JAC Online

Salt & Light:  Reforming Society
by Wilma Gallet

 Reforming  Society in Australia in the 21^st Century - How can we be salt and light?

MATTHEW 5:13 – This is what Jesus taught as part of the Sermon on the Mount, often called his Manifesto

You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?  It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

IT’S ABOUT GLORIFYING GOD.

Reforming Society  - what does this mean for 21^st century Salvationists living in ‘so called’ affluent Australia.

Reform generally means to change, not revolutionise, it’s used, for any change thought to be positive.

A reform movement is a kind of social movement that aims to make gradual change in certain aspects of society to improve the system.

What do we as The Salvation Army say about our role as reformers - listen to this from the Connections  White Paper -

We are a people with an inherent passion to right injustice. We want The Salvation Army nationally, and for us locally to be stronger and more proactive in influencing positive change on issues of social justice. We want to be engaged in social reform.

We want The Salvation Army to be engaged with global social justice issues and to understand how we might impact these locally. Our greater desire however, is to bring positive influence for change to localised issues of social justice. We want to be consistent in our organisational messages and empowered locally to speak and to act in reforming society.

Before we look at the way in which The Salvation Army has been and can be involved in reforming society here in Australia, I want to have a look at the contrasts between Africa and Australia.

Specifically looking at  some of the things we have in common?

Where are there similarities and where are there differences.

Both continents had colonial beginnings but have developed quite differently

Africa as a continent was colonised by a number of European countries and as a result we see the influence of different European cultures and languages throughout Africa.

Australia on the other hand was colonised by Britain and we have developed a strong Anglo Saxon heritage. 

Colonisation in Africa has created division with many nation states and has had a destabilising effect on a number of ethnic groups that is still being felt in African politics.

Colonisation in Australia almost caused the cultural genocide of the Australia’s Indigenous people. 

The experience of Indigenous people since the arrival of Europeans in this country has not been good.  

In 1788 when The First Fleet of British convicts, soldiers and officials arrived the Aboriginal population was estimated at between 750,000 to one million.

In 1789 a smallpox epidemic wiped out at least half of Sydney's Aboriginal people.

Aboriginal people had no resistance to European diseases and even the common cold was fatal.

Today Indigenous Australians make up less than 2.5% of the population – around 500,000 people.

So the Aboriginal population has declined since the arrival of white people.

Africa experiences overwhelming poverty,

Australia on the other hand is a very affluent society – the politicians and financial experts tell us that we have been experiencing unprecedented growth and enjoying the prosperity generated through the mining boom. For the past 30 – 50 years or so this country has seen the growth of a market economics.

The market is the dominant paradigm and the market promotes competition and consumerism and it fuels materialism and individualism.

The progress narrative in the market model of human development suggests that the more you have the happier you’ll be.

We know that’s not true.

Clive Hamilton former head of the Australia Institute, has done some research in this area and has written a couple of books on the topic of materialism –

The Growth Fetish and Affluenza and more recently the Freedom Paradox.

His work concludes that even though we are generally wealthier and have more material possessions, we are not happier.

Escalating consumerism has a harmful effect on individuals, families and community.

There is

• an increase in depression,

• an increase in social anxiety disorder

• an increase in alcohol consumption and

• an increase medications taken for mental well being.

Despite our affluence there is a great poverty, in this country,

• in some instances it is economic poverty,

• but we also see poverty of relationships,

• poverty of community and

• poverty of hope.

So where can The Salvation Army be salt and light in our society?

Where are we most needed?

The answer is everywhere – the truth is in Australia today we see numerous injustices and social issues that we as Salvationists, passionate about advocacy and social action need to be engaged with.

There is the -

• Ever increasing gap between rich and poor

• Increasing reports of child abuse

• Binge drinking is on the increase

• Sexualisation of children

• Family breakdown

• Prevalence of Mental Health Issues - Depression is increasing with one in five people likely to suffer from depression.

• The drought has created a rural crisis with an increase in rural depression and suicide

• Increasing Homelessness particularly for families.

• Increasing exploitation of the weak and the powerless

• The gap in life expectancy between Indigenous Australians and the rest of Australian society – 20 year

There are people in our community who are feeling marginalised either because of sickness, mental health issues or poverty.

The Salvation Army needs to be a voice for the voiceless

Proverbs 31: 8

Speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves.

For the rights of all who are destitute

Speak up and judge fairly

Defend the rights of the poor and the needy

If The Salvation Army is truly going to make a difference here in Australia our words and our deeds have to be synchronized.

Some of our best advocacy work and where we’ve really been able to influence government policy is where our practice has informed our advocacy.

I want to focus on 4 key social issues – to demonstrate some of the injustices, the poverty and alienation that people experience in Australia - where The Salvation Army is desperately needed and look at how TSA is being salt and light in these areas. 

Firstly I want to look at the Plight of the First Australians

Listen to how Aboriginals were viewed just on 100 years ago

FILM CLIP – The Apology

In 1909-The Aboriginal Protection Act introduced powers to move people away from towns and reserves and this led to the institutionalisation of Aboriginal people. 

We just heard what the Aboriginal travelling protector ‘James Isdell, (who had formed the view that Aboriginal women were "prostitutes at heart") ,wrote in official correspondence:

"The half-caste is intellectually above the aborigine, and it is the duty of the State that they be given a chance to lead a better and purer life than their brothers. I would not hesitate for one moment to separate any half-caste from its aboriginal mother, no matter how frantic her momentary grief may be at the time. They soon forget their offspring." ‘[1]

‘The Stolen Generation is the term used to describe those children of  Aboriginal descent who were forcibly removed from their families and sent to Missions -  to make sure they were assimilated into European society within one or two generations thereby destroying their aboriginality. 

The Bringing Them Home report published in 1997 discussed the issue of the Stolen Generations and ‘whilst some have argued that it wasn’t a whole generation and others have said that the children were not ‘stolen’  but removed in order to give them a better life.

Nevertheless, certain facts are undisputed:

• Thousands of Aboriginal children were forcibly taken from their families or their families were ‘tricked’ into giving them up.

• The policy was definitely aimed at  ‘breeding out’ Aboriginality, because only half and quarter caste children were taken.

      Fully Aboriginal half brothers or sisters in the same families were left   with their parents, while their lighter siblings were removed. If the policy       was really about giving Aboriginal children a better life, then all children            of an allegedly ‘bad mother’ would have been taken.

Whilst some gained opportunities, education and a materially better life, the vast majority went to missions, orphanages or children’s homes where they were poorly treated and suffered identity crises and mental anguish.

Many of the Aboriginal people who today are alcoholics, drug addicts, psychologically damaged or imprisoned were ‘stolen’ children, and continue to suffer the effects of the destruction of their identity, family life and culture.’[2]

This went on until 1969.

This is what European settlement did to the oldest civilisation on earth.

In 1997 – The Salvation Amy in Australia released a Statement of Reconciliation

This is what it states ( in part – for the full statement – see TSA web sites)

‘As this nation approaches the year 2001, we are given a most significant opportunity to move together in reconciliation with our original Australians.  It is time to repent of the past and nurture a new beginning.  Let us, therefore, open our heart and our hands to this purpose, seeking a unity before God in a spirit of true fellow-citizenship.

WE RECOGNISE:

1. That Australia's indigenous people have sustained grievous and unacceptable discrimination throughout these latter years of their vast history - as from the time of white settlement.

2. That the original inhabitants of this land have been denied the full extent of their birthright in terms of personal dignity, adequate health, and a place to "grow".

3. That the nation has not adequately addressed the issues which give rise to the custody of some aboriginal people, nor the full impact of such custody on those concerned.

4. That, all too often, good intention and integrity of purpose by Australian governments have been negated by a failure to acknowledge the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, to consult with them in the decision making processes, and to understand the cultures and customs which impact upon legislation passed "in their best interests". The separation of indigenous children from their families is a case in point.

It was on 12^th February 2008 that the Australian Parliament passed the Prime Minister’s Apology Motion.

Again TSA responded we said we welcomed the Federal Government’s apology to members of the Stolen Generations of Indigenous Australians and referred back to the  Statement of Reconciliation in 2000, where The Salvation Army pledged

"to listen to the voice of suffering, rejection, loss and despair, to acknowledge past failures, and to resolve to work together for the good of all Australians". ‘[3]

WE’RE STARTING TO LISTEN

The Salvation Army is also starting to engage with Indigenous communities across Australia and we’re involved in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Christian Alliance.

Proverbs 31 – 8 The Salvation Army speaking up for those who cannot speak up for themselves.

HOMELESSNESS

FILM CLIP – THE OASIS

The Oasis documentary was shown on the ABC on 10^th April 2008, it had an incredible impact in Australia.

Brian Burdekin the Human Rights Commissioner released his significant report in 1989 and the documentary No Body’s Children was shown on the ABC, Australia was shocked to discover that there were children sleeping on the streets.

The Salvation Army was an active participant in this process.

Almost 20 years later, The Salvation Army has again been at the forefront in highlighting the plight of homeless young people.

Major David Eldridge is the Chair of the National Youth Commission who conducted a year long major Inquiry into Youth Homelessness and their final report was launched on 8^th April this year (2008).

I was asked to write a piece on The Salvation Army response  to The Inquiry into Youth Homelessness.  I didn’t want to write a technical piece on homelessness, I wanted to write something that anyone could pick up and understand, an accessible document that explained the journey that young people experience, that showed the rawness of their experiences, the rejection they felt -  in this pain filled journey.

I talked to the young people, I listened to their stories, read their poetry, talked to the youth workers who travel on this journey – & wrote Finding My Place.

Finding My Place takes you through the journey of those young people who are most at risk, from the experience of family relationship breakdown to a life – a very scary life on the streets, where they are totally vulnerable, often exposed to drugs, violence, abuse and at the mercy of those who would exploit their vulnerability.

The Salvation Army operates over 180 programs supporting approximately 12,000 young people each year,  who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

We make over 35,000 contacts every year with young people through street outreach and drop in centres.

And tonight over 1000 young people will go to bed in a Salvation Army crisis accommodation refuge or transitional house, as they do every night of the year.

When THE OASIS documentary was shown on the ABC, Captain Paul Moulds and Major David Eldridge were invited to participate in a panel discussion with the Minister for Housing and because of our credibility and experience in working in  this area, the Minister listens.

She asked if she could host a screening of the film in the Parliamentary Theatre in Canberra and we went along together with a number of young people from OASIS and showed the film and spoke to members of parliament. Young homeless people got a chance to speak directly to government Ministers and tell their stories.

Proverbs 31.8 The Salvation Army speaking up for the rights of all who are destitute

This is what Captain Paul Moulds said about the overwhelming response to the OASIS documentary

‘So many people have stopped us on the street, emailed, rung, written and encouraged us. So many have indicated that their attitude has changed.

Even locals who misunderstood and opposed us are saying they now know what we are trying to achieve and do. I sense we have changed the nation: we certainly have helped change the lives of many individuals.’

SALVATIONISTS – CHANGING THE NATION AND REFORMING SOCIETY

MODERN DAY SLAVERY & HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Last year 2007, was the bicentenary of the passing of the William Wilberforce’s Bill for the Abolition of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade 25^th March 1807 and The Salvation Army partnered with World Vision Australian in the Stop the Traffik Campaign,  to highlight the issue of modern day slavery and human trafficking.  

Young Salvationists were actively involved in organizing Freedom Day Rally’s and events to bring the message of contemporary slavery to an unsuspecting public here in Australia.

During Wilberforce time there were 11 million people in slavery, 200 years after the abolition  of the trans Atlantic Slave trade, the UN estimates that there are 12 million people in slavery but according to Kevin Bales of Anti Slavery International there are 27 million men, women and children in contemporary slavery.  (more than the whole population of Australia).

Human Trafficking is an $8-12 billion industry.

Globally men women and children are trafficked across borders and end up in bonded labour, domestic servitude, sexual slavery or as child soldiers.

It’s also happening here in Australia, there is evidence that young women have been trafficked to Australia within the sex trade since the 1980’s,  but it’s only in the past few years that we’ve been prepared to acknowledge this. It was a campaign, not unlike the Maiden’s Tribute Campaign which brought

In 2001 a young Thai girl died in Sydney’s Villawood Detention Centre, she was a heroin addict and she had been picked up in an Immigration compliance raid in an illegal brothel in Surry Hills in Sydney, her name was Puong Tong Simaplee, she was 27 years old, withdrawing from heroin, in pain and very ill.

Over the next 24 hours she vomited and defecated into a bucket, she wasn’t given any medical attention and she died, she weighed only 38 kilos.

The Coronial Inquest into her death was held in 2003.   Project Respect and a human rights lawyer lobbied to get a place at the Coronial Inquest.

With the help of journalists Natalie O’Brien and Elizabeth Wynhausen, (journalists with The Australian newspaper) they brought the story to the attention of the Australian public.

Puong Tong Simaplee had been trafficked to Australia when she was 12 years old and forced into prostitution. The Australian newspaper ran a campaign highlighting the issue and eventually the Australian government was forced to recognize that women, no-one knows the exact number, but women are being trafficked to Australia primarily from South East Asia.

Traffickers systematically beat, rape and brutalise their victims, they withhold food, sometimes they use drugs, they take away their passports and tell the women that they must do prostitution to repay the debt bondage, sometimes up to $30,000 - $50,000, the cost they claim of bringing them to Australia. They are forced to see up to 600 clients a week, they are physically and psychologically imprisoned.

It is still happening, it is happening in cities all around Australia, the film THE JAMMED was released just last year and it depicts something of the horror that young women are experiencing right now, right here on our door step.

The Salvation Army has opened a safe house for victims of trafficking in Sydney and throughout this Territory we are looking at how we can provide a safe haven and support to the victims of trafficking.

Proverbs 31.8  This is The Salvation Army defending the rights of poor and the needy.

Young Salvationists have become very focused in their advocacy and action on the issue of modern day slavery.  Just Salvos, encourages us all to be conscious consumers and buy fair trade tea and coffee and slave free chocolate in an attempt to reform these industries.

SALVATIONISTS CHANGING THE NATION

HOPE FOR LIFE – SUICIDE PREVENTION AND POSTVENTION

FILM CLIP – FALLING TROUGH THE CRACKS

Bill Sweeten is a rural chaplain and he and many others like him are doing a wonderful job in supporting people in the midst of the rural crisis to cope with the financial and emotional pressures brought on them by the drought in this country.

Many of them, brought to the brink of suicide because of the sense of loss and hopelessness they are experiencing.

In Australia, there are approximately 2000 recorded deaths by suicide each year, that’s one person every 4 hours.

That’s equivalent to a commercial airliner full of Australian’s crashing every month with all lives lost and for every person who dies by suicide, research tells us there are at least 8 people who are seriously impacted by that death.

And people who experience the loss of a loved one through suicide, have a higher risk of suicide themselves.

People turn to suicide, not because they want to die, but because they want the pain to stop.

It’s through a sense of hopelessness and despair, often caused by a loss of some kind – that could be –

• Loss of a loved one

• Loss of a relationship

• Loss of finances

• Loss of health

• Loss of freedom.

People who lose a loved one to suicide, often experience a myriad of emotions ranging from grief, sadness, confusion, guilt, anger, resentment, abandonment, depression.

In the past 12 months, I’ve been working on a project to develop suicide prevention and bereavement support programs, we call it The Salvation Army Hope For Life.

Because HOPE is what they need most – The Hope that comes through knowing Jesus  and we believe that HOPE SAVES LIVES.

We’ve developed a range of training courses which are designed to give everyone in the community (you don’t have to be a qualified counselor) .

These programs will help you to build  the skills, knowledge and confidence to intervene to help people who may be at risk of suicide and in particular those who have been bereaved by suicide.

This is not entirely new work for The Army.

In fact in 1907, William Booth was asked to do something about the suicide epidemic that seemed to be sweeping through the UK and The Salvation Army opened the first Anti- Suicide Bureau in London and in that same year – 1907 anti suicide bureaus were opened in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney and Brisbane.

The Salvation Army meeting the need and now 100 years later, in 2007 that need still exists and we need all of you to join us bringing Hope to people at their darkest hour.

If you want to know more about these programs either email me or go to the web site

http://suicideprevention.salvos.org.au/

SALVATIONISTS CHANGING THE NATION

We want to reform society and rid society of Injustice.

These are just a few areas, amongst many areas of injustice where TSA is making a difference and reforming society.

These are areas where we want you to get involved. The Salvation Army is needed in all these areas of injustice

We must not lose our saltiness

This is what reforming society is about.

Local and Global

Changing one life at a time

Changing society

It was Ghandi who said – you must be the CHANGE you want to see in the world.

In conclusion I just want to take a few moments to look at the factors that contribute to injustice

Clearly there are structural issues –

• Poverty

• Lack of Opportunity

• Lack of education

• Lack of Resources

• Conflict

• Disease

• Inequality in trade relationships

• Corrupt governments and institutions

But what are the characteristics which feed some of these structural issues

I want to suggest that they can be encapsulated in these four motivators of injustice, Human behaviours which contribute to injustice, in fact I think these are the building blocks of INJUSTICE.

Firstly

FALSEHOOD – lies and deception, fuel injustice -  we see it in the area of human trafficking where people are deceived by the traffickers into believing that they will have a better life, if they go with them. They are enticed through lies and deception.  But we see lies and deception in all areas of life – in business, in government and in one on one relationships.

ENVY – built on selfishness -  wanting to have what the other has – we see it at a personal level – we also see it on a global scale. Envy breeds distrust. Envy is divisive and Envy is incredibly corrosive, it destroys individuals.

ENVY FUELS INJUSTICE.

ANGER – I was in the UK earlier this year – May, whilst I was there, a young man was killed in a knife attack. In fact London is experiencing an unprecedented number of youth knife attacks – 20 people have been killed in London in the past 6 months.  This particular young man’s name was Jimmy Mizen and he was killed at a baker's shop in  south-east London on 10^th May, one day after he had celebrated his 16th birthday.  

Jimmy’s mother, a Christian, spoke on television about her son – about her sense of loss about him as a person – his wit, his humour, his love of life and family.  She was a wonderful example of grace and forgiveness as she  spoke of the loss of her son and the compassion she felt for the mother of the young man who killed her son and she made a comment which has stayed with me.  Quietly, calmly and without malice she said

“We need to get rid of the anger in the world today, there is too much anger”

ANGER FEEDS INJUSTICE.

RAPACITY – or greed – our affluence – and our market economy sometimes drives our greed.

We want more, we want bigger and better, we are not satisfied, we don’t seem to understand when we have enough.

On the issue of youth violence in the UK - I read a quote from a headmaster of a senior school in the Guardian Newspaper  - He said : “We live in a greedy culture, we are rude to each other in the street." This culture among adults is, in part, contributing to the epidemic of knife and gun violence among teenagers”.

GREED FEEDS INJUSTICE

If you look at these at these four characteristics as I’ve expressed them -

Falsehood

Envy

Anger

Rapacity or Greed

They spell the word FEAR – and I think FEAR is often at the heart of INJUSTICE.

It is often  fear – fear of ‘the other’ which prevents us from reaching out to help a neighbour.

• Fear that we won’t know what to say, how to act.

• Fear that they are different from us.

• Fear that they might take away something that we have.

• Fear that they might impact on our standard of living – we don’t want to have a homeless refuge next door to our house, it might bring our property values down.

Fear is often exploited by politicians and they use this Fear of the Other in wedge politics to scapegoat certain groups in our society, whether it’s the unemployed, or single parents, homeless young people or asylum seekers, (remember they were called queue jumpers).

We’ve seen it here in Australia with the Tampa situation, and the children overboard story which was full of lies and deception and which fueled injustice.

Stories such as these amplify FEAR   and the antidote to fear is LOVE.

In 1 John 3 verse 17, we read – God is love - whoever lives in love, lives in God and God in him. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear.

If we are to Reform Society we need to rid ourselves personally and Corporately of  FEAR

We need to rid ourselves of

FALSEHOOD – lies and deception

ENVY

ANGER

GREED

And replace it with PURE, UNCONDITIONAL, UNCOMPROMISING LOVE.

This is how we will remain salt and light and be a powerful influence in reforming the society we live in.

Wilma Gallet

August 2008