G20 Litany
Below is a litany delivered by Maggie Helwig and Andrea Budgey at 2011′s Good Friday Walk for Social Justice, at a station devoted to the G20.
SPEAKER ONE
For all those who have fallen victim to hatred and inhumanity, for those loved ones who are left behind to mourn, for the souls of those whose hearts are cold, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
For all the children who have died before their time, for the soldiers who allow their uniform to strip them of their humanity, for the healers who are denied the opportunity to use their gifts, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
For the redemption of souls of both victim and perpetrator, for those who commit themselves to the forgiveness of sins, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
SPEAKER TWO
For President Barack Obama and his government, for the 14 million children who live in poverty in the wealthiest country in the world; for all those facing the death penalty, often after inadequate trials in a highly racialized legal system; for the many Iraqi civilians killed by the US invasion of that country and its consequences, and all those killed by the Iraqi insurgency; for all those around the world whose labour is exploited to satisfy the consumerism and economic greed of the developed world, for those on coffee plantations, in prison factories in China, on assembly lines in the Philippines, in the maquiladoras around the world, for women working in domestic or sexual slavery, that all may be able to enjoy a decent standard of life and safe and healthy working conditions, and that we ourselves may learn to give up our excessive material desires, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer
SPEAKER ONE
For President Susilo Bambang Yudhuyono and the government of Indonesia, for those killed by police and military violence in West Papua; those who are being displaced from their land by the massive “food estates” being created around Merauke; the Amungme and Komoro people evicted from their traditional lands by the Freeport/McMoRan gold mine; protestors shot dead by police in Riau for protesting against the expropriation of land for a palm oil plantation, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer
SPEAKER TWO
For or all those in Saudi Arabia struggling for a more democratic system. For all those detained for their political activities, for all those tortured in detention, for all those killed; and for the rights of women and of gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer and transgendered people in that country, that they too may be enabled to live in peace and freedom, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer
SPEAKER ONE
For Prime Minister Naoto Kanand the government of Japan. For the indigenous peoples of Japan, particularly the Ainu and Buraku people; for an end to forest loss due to unsustainable and sometimes illegal logging practices; for a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and in hope that the government and people of Japan and other industrialized countries will meet their Kyoto Protocol obligations and cooperate with international agreements and campaigns against global warming, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer
SPEAKER TWO
For President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and the government of Argentina. For the Mapuche, Tehuelche, Rankulche and Chaco indigenous peoples, whose lands are under threat from multinational corporations and agroindustries; for the residents of Andalgala, who are calling for an end to mining in their region after contamination caused by a partially Canadian-owned mine, and who were attacked by police while attempting to block the construction of a massive project proposed by the Canadian company Yamana Gold, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer
SPEAKER ONE
For Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the government of Canada. For the Mississauga Nation, the original stewards of the land on which we are standing; for all of Canada’s aboriginal peoples, who face systemic discrimination, the loss of their lands and traditions, poverty and disenfranchisement.
For those in this wealthy city who live in poverty and hunger, for the 373,000 children in poverty in Ontario, for all those who rely on food banks and meal programmes, for those who are homeless and those who are living in substandard conditions; for the homeless men and women who have died on the streets of Toronto
For all those threatened by Canadian mining interests overseas, including the people of the Ipili tribe in Papua New Guinea; those living near Barrick’s North Mara mine in Tanzania, where potentially life-threatening levels of arsenic have been discovered; the victims of human rights violations committed by Goldcorp Inc at the Marlin gold mine in Guatemala; for the Mayan people attacked and killed for protesting against HudBay’s nickel mine in El Estor, Guatemala.
For the police and security forces on the streets today and those who were on the streets during the G20 summit, for their safety and well-being, in the hope that they will act with restraint and good judgement, and that those who failed to do so may come to recognize their own complicity; for all those businesses and neighbourhoods damaged by violence; for all protestors, that they too may exercise restraint and refrain from violence, and may remember that we are all engaged in trying to create a more peaceful world. For all those who have been arrested while engaged in protests and for those who carried out the arrests, for all those involved in the courts and legal processes, for those imprisoned and those who work in the prison system, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
SPEAKER TWO
For all the governments and peoples of the G20 countries, and for all the countries of the world. O God, open our eyes that we may see the needs of others;
Open our ears that we may hear their cries;
Open our hearts that we may feel their anguish and their joy.
Let us not be afraid to defend the oppressed, the poor, the powerless, because of the anger and might of the powerful.
Show us where love and hope and faith are needed, and use us to bring them to those places.
Open our ears and eyes, our hearts and lives, that we may in these coming days be able to do some work of justice and peace for you.
Amen.
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