Need for ‘solidarity’ more than ‘charity’

In a coauthored book “On Heaven and Earth,” the future pope, then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, hit the nail on the head by offering an alternative understanding of the oft-abused and misused term “charity.” From a Catholic perspective, he says, “Christian charity is the love of God and neighbor. It can begin with aid, but it cannot stop at fundraising events. These are things that are called works of charity when, in reality, they are social-conscience calming activities. These kinds of programs are carried out in order to feel good about oneself, but love always requires a person to go out from himself, to truly give oneself to others… There is no charity without love, and if vanity is part of helping the needy, there is no love; it is feigned charity.”

The past few weeks saw “charity” being reduced to purchasing of especially designed shirts or dresses auctioned by pop stars, and attending benefit concerts and marathons. These things, which a reader of Cardinal Bergoglio’s coauthored book would regard as superficial and palliative, were vital parts of a postdisaster narrative, largely and creatively framed by corporate and social media, that many willingly participated in. In any case, any form of help, as my office boss would gently explain, was welcome, and to the credit of those who initiated these, help (or at least pledges) from countless people was effectively solicited. Relief packs have been incredibly enormous and monetary donations (including proceeds from the sale of the shirts and concert tickets) were reported to have reached millions of pesos. It is now a matter of delivering them in the most timely way to those for whom they are intended.

But the issue at hand is beyond the personal motivations and interests (which have been obviously at work) underlying these acts. More than the moral question that the Pope Francis quote cited earlier has somehow (if not harshly) addressed, it begs a question of practicality: What if we ran out of such “charity”?

It should be clear by now that efforts in the areas affected by Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” particularly in Leyte and Samar, have started to shift to reconstruction and rehabilitation. The Department of Social Welfare and Development has set out a gradual phase-out plan. President Aquino has designated the gargantuan task of rehabilitation and recovery of disaster-stricken provinces to former senator Panfilo Lacson. The national government has allocated at least P40 billion for building housing projects, repairing damaged infrastructure, restoring incomes through livelihood and employment projects, and sustaining the delivery of social services such as health and education. We’d like to believe that things have started to move.

Meanwhile, some of the shirt buyers and a few of the concert goers have gone back to their normal everyday routine. This is the tragedy of the kind of charity that we know and many practice.

In his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospel), Pope Francis offers an apt and profound contextualization of this tragedy: “The dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the common good are concerns which ought to shape all economic policies. At times, however, they seem to be a mere addendum imported from without in order to fill out a political discourse lacking in perspectives or plans for true and integral development. How many words prove irksome to this system! It is irksome when the question of ethics is raised, when global solidarity is invoked, when the distribution of goods is mentioned, when reference is made to protecting labor and defending the dignity of the powerless, when allusion is made to a God who demands a commitment to justice. At other times these issues are exploited by a rhetoric which cheapens them. Casual indifference in the face of such questions empties our lives and our words of all meaning” (#203).

To overcome this, he proposes, at least to the Catholic believers, a kind of solidarity on which to anchor human actions and responses. “…The word ‘solidarity’ is a little worn and at times poorly understood, but it refers to something more than a few sporadic acts of generosity. It presumes the creation of a new mindset which thinks in terms of community and the priority of the life of all over the appropriation of goods by a few (#188).

“Solidarity is a spontaneous reaction by those who recognize that the social function of property and the universal destination of goods are realities which come before private property. The private ownership of goods is justified by the need to protect and increase them, so that they can better serve the common good; for this reason, solidarity must be lived as the decision to restore to the poor what belongs to them. These convictions and habits of solidarity, when they are put into practice, open the way to other structural transformations and make them possible. Changing structures without generating new convictions and attitudes will only ensure that those same structures will become, sooner or later, corrupt, oppressive and ineffectual” (#189).

Applied in our present situation, the call of Pope Francis is an invitation to practice solidarity with the poor and work for social justice. And there are various ways of doing this, which do not necessarily require physical presence in disaster-stricken areas. One is active citizenship by demanding accountability from public institutions in this

opportune time, when as a society we ought to reexamine how government at the local level works. Supporting a socially responsible land use policy, which will shift the focus of land use from being driven by private interests to one that ensures food production benefiting both farmers and consumers, safer communities for informal settlers, and balanced ecology that sustains life, is another. A culture of preparedness can also be fostered through responsible and context-sensitive information dissemination and education. It is in pursuing these agenda, among many others, that we can contribute to building and sustaining social structures that embody collective responsibility. To question the rationality of prevailing social systems and structures that allow unjustifiable inequality to continue, as Pope Francis did, is a responsibility of everyone.

People desire more than charity. Our nation thirsts for justice, and to quench it, we need solidarity.

Gerald M. Nicolas is a research assistant at the Urban Poverty and Governance Program of the John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues.