11.04.2020
Lives matter
“Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land,…… 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; (Exodus, 3,7ff).
Faced with the current reality, with so much suffering, pain and injustice, we want to unite our voices and shout: LIVES MATTER! Lives are taken away from children, youth, women, blacks and indigenous people. Lives matter!
In Marituba, we try to participate in organizations serving life. To celebrate the International Women's Day, several workshops, meetings and rallies were held. Women's Lives Matter! We also participated in the “Fora Lixão” Forum: an organization which is demanding action against the garbage dumping from Belém and neighboring municipalities in Marituba. There is a constant struggle here for basic sanitation, water, and care for the environment. The lives, the plants, the water, the animals, the air we breathe, matter!
Another very important aspect is the life of indigenous people. The life and rights of Indigenous Peoples are violated and threatened. Indigenous people are greatly concerned about the vote by the Supreme Federal Court on Marco Temporal which was supposed to take place on October 28, 2020, but has been postponed. The Marco Temporal is an action of the Supreme Federal Court which says that only indigenous peoples can claim lands on which they were already there on October 5, 1988, because on this day, the Brazilian Constitution came into force. On the one hand, the rural caucus and the institutions linked to agriculture and livestock claim the landmark, on the other hand, indigenous peoples fear losing the right to areas in the process of demarcation. If the Supreme Federal Court takes action, it will be a setback to the cause of Indigenous Peoples. The indigenous people testify saying “Our history did not start in 1988 ...” Indigenous lives matter!
To strengthen the experience of hope and solidarity
It is a great challenge for us the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Associates, and all the followers of Jesus Christ, to commit oneself for social inclusion and the Care for the Common Home in the face of so much exclusion and suffering. Faced with this challenge and the difficult realities, together with the Conference of Religious of Brazil of Belém and other organizations, we arranged a gathering called “the Cry of the Excluded” and publicly announced that: LIFE MATTERS! This event takes place every year on September 7: The Independence Day of Brazil.
To give impetus to this event, and to remove fear and insecurity and to strengthen the experience of hope and solidarity even during pandemic of the Covid 19 we had a prayer service. We manifested our solidarity through sharing and concrete gestures. The theme “Here I am, send me” impels us to put charity, tenderness and trust into practice and to transmit peace and love to the poorest and the neediest. Our call urges us to share and to be the Eucharist, as Sisters of St. Joseph and we proclaim that LIFE MATTERS!
Sr. Ana Amelia de Oliveira Miranda / Marituba, Brazil November 2020
