During March and April, the Campaign's awareness-raising actions propose, as stated in point 10 of the Green Decalogue, to overcome "the technocratic model as the dominant colonizer of minds, behaviors, and culture."
After two years of intense work on the ten points of its proposed Green Decalogue, the IF YOU CARE FOR THE PLANET, YOU FIGHT POVERTY Campaign is launching a new bi-monthly awareness-raising cycle, which began in June 2016, to address the content of point 10: "You will overcome the technocratic paradigm."
In the culminating stage of the bi-monthly awareness-raising calendar, the entities that promote the Campaign â Caritas, CEDIS, CONFER, Justice and Peace, Manos Unidas and REDES (Network of Entities for Solidarity Development) â recall the warning issued by Saint John Paul II in his encyclical Fides et Ratio when he pointed out that âthe scientistic mentality has led many to accept the idea that what is technically feasible becomes morally admissibleâ (n 88).
A colonizing model
Pope Francis also addresses this issue in Laudato Si' when he refers to "the way in which humanity has embraced technology and its development in a homogeneous and one-dimensional paradigm" (LS 106). This technocratic model acts as the dominant colonizer of minds, behaviors, and culture, to the point that it becomes very difficult to break away from it because it becomes "omnipresent" (LS 122).
The risks this poses for many communities are considerable, as it is a model that conditions people's lives and the functioning of society. Therefore, as the Pope points out, it is urgent to encourage and expand "a different outlook, a way of thinking, a policy, an educational program, a lifestyle, and a spirituality that constitute a resistance to the advance of the technocratic paradigm" (LS 111).
As the Campaign's sponsors point out, human intervention in nature has long relied on the possibilities offered by things themselves, receiving what natural reality allows itself to give, like reaching out.
Today, however, what matters is extracting as much as possible from things through the imposition of human intervention, which tends to ignore the very reality of what lies before it. Humans and nature have ceased to walk hand in hand, becoming adversaries. Thus, it is easy to think that infinite or unlimited growth is possible, that the planet's resources are infinitely available, which leads to "squeezing" it to its limit and beyond. And as noted in the materials prepared to promote the contents of point 10 of the Decalogue, the false assumption is that "there is an unlimited amount of usable energy and resources, that their immediate regeneration is possible, and that the negative effects of nature's manipulations can be easily absorbed."
Therefore, overcoming the technocratic paradigm means rediscovering the value of the human being as a person, not based on possessions, science, technology, or power, but on being. Recognizing and accepting that the essence of the human being is alien to us is a gift we have been given.
A different look
The Campaign emphasizes the idea that ecological culture cannot be reduced to a series of short-term responses to problems arising from environmental degradation, the depletion of natural resources, or global pollution. It must be the sum of a different outlook, a way of thinking, a policy, an educational program, and a spirituality that address a more austere and coherent lifestyle in the face of unlimited consumption and the advance of the technocratic paradigm.
It is urgent to broaden the focus and orient technology toward serving a different kind of progress, one that is more sustainable and comprehensive. Liberation from the dominant technocratic paradigm is possible when, for example, technology is primarily oriented toward solving the specific problems of the most needy, with a commitment to helping them live with greater dignity and less suffering. We must educate not only about environmental care, but also about living with respect for others in our environment.
VOICES THAT CRY OUT
To illustrate with real-life experiences the proposal of this last point of the Green Decalogue, the campaign, as in the previous stages, offers in the "Voices That Cry Out" section the testimony, in this case, of the Wapichana people in Brazil, who uphold the "principle that the Earth is our mother, our food, our place of life, our source of health." Therefore, "the protection of the land is the fight for survival; our protection comes from the Earth, health, and everything in the plants and trees."
"Today," says one of the leaders of this community, "there are several technologies, there are these vast networks, but we need to think. It's not just about using them, but knowing how we're using them. These technological tools should help revitalize our thinking; that's part of our liberation."
Aware of the dilemma they face, the Wapichana denounce that "our people struggle so much, and they want to remove us from our land to send us to where? We have to live with this violence, and we ask ourselves: Don't we belong to this land, and aren't we part of this country? Why us? Why do we continue to suffer so much? And we answer, why are we in this struggle? Because we still exist."
WHAT CAN YOU DO (OR STOP DOING)?
In the call to action section to incorporate the proposal in point 10 of the Decalogue into our lifestyles, to free ourselves from the "techno-dependence" that surrounds us and to discover that there is life beyond the screen, we are encouraged to try the following "sacrifices":
â Ecological questioning: : there are ways of living that do not involve so much energy consumption. Many of the elements that we use in our leisure time, for example, involve the consumption of technology, and consequently of energy.
â Human questioningAlong with our concern for the planet, we must also be aware of the human consequences that technology has on people, especially the poorest. Do we know the conditions under which coltan is extracted and what it entails, for example, or how the technological waste we despise in our society impacts many people?
â Cultural questioningAre we capable of living without so much technology, of connecting with friends outside the virtual world, without needing a cell phone, in person? Enjoy the "analog" life: put your phone away at mealtimes, when you're out for walks, and even when you're with other people. You can read on paper too! And books have their own personality.
All the campaign materials carried out by EnlĂĄzate por la Justicia can be found at the following link. https://www.enlazateporlajusticia.org/tecnocracia
