Brazilian Archbishop Camara Attacks Power of Multinationals

Dom Helder Camara, an internationally known archbishop from Brazil, yesterday charged that rich industrial countries and multinational corporations are creating "terrible" conditions in developing countries, but that there are some "clear signs of hope" that this situation will change.

Speaking at a seminar at the Center for International Affairs, the 72-year-old religious leader said that exploitation by the superpowers and multinational corporations includes a "convenient" alliance with the rich who live in developing countries. "It's a very curious manner of help--our cultures are being crushed," he added.

"When the United Nations proclaims that more than two-thirds of humanity is living in sub-human conditions, it is impossible for the church to support authority and order," he said, adding, "The social order is more like a disorder."

Camara, a long-time critic of Brazil's military government, also noted that Brazil's economic problems hinder political progress. "It is very difficult to conduct a government when our inflation is overpassing 150 per cent," Camara said.

"I am not fighting Brazil, I am fighting injustices," Camara added.

Camara, a four-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, said that he was encouraged by leaders in the industrialized countries who want to end the arms race, and who are buying shares in multinational corporations in order to change their policies from within.

He also said that it was important to establish a dialogue between nations from the North and South, and that self-help community projects are often productive. "We want to work not only for, but with the people." Camara said.

In 1966, Camara founded Operation Hope, an organization which promotes self-help projects and provides community services, including health, educational and recreational programs for Brazil's poor.

He received an honorary Doctor of Law degree from Harvard in 1974.

"I come to universitites to speak to the human beings inside the scientists and the experts--to ask them to help us," Camara said.

"Religion today can be the force of hope, a force of liberation," he added.