Why we are on the cusp of civil war

A few weeks ago Spanish citizens took to the streets in protest against their country spending almost R1 billion for the extra security required for the pope’s visit for World Youth Day 2011, according to the Reuters news agency.

Their problem, apparently, was that their government had spent the money at a time when the Spanish economy was in turmoil and citizens are subjected to painful austerity measures.

I have no idea how the protesters arrived at this figure of R1 billion—it sounds ludicrous to me—but the actual amount is unimportant. Even if the sum were R1 million, they would probably have felt that their protest was valid. Particularly from the point of view that the world seems to thrive on perceptions and not on fact these days.

Now, I do not wish to be disrespectful to the Vatican or His Holiness the pope, but I cannot stop wondering about the amount of money being spent on his visit to Spain, particularly in view of the financial crisis in which that country and its citizens find themselves.

I keep having this picture in my head of Jesus Christ arriving in Jerusalem riding on a donkey—a very different picture to that of the pope arriving in Madrid on a jumbo jet with a large entourage and no fewer than 56 journalists on board.

I have no doubt that if Pope Benedict could choose, he would have been quite happy to enter Madrid a lot less ostentatiously and to have performed his duties at World Youth Day with his usual simple humility.

What is worrisome about any display of wealth, by religious leaders particularly, is its impact on the poor, given that the biggest threat to world peace right now is the widening gap between rich and poor.

One could even argue that what we are seeing on television news reports today are not just random riots by juvenile delinquents or underpaid workers, but the opening shots of a world war between the haves and have-nots in a rapidly growing number of countries.

The first battles seem to have started. Lives have already been lost and property destroyed.

It is a war fuelled by perception, entitlement, envy, greed, corruption, overt wealth, selfish political agendas, envy and flawed economic systems.

It seems to me that it will get uglier, more brutal and destructive with every day that goes past in which the gap between rich and poor increases.

This war in microcosm is clearly evident in South Africa where last month, once again, municipal workers resorted to violence, looting and trashing of the streets. Is this annual uncivil war just about money or also about the fact that the people who sweep the streets cannot understand why they earn so much less than their counterparts who work in the civic offices?

Service delivery protests in our country are becoming increasingly violent. It looks a lot like war to me.

It’s a war in which the downtrodden feel they have no future, no hope and in many cases little chance of getting jobs as they watch politicians cruise by in fancy cars, dressing up to the nines and drinking only the finest of Scotch whiskies. The same applies to the perception of workers who are laid off while boards of directors give themselves increases and generous bonuses that take them from being rich to obscenely wealthy.

The war is being exacerbated by the have-nots seeing their own kind being jailed for stealing a loaf of bread to feed their starving families while the rich always manage to get away with murder—literally and figuratively.

A war in which politics is seen to be a major catalyst. With political parties putting far more effort into staying in power than working for the good of their nations. With political parties pandering to those who provide election-funding instead of working for the good of the nation. Political parties engaging in petty point-scoring instead of concentrating on the good of the nation.

And most of all, political parties making promises at election time and then unapologetically breaking them one after the other with what is perceived to be arrogant disdain.

It is a war sparked by dysfunctional politics and a global economic system that is quite clearly unsustainable.

Pope Benedict has himself pointed to some of these problems.

If indeed overt displays of wealth, power and privilege are exacerbating the problems being created by the widening gap between rich and poor, my very simple question is this: Should religious leaders be perceived—and it is most important to emphasise that word “perceived”—to be part of the problem and, by implication, not part of the solution.

One has to ask whether Church leaders should be doing a lot more to ensure that they are being clearly seen to be on the side of the have-nots.

I will be away next week, but a special guest writer will have the last word in my place.