'The More Things Change,
The More They Remain the Same'
In September 1510, a group of Dominican Friars arrived on an island in the West Indies which the Spaniards called Hispaniola, 'Little Spain', the island now divided between Haiti and The Dominican Republic. Following Columbus, the Spaniards had arrived as conquerors and colonists, bringing with them, the Friars observed, slaughter, slavery and lethal disease. In Advent 1511, the Friars prepared a sermon to expose this reality. Anton Montesino was their chosen preacher on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 21. In the context of the Eucharist, he confronted the land-holding, slave-owning congregation with questions they were not expecting.
By what right do you keep these Indians in such cruel servitude?
By what authority have you declared such detestable wars on these people in their own land?
Are they not human beings?
Have they not rational souls?
Are you not bound to love them as yourselves?
Five hundred years later, reflecting on our own history, past and present, we put similar questions to ourselves, our compatriots, our elected leaders who act in our name:
By what right did we claim that the land of our indigenous peoples was ours, not theirs?
By what authority was it once decided that Indigenous Australians should be 'left to die out'?
By what right do we now decide what is good for them without mutual agreement?
Are they not members of the human family?
Are we not obliged to uphold their declared 'universal and inalienable human rights'?
By what authority do we set limits to the human rights of asylum seekers, treating themas suspected enemies?
By what authority do we set aside our international obligations to them for the sake of political success?
By what right do we do to them what we would not tolerate for ourselves?
Are they not members of the human family?
Are we not obliged to uphold their declared 'universal and inalienable human rights'?
If we claim the Christian name, we are obliged to love others as ourselves. A tall order. Christian or not, as members of the human family we all do well to remember: if the rights of one person are denied, the rights of all of us are in danger.
Signed:
Members of the Dominican Social Justice Committee Sydney
Dominican Sisters of Eastern Australia
Rosary Lodge
90 The Boulevarde
Strathfield NSW 2135
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