Can we "describe the emperor's clothes/"

Roberta Mulcahy, ssj, wrote the following article for "Mission" one of our congregational communications.

Remember the story of the young boy who told the people just what the Emperor had on or to be exact didn't have on?

At a recent Sister of Earth conference we were challenged by Vandana Shiva, our guest speaker from India, to "Describe the Emperor's Clothes."  In other words she challenged us to speak and act from the wisdom of our education and lived experiences about the life issues of food, health, and water.  These justice issues affect, as we are well aware, poor peole, the earth, and the rising poverty experienced throughout the world.  We also know that the corporate world plays a key role in controlling food, health, and water in many poor countries as well as our own.

Reflecting on this brought to mind our involvement in the corporate world through our investments. There is no question that we are part of the Wall Street financial system.  Our SSJ investment philosophy gives us guidelines for investments which we try to follow and to update when necessary.  However, that doesn't excuse our need to educate and act through proxy work and shareholder resolutions.

Two particular corporations that we hold for advocacy work, Coca Cola and Monsanto, are very involved in poor countries through their water "rights" and seed programs.  Coke needs water rights to produce its soft drinks which are mostly water.  Monsanto produces hybrid seeds which are genetically modified (GMO) and which cannot be saved.  Both these corporations are in some litigation over policies they use in poor countries.  We also hold two health related corporations for advocacy:  Merck and Schering-Plough.  Patents held by these and many corporations control who "owns" what and who untimately receives the "rights" to medicines, water and seeds.

We will respond to Vandana Shiva's challenge by working with organizations like ICCR, Network, SOE and all who have the courage to "describe the emperor's clothes" so that the voices of the poor people and the earth are heard in their need for food, health, and water.

Last July, the United Nations General Assembly voted to support a nonbinding resolution declaring access to clean water and sanitation as a human right.  Canada, the United States, and Australia were among the 41 countries to abstain from the vote.  No country voted against the measure.  More than 884 million people around the world lack access to clean drinking water and 2.6 billion are without access to basic sanitation.