![]()
1
Introduction
I. Introduction
On 29 October 2012, Superstorm Sandy, as the media dubbed it, struck the Eastern Seaboard of the North American continent, causing widespread damage from New Jersey in the United States to Newfoundland in Canada. Particularly hard-hit was New York City, usually thought, in the attitude of its inhabitants, if not in fact, to be impervious to such things. At the peak of its destructive impact, CNN broke into their coverage of the storm and the sea level rises at Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, to report that there were three feet of water standing on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
As the story unfolded, it became clear that while there had been no water on the trading floor, the NYSE was nonetheless forced to close for two days as a result of Sandy. Yet, the NYSE had taken steps to prevent flooding the trading floor, demonstrating that the fear of such consequences were certainly there (see Figure 1.1). One commentator noted that:
Stopping activity on Wall Street is an unusual occurrence. It is the first time in more than a century that weather stopped activity on Wall Street for more than 24 hours. A blizzard in 1885 forced exchanges closed for two days. And more recently, the NYSE opened the day after Tropical Storm Ireneâs Sunday arrival last year.1
In an ironic twist, then, the consequencesâextreme weatherâof what happens in New York, as symbolised most powerfully by the NYSE, had come home to disrupt the very place that contributes most to the anthropogenic activities that produce weather events like Sandy (of which there have been many since). We might still use those images taken of the NYSE at the time of Sandy to make a point: the caption for Figure 1.1 might be âWhat happened here, happens here.â Why would this be an apt caption?
Before answering that question, consider this. Two years after Superstorm Sandy hit the eastern United States, another âsuper stormâ several thousand kilometres away, unleashed its power in Europe. This storm came in the form of forcibly displaced people from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans seeking asylum in Europe and coming from countries, especially in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, affected by violence, conflict and persecution. By the end of 2014, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), almost 60 million people had been displaced, their dignity violated and safety uncertain.3 These statistics burgeoned in 2015 with the single most significant displacement of human beings since World War II.
Figure 1.1 The New York Stock Exchange Not Under Three Feet of Water2
The tragedy of this massive refugee movement was captured by one image that instantly flashed around the Western world. It was the image of a Turkish gendarme carrying the lifeless body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi washed up on the beach near Bodrum on Turkeyâs west coast in 2014. This brought the plight of refugees to the attention of the world. Aylan drowned with 14 other Syrian refugees crammed on to a boat that left Turkey and headed for the Greek island of Kos.
The collective response to this image was palpable, touching something universal. It meant that the refugee crisis was no longer just a European problem. At a deeper level of reflection, the compassion that resulted from witnessing Aylanâs plight, tragically portrayed, tapped the shared desire to care for societyâs weakest and most vulnerable, for victims of social unrest and tragedy who seek a place to belong and security in what they own and possess. A wall-painting in Frankfurt (Figure 1.2) captures the desire of two artists to remember, care for and protect the worldâs most vulnerable. It is a reminder that Aylanâs family, like all refugees, seek a place of safety from the effects of a conflict that had expropriated their dignity and property.
Figure 1.2 What Happened Here, Happens Everywhere4
The response to this refugee crisis was twofold. NGOs and civic and religious communities created environments of hospitality and shared resources. But as more and more people, 43,000 people per day and almost half children, streamed into Europe, the attitudes of some political leaders hardened, making admittance to their countries difficult, even restricting or closing their borders.5 The vision of peoples gathered at borders in tent cities attested to an unease felt by those living in host nations of the effect which the presence of migrants would have on their social and material well-being. Some have suggested that the United Kingdom referendum to leave the European Union on 23 June 2016 was itself a response to the refugee crisis, an attempt to shield, xenophobically, the way of life that the Western neoliberal order seems to promise, and an angry response to a sense of alienation and being left behind:6
Anger stirred up a winning turnout in the depressed, down-at-heel cities of England ⌠Anger at immigration, globalisation, social liberalism and even feminism, polling shows, translated into a vote to reject the EU. As if victory were a licence to spread hatred, anger has since lashed Britainâs streets with an outburst of racist abuse.7
II. Ownership and Consumption
Why, then, might âWhat happened here, happens hereâ be an apt caption for Figure 1.1? In this book we elaborate on an otherwise simple, but often overlooked answer: the modern obsession with ownership and consumption, summarised in the concept of private property, is largely responsible for the control over our world which produces global phenomena such as climate change. This, we are coming increasingly to understand, is behind the increase of extreme weather events such as Superstorm Sandy.8 Further, this penchant for control, ownership and consumptionânot by those who become refugees but by their political and military leadersâis one of the reasons that lies behind the mass movement of refugees from Asia, Africa and the Middle East whose properties, and so their options, have been confiscated and their livelihood associated with these places made uncertain. Conflict and especially poverty are the root causes of this large-scale migration. The tragedy of children like Aylan and the other 7580 deaths of refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean attests to these causes.9 An appropriate caption for Aylanâs image on the Frankfurt wall-painting that mirrors the tragic memory from Turkeyâs beach could well be, âWhat happened here, happens everywhere.â And why is this caption apt?
In this book we map out the relationships between property and people and between property and âthingsâ, or the possessions and resources which we buy, sell, trade, consume and, generally, use in our day-to-day lives. We will also suggest that in buying, selling, trading and consuming, through the medium of the concept of propertyâan activity that happens the world over but which finds its symbolic home in the NYSE and in places of violence which cause people to seek refuge elsewhereâwe are in fact trading in the very thingsâtangible and intangibleâthat produce the emissions which cause anthropogenic climate change or land appropriation. And this in turn is one of the factors which lies behind extreme weather or mass migration. The circle is closed, both metaphorically and physically. It is evident in an event like Sandy and what happened on the floor of the NYSE, both the trading of things as represented by stocks, and the consequence, ultimately, of that daily activity, the potential for flooding of the very floor where the trading happens on 29 October 2012. It is also metaphorically evident in the global movement of peoples into Europe.
III. Private Property
To begin our analysis, it will be necessary to outline what, precisely, we mean by possessions or property, and more specifically, by private property. There is a great deal of current literature on what property isâfrom neoliberal conceptions of absolutism, where government regulation and interference is eschewed10 to more traditionally liberal accounts, where regulation is seen as inevitable, although to be limited,11 to regulatory/control-based, in which regulation is seen as part of control12 to more socially/obligation-orientated, in which regulation is considered inherent to the very existence of property.13
Yet, our definition will be simple: when we speak of property, we speak of the liberal, and increasingly neoliberal, fascination with choice, the ability to choose not only how we will live and what we will do with our livesâthe liberal choice of a âlife projectââbut also how we will use, consume, change, alter, mould and shape the world around us in fulfilling that life project. Private property is, simply, the neoliberal tool that allows us to choose how to control both people (others), and things, goods and resources, and so to shape the world in which we live.
Having set out what we mean by private property, we turn to the major flaw, in our view, evident in recent theorising about property. With very few and infrequent exceptions14 in none of this theorising is property anywhere seen through the lens of a major influence on the development of the very liberal intellectual tradition from which it emerges, namely, religion,15 be it in the Christian background to liberalism and the common law, or those traditions more traditionally associated with legal/political structures, such as Judaism and Islam.
IV. Religion and the âTheological Voiceâ
The topic of religion is, currently, the elephant in the room. We are all aware of a world in which acts of violence are perpetrated under the name of religion: innocent people killed, cities destroyed and property seized. This manipulation of religion to give credence to such acts understandably leads to a popular view of its uselessness and the destructive spirit it engenders in its adherents. From this point of view, religion in general and theological discourse in particular, is seen to lack credibility to offer balance and social meaning. Rather than being a force for good, instead it can be popularly perceived as a vehicle for evil.
Yet, there is another side to religion and theological discourse that is rich and soulful. It contributes to the growth of social meaning. This comes out of a profound sensitivity that emerges in human beings who recognise the presence of a transcendent Being. This Being whom we call âGodâ is not quietly enthroned in the heavens, aloof and distant. Rather, from the biblical tradition as interpreted by mainstream Christian scholars, this God invites us to a deep spirit of ethical and communal living. Such theological insight and conviction have resulted in an attitude of social compassion and generosity. These attitudes have been expressed tangibly in many ways throughout history: the formation of institutions to care for the sick and the poor, congregations that have arisen in times of serious cultural crisis to educate and model how to live authentically, and expressions of social teaching that strengthen the call to justice, truth and peace.
One contribution which a theological voice can offer to our neoliberal age concerns the use of material possessions, the goods and resources, or things, with which private property concerns itself. We seek to re-insert and re-assert the voice of religion, and more specifically, mainstream Christianity, into this dialogue with private property and neoliberalism. Our focus for this âtheological voiceâ emerges from engaging two stories.
The first is the teaching and practice of Jesus of Nazareth and the âmovementâ that gathered a...
