Delegation of PC(USA) leaders travels to Peru
July trip focused on the impacts of mining and other extractive industries
Could the heart of the Amazon hold wisdom that can heal the planet? Could the people of Peru point the way for U.S. Presbyterians to repair relationships with the land they live on and the Indigenous people in their own contexts?
Last month, a delegation of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) leaders, including the Rev. Tony Larson, Co-Moderator of the 226th General Assembly of the PC(USA), traveled to Peru in pursuit of answers to these questions. They spent eight days in conversation with Global Ecumenical Liaison the Rev. Jed Koball and local partners about the impacts of extractive industries like mining on the environment and indigenous communities.
In addition to the Co-Moderator, the delegation included Interim Unified Agency staff Dr. Dianna Wright, director of Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations; the Rev. Edwin González-Castillo, director of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance; the Rev. Dr. Laurie Kraus, director of Humanitarian and Global Ecumenical Engagement; and Valery Nodem, Associate for International Hunger Concerns.
Two other participants in the trip — the Rev. Annanda Barclay of the Presbytery of San Jose and Dr. Clarice Hutchens of the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy — embody what Kraus considers an exciting expansion of how PC(USA) moderators engage with global partners and mid councils and congregations here in the United States.
“We have not historically looked at how we might engage our mid council and congregational partners in these efforts, beyond an expectation that the Moderator would share the stories and results of their visit in their work around the Church,” Kraus said, adding that these trips have also not aimed for specific deliverables in the past. “This, we realize, is a lost opportunity for our Church, as well as for the partners who have taken time and effort to share their work and vision with us. This time, instead of limiting the trip to staff leads and the Co-Moderator, we intentionally invited leaders from two presbyteries that have been involved in the Joining Hands work in Peru.”
Koball, who lives and works in Lima as a Global Ecumenical Liaison for the PC(USA), says this trip has been in the making for at least five years. It developed out of work with the Presbyterian Hunger Program — particularly its Joining Hands Initiative, which seeks to address systemic causes of hunger in countries around the world. Koball says during that time, Joining Hands has identified its work, globally, as addressing and dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery.
The 15th century Doctrine of Discovery established by the Catholic Church granted Christian European nations the right to claim lands and resources they “discovered” from non-Christian peoples. In Peru, this doctrine led to the conquest of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples, including land theft, disruptions of spiritualities, and genocide.
Koball emphasized that the destructive mentality of conquest in Peru, and many other places including the United States, is not just historic, but ongoing.
“That relationship with the land is defined today as we talk about extractivism,” Koball said, “where we see the Earth as something that is a resource for generating wealth.”
By contrast, Koball noted, indigenous communities have maintained a more harmonious relationship with the environment.
“Humanity is dependent on a harmonious and healthy relationship with the Earth, and those most equipped to promote that relationship are indigenous peoples,” Koball said. “So getting land in indigenous hands is ultimately kind of the goal here.”
The purpose of the PC(USA) delegation’s time in Peru was twofold: to see how this ongoing mentality of conquest and the extractivist industry of mining are impacting both the environment and the people there — especially indigenous and Afro-descendant people — and to learn how Peruvians are addressing these issues so that knowledge might inform how Presbyterians engage in similar efforts in the U.S. Several members of the group come from presbyteries already working on addressing the impacts of extractivism on their local environments and indigenous communities. The need for such work in the Carolinas was part of what motivated Larson to participate.
Over the course of eight days, the delegation traveled to three different regions of Peru. They visited La Oroya in the Andes, which is home to a smelting operation that has earned the city a reputation as one of the most polluted places in the world and where people have been protesting for more than two decades. On the coast around Lima, the group encountered the literal downstream impacts of mining: a contaminated river and beach. They also traveled to the Amazon to meet with a federation of native peoples working to prevent encroachment and extractive activity on their land.
In each of these places, the group met with various types of partners in the work to “undo conquest” — a phrase Koball finds more helpful and accurate than “decolonization.” They met with several progressive Peruvian denominations as well as a theological institution called the Educational Association of Evangelical Theology about the responsibility of Christians and the Church — both in terms of their role in conquest and their responsibility to undo it. The group also met with secular nonprofits working on human rights and environmental issues. And finally, they met with people from impacted communities who are advocating for change and working to protect themselves and the environment.
Koball said he believes connecting these different groups who share common goals is a crucial part of the work ahead for global ecumenical relations. Also crucial, he said, is for those who bear witness to what is happening in Peru to take what they learn and apply it to their own contexts. Koball pointed out that, while the PC(USA) and other U.S. denominations may be quick to claim solidarity with oppressed people globally, it means only so much when they aren’t fully addressing the oppression and conquest happening where they are.
The fervent hope of this delegation to Peru is to let what they’ve learned spark transformative action in their own communities. The group agreed to take several weeks after they returned to the United States to rest and reflect individually on their experience. This week, they came together again, virtually, to begin discussing tangible next steps. A broad range of follow-up engagements is already in development. Whatever lies ahead, it will be informed by a deeper sense of connection to other people — both globally and locally — and a deeper respect for indigenous peoples and for the Earth itself.
This article is the first in a series. Part two will delve into the various plans in development for tangible follow up.
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