Right now, I am sitting in a coffee shop. This is no ordinary Starbucks; this is a dyed-in-the-wool coffee roaster. From my vantage point, I can watch two casually-dressed, scruffy-faced fellows load coffee beans into a large roaster which slowly churns the beans as they cook. They then transfer them into bags which they label, seal, and box. One of the large burlap bags from which they take their beans is labeled in all caps "Product of Colombia." In a way, the bag has been staring at me for the last hour or so. It discomforts me.
When we were in Colombia, we were told the coffee there was terrible. Not being a coffee drinker myself, I took people's comments at face value. It was a shocking reality. Colombia's coffee reputation precedes itself as being a prime locale from which coffee derives. Even I knew that. Juan Valdez hails from Colombia, and it only seemed natural that, in country, the coffee would be superb. It isn't, and there is one reason why.
I read on the plane back to the States that the U.S. is by far the world's largest coffee consumer. Based on no evidence whatsoever, I am going to go so far as to say that Seattle is, per capita, the greatest consumer of coffee in the U.S. Even if this is completely false, a lot of people drink a lot of coffee in Seattle. Now, more than a week after I left Colombia, I am facing a bag of quality Colombian coffee in one of the most coffee-saturated cities in the world. There is a major disconnect here.
The issue is no longer free trade versus fair trade. The issue is a society who thinks it is entitled to the wealth and resources of others. When the resources indigenous to a region become a scarcity, something has gone awry. Coffee consumption might be the best measure of this problem. For all its liberal rhetoric, Seattle leads the way in majority world exploitation or, at the very least, robbery. Herein lies the problem with the liberal agenda. It wants reform. This agenda looks at the current system with affirmation. Liberals then work to change the rhetoric and the people within the system. They redefine the family to include same-sex couples, they elect non-white leaders, they provide jobs for women, and demand a minimum wage. They do this in the name of the system's highest values and virtues, "equality", "freedom", and "opportunity". The system accepts their reforms, and it return, it provides them with what they want: abundant coffee, luxury condos, "green" cars, fair trade foods from around the globe, and the latest styles of textiles. In the end, they end up stealing coffee from Colombians as billions of people worldwide suffer for the sake of conscionable products.
In the end, the liberal agenda has been fighting the right battle on the wrong field. Since they accepted the basic tenants of the system, their reform has done little more than put a different face on the same monster. Meanwhile, they bow down to the monster in gratitude for its delivery of consumable goods. Life lived for the creation of a truly new world requires one rejects the system, seeks to deconstruct it, and rebuilds within its ruins. The new way of being pays no homage to the imperial monsters of neo-liberalism and capitalism. Instead, it embraces diversity without demanding satiation. It looks not beyond its own limited reach, and it is content with what it produces. This is resistance at its greatest pinnacle: when it becomes very, very small. It is time to reject this economic system outright, even if it costs us the benefits of good tasting coffee.
Agnus Dei
How G-d rules the world!
Showing posts with label Capitalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Capitalism. Show all posts
01 June 2010
Back From Colombia
Hello. I am back from Colombia and other travels. This is my first post about the experience, and I will be only discussing how the trip changed me but not why.
First, I went with Christian Peacemaker Teams, but very little of it was "Christian" in the narrowly defined Western view of Christianity. We recognized our Christianity as a unifying subject but not a driving object. I left feeling spiritually suffocated and dry. Ironically, as difficult as this was, I appreciated it immensely. It reoriented my faith away from an ecclesio-centrism toward resistance-centered spirituality. It reminded me of my favorite verses in the Bible from Amos 5.21-24
I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain-offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
The time for praise songs is up. The time for justice has come. The economic system that at this very moment continues to consume the world is one of death, and Christians must rise to challenge it. If we do not, we become unfaithful. We affirm G-d with our lips and avoid G-d with our lives. Needless to say, it will be difficult to go to church and even more difficult to work for one which is a distinct possibility in the coming months.
I am now less concerned with doctrinal discrepancies. If people are willing to stand and resist the dehumanizing power of global capitalism, then they are not against us. I would say, in a sense, CPT made me more pluralist, but actually, it reoriented my objectiveness. No more do I accept a Christian faith that pays homage to the flag. That might sound harsh, but it is true. G-d hates flags.
I now have a longing desire to learn Spanish and perhaps more languages. I will be learning all I can about Latin America history and economics. Hopefully, in the next couple years I will go back to school. I am not sure what I will study, but my days of academic theology are almost over. Certainly, I appreciated my theological education. It will stick with me forever. The skills I learned were invaluable, but the time has come to invest myself in something with which I am able to reach out beyond abstract statements concerning G-d. Besides, my theological education may come best from the dirt rather than from the school built on it.
Finally, my new goal is deconstruction. The government must be taken apart. Neo-liberalism must be undone. The systems and structures that support death must pass away. In that rubble, up will rise the true Church. The people who say no to death and yes to resurrection. Certainly G-d will be on their side. I cannot wait. Peace!
-ben adam
First, I went with Christian Peacemaker Teams, but very little of it was "Christian" in the narrowly defined Western view of Christianity. We recognized our Christianity as a unifying subject but not a driving object. I left feeling spiritually suffocated and dry. Ironically, as difficult as this was, I appreciated it immensely. It reoriented my faith away from an ecclesio-centrism toward resistance-centered spirituality. It reminded me of my favorite verses in the Bible from Amos 5.21-24
I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain-offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
The time for praise songs is up. The time for justice has come. The economic system that at this very moment continues to consume the world is one of death, and Christians must rise to challenge it. If we do not, we become unfaithful. We affirm G-d with our lips and avoid G-d with our lives. Needless to say, it will be difficult to go to church and even more difficult to work for one which is a distinct possibility in the coming months.
I am now less concerned with doctrinal discrepancies. If people are willing to stand and resist the dehumanizing power of global capitalism, then they are not against us. I would say, in a sense, CPT made me more pluralist, but actually, it reoriented my objectiveness. No more do I accept a Christian faith that pays homage to the flag. That might sound harsh, but it is true. G-d hates flags.
I now have a longing desire to learn Spanish and perhaps more languages. I will be learning all I can about Latin America history and economics. Hopefully, in the next couple years I will go back to school. I am not sure what I will study, but my days of academic theology are almost over. Certainly, I appreciated my theological education. It will stick with me forever. The skills I learned were invaluable, but the time has come to invest myself in something with which I am able to reach out beyond abstract statements concerning G-d. Besides, my theological education may come best from the dirt rather than from the school built on it.
Finally, my new goal is deconstruction. The government must be taken apart. Neo-liberalism must be undone. The systems and structures that support death must pass away. In that rubble, up will rise the true Church. The people who say no to death and yes to resurrection. Certainly G-d will be on their side. I cannot wait. Peace!
-ben adam
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)