Bishop speaks about 'neoliberalism'
Raul Vera Lopez spoke to a crowd of about 200
as part of a symposium on the Cold War's legacy
BY AJBING GUO
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
The poor people in Latin America
deserve more respect and help than
they are getting today, and “profit”
should never be the sole goal a so
ciety pursues in the free market sys
tem, said Bishop Raul Vera Lopez of
Mexico, who delivered a keynote
speech Thursday.
Lbpez, whose speech was part of
the first day of the symposium
“Smoldering Ashes: Revisiting the
Legacy of the Cold War in Central
America,” told a crowd of about 200
in the EMU Ballroom that several
countries in Latin America adopted
a system known as “neoliberalism,”
which is based on a purely econom
ic conception of man. This system
considers profit and the law of the
market as its only parameters while
neglecting dignity and respect for
individuals, he said.
At times, this system has become
the ideological justification for cer
tain attitudes and behaviors in so
cial and political spheres, leading to
the neglect of the weaker members
of society, he said. In reality, the
poor in Latin America are more
numerous than ever and are
becoming victims of specific eco
nomic policies and structures that
are often unjust.
Lopez said he doesn’t think glob
alization is a good policy for social
justice in the world, especially in
Latin America. A few extremely rich
members of a society currently con
trol nearly all the profitable
industries in Latin America, he
said, while ordinary people have
nearly nothing.
“It’s not about good luck and bad
i-r
luck; it’s about the unjust social and
economic systems,” he said.
He said the globalized economy
must be analyzed in light of the
principles of social justice, adding
that it must respect the poor’s op
tions to work with dignity.
Citing his trips to Latin American
countries, Lopez said he found
some conditions are increasing
while others are decreasing. Among
those increasing are poverty rates,
working hours, river and air pollu
tion, drug use, violence and de
struction of natural resources.
Those decreasing include the mid
dle class, education, peace and se
curity, natural resources and most
importantly, hope.
To turn things around, he said
people’s right to work with dignity
should be guaranteed and that a
system or constitution embracing
social justice should be established
in Latin American countries.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks on the United States, a glob
al war on terrorism began; Lopez
said poverty is one of the motiva
tions driving terrorists. In order to
get rid of the problem, all countries
should also think about what they
could do to decrease poverty in the
developing world, he said.
In the hour-long speech, Lopez’s
passion and dedication to poverty
relief elicited a large applause from
the audience.
Graduate student Bob Reinhardt
said he was impressed by the
speech, especially Lopez’s passion
about poverty in Latin America.
“I really appreciate his focus on
the (economic) structure that caus
es problems, ... and he really did a
good job tying those problems to
Nicole Barker | Photographer
Bishop Raul Vera Lopez speaks in the EMU Ballroom on Thursday afternoon.
the situation that we have here
in the United States, like immigra
tion and terrorism,” he said. "It’s
very interesting.”
Megan DeBates, an environmen
tal studies major, said she is con
cerned more about the pollution is
sue Ldpez raised. She suggested
that University students could do
something such as refusing to pur
chase commodities from those
nations that are heavily polluted to
urge those governments to improve
their environment.
Father David Orique of St.
Thomas More Newman Center said
Lopez’s speech would help Univer
sity students better understand the
reality of people’s struggle in Latin
America and urge them to do what
ever they can to support poverty-al
leviating efforts.
I-'—
IN BRIEF
Kulongoski criticizes
roadless area policy
GRANTS PASS — Gov. Ted Ku
longoski believes the new Bush
administration policy that opens
1.2 million acres of roadless areas
in Oregon to potential logging
amounts to saddling the state with
work the U.S. Forest Service
should be doing itself.
The new roadless area policy
for national forests is an “unnec
essary distraction” from produc
ing a reliable stream of logs
for Oregon’s timber industry un
der the 1994 Northwest Forest
Plan, Mike Carrier, natural re
sources adviser to the governor,
said Thursday.
Roadless areas are large sections
of national forests where little or
no logging has occurred, originally
because their rugged terrain and
remote locations made logging un
economical and more recently be
cause scientists identified them as
more valuable for clean water and
fish and wildlife habitat.
The Bush administration Thurs
day adopted a new rule for road
less areas that opens for considera
tion 1.2 million acres in Oregon,
60 percent of the 2 million acres
that were off-limits under a 2001
Clinton administration rule.
Under the new rule, governors
have 18 months to tell the Forest
Service how they would like to see
roadless areas managed, but the
Forest Service retains the final say
under management plans for indi
vidual national forests.
“What they are really doing is
taking a federal responsibility
and imposing it on the governors
and imposing it at a time the
states are strained to find the ca
pacity to do the business of the
state,” Carrier said.
— The Associated Press
OXOK<»
Latin American Studies Symposium
Smoldering Ashes:
Revisiting the Legacy of the
Cold War in Central America
-COKOXOKOKOKOKOKOKOHOK
Friday, May 6
9 am—11 am Gerlinger Lounge
Human Rights in Central America:
Traditions of Solidarity and Resistance
David Orique (Newman Center, Eugene),
“Flames of Prophetic Religious Activism:
Legacies and Lessons”
James Loucky (Western Washington University),
“Sanctuary and Solidarity: A Retrospective
on the Central American Movement”
Robyn Braverman (Save the Children, Honduras),
“The End of the Cold War and its Effects on
Central American Children”
11 am—1 pm Gerlinger Lounge
From the Cold War
to the War on Terror:
Legacies and Challenges
Jane Cramer (University of Oregon),
“Blood on Our Hands:
U.S. Cold War Interventions”
Richard Kraus (University of Oregon),
“National Indigestion: US Foreign Policy
Tries the Human Rights Diet”
Greg Grandin (New York University),
“The Latin American Roots of the
Bush Doctrine and the New Imperialism”
3 pm—5 pm EMU Gumwood Room
Testimonio and the Politics
of Witnessing
Roberto Arroyo (University of Oregon),
“El Conccepto de Enemigo
en el Relato Testimonial”
Angelina Godoy (University of Washinton),
“Violence and Victims: Lynchings, Agency,
and the Legacies of War”
John Beverly (University of Pittsburgh),
“Torture, Testimony, and Truth”
5:30 pm EMU Ben Linder Room
Re-Dedication
Presentation of Award to Elisabeth Linder
Music by “Lo Nuestro;” poetry by Margaret
Randall; remarks by Daniel Goldrich; reception
7:00 pm EMU Ballroom
“We don’t
mean you ...
well, yes we do”
Margaret
Randall
Feminist writer
and activist
Keynote address
UW SUMMER QUARTER
NOT WHAT
YOU’D EXPECT
“Only UW students take
summer classes at the UW.”
The University of Washington
in Seattle welcomes all students
from other colleges in the
summer. And with over 2,000
summer courses, you’ll likely
catch whatever it is you happen
to be fishing for.
www.summer.washington.edu