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NATIONALISM and/or GLOBALIZATION* A Continuing Call for People's Struggle By Bishop Erme R. Camba Greetings I bring you greetings from the Silliman University Divinity School (SUDS)and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP). I always welcome the honor of speaking to my esteemed colleagues in the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI). My affinity with many of your priests and bishops is traceable to our being comrades in the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship. Personally, I take pride to be associated with the only tangible organic result of the Philippine Revolution of 1898. I salute your Church for continuing to emulate the nationalistic fervor of the Filipino People against foreign invaders. I am happy that your Church and mine have signed a Covenant of Partnership. This Covenant sealed our close historical ties which was symbolized by the act of your former Obispo Maximo the late Isabelo de los Reyes conferring the title Honorary Bishop to a former General Secretary of our Church, the late Bishop Enrique Sobrepena. We look forward that in Gods own time (as the Covenant puts it), our churches may come to a full Concordat. Even now who would think that a Church of the catholic tradition and one of the reformed tradition are able to sign a Covenant of Partnership looking forward for a time when we are able to really be One Church. If Vatican II did happen I believe that in God's own time we may yet resolve our basic theological differences. I hope it can happen in my lifetime. So that I can also say, even in a late hour, I, too, belong to the real nationalist Church. Mabuhay ang mga pareng makabayan na nagsisilbi sa Masang Pilipino. Mabuhay ang NPO. Mabuhay ang Iglesia Filipina Independiente. Before I'm carried away emotionally, let me turn to my address. I titled this address: "Nationalism and/or Globalization?" with a question mark. The sub-title is "A Continuing Call for People's Struggle." The "end/or" and the question mark is intended, for I would like to raise the issues which have become very prominent nowadays, a question which you and I must endeavor to answer as a mission challenge today. I am not giving a definitive answer to the question. I am only offering you my notes. Your nationalist instinct may have the key. __________________
This is an updated version of a Keynote Address originally delivered to the Assembly of the Region VII, National Priests Organization (NPO) of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, held at Guihulgnan, Negros Oriental, June 2, 1997. The article retains the format of an address to a particular audience to provide the context. Bishop Erme R. Camba is Dean of the Silliman University Divinity School and CoChair of the Ecumenical Bishops Forum. A former General Secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Bishop Camba is currently the Chair of the UCCP Commission on Church Union and Unity (UCCP-CCUU).

Nationalism I met Dr. Ben Malayang, a former Undersecretary of Department of Environment and Natural Resources after he heard a speech on globalization delivered by former Vice President Prof. Liling Briones of the University of the Philippines and now Treasurer of the Philippines. Ben enthusiastically reported that Liling is correct. There is much talk about globalization today that the nationalistic concern is lost. Few people speak strongly or dare talk about nationalism nowadays. Certainly, this is true. Even the Churches are talking about globalization in such terms as Global Mission; Global Church; Global Ministries. The national leadership of our country have been so enamored with globalization that our continuing struggle for national sovereignty during the dark years of the Marcos Dictatorship is practically lost! In the previous Administration, there were glowing reports of the Ramos government that we have become the new tiger of Asia. Now we find that the tiger is really a cat which can only utter a very weak and timid "meow." Before we go further let us examine the historical struggle for national democracy. In an issue of the National Movement for Civil Liberties (NMCL) Newsletter some three years ago, Mrs.Letizia Constantino endeavored to define what the Filipinos who joined the Katipunan meant when they sacrificed their lives in the Philippine Revolution against Spain and fought the mighty United States in the Philippine American War. She said that to our revolutionary forbears, nationalism meant "the assertion of our people's right to sovereignty and Independence." Their assertion of kalayaan, katarungan and kapatiran speak of "their concept of nationalism as both anticolonial and democratic. The goal was political sovereignty or freedom from foreign control as prerequisite to the establishment of a just democratic society." It was the great nationalist, Claro M. Rector, who added the economic component for as he said "unless we as a people are free to chart our own economic life, political sovereignty will be meaningless and a just and democratic society will be unattainable." Recto defined nationalism as
a banner of freedom proclaiming the national interests of the people, to be promoted and safeguarded by themselves so that the wealth from God-given resources shall accrue to them and thus enable all our people to rise above poverty and march on to prosperity, contentment and dignity.

Mrs. Constantino summarizes: "Nationalists believe that we Filipinos will never enjoy prosperity and dignity until we ourselves take control of our political and economic life for our own benefit."

Globalization I assume that as priests of a Church who belongs historically to the Philippine Revolution you have internalized what the Katipunan and Recto talked about. What you and I need to understand is that what we call globalization today is none other done what the Katipunan and Recto fought: colonization by the imperialist powers. For globalization is contrary to our concept of nationalism. As students of history, we know, that the real objective of colonization in the past was to extract wealth from the colonized country through the exploitation of its natural and human resources. And the old colonization have always concealed its greedy motives: the Spanish said they came to Christianize us; the American said they came to civilized us; the Japanese said they came to share with us the benefits of their Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Today's globalization is no different from the past. As it exploits our natural and human resources, it hides behind words like: interdependence, a border-less world, a free world market, globalization. It seduces governments and peoples to believe that it will lead to democratization, open equal opportunities, give comparative advantages, technological advancement, efficiency and global access - in other words - progress and modernization. Modern Technology for Progress? When I was the General Secretary of the UCCP, it took one week for a telegram to reach Mindoro from Manila. Nowadays we seldom send telegrams. We send fax messages. You can send whole pages in a few seconds. But the fax has also been outmoded. With e-mail we can converse through the computer and it is even cheaper than fax. We used to communicate by landline telephones. Long distance calls were very expensive. Now almost every other person uses a mobile phone that can communicate worldwide. Of course, they have started using videophones where you can see the person you are talking with even in another part of the globe. Knowledge is power they say. Now through the internet you can access knowledge from anywhere in the globe. This is beneficial to all of us even in the church. You do not need to go to Harvard Divinity School, or Princeton or Yale or San Francisco. You can get all information you want through the internet: theology, biblical studies, ethics, even sermons. You can order books through the internet. Or just download the materials you need. That certainly is progress, isn't it?

Technology has invaded all aspects of life: communications, medicine, education, commerce, banking, business, politics. The Church has not been spared. Some of our UCCP local churches have computerized that when you apply for baptism, the secretary encodes all the information and after the baptism, out comes the Baptismal Certificate by just pressing a letter on the keyboard. Perhaps a time will come when the priests can just press the button and all records of a church member he does not care about is completely obliterated as if that member never existed. We are also talking about cloning, not computers, but live animals, and soon, persons! Issues are now raised on the ethics of tampering with the genes of the indigenous people. Modern technology is staggering to the mind. And globalization is bringing all of these to us with the promise of the benefits of progress. But is it really prograss? Globalization for Whom? Globalization as a process of restructuring and integrating the economies of various countries of the world into one global market results in massive labor mobility and dislocation; in the displacement and suffering of the peasants, the fisherfolk, the indigenous peoples; in the irreversible destruction of eco-systems; and the commodization of women and children and indigenous culture. Take the case of the six million Filipinos dispersed around the world, four million of them seeking immigrant status in various countries, especially in the North. One million are documented Overseas Filipino Workers and another one million undocumented illegal workers. A large majority of them are women. Most of them receive very low wages. Certainly, we have gone global. We are all over the world. But this has also brought about fragmentation of our families and the disintegration of our cultures. Have we indirectly helped the revival of slavery in the world in the name of globalization? Or take the case of the "Mining Act of 1995 (R.A. 7942)." I understand that Australia financed the UP study on Mining in the Philippines. That study was the raw material for R.A. 7942. Now Western Mining of Australia is reaping what they financed. They are prospecting all over the Philippines. Have we sold our national patrimony by offering up to 26% of our land area to foreign companies? In the process, we have become participants in the destruction of the beautiful Creation that God has endowed us Filipinos.

How true is the statement of the Ecumenical Bishops Forum when, during the meeting of APEC in Manila some four years ago, they said:
The world that came from the hand of a generous and loving God was one of beauty, abundance, freedom and peace. [But] today the beauty, abundance, freedom and peace seem to have been effaced from the earth: for in the place of verdant forests and majestic mountains are bald peaks and arid lands all because Australian, Canadian and American mining companies have been allowed to ravaged the forests and mountains in search of the minerals they need for their industrial development. Never mind if Filipinos lose nearly half of their land to these mining companies. for in the place of fertile fields of rice stalks heavy with grain are export processing zones, industrial complexes, and assembly plants all because liberalization has handed agricultural lands on a silver platter to transnational corporations. Never mind if Filipinos face food insecurity and eventually die of hunger. for in the place of self-sufficiency and contentment are homeless families, displaced peasants and indigenous peoples, laid off workers, exploited women, destitute youth and childrenall because government has joined the merry race toward NIC-hood. Never mind if most of the Filipino people see no meaning in life and find recourse in drugs, sexual perversion and violence.

How true indeed is the statement of Letizia Constantino that re-colonization come: "to extract wealth from the colonized country through the exploitation of natural and human resources." Be on the watch when they start stripping naked our Negros mountains by open pit mining. Be on the watch or else before your very eyes Negros will become another Toledo (Cebu) where the rivers are dry, the mountains are bald, and the sea is dead. Mono-Culture for the Citizens of the World We are told that we are citizens of the world. And so our education must conform to the bringing in of the new global culture. So aside from the exploitation of our lands, our minds and culture are also exploited. We are taught to appreciate the culture of modern technology and global economy. Education must emphasize science and technology and banking. Never mind the humanities. You will remember that CHED issued a Memorandum cutting social sciences courses from General Education in favor of natural sciences and technology.

The advancement of technology is creating a mono-culture of uncritical mass of hyper-consumerists, individualists, and robots, losing the sense of family and community spirit. For the heart of globalization is profit and more profit through the free-trade ideology propagated by the mega-conglomerates. An Old God With A New Face In my Opening Talk to the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in Brazil in November 1996, I warned the churches of old gods with new faces: the revival of slavery through the Overseas Contract Workers; the exploitation of natural resources in a more destructive way through technological advance, global industrialization and modernization in the guise of free access to world markets of cheaper and better products; cheap labor to fuel the machines of globalization in the name access to the world travels, people's development, transfer to technology and international democratization. We must understand that globalization is not faceless. For whoever owns technology and capital governs the world. We must, therefore, be knowledgeable with what and whom we struggle against. We must learn to be steep in our perception and analysis of the situation so that we are able to identify and struggle with the victims of the new or renewed gods. I do hope that all of us will give intense attention to socioeconomic and political analysis that can help us in our pastoral tasks. Let me just say that as ministers of the Gospel we must be critically aware of the new idolatry: the worship of the new god of globalization with its own promise of "abundant life" symbolized by the ever flowing industrial products displayed in the mega-malls; its own "high priests," the financiers, the super-executives and economic planners of the conglomerates; its own "theologians," the market economy ideologs; its own temples, the mega-malls, the industrial sweatshops and high rise modern offices and executive apartments; and its own "sacrifice" on the alter of consumerism and individualism: the poor of the land. Local Vs. Global A few years ago, a picked up in the Bangkok International Airport a 1994 edition of a book by the futurist John Naisbitt of the "Megatrends" fame. This book is interestingly titled: Global Paradox: The Bigger the World Economy the More Powerful its Smallest Players. Browsing over the content of the book, I found Naisbitt saying that countries and companies are "deconstructing into vital, smaller and smaller units." Hugh companies like IBM, Philips and GM must break up "to become confederations of small, autonomous, entrepreneurial companies if they are to survive."

The nation-state is dead, says Naisbitt, "not because they were subsumed by super-states, but because they are breaking up into smaller and efficient parts." A new tribalism has set in as people want self-rule and moving towards it. The revolution in telecommunications which help brought this about, "not only informs this tremendous move to democratic self-rule but also monitors and makes transparent the character and nature of the process [and] also allow and encourages extraordinary cooperation among people, companies and countries." Naisbitt says that the new mantra "Think Globally, Act Locally is turned on its head. It is now Think Locally, Act Globally; Think Tribally, Act Universally." It might be good for us to look at this so-called world phenomenon that Naisbitt is talking about. We might yet find an ally in our struggle against the mega-conglomerates who themselves are breaking up into small units but continues to be in a confederation in order to dominate world economy. Someone has said that under the Mining Act of 1995, the situation of mining is fait accompli. We cannot do anything about it anymore. But that is not at all true. The local people in San Juan, Batangas rallied against the setting up of the cement plant because of its destructive effect. They won their case. Perhaps that is the cement plant in that they planned to put up in Negros or was it the one in my home town in Albay where people continue to fight. It takes local people to "think tribally and act universally." The pollution caused by factories and mines is a universal issue. But its effect is immediately felt locally. So think first of yourselves, wherever you are. When you act locally, you are actually acting universally. When you go down to Dumaguete to get the sympathy of the people of Dumaguete, you are working for your own barangay and town that will be affected by the mine or the cement plant. But your action needs more than your local situation and people for what affects you affects other in Dumaguete and the Philippine as well. As the world economic and political powers, taking advantage of their dominant ownership of technology, work feverishly for the globalization of everything - from politics to economics to culture - even to the point of "deconstructing" into small units, no doubt for the same purpose of governing the lives of peoples everywhere, it would be refreshing for local people to give emphasis to the local situation as the context of their prophetic action. For the venue to the actual struggle is where the victims are, where people are directly affected. It is in these smaller communities that real community is built which counteract fragmentation. With all the general strategies the actual struggle are in the local places where people are bound together by common needs and aspirations.

Seen from a global perspective, nationalism binds a people together for the common good. Positively, respect of each other promotes unity in diversity among nations, with a goal for one humanity created by God. Indeed, we are called to emulate the dreams of the Katipunan and Recto as summarizes by Letizia Constantino: "we Filipinos will never enjoy prosperity and dignity until we ourselves take control of our political and economic life for our own benefit." My plea is that when you plan to work against the Mining Act do it locally. We must encourage our sisters and brothers similarly affected to do the same in their local situation. When all those local efforts become connected with each other it will be like the multi-national confederation. Only from our end, it is the universality of people's struggle against global imperialistic designs. This is the groundswell that will make the masters of this world tremble, the groundswell of the masses from the world, the people struggle to gain back "the beauty, abundance, freedom and peace" in God's Creation. Concluding Words Globalization is a world phenomenon that we cannot ignore. It uses the Godgiven technology for its benefits. With its claim for uniting the peoples of the world, it actually brings about fragmentation, disintegration, and un-peace. As a Christian Community who proclaims the reconciling love of God in Jesus Christ, we must offer an alternative model of globalization following the Christian Koinonia. To this end, it might be worth exploring the suggestion of the Filipino members of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT). In the face of the globalization god, these Filipino theologians propose that we promote the "values which nurture the community following the Trinitarian paradigm of a plurality in communion and a mutuality in relationship(to build) in a community of a plurality of peoples under a common humanity and to form right relationship with one another and with earth, a global community wider than the Churchwhere the positive meaning of globalization becomes concrete..., a community reflective of the Reign of God. (Luke 4:43)." Looking at globalization in the light of Trinitarian paradigm, it is proposed that "our mission is to re-appropriate the three dimension of the Trinity: its unity, its plurality, its relationship of mutuality." If the trinity is our model of mission and prophetic action "the mission today should have the corresponding threefold focus: (1) respect plurality, (2) build just relationship and (3) promote community." Under this Trinitarian paradigm, I offer to change the title and theme of this address from " Nationalism and/or Globalization" to Nationalism and Globalization" with the goal of respecting plurality; the building of just relationship among all creation; and the promotion of human community where justice and peace reign. Maraming Salamat po sa inyong imbitasyon at pakikinig. Mabuhay ang NPO. Mabuhay ang Iglesia Filipina Independiente. Mabuhay ang Sambayanang Pilipino.