Following the publication of the first issue, Caravan has received a number of letters. Our thanks to all those who took the trouble to send their encouragement, or their criticism, which is always constructive.

Here we are publishing excerpts from some of the letters. We are also publishing an emotionally moving dialogue between two allies regarding the arrest of the Chilean dictator Pinochet, a reaction to Bharat Dogra’s article "Spiritual development – the missing link" (from Caravan 1, September 1998), and excerpts from a long missive of an African reader.

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Dear Sir,

The article ‘Spiritual development - The missing link’ by Bharat Dogra (Caravan, September 1998) deals with the need of spiritualism for the human beings, which India has been preaching for centuries. The concern of the writer is valid and there is no doubt that it is a burning question for survival for people whose neighbourhood is on fire. The immediate impulse for writing this letter was not to question the spiritualism, but to evaluate the impact of it on our lives and of course to raise a few fundamental questions.

Despite all our efforts and a constant lecture to everyone on the virtue of spiritualism we find people (including ourselves) doing things, which do not correspond to the spirit of spiritualism. This is time when we seriously examine what went wrong with our teachings, why it went wrong and how it can be rectified. Of all these questions the ‘why’ is the most crucial to answer.

Though many people are living a real spiritual life (sometimes without knowing what spiritualism means), there are a variety of vague and confusing ideas prevailing in the common people with regard to spiritualism. Even those who are practising spiritualism are found to be confused about their believes and actions, while majority of people believe that spiritualism is not their cup of tea. They relate spiritualism to religious, non-modern, and non-progressive ideas.

For them to be spiritual is to be meek, secluded from the mainstream; to impose all kinds of hardships upon yourself; stop enjoying, singing and dancing; be ready to sacrifice i.e. to abandon what you love and want to keep, for the sake of any strangers. Your first concern must not be the betterment of your own life but to remove the sufferings of others, not to achieve but to give.

That is, thus, the common understanding of spiritualism among people, which certainly does not fit to the human nature. Human beings have reasons, and the reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion. It cannot be curved or sacrificed to any consideration whatsoever. And if we insist, the result we have is a mutual confrontation between the ideas and the actions.

On the contrary, by "spiritual" we mean: ‘pertaining to man’s consciousness’. That is to be spiritual is to be conscious of yourself and of others, of animals and nature, of your thoughts, words, deeds… and work accordingly. Being fully conscious that one’s life is a continuous whole for good or evil. Every day, year and decade of one’s life holds the sum of all the days behind. One can alter his/her choices, s/he is free to change the direction of his/her actions, s/he is even free, in many cases, to atone for consequences of his/her actions - but not free to escape them. Therefore, spiritualism leads men and women towards a just and conscious world. A world where one must choose his/her actions, values and goals by the standard of that which is proper to human and nature. In any proper relationship there is no sacrifice of anyone to any one because on the face of choices open to him/her, if one decides to serve others or to stand against injustice to have a mental satisfaction or peace of mind... is not sacrifice.

Sarfaraz Khan (India)

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Dear Sir,

After reading Caravan (September 1998), I had the following reflections:

As we near the end of this century, the world is in need of a coherent set of actions and of carefully considered commitments. But in order for this to happen, it is necessary for every individual to "read" the world from where he/she is. (...)

This must begin by a clear analysis of oneself and an honest criticism of one’s own ideologies, and of the movements and associations to which one belongs. Perhaps we should also ask ourselves if, without us and without our ideologies, the world would cease to exist. It is important to analyze our way of being in the world, as our way of being often leads to ideological battles. (...)

It is also important to analyze international relations and international cooperation. It would help to read, in a clear and honest way, the true histories of international institutions such as the UN, the World Bank and the IMF. Let us also analyze the multinationals and industrial companies, capitalist organizations that build and destroy the societies of this planet. Those are the "states within states" that have a stronghold on the world. A clear analysis of the world makes us realize that there is a sort of "world government" that presides over the destinies of the planet. And we are powerless before its actions. "All human beings are born equal" but others have the right to veto. (...)

Added to this are new religious trends that proliferate, and threaten to destroy the great historic religions. These religious trends grow like mushrooms. It is also important to analyze them, in order to discover the goal, the key behind these new theologies without God and without humans. (...) These new spiritual movements dull consciences, violate them, abuse them. They lead people to forget about the difficult situations of daily life into which populations are plunged. Religious syncretisms are gaining ground. They are deceiving in more than one way, by claiming to be the synthesis of all religions. This is an aspect of the world consciousness at the dawn of the third millennium: to have a universal religion. What pretentiousness!

The other ideology of the third millennium is that of the desire for power, of having, of pleasure and of luxury - the stronghold of multinationals on the world economy, the abusive exploitation of primary resources in the third world, the people of the third world sacrificed and abandoned to their own destinies, the underprivileged victims of savage capitalism – behind which we sometimes find ourselves or our societies of origin. And every day, we work with them. We use the money that they offer us. We are at their service every day, even as we denounce them. Our criticisms have no real impact though.

(...) The moment has arrived to awaken, and especially to be careful not to be taken in by the new theologies without Man and without God. (...)

At the dawning of the third millennium, we speak of 'globalization'. What does this word mean, when so many inhabitants of the earth cannot even read or write their name? How can we speak of ‘globalization’ when a third of the planet is hungry and thirsty? When so many have no access to primary health care? How can we think of it when thousands of children are labourers and factory workers?

Here, we speak of ‘the culture of death’, which is a worldwide culture. It is a culture of hatred, cynicism, violence, drugs, murder, war and exclusion. A culture of refugees, commercial embargoes, exploitation of the world’s resources for the elite, and rejection of the uneducated; it is a ‘slaughterhouse’ culture. And the world observes this 'culture of death' like a show, without saying a word, because the modern world is the father of this ‘culture of death’. We are silent in the face of large-scale massacres, ethnic cleansings and genocides, or else we are content with simply verbally condemning such acts. We do so in the name of geopolitical and economic interests. (...)

Another manifestation of the ‘culture of death’: In equatorial and sub-tropical regions, people are surprised to hear about the protection of the environment. Forests are destroyed by large international companies on a daily basis; the poor populations of these regions watch the destruction of their environment as passive observers; they see their wood leave for other destinations. And we speak to them of protecting the environment!

The third millennium will be difficult because so many young people are entering it without understanding it. They will be the innocent victims of our era, because the ‘culture of death’ will have wanted it so. The ‘culture of death’ is the Hiroshima bomb of the third millennium, built by the world community, the ‘world government’, and the big decision-makers of the planet. (...)

The hypocrisy of our era is one of the keys behind the culture of the third millennium. We are all citizens of the Earth, citizens of 'globalization', citizens of the ‘culture of death’, protectors of the human environment! Destroyers! All of us!

Moïse Tam (Sénégal)
Animator of a cultural centre
for poor and refugee children.

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With deep concentration I listened to the BBC news, unbelieving at first, and then flood of memories swept over me...

A group of workers with their ears to the radio listening to -- what would be -- the last words of El Companero Presidente...

Two jetfighters on their way to the Presidential Palace thundering over our factory and dropping their bombs...

My companeros in the factory, with tears rolling down their cheeks burning their membership cards of the parties of the Unided Popular...

In the first three minutes of the curfew hour a little child is shot dead next to the ball she wanted to retrieve in the middle of the street...

The lines of dead bodies of workers who did not make it home, caught by the curfew in the open space...

Sleepless nights in fear and trembling hidden in the cellar of a house of a family who took the risk of keeping this "gringo" until curfew time passed...

The horror stories of mutilation and torture bringing shivers to my spine...

The arrangements secretly made to get me to the embassy...

Pinochet is not only responsible for a hundred thousand turtures and murders, for the genocide of his political opponents, for thousands of disappearances and the agony this all caused. He is also responsible for the betrayal of his own country and the democracy it was proud of by selling himself to the highest bidder as mercenary.

Pinochet has to be tried, to be put on the stand and made to face the truth of turning a proud army into a butcher's tool to defend the investments of the west and a system that is greed incarnate.

I thank and I salute the judges in Spain for sparking a new hope for the world.

Congratualtions to all companeros, especially to you, Gustavo Marin.

Theodorus Van Loon (Fr. Mario)

* Father Mario, of Dutch origin, is a former priest and worker. He was in Chili at the time of Pinochet’s coup d’Etat in 1973, as a union worker in a self-managed factory. For the past 25 years he has been residing in Philippines with Bishop Labayen, founder of ‘The Church of the Poor’.

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The prose-poem by Mario is tremendous and profound.

All my hair roots are itching right now. It is incredible how by remembering the events of that time I transform into a desert, a volcano, the Andes cordillera, a lake, a river, an ocean, a southern archipelago, a bird from the North, a Mapuche...

And I remember all my companions who were killed by Pinochet’s dictatorship.

With tears my eyes are filled, my mouth opens wide and my hands can not hide it.

And suddenly the doors of the tube open and I get down at the station Gare du Nord. Full of joy and energy.

Thank you. Un fuerto abrazo...

Gustavo Marin*

* Gustavo Marin is an ex-chilean political prisoner who was supported by Amnesty International. He has been living in France for the last 15 years, where he is in-charge of the ‘Future of the Planet’ Programme at the Foundation Charles Léopold Mayer for the Progress of Humankind. In this capacity, he participates in the construction of the Alliance for a Responsible and United World.

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