Liberation Theology in the New International Context

New Themes and Challenges

by Pablo Richard

During the past two decades, liberation theologians in Latin America have demonstrated a remarkable capacity to interpret and illuminate the liberation struggles of the poor in their respective countries. Recent changes in the world have had a profound impact not only on these struggles, but on liberation theology as well. The following article was written by Pablo Richard after the conclusion of the Persian Gulf war. It was scheduled to appear in the next edition of "PASOS" in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Many people in the First World think that with the end of socialism in Eastern Europe, liberation theology has no future. The dominant powers in the West have proclaimed the final victory of capitalism over any socialist model and declared movements for liberation in the Third World to be irrelevant.
This triumphant attitude, however, is contradicted by the brutal reality of poverty and oppression experienced by the majority of humankind. The conditions in the Third World that gave birth to liberation theology have not changed. As long as the scandal of poverty and oppression exists, and as long as there are Christians who live and critically reflect on their faith in the context of the struggle for justice and life, liberation theology will continue to exist.

What is most important, however, is not the future of liberation theology, but the future of the poor and the commitment of Christians to the struggle for life and liberation. We "do" liberation theology because of our option for the poor and our commitment to keep alive the hope of the poor for life. But liberation theology will survive only if we analyze the current international context, and develop a theology which is faithful both to the original spirit and methodology of liberation theology and to the challenges of the future. We need to develop a theology which resists death and affirms life, and at the same time renews our faith in a God of the poor and a God of life.

Liberation theology was born out of the participation of the Christians in the liberation struggles of Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s, and matured as the Church began to reflect critically on their faith and their actions on behalf of social justice. The theme of liberation theology has always been the revelation of God to the poor as a lived experience which is celebrated in community and reflected on within the context of the liberation process.

While traditional theology used Western philosophy as a basis for reflection, liberation theology uses the critical and liberating perspectives of the social sciences--including elements of Marxism--to identify the root causes of oppression and to reflect critically on acting to overcome this oppression in society. Liberation theology has never attempted to set forth a new theology, but rather a new way of doing theology--from the perspective of the poor and their struggle for justice and for liberation.

Liberation Theology and Changes in the System of Domination
In view of the crisis of socialism in Eastern Europe, capitalism is now presented by the West as the only viable economic model for the rest of the world. Before, capitalism had to compete with socialism in the Third World; now it has no competitors.
Capitalism no longer needs to maintain a "human face" or to be concerned about the development of the Third World; instead, a ruthless, totalitarian capitalism has been imposed on the rest of the world. The "New World Order" provides the United States with the rationale for exercising its political, economic and military hegemony to ensure that capitalism is accepted by all. The Third World has no recourse but to submit.

In the 1960s and 1970s, when liberation theology first appeared, capitalism had embarked on "development" programs for poor countries. Latin Americans critiqued this developmental perspective with their own theory of dependency, on the grounds that capitalist growth actually increased dependency on foreign capital and technology, increasing the gap between the rich and the poor. This laid the groundwork for a theory of liberation and the practice of revolution in the Third World.
The Poor as "Excess Population"

Under contemporary capitalism, however, a very profound qualitative change has occurred in the lives of the poor and the oppressed. The affluent industrialized countries need the people of the Third World less each day. The First World needs the Third World's land to extract natural resources, to exploit tourism, and to dispose of toxic wastes. They may even need a limited number of people for cheap labor or as consumer markets. But the majority of the people of the Third World are considered "excess population."

To be exploited becomes to some degree a "privilege," since one is still part of the economic system. When the people of the Third World are excluded from contemporary capitalism, they lose all economic and political power. They cannot even exert pressure through strikes or boycotts because they are neither producers nor consumers.

Under contemporary capitalism, the powerful show little interest in the plight of this economic "underclass," whom they consider excess population, hence there is little or no funding for services like job training, housing, health care and education. The deterioration of life is total and affects every sphere: economic, social, cultural and religious. This excess population is regarded by those in power to be "trash" or "vermin," something to be eliminated.

In some countries (such as Colombia and Guatemala) there are death squads which during the night kill street children, vagrants, beggars, prostitutes, homosexuals, the unemployed and the homeless. In other countries (such as the Dominican Republic) the urban areas are "cleaned" of poor people by forcibly relocating these people to remote areas and discarding them like trash.

The poor are considered a breeding ground for epidemics such as cholera, leprosy, tuberculosis and AIDS. The death of the poor and the oppressed is usually a silent one, and those who are affected the most are children, young people and women--especially those of indigenous or African descent.

Death or Life: The Fundamental Contradiction of the 1990s

The dichotomy of "development" vs. "liberation" therefore no longer adequately describes the current context of contemporary capitalism. The Third World is no longer dependent in the way it was before; instead it simply doesn't exist for the First World. The great majority of the people of the Third World are left to a situation of total poverty, abandonment and death.
We are no longer a Third World but a "Non-World," the cursed world of those who are excluded and condemned to death. Capitalism has largely abandoned its developmental programs for the Third World, pushing reforms only in small sectors of the Third World and only when this is in the interest of the First World.

Today the fundamental contradiction is not development or liberation, but death or life. Capitalism is an option for death; it bestows riches on a few people by exacting the death of many. In the present world situation, the option for the liberation of the poor becomes an option for life.

In this context, liberation theology becomes a theology of life. Life becomes the basis for a new ethic, a new spirituality and a new theology--all of which are radically opposed to capitalism in the current world context.

Liberation Theology and Changes in the Liberation Struggle

In the last ten years liberation theology has expanded its concept of "the poor" and "the oppressed" to refer not only to economic condition, but also to race, culture and gender. The poor and the oppressed are not only those who are economically poor, but also people of indigenous or African descent; and women, especially Third World women who are doubly exploited--as poor people and as women.

Today we also speak about oppressed countries. The "Third World" (we use this term reluctantly, since we are not really a "third" world but the underdeveloped and exploited "two-thirds" of our world) includes not only the poor countries but also the poor of all countries, including the oppressed minorities in the First World.

The profound changes in the lives of the poor in the Third World radically challenge liberation theology in every way: its vision of the world, its commitment to liberation, its pastoral practice, and its ethics and spirituality. The preferential option for the poor requires us to commit ourselves to defend the lives of this condemned and excluded majority in the Third World which is currently experiencing an accelerated process of deterioration and disintegration.

The struggle for liberation involves not only the interpretation of reality, but also a commitment to its transformation. We are challenged to create a new society where no one is poor, oppressed or excluded, and everyone has life and dignity. Liberation theology does not reflect on an abstract or universal faith, but rather on a faith that is lived in the midst of struggling to transform society.

Popular Movements vs. Political Parties

We will not try to examine all the changes in the struggle for liberation in this new international context, but only two which challenge the practice of liberation theology and call for a creative response. The first deals with the emergence of popular movements, rather than political parties, as the primary means of struggle for social change; the second deals with a shift in the form of struggle, from a military confrontation to a social one.

Popular movements in the Third World today play a leading role in the liberation struggle. That does not mean, however, that political parties are no longer necessary. Political parties and State power continue to be very important. The State should play a decisive role in the development of civil society, in economic planning and in the protection of the environment. The State, when it is stripped of its repressive apparatus, can play a positive role on behalf of the common good, the poor and the excluded.

In the current international context, however, the political power of the State is being challenged by popular movements more than by political parties. Leftist parties have tried to take power, electorally or otherwise, but they have rarely developed a radical critique of political power nor endeavored to create a new kind of power rooted in the majority of the people. Popular movements, on the other hand, instead of trying to take political power directly, work to create a powerful social base which has the potential of creating a new society. The creation of a new, profoundly participatory power is a major contribution of popular movements.

From Military to Social Confrontation

A similar shift has occurred in the form of struggle in the Third World, as confrontation becomes less military and more social. The struggle for cultural, ethical and religious values which defend the lives of the poor is not an abstract or ideological struggle, however, but a real-life experience which takes place within the popular movements in the Third World. This struggle is an essential part of the struggle for life, and an integral part of the historic struggle for liberation.

There is a greater space for liberation theology to develop within popular movements than is possible within armed struggles. Likewise, liberation theology finds a privileged site for creativity and development in the cultural, ethical and religious struggles of the people. The current international context offers liberation theology a greater potential for growth and maturation and a challenge to consciously and critically respond to the urgent needs of the people.

Liberation theology has the potential to offer hope to the poor and the oppressed of the world. Its future, however, is inseparable from the future of all peoples on earth whose lives are threatened--and of the very earth itself. Ultimately, what is at stake is the life of the poor on earth.