and traumas.

Many of these women, not knowing the language, alien to the culture, and totally out place in the country they find themselves in, become recluses in their homes. When the marriage turns sour, escalating into violence, these women feel helpless. They don't feel they could go home as failures. Going home would also mean never seeing their children again, since they are usually given to the custody of the fathers. We have so far documented 13 cases of Filipino wives who have been killed by their husbands in Australia. A recent article in a Swiss newspaper relates of the fate of Filipino women marrying Swiss men. Most of them are virtually prisoners in their homes. Their husbands do not teach them the language so the wives do not mingle with people. The article also mentions cases of maltreatment and prostitution. It describes some women going insane or attempting to commit suicide.

Another form of women-trafficking is the practice of contract work, mostly as domestic help in all the capitals of the world. Most of these women are high school or even college graduates, but they work as domestics abroad because they need the money to help their families. They are also exploited and often maltreated. Many are raped by employers. Filipina maids were caught during the Gulf War, and many were raped in Kuwait

The Debt Crisis

One very clear injunction of the Jubilee text is the remission of debts. This is something that women of Asia are dreaming of for their debt-ridden nations. The Philippines, for example, has now close to $50 billion foreign debt. In the 1960s, the Philippines was second to Japan in manufacturing output; its foreign debt was only about $300 million. When there was an excess of Petro dollars, our officials were seduced by low interest rates to borrow under the condition that they lower the tariffs. This was done, killing our burgeoning industries. From then on, our debt steadily rose, especially in the time of Marcos, who borrowed money for dubious projects, including the Bataan nuclear plant, and for blood transfusions into the industrial ventures of his cronies.

The debt continued to rise during the Aquino and Ramos administrations. Every year, the government sets aside about 40 percent of its national budget to pay the interests of the debt. We all know that by now the repayment of the Third World countries has reached the point that there is more money going to the First World than money flowing to the Third World. As of 1993, the total debt of underdeveloped countries total $1.7 trillion but they have repaid $14 trillion in debt service. As somebody puts it, In the case of the Philippines , its foreign debt stood at $49.1 billion by the end of 1998 but it has paid over $63 billion. As someone remarked "It is like a blood transfusion from a sick person to a healthy one." For debt renegotiations under the structural adjustment program (SAP), the government has to sign an LOI (letter of intent), terms of which are dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The onerous terms include withdrawal of government subsidy for basic necessities like water and electricity, import liberalization, wage increase freeze, tax impositions, and budget cuts for social services, all of which result in greater suffering for the great majority of the people.

Although it affects everyone, the burden of debt affects poor women in a special way because of the traditional role of women as guarantor of family survival. Although some would proudly point to the fact that the woman holds the purse strings in the Filipino family, this is only a privilege if there is enough money. But to the 80 percent of poor women, this is an actual burden because it is their obligation to stretch the limited budget. They find themselves trying to augment the family income by adding to their already heavy burden of domestic chores. They engage in the so-called underground economy, sell items, wash clothes, and sometimes even resort to prostitution or other commodification of women. The cutbacks in social services, especially health, affects the woman because of her child-bearing and child-rearing roles, which demand more access to health care for herself and her children more than do roles assigned to men. As reductions in public spending are made and school fees increase, fewer girls get the opportunity for education because boys are given the choice of education when not every child could be sent to school.

During the natural calamities that visited the Philippines such as the earthquake of 1990, the Mt. Pinatubo volcanic eruption, and the Ormoc flood, the presidents were urged to declare a debt payment moratorium, for they had the moral right to do so. But neither Aquino nor Ramos heeded the call of the people. President Estrada, in spite of his rhetoric: "Erap para sa Mahihirap" (Erap for the poor) which won him the presidency continues commitment to debt-servicing.

Signs of Hope: Peoples' Resistance

What I have just described - the impact of Globalization on people , especially in relation to the Jubilee issues of land, debt and modern slavery constitutes a culture of death. It is encouraging to note that in the Third World (I am particularly speaking for Philippines/Asia) there are signs of hope emerging from the initiatives of peoples struggling against these forces of death. Let me give examples of these.

I. Militant Response

There are those who, in spite of great odds have not given up aspiring for bringing about an alternative vision of society , of alternative structures. These are the liberation movements and peoples' movements who feel that armed struggle is necessary to resist the present system and to bring about a radical change of societal structures.

2. Sectoral Responses/ Micro-enterprises

There are those who initiate alternative projects on a sectoral level which do not claim to be fundamental solutions but nevertheless give a glimpse of what alternative structures and relations could look like. These are important initiatives. Ducrow writes:

"Every person, household, neighborhood, group of friends, congregation, church, mission and charity organization, etc. has a certain freedom, a niche, to introduce life-serving financial and economic micro-alternatives. To make it quite clear from the beginning: small-scale alternatives are not the whole solution but a start, the humus, signs of the new vision. Yet as such they are highly important to break the taboo of the idolized system paralyzing the people by saying that there is no alternative." (Duchrow, God or Mammon:Economies in Conflict, 1996)

I would like to give examples of these varied responses to Globalization by various groups:

A. Women's Response

Women's organizations in Asia have awakened to the tremendously negative effects of globalization on the poor of the world. An example of such an organization is GABRIELA, a federation of about 200 women's organization in the Philippines with about 50,000 members founded in 1984. We can see from the strategies, campaigns and activities of the organization its committed struggle against the policies, projects of globalization in the country.

I. Organizing: GABRIELA puts a tremendous efforts in the organizing of grassroots women namely peasants, workers, and urban poor dwellers because it believes that only by organizing the women can they have the power to oppose the forces that oppress them. This effort also includes
the training of grassroots leaders. It is noteworthy that in public demonstrations, sectoral leaders are among the main speakers to denounce the effects of globalization on their particular sectors.

2. Mobilizations and Campaigns. - It is in this area that women's organizations give loud and concrete expression to their protest against different aspects of globalization. In April, 1994, The Ramos government hosted the Miss Universe Contest in Manila to kick-off the development of tourism under the Medium Term Plan of the Philippine Government. GABRIELA launched a series of education and information activities among the grassroots women and organized a demonstration on the opening day of the Ms. Universe event. In October of the same year, it called for a national day of protest against the signing of the GATT. In its annual celebration International Women's Day, GABRIELA mobilizes thousands of women to march to Malacanang Palace and the themes of these marches are against price hikes (1994) , the plight of Migrant Filipinas (1995) and the Denunciation of the Oppressive Labor Policies (1996) all of which have to do with the effects of globalization .

Women are well known for their creativity and sometimes dramatic ingenuity in their protest actions. We all know of the laudable gesture of the Indian women of the Chipko movement when they embraced the trees of the Himalayas to save them from being cut down by logging companies. In the Philippines, the protest action of the indigenous women of the Cordillera against the Chico River Dam has become legendary. When the protesting women were confronted by the military, at a signal from their leader, they took off their blouses, which startled the men and caused them to run away. A peasant movement in the Philippines, the AMIHAN launched a land occupation campaign where its women simply tilled an unoccupied land and planted and harvested food for their families.

3) Education: GABRIELA has an education desk that gives systematic education on current national issues to its members and to the public. Some modules are on globalization, SAP, GATT, foreign debt, price hikes, labor policies, APEC, etc. AMIHAN has launched international conferences for Asian peasant women on the Structural Adjustment Program. During the APEC summit held in the Philippines in November, 1996, GABRIELA sponsored a workshop on Globalization and Women attended by women from 7 countries.

4) Alternative Projects:

In this regard women organizations have pioneering projects. A woman's organization SAMAKANA , belonging to GABRIELA , has set up alternative day care centers and primary health care centers in urban poor communities. Small credit projects have been set up giving small loans to vendors. Small trading projects (buy and sell) run by women's unions have been established. An urban poor community in Iloilo has set up a successful business of banana cues which they are exporting to Switzerland. Because of the high cost of medicine, women have resorted to alternative healing . There has been a return to the traditional herbal medicines. Many herbal gardens have sprung up in the country and groups of women are engaged in selling herbal medicines, biodegradable soap, and some are engaged in acupuncture, acupressure, reflexology crystal-healing and pranic-healing.

The Peasant Women's Organization, AMIHAN, undertook a land occupation project in Mindoro where they planted on land that had not been in use for 20 years. They were able to sustain these for several years until the landlord and the military put a stop the project. This is attempted in many other parts of the Philippines with greater or lesser success.

Another alternative women's project is the alternative marketing initiated by the Okitama Women's Network in Japan with organic banana growers in Negros, Philippines. The project is assessed thus:

"These Japanese consumers are consciously paying for both healthy bananas and healthier community in Negros. Alternative marketing CAN work with consciousness raising efforts toward both producers and consumers. It provides an opportunity to grow, eat and create together. Alternative markets like this create people to people trade which can replace the present trade system which is having detrimental effects upon commun ities--both farmers and consumers. This is just one idea working to change the system beginning at the grassroots level. This example is a small effort but if everybody in the world starts this way-small-we can build many networks of alternative marketing which WITH and FOR people and their communities.' ( From a Report in a Rural Womens Workshop sponsored by ISIS, Manila, in Rome in 1996)

B. Response of Consumer Protection Groups

In the Philippines, the Citizens' Alliance for Consumer Protection, is one of the organizations of civil society that monitors the effects of globalization on the Filipino people. It has consistent educational efforts to enlighten the citizens about such topics as food security and food availability, the rice crisis, energy crisis, water crisis but most importantly it has disabused the minds of the people about the seductive promises of import liberalization regarding choice and cheaper prices of products. It has launched campaigns against oil price hikes, smoking, 'Link foods, banned drugs, baby food advertising. It has mobilized other consumer groups in the country around these issues.. Together with other NGO's in the Philippines it has joined nationwide general strikes that have succeeded in winning a rollback of oil price or of a restraining order from the Supreme Court against oil price hikes.

An example of a successful action by women consumers was regarding their electric bills. One of the conditions of the Structural Adjustment Fund is the removal of government subsidies for basic services such as electricity. Already suffering from the rise of their electric bills, women consumers noticed that this was aggravated by anomalies in their electric billing. So about a hundred women resolved to monitor their electric bills for a year and pinpointed unexplained raise in their bill . They prepared a well-documented presentation of their case using an overhead projector and they made an appointment with the President of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco). They won their case.

The Pacific Island Women's Consumer Education Resource Book likewise documents an alternative action to solve the growing dependence of the islanders on imported food, which was regarded as "the single most dramatic consumer problem identified in the Pacific Islands." The project is called the Supsup Garden and is described in the following:

"A creative solution to the complex problem of dependence on imported food is the Supsup Garden Supsup is Pidgin English for Soup. The recipe is simple: boil up any, vegetables available with what fish or meat you have on hand and you have a nutritious and tasty meal. The key is to cultivate your own garden. (p. 16)"

Several supsup gardens have been established in Honiara, Solomon Islands. These gardens use mixed cropping, recycling of waste, composting and use of natural methods of pest control. No pesticides or chemical fertilizers are used. In the center of each garden a kitchen is constructed where the soup is cooked. Many groups visit the gardens to learn flow to start their own. The writers of the Resource Book evaluate the supsup garden project thus:

"The supsup garden provides a simple, effective and practical solution to the problems of poor nutrition and dependence on an imported foods. In place of canned fish rice and salted beef people are encouraged to cut more fruit and vegetables. People can be taught to establish small gardens in difficult environments such as on coral atolls where "gardens in a bucket " using old tins or tyre casings are grown. The supsup garden is an important means of ensuring that nobody starves in paradise." (p. 17)

C. Sustainable Agriculture

Another alternative to Globalization is the cultivation of small sustainable bio-diverse farms. At present, globalization has reduced land area for food cultivation by turning them into golf courses, real estate or commercial complexes. And those that are cultivated are used for monoculture cash crops using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Farmers who till this land never rise from their poverty and indebted existence. A visit to one of the alternative bio-diverse farms gives hope to the possibility of families becoming self-sustaining

The farm we visited is a two and it half hectare land in a barrio in the province of Pangasinan in Northern Luzon. It is cultivated by a family and is named Geo-farm. Five years ago this land was a rice field, flat with hardly any trees. Now it is full of trees and planted with varied plants. Its objectives listed in its brochure include:

1. Natural Food Production- The farm applies bio-dynamic concept and organic approach featuring home gardening. agro-forestry agro-ecology and permanent culture.

2 Alternative/Renewable Energy-The farm runs with alternative power from biogas, solar and wind energy.

3. Total waste management- Human, animal and plant waste or transformed into bio-gas that runs the kitchen's refrigerator and some lights.

4. No pollution- in the farm there is no air pollution, no water pollution no soil pollution no social cultural or technological pollution.

5. Promotion of Health and Well-being- Through the use of herbal plans, and organic food, clean air and good relations, people living in the farm live in a healthy manner and in harmony with nature.

6 .Combat malnutrition- The farm has a spirulina culture which is an algae that has complete food nutrients in proper proportion and can be the answer to malnourishment and undernourished population.

7. Technology transfer- the farm provides seminars in which it shares the vision and the practice and skills of sustainable bio-diverse farming.

Since its beginnings in 1992. the farm has been v visited by hundreds of groups and thousands of people both in the Philippines and abroad and all by no takethe seminars are converted to healthy, nutritious food and some have even started their own bio-diverse farms. They have seen for themselves that the family has developed from food security to poverty alleviation and to 80% sustainability. It provides a possibility as a "termite strategy" to gradually undermine the false claims of globalization with regard to the provision of basic necessities.

D. The School as Agent of Social Transformation

When people today speak of Civil Society as a force to confront globalization, they don't usually include schools and yet schools when properly oriented can be one of the most effective agents of change. I give as an example, St. Scholastica's College, a school for women run by an all women administration in Manila. It has 6,500 students and three departments: Grade School, High School and College. German Benedictine nuns founded it in 1906. It soon became an elite school that educated the daughters of prominent Filipino Families. In 1975, confronted with poverty, injustice and oppression under Martial Law, the school launched a re-orientation of its vision towards Education for Justice. It revised its Curriculum, its methodology, and its policies according to this vision. In 1985, it added the gender perspective to its vision not only mainstreaming Women's Studies in its curriculum but it likewise established an Institute of Women's Studies that gives alternative courses for women and publishes women's books. Its social orientation has also adopted an ecological approach establishing an Institutional Project Team for Environmental Concerns (IPTEC) to ensure the continued awareness and practice of environmental conservation by the academic community.

This year, in the annual orientation talk of the College President, she announced the special focus of study of the whole academic community, namely : Globalization and its impact on the Filipino people. This topic is incorporated in the syllabi of the faculty, is the topic of convocations, symposia and fora, and is incorporated in the co-and extra Curricular activities of the different departments.

An example of an institutional activity is the Health Food Campaign, which has been launched. A Health Food Committee has initiated a series of lectures for all sectors : teachers, staff, maintenance, students, parents and canteen concessionaires. By the end of the campaign, healthy food preparation will be expected of the canteen concessionaires and all junk foods and soft drinks will be removed from the school canteen.

The Institute of Women's Studies has acquired a one hectare lot which is being developed into a bio-diverse firm and which will be the home of the Women and Ecology Wholeness Center . It will feature, besides sustainable and organic farming, holistic healing and eco-feminist spirituality. It will also provide organically raised vegetables to the Geo-Garden cafe, which the College is opening. This will be the official practice house of the Hotel and Restaurant Department of the College. It is a unique kind of cafe, which will offer only healthy foods and alternative entertainment such as chamber music , indigenous music and alternative cinema. In its own little way this is an alternative to the globalized Coke and Macdonald culture.

A significant involvement of the students of the college is in the struggle of Hacienda Looc, an 8,650. 78 hectares of beautiful land in Nasugbu Batangas, home of 10,000 farmers. The gist of the problem is

"Ten thousand peasant families are about to be displaced from their land, their rights as land reform beneficiaries forfeited as Fil-Estates Harbortown transforms their nature-endowed coastal villages into an exclusive playground the rich. When completed, Harbortown will include 4 golf courses a 5-star hotel, beach resorts, a marinana yacht anchorage and neighborhoods of luxurious homes.
Tension has begun to grip this once placid farming and fishing community, Fil- Estate's security guards have already killed two members of the local peasant organization. Of late, military troops came in the area in the guise of conducting training but which is believed by the local population as another attempt by Fil-Estate to sow terror and fear among them. "(From an unpublished Situationer on Hacienda Looc)

The involvement of the students of St. Scholastica's College began when four students majoring in Social Development Through Community Organizing made their required practicum in Hacienda Looc. They made a study of the situation. They lived with the farmers fora year and in the many meetings they had with the farmers, these resolved to fight the Fil-Estate. They staged pickets and rallies both in front of the Department of Agrarian reform and Fil-Estate offices in Manila. They called for a press conference and the Philippine Daily Inquirer assigned a special reporter to cover the whole process. When the Fil-Estate started bulldozing the place, human barricades were set Lip. When Fil-Estate cut down a tree, the women of the community went to the place and celebrated a ritual of atonement . Two of the students who have graduated continue to work in the area as volunteers of the Work-a-Year Program of the school. Due to the vigilance of the people, the Fil-Estate has not been able to continue with their "development" project in the place as of this writing.

E. Church Response

The Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT) made Globalization its main concern in its last General Assembly in December 1996 in Tagaytay , Philippines with its theme: Search For a New Just World Order: Challenges to Theology. And its Five Year Plan. it adopted for its theologizing, for the next five years the theme: Towards a Fullness of Life: Theology in the context of Globalization.

In all the national, continental and intercontinental meetings of EATWOT, the members are urged to continue the theological reflection began in the General Assembly.

In some theological reflections, EATWOT members see Globalization as a sort of "new religion". It has its God-profit and money. It has its high priests-GATT, WTO, IMF-WB. It has its doctrines and dogmas import liberalization, deregulation, etc. It has temples-the super mega malls. It has its victims on the altar of sacrifice--the majority excluded and marginalized poor of the world.

In the face of Globalization, EATWOT sees the need of a prophetic theology "that will critique prince and priest, market and mammon, multinationals and way merchants and all hegemony and till plunder of the poor. It will call in question the silence of religions and churches as children die of hunger in Iraq, in Orissa, due to imperialist polices of superpowers or of local magnates. It will call in question the centuries old oppress ion of women at home and in society. And it will seek to serve people's dreams and struggles for a beautiful tomorrow. " (General Assembly Statement, 1996)

The response is not only in the realm of theory. The churches are actively participating in a lively jubilee campaign which takes the occasion of the celebration of the jubilee of Christianity in the year 2000 to call for the concretization of the jubilee vision in our times. Groups are convening assemblies and conferences to discuss the matter. An example of a group that has gone into very concrete demands is that of the Major Religious Superiors of Men and Women (AMRSP.) Corresponding to the jubilee issues in Scripture the AMRSP formulated the following resolutions:

I. Re: Rest of the Earth- We commit ourselves to work against all that destroys the environment and prevent the attainment of the fullness of life: ( concrete action: reduction of use of' plastics and styrofoam lobby for the repeal of the Mining Act of 1995 and increase people's awareness of Genetic Modified organisms.)

2. Recall of Debt-We call for the cancellation of the debt or a substantial reduction of such debts of poor countries (concrete action: repeal of automatic appropriation for debt service, lobby for congressional inquiry on behest loans, to work in solidarity with other poor nations for global debt cancellation.)

3. Return of Land- Concrete action: To press for the granting of Certification of Land Ownership to at least 20% of land included in the land reform program; to work for the conversion of certificates of ancestral domain claims for indigenous peoples, to work for the declaration of the coconut levy as a public trust fund by the year 2000.

4. Release of the Slaves-We commit ourselves to work for the liberation of all victims of human rights violations specifically on political prisoners , internally displaced families and disadvantaged women and children. To work for the protection of the rights of workers especially Overseas Filipino workers and to sustain a forceful campaign against the Visiting Forces Agreement.

5. Recovery of the Feminine/Feminist Principle-To work for the equality of women, for the elimination of violence against women, and continue raising consciousness on women's issues and perspective.

CONCLUSION:

Globalization continues to seduce governments of developing countries to be integrated into its fold. Meanwhile the greater majority of the people of many countries both in developed and developing are suffering from its ill-effects. This should provide a more solid basis of international solidarity, since First World people are no longer just commiserating with the miseries of the Third World people but somehow experience the same negative effects of globalization even if not to the same degree. There is no blueprint for an alternative to globalization. The different efforts , different forms of resistance, and initiatives at alternative systems such as the ones described in this paper must be encouraged and shared and somehow coordinated. Out of these radial energies a tangential energy could somehow bring a quantum ]cap to something qualitatively new and bring about a fundamental societal transformation.

But for this to happen there must be a political will of the people to resist, So I would like to conclude with the Filipino Women's Manifesto declared by GABRIELA on October 28, 1985:

Our Nation is in crisis

WE. the women, know because we live the crisis everyday.

This crisis has exacerbated the specific forms of oppression that we have to contend with as women.

We are the housewives who can barely make ends meet because of the dwindling value of the peso and spiraling prices;

We are the consumers, victims of monopolies, price fixing, hoarding, and false advertising;

We are the mothers who grieve over the future of children we can neither clothe nor educate.

We are the mothers who desperately watch our children waste away because of hunger and disease.

We are the women workers who are the last to be hired and first to be fired and are now suffering from the loss of the security of our work because of flexibilization and contractualization of labor.

We are the peasant women who do not have access to basic social services, who do not have a voice in the decisions that our lives, and who bear the double burden of unpaid labor at home and in the fields.

We are the urban poor who live in extreme poverty, yet must defend our shanties and meager possessions against harassment and demolition.

We are the street demonstrators whose legitimate protests are met with water canons and truncheons, tear gas and bullets.

WE, WHO MAKE UP THE BULK OF THE SILENT MAJORITY, WILL NO LONGER BE SILENT. WE, WHO HAVE BEEN CALLED THE WEAKER SEX, WILL NO LONGER BE COWED. WE WHO HAVE BEEN RELEGATED TO THE HOME WILL NO LONGER BE CONFINED.

IN UNITY WE WILL RAISE OUR COLLECTIVE VOICES, WE WILL BUILD OUR POLITICAL STRENGTH.

At no time in history has there been more need for a Jubilee proclamation and the realization of the Jubilee vision as in our time. There is an urgent need to restore justice and harmony in human relationships at all levels and the relationship of human beings to the whole of creation. The continuing resistance of peoples' organizations against the forces of death in our society is a sign of hope. The Churches have the following options: to be obstacles to these efforts, to be bystanders and let history move without them. Or they could accompany the struggling peoples all the way on their journey to the New Jerusalem and together with them build a New Heaven and a New Earth.