by Minister Masada
resident Clinton declared the 1997 Great Floods
of N. Dakota and Minnesota a devastating by-product of the greenhouse effect.
In one small community, caskets of the dead were unearthed and floated in
the flood waters. In theology, the unleashing of floods is seen as a divine
epiphany of disaster. Righteousness rules creation. The earth is emotional.
Is Mother Nature, therefore, exacting vengeance against the barbaric acts
of her inhabitants? Are ecological disasters now opening our eyes to the
revelation that man pushes mother nature to the edge?
The study of human, societal and environmental
systems and their interactive dynamics is known as social ecology. It also
deals with social crises arising from man's ecological aggressions. Humans,
plants and animals all lose their autonomy and intrinsic value. They are
seen simply as a means to an end, or resources necessary to attain a production
goal. (See Social Ecology: Poverty & Misery, L. Boff) The adulterous
idolization of man with his technological machines threatens the human-ecology
marriage.
Globally, and in every participating country,
there are groups of elitist humans who consider themselves to be the center
of the universe and who seek riches, personal advantage and the accumulation
of land. The rape and humiliation of nature is like a game to them. On the
ecological chessboard, the pawns are predestined to poverty and misery.
Further, their scientific and technological advances and premeditated violence
against the poor continues to promote the struggle of all against all.
We must boldly go where no woman has ever gone
before. However, we must take care not to follow in the footsteps of our
societal predecessors or its patriarchal prejudices. We must accept responsibility
for the misery of the majority. Africa is the richest place, yet it has
the poorest race. Patrilineal ideology with its accompanying patronization
of the planet is not only guilty of matricide, but also guilty of patricide.
Men also suffer and die under the rule of man.
Ethiopian orthodox ecology views women as protectors
of nature and men as, basically, destroyers of wildlife and nature. However,
the male-dominated countries in Africa, with iconoclastic agricultural policies,
circumvent the women's' attempts to preserve the natural landscape. Anti-ecological
men participates in their own annihilation. But it's not politically correct
to criticize corrupt African leaders. Little wonder there are so many droughts
and famines in Africa. If the priestly leaders are not going to view the
feminine as sacred, then I say THEY SHOULD TAKE OFF THEIR GARMENTS, ROBES
AND DRESSES and GIVE THEM BACK TO THE WOMEN. The women in Africa need to
take their power back. The power to restore nature was clearly given to
a woman who is called "The Second Ark of The Covenant." (See The
Sign & The Seal, A Quest For The Lost Ark of The Covenant, by Graham
Hancock.)
Since the environment is affected by social
elements and society by the environment, we must also develop a social-environmental
ethic that honors the dignity and integrity of the earth. After all, it
was here millions of years before us; it has a right to exist millions of
years after us. Infesting the water and soil with pathogenic poisons can
be seen as a declaration of war against the future of living creatures.
To that end, we must commit to generational
solidarity by creating environmental and social conditions that will not
produce disease and death for creatures and humans not yet born. To do so,
we would guilty of the greatest of ecological sins: biocide and ecocide.
Minister Masada is a researcher and the author
of four books. She has been a regular weekly columnist for numerous local
and out-of-state publications and has lectured at UCSD and SDSU. She has
been an organizer of support groups for abused mothers and helped establish
Battered Woman's Syndrome as a recognized point in Federal courts. Currently,
she is Chairwoman of the Sisterhood of the Daughters of Zion, a mother's
advocate group
