Julián Gómez del Castillo: Campaign for Justice in North-South

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Close to the seventh anniversary of his death, we would like to publish this interesting audiovisual document. In this interview from 1990, Julián Gómez del Castillo talks about the Campaign for Justice in North-South relations that the Christian Cultural Movement has been involved in ever since. Just as it did in the past, his testament reaffirms today our commitment to solidarity with the oppressed of the earth

In this interview, Julián emphasises the seriousness of the problem of hunger in the world, sharing the fact that for every 100 people in the world in 1990, 74 suffered from hunger.

He says that the institutional causes responsible for this figure are:

  • Global finance (the IMF and the World Bank – created after the Second World War).

  • International trade and its exploitation of the world’s poorest citizens.

  • Technology, less than 1% of which is available to the poorest countries in the world, thus leading to increased debt in order to attain it. This includes the robbery of research from poorer nations.

  • The big international organisations that favour the economic North’s exploitation and robbery of the economic South (as denounced by John Paul II).

           One of the fundamental points in the interview is his denunciation of how the Northern economies are sustained by theft from the South, and his hope that the world’s poorest nations can change this situation, in a conscious and responsible way.

Our action plan in the Campaign is to be the voice of the voiceless in the rich countries of the world, and to support people opposing injustice both at home and abroad.

The Church, in its permanent fight against hunger, employs more people and provides more financial support than all of the international organisations and the ‘Official Development Assistance’ combined.

He also make a final call for hope, affirming that “the only ones who can free the oppressed are themselves…”