PEACE IS MADE AMONG ALL

"How can we speak of peace while building formidable new weapons of war?

How can we speak of peace while justifying certain spurious actions with discourses of discrimination and hatred? ...

Peace is nothing more than a sound of words, if it is not grounded in truth, if it is not built in accordance with justice, if it is not vivified and completed by charity, and if it is not realized in freedom "

(Pope Francis, speech in Hiroshima, November 2019).

At the beginning of the year, Francis' words lead us to reflect on Christian people about our daily commitment to building peace in the world we live in and in our closest reality: Galicia.

It is true that we live in a privileged place in front of millions of people in the world. However, this apparent peace is flimsy and can break at any time.

Half of Galicians survive on public benefits: pensions and subsidies (Voice of Galicia 26-11-2019).

Recent events in Chile, one of the most prosperous countries in South America, warn of the fragility of societies called welfare.

The gender violence that was especially hard this year in our land, xenophobia, homophobia and the new hate speeches of some political group, even under the protection of the Christian religion, are signs that peace is far from stable.

WHAT CAN WE CONTRIBUTE?

In order to achieve a climate of peace, it is essential that all the members of a collective, of a people, join in the project of building peace around them. It is not easy to overcome conflict, harmonize conflicting interests, reform bodies lacking impartiality.

Fundamental is an education for peace from families and especially from school, where cases of bullying and mistreatment grow every year.

Educating children and boys in conflict resolution without hatred and without violence is a pending matter in education.

RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION

One of the causes of instability in many countries is the hyperconsumption in which it is

submerged much of the world. It is not only about the ecological damages of overproduction but about the impoverishment and enslavement of millions of people.

Behind the wars in Africa are great commercial interests, and of course, the sale and trafficking of arms. Spain is not alien to this situation. Neither does the UN, as 80% of arms sales come from the member countries of the United Nations Security Council.

World spending on armaments (2018) was the highest in the last 30 years (1,63 trillion euros).

Pope Francis has come to demand from the UN that the right to veto in the Security Council of the 5 powers disappear.

We therefore have to bet on responsible and sober consumption, eliminating the unnecessary, favoring ecological trade and sustainable energy. Only in this way will we stop the devastation of the planet and the violence that savage production generates in so many countries.

The recent Synod of the Amazon, held last October in Rome, called for new policies to defend threatened territories and their inhabitants.

From our faith in the Liberating Jesus we cannot stop fighting in this effort to save Creation.

2nd WORLD MARCH POLA PEZ AND NON-VIOLENCE

On October 2, 2019, the 2nd World March for Peace and Nonviolence began in Madrid, which seeks a global convergence of the efforts of the different communities and movements in favor of the following objectives:

• Support the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty and thus eliminate the possibility of a global catastrophe by allocating its resources to the needs of humanity.
• Eradicate hunger from the planet.
• Reform the UN to become a true World Council for Peace.
• Complete the Declaration of Human Rights with a Letter for Global Democracy.
• Activate a Plan of Measures against Supremacism and any discrimination based on race, nationality, sex or religion.
• Tackling climate change.
• Promote ACTIVE NOVIOLENCE so that dialogue and solidarity are the transforming forces against taxation and war.

As of today 80 countries signed in favor of the end of nuclear weapons, 33 ratified and 17 remain to be signed. The March ends in Madrid on March 8, 2020, on International Women's Day.

Now, each one has in their hands to join in this spirit of sanctity that runs throughout the world.

It is not enough to love God and not idolize, it is no longer enough not to kill, not steal or not bear false witness.

In recent months we have contemplated how violence broke out in so many parts of the world: Nicaragua, Bolivia, Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, Spain, France, Hong Kong ... Articulating paths of dialogue and pacification is an urgent task that it requires of all of us.

“In Nagasaki and in Hiroshima I was praying, I met some survivors and relatives of the victims and I reiterated the firm condemnation of nuclear weapons and the hypocrisy of talking about peace, building and selling weapons (…) There are Christian countries, European countries who speak of peace and then live by arms ”(Pope Francis)

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PEACE DOCUMENT 2019/20
Signed: Coordinator of Crentes Galeg @ s