A duty to the truth

Churches Weekly Newsletter - No.160, 14 May 2023

Why are farmers in southern Malawi switching from maize to pigeon peas? The answer is simple. They are increasingly losing their livelihoods to droughts and floods. To adapt, they are turning to pigeon peas, a tough crop that’s better able to withstand extreme conditions. Although farmers can now earn a more stable income and better feed their families, they’ve had to say goodbye to culturally important maize-based dishes. Imagine our having to give up fish and chips because our potato supplies have run out.

Jen Bishop and her husband started to grow pigeon peas in 2016. Today, they grow two acres of it. They’ve used their increased income to send their son Innocent to university. But now erratic weather patterns, caused by the climate crisis, threaten their financial stability. Because when it does eventually rain, it rains so hard that it causes flooding and damages the peas.

In March 2023, Cyclone Freddy caused heavy rains, floods and landslides in almost half of Malawi. By 20 March, nearly 500 people had died and over half a million people had been displaced. Freddy washed away part of Jen’s field. She lost the equivalent of two bags of yield, worth at least £79; vital funds which she’d planned to use to pay the secondary school fees for one of her children.

The climate crisis is robbing Jen’s children of their prospects. ‘It’s a price no child should pay,’ say Christian Aid. ‘This is loss and damage. It’s the scandalous loss of life, livelihood, land and culture. And those most impacted are left to pay the repair bills themselves.

Meanwhile, polluters continue to burn fossil fuels, profit from the poison they produce, and turn their backs on the damage they’ve caused. It’s time for polluters to pay up to repair what they’ve damaged.’

At the COP27 climate talks in 2022, governments agreed to create a Loss and Damage fund to compensate communities affected by climate-change-driven losses. But right now, the fund is empty. Campaigners including Christian Aid are asking that the UK Government make polluters pay into this fund - the companies who cause loss and damage whilst generating massive profits and enjoying great wealth. [1]

Is it right for Christians to protest? I’ve been turning this question around in my mind a lot since last month, when my good friend and erstwhile colleague Revd Mark Coleman was imprisoned for public nuisance, having taken part in a central London road-block on an Insulate Britain protest last October. At his Crown Court trial in January, Mark’s three character witness statements read to the court were from his bishop, the former mayor of Rochdale (where Mark was parish priest before taking early retirement due to Parkinsons), and an imam. Each was positive about him, he said, and, ‘I particularly liked the imam’s comment that I had a “duty to the truth”.’ [2]

I have told Mark that I respect and admire his course of action, a sacrificial witness to the truth of a global situation which connects those in fuel poverty in the UK, with Jen Bishop, affected by crop-destruction in Malawi. But I’ve also admitted to him that I am unsettled by his actions, for reasons I can’t quite explain. 

Maybe this present crisis ought to unsettle us, and shake us into action: whatever that means. For a few that will mean taking to the streets in peaceful protest; for a few more that may mean writing to those in power to ask for changes in law to protect people and the planet; for others, supporting campaigns which do this work; and for many more of us it may mean simply praying: giving thanks that governments have agreed to create a Loss and Damage fund; and asking that the UK Government make polluters pay into this fund so that affected communities can repair physically, culturally and emotionally.

Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate said: ‘In a time of crises, we must reveal the heart of Christ. We must reveal the love of God. We must reveal His grace towards humanity. We must use our voices. We must stand by our values and do something for communities on the frontline of the climate crisis.’

 

Notes

[1] Christian Aid Loss and Damage Campaign.

[2] Mark Coleman, I have a duty to the truth — even if it puts me in prison. Church Times, 5 May 2023; Rochdale News: Insulate Britain supporter Revd Mark Coleman jailed for vowing to continue in civil resistance. Rochdale Online, 21 April 2023.