9: Poverty and the Poor
The Salvation Army marked the new millennium with a gathering of 15,000 Salvationists in Atlanta, Georgia, under the title: The Army Next.The speaker who made the most impression on me was Dr Bernice King as she spoke about her father. She told us of his three priorities: racism, poverty and war. I think Martin Luther King was right ,in those pre-climate change and pandemic days, to identify those three as the most important challenges of our time.
Earlier I had been asked how we planned to mark the year 2000 in South Asia. With responsibility for social services in the National Secretariat, Joseph Vijay made the suggestion: review and redefine our relationship with the poor.
At the conclusion of the Atlanta gathering I walked to the Martin Luther King Memorial and there determined that I would propose and be willing to organise a conference on poverty.
I suggested the title The Salvation Army and Poor. The organising committee felt more comfortable with that as a subtitle to Our Global Family. With hindsight I can see that my suggestion was once again labelling people!
Even preparation and planning for the conference highlighted a few important issues. The first was that we are more interested in the experiences of the people we call poor, than in the socio-economic study of poverty.
Another was whether The Salvation Army should follow other churches in setting up independent bodies for social development and relief work, Christian Aid CAMA Services, Adventist Development and Relief Agency, for example.
Whilst international leadership was supportive of the venture, some colleagues seemed threatened at the thought of the separation. I suspected some of these fears related to the dependency the organisation has on its social, emergency relief and development work for its public image, and even financial stability, let alone its international integrity. I gave this undertaking as planning continued.
'I can see that this conference may well threaten the much cherished integrity of The Salvation Army. Even though there could be very good reasons for separating out our social and development work, I will support the holistic mission and administrative integrity of the Army.'
9/11 and the mass cancellation of delegates from some parts of the world meant the conference was held online with participation encouraged through the internet. Analysis and reflection on the conference content by a selected group of participants led to a focus on the human experience of the poor, and to encourage all to engage more actively at that level. They drew a few conclusions.
Not all the poor remain poor, but many do. It's true the poor are always with us. In fact, we need them in order to provide continuing purpose for the movement.
Another discovery from the deliberations of the conference was that we not only emerged as a mission to serve the poor of the east end of London, but we are the poor.
They recommended that every Salvationist be encouraged to relate to at least one person regarded as poor, get to know them, hear their story and throuigh this, then understand them.
Sadly senior leadership felt unable to accept the recommendation. I was left wondering whether that reflected a reluctance to acknowledge the relationship between racism and poverty.
Following the poverty conference I was invited to speak on the topic of stigma at the global conference of the International Conference of Social Welfare in Rotterdam in 2002.
I began:
'I speak with the background of South Africa and it's racism, of those stigmatised by leprosy, of those called outcast by virtue of their birth in India.'
I highlighted the roles of stigmatiser and stigmatised. Another major emphasis I offered was that we should move from support for victims and campaigning for their human rights to that of recognising their own worth, and even to leave them to fight the battle for their dignity without us.
Before the ICSW Conference I addressed the Salvation Army delegation to the conference on the outcomes of the poverty conference. Both papers were warmly accepted.
We need to understand the mind of the racist and those discriminated against of the stigmatised and the stigmatiser.
Questions after the presentation to the ICSW global conference included one asking how far I was prepared to go in the fight for freedom and justice. I argued for the fullest use of all regular and legitimate means. Non-violence remains my preference. I remain a pacifist at heart, but realise there may come a time when it is necessary to break the law, or even resort to arms in order to defend freedom and dignity.
Which brings me to make a few observations on MLK's third priority - war.