BUILDING OUR STORIES: REFLECTIONS ON DECOLONISATION FROM TWO NATIONS

BY ALISHA JEFFERIS AND KEJ ANDRES

The Student Christian Movement is a global Christian movement that prides itself on its action against

0 0 injustice around the world, constantly raising their voices for a world of justice and peace. Decolonisation is one of these issues that has become an increasingly necessary B issue to address on a global scale, as for anyone who wishes to be activists against imperialism, racism, climate change, and other social issues, colonisation is intrinsically tied to these struggles being felt by the least, the lost, and the last today. For students wishing to change the world, engaging in decolonising action is vital to understanding these issues. Colonisation is a personal story of our nations, but also of our personal ancestors, and tells the stories of who benefits and who is marginalised through the systems created by an imperialist mindset. Christian activists in also must contend with the stories of our faiths, 0 as colonisation is interwoven with Christianity seeking to justify oppression rather than support liberation for all people. Many have seen the parallels of continued colonial and nee-colonial oppressions of the present era on how Christ suffered under the auspices of the Roman Empire. Many have also learned to criticize the circumstances in which colonization has played a part in using Christianity as a tool to oppress and pacify the natives and erase indigenous cultures. Faced with this historical reality, many have sought forms of theologies that aim to decolonize and liberate Christianity and seek its solidarity with anticolonial struggles. In this way, the work we seek to bring decolonisation is one that has an awareness of the stories of our nations, our ancestors, and our faiths. This article reflects on the challenges of decolonisation in two different nations, the Phillipines and Aotearoa New Zealand, and aims to encourage you to explore the stories around you and begin to imagine what it means to actively participate in this work in your context.

Two stories of colonisation

Dr. Moana Jackson of Ngati Kahungunu and Ngati Porou, described colonisation in an analogy of two houses. Two people groups have a house each, with each house built and improved by their people over time, containing their own stories, ancestors, myths, values, and aspirations.

Colonisation says "Your house is inferior to mine. In fact, it is a disgrace and needs to be pulled down. You need to live in a replacement house built on my design. And, in fact, owned by me. You can live in my house but you must pay me rent. You're a tenant now. Get used to it."

From this understanding, those working towards decolonisation have to pick up their tools and restore that house. In these ongoing conversations on what a decolonised world may look like, the ongoing colonisation in our own lands and on a global scale must be acknowledged first.

New Zealand's colonisation story often includes the Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and agreement between Maori and the British Crown guaranteeing British rights to settlement and Maori rights to self-determination. In reality, the British assumed control and forced Maori off their ancestral lands, killed the people, banned language and culture, and destroyed the ecosystems. Maori activism has called for Te Tiriti o Waitangi to be honored by the government, and slow progression has been made for language, culture, and the environment to be respected. Because of these changes, many white New Zealanders, descendants of the settlers, see equality as already achieved and the conversation of decolonisation as an example of "reverse racism", despite the continued Eurocentrism within our political, economic, and social spheres. Colonisation continues for us when Te Tiriti remains unfulfilled, and the impacts continue to be visible. In New Zealand, many of our rivers are polluted. Our schools, housing, social aid, and healthcare systems view families as two caregivers with two children. Our justice system focuses on punishment rather than restoration. Tattoos or the use of Maori language is considered inappropriate in some formal settings. Our churches consider non-western theology as "radical" at best or "demonic" at worst. These are a few small examples :;o of colonisation as a continuing force that directly harms Maori people, and works so well with Western culture that Pakeha (New Zealander of European descent) are unlikely to even notice. Colonisation continues to be entrenched in every sphere, making it a present, harmful force rather than an irrelevant relic of the past.

In the Philippines, the archipelago was submitted into the Spanish realm for about 333 years, with a short British interregnum from 1762 to 1764. Muslims in the south and indigenous peoples in the highland were able to generally resist. Filipinos fought for independence, but were immediately taken over by the Americans for half a century. The Second World War brought about five years of Japanese occupation. Post-war, many Filipinos struggle with the continued parasitic neo-colonization of the United States which has been very pervasive, yet cloaked or normalized. Today, anti-imperialist Filipinos protest the intrusion of both the United States and China, fearing that war might break along the West Philippine Sea.

Colonisation & Identity

By definition, the process of colonisation effectively benefits those of the colonising group, and disempowers the colonised peoples. The point that the oppression may be invisible to the group that benefits most. Every colonised person today has a story of their land, language, culture being made inaccessible to their ancestors right down the line. Colonisation is personal and present. Those of the colonising group however can make colonisation so invisible that it becomes a relic of the past, created and implemented by people with nothing to do with them. Rendering it a relic z of the past means it is not their responsibility or importance Q to address it today. For this reason, learning these stories en creates these tangible connections to the historical and ongoing colonisation that impacts everyone. Colonisation is inherently weaved into concepts of identity, and thus action towards decolonisation must also include an exploration of how national identity is shaped. Restoring that house that colonisation destroys calls all people to acknowledge the walls and ceilings they inhabit

As with the Philippines, the normalization of exploitation by the United States started even during the colonial era. After the Philippine-American War, the US propaganda

I is that they were doing "benevolent assimilation" even though more than 200,000 Filipinos died during the war, with massacres of Muslims and other country folk. The Americans branded Katripuneros as "bandits" in order to

0 decrease the popular support towards these revolutionaries. Meanwhile, the colonial government began to train Filipinos for supposed future independence, but which only produced

<( 0 puppets that will be submissive to the United States even after WWII. After the war, US bases remained and skewed agreements such as the Bell Trade Act ensured the US as the Philippine's main trading partner. Nationalist and liberation figures and movements were suppressed by the neo-colonial state, with great help from the United States as the US Army has had an advisory over the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which continues to this day. Philippine Presidents have always pushed for policies favoring the economic setup where the Philippines has remained a source of cheap labor and cheap raw materials as well as a captive market for the US and its allies. The worst has been under the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. where neoliberal policies began to take root as his contemporaries were the architects of neoliberalism-US President Ronald Raegan and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Brute force under martial law under Marcos, Sr. was used in order to suppress the opposition.

Under the past Duterte and Marcos, Jr. administrations, this kind of parasitic relationship dictated by the US in the economic, political, cultural, and military spheres continues even during Duterte's lip-service pivot towards China. Duterte warmed relationships with the US as the Biden administration progressed. The US continues to be the largest arms exporter to the Philippines, with billions of dollars even bought by the Philippine government even during the height of the pandemic. Victims of human rights violations-from killings to bombings in the countryside-are victimized most probably by weapons "made in the USA".

With the continuing escalation between the US and China, Filipino anti-imperialist activists continue to assert an independent foreign policy. While opposition against China is mainstream, there is much to undo decades of submissiveness to the United States.

National identity opens up a redefining of what it means to belong to our respective countries. Identity defined by imported, imperialistic worldviews ignores the potential of forging relationships with the actual Indigenous people and land, the defining features that make those places unique. Relying on overseas ideologies as national identifiers as "New Zealander, "Filipino", "American" etc., overshadows the knowledge of our local contexts that can actually create appropriate systems for the people and land. Building a decolonised future critically reflects on the honest history of our past, so instead of continuing to replicate colonial ideologies, we can start to build a future where our trade, healthcare, religion, housing, technology, and relationships with people, the environment, and the world reflects Indigenous agency. It is a work of social justice relevant to activists from all around the world.

Action

Rev. Dr. Wayne Te Kaawa of Ngati TOwharetoa, Ngati Awa and Tuhoe is a lecturer of Maori theology at the University of Otago. When asked for his thoughts on decolonisation, he responded, "Decolonisation is the task of everyone. Decolonisation means not weaponising the Bible against people who are different. Decolonisation means building a future on things other than sin and guilt."

These words build a vision that decolonisation is not simply about acknowledging the past wrongs, but as to be an action based change by everyone. This also raises the challenge for Christians on how our faith and Bible has been used to shame and ostracize, and potentially raising the question of how it can be part of building that future vision of decolonisation. Fr. Michael Wallace, General Secretary of WSCF 2006-2010, explained some of the changes that SCM in New Zealand took to work toward decolonisation. The name changed in the 1980s from Student Christian Movement New Zealand to Student Christian Movement Aotearoa acknowledge the Indigenous language and people. SCMA also looked at actions such as constitutional inclusion of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, leading decolonisation workshops in Christian spaces, and practicing co-governance. Over the years, SCMA's dwindling numbers have limited their outreach capacity, but decolonisation remains part of the agenda for the operation SCMA. Nowadays, the makeup of SCMA is predominantly Pakeha, raising a challenge for SCMA of what it looks like to be a predominantly Pakeha ;ii;: organisation working on decolonisation. In action, this 0 has included looking at the culture of SCMA and further incorporation of Te Ao Maori in regular meetings, as well as expanding ourselves to work with local Maori groups to support their work. SCMA is a long way to go from being a decolonised group, and further changes are needed to continue taking those steps. But the actions of SCMA over the past few decades has shown some potential ways how decolonisation can look as part of everyday activity.

Christian Filipinos are inspired by the anti-colonial movements against Spanish rule. The 1872 Mutiny culminated with the martyrdom of three Filipino priests while the establishment of the Iglesia Filipino lndependiente became a tangible outcome of the Philippine Revolution of 1896. Starting with the sixties, with the renewed anticolonial sentiments of Claro M. Recto's Second Propaganda Movement, church people, including the whole of the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP) itself, also started to be part of the anti-nee-colonial struggle, although there is struggle to popularize this among the religious because of the conservative nature of some churches, as well as active suppression of progressive theologies by the United States and its puppet state. Today, many church people, including members of SCMP, have been red-tagged or tagged as part of the communist armed belligerency, an active effort by the state and the military to undermine the struggles of the oppressed and even become targets of harassment and even extra-judicial killings. Nevertheless, Christian activists will continue to persist and struggle in leaps and bounds as long as they are part of the lives of the Filipino anawim. They must look into charity not merely as a sin, but a structural sin, and seamlessly link poverty into its root cause: the [indirect] dominance of imperialists in the Philippines, with the United States as primary and China as a growing threat. Members of SCMP and other progressive Christian individuals and churches must see faith not divorced from the society, not being constrained by the four walls of the physical church, seeing the true Christ among workers, farmers, and indigenous peoples.

Like SCM, Churches and Christian groups have unique opportunities to actively participate in decolonisation around the world. It is widely acknowledged of the harm that churches have caused for participating and promoting colonial practices around the globe. Decolonisation is inherently challenging to churches to honestly learn about their participation in global colonisation and its impact upon our present worldviews. In services there are opportunities to incorporate acknowledgement and language of the Indigenous population, incorporate non-western elements within worship, and engage a multi-generational audience within the conversation. Alongside congregational changes, Christian churches and groups often have a platform in their communities to advocate for decolonising efforts and work alongside Indigenous communities. For churches that genuinely wish to do more than surface level activism and engage with decolonisation, Christian construction of liberation, care of creation, war, imperialism, language, healing, and differences have to be examined critically. In short, real work towards decolonisation shakes Christianity's institutional foundations to its core, but engaging in this hard work can create global strides towards justice. Decolonisation is a work of active participation by anyone seeking to advocate for justice, requiring us to place ourselves as part of the stories of the past to take responsibility for the stories of the future.

Alisha is from Aotearoa New Zealand and has just completed her social work studies, now working in settlement for former refugees. Due to her career choice, advocacy on issues of social justice has become part of her everyday, as she continues learning what it means to actively work towards sustainable change.

Kej is the National Spokesperson of the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines. In 2022, he had the opportunity of being the Philippines delegate for the WSCF General Assembly to advocate for student issues.

Public issues' proposal

RUSSIAN MILITARY INVASION TO UKRAINE AND THE ROLE OF THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT

37th WSCF GA 2022

Name and signature of Proposer: Natallia Vasilevich

On behalf of the SCM of: Belarus

Endorsed by (name and signature): Kateryna Potapenko as a contact movement in Ukraine; Patrick Holly on behalf of the SCM of Ireland; Natallia Vasilevich on behalf of the SCM of Slovakia; Annapaola Carbonatto on behalf of the SCM of Italy; Tuomo Tuiskula on behalf of the SCM of Finland; and Christiane Ehrengruber on behalf of the SCM of Germany

Title of Public Issue Statement:

Russian Military Invasion To Ukraine And The Role Of The Ecumenical Movement

Context:

The ongoing unprovoked aggression of Putin's regime, the war in Ukraine, which was launched on 24 February 2022, continues to have a disastrous impact on the people of that country, and puts at risk the global humanitarian, political, ecological and economic context of the whole world.

Apart from civilian murder, destruction of cities like Mariupol, decimation of essential infrastructure, the displacement of millions of people, terrible massacres like at Bucha and hundreds of individual war crimes, there are also grave violations of human rights in the occupied territories and filtration camps, which degrade human dignity and deprive people of basic necessities.

We express our sympathy to the Ukrainian people in their struggles and sufferings. We pray for an immediate return to normal peaceful life in their country and a complete stop to Russian aggression in the region. We stand in solidarity with the Christian youth of Ukraine in this horrific and unjust time, and actively support their right to freedom and independence.

We, as Christians, are strongly disturbed by the role played in the justification of atrocities by the leadership of Christian communities in Russia, especially the Russian Orthodox Church, which claims to be a leading moral steward in the world.

The position voiced on many occasions by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and many other bishops and priests places many faithful of this Church, especially the young faithful, in a position of strong distrust of, and alienation from, the Christian religion. They are entitled to special encouragement in their faith and peacemaking activities.

In the absence of Ukrainian representatives in ecumenical forums, Russian Orthodox officials monopolize the discourse on the war. They manipulate documents and prayer formulations to shift focus away from the clear evidence that the Russian state is responsible for actions which are completely alien to the Christian message. Furthermore, we insist that any religious justification of the armed aggression is a dangerous perversion of the spirit of the gospel and Christ's teaching.

We acknowledge the courage of those Belarussians and Russians who, despite persecutions by the authoritarian regimes in their countries, courageously oppose Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the use of Belarus' territory and infrastructure for attacks against Ukraine.

We pray that Almighty God will give the people of that region the wisdom to continue to resist propaganda and incitement of hatred, the strength to launch and participate in further protests for peace, and the peace of Christ to the whole people of Ukraine.

Therefore, after considering the future of our ecumenical events, we propose the following actions: l. Participation of representatives of Ukrainian Church communities and Christian organizations, both those who remain in the country and those in the displaced community, is required in all relevant discussions, with clear acknowledgement that they are the subject of and an equal partner in the conversation.

2. Participants in the above mentioned conversation should be empowered and encouraged in their participation.

3. The WSCF will accept that it has a duty of care to its Ukrainian members/partners. The nature of this care should be decided promptly.

4. Discussion of the war can be morally and emotionally triggering for the Ukrainian participants, so safespace policies must be enforced.

5. The language used in the regard to the war shall be appropriate in relation to the aggressors and victims. On the one hand, the aggressive character of the Russian invasion has to be highlighted, on the other hand, the right to self defense of the Ukrainian people must be recognized and respected. All euphemisms to describe this invasion as "conflict" or "events" should be avoided as much as possible - it is a war, invasion, unprovoked aggression and terrorism.

6. The activities of young Christians in Belarus and Russia for the sake of justice and peace, most of which are carried out in resistance to the leadership of their religious communities, must receive more visibility and solidarity.