Buddhist and Christian Movements for Social Justice in Southeast Asia

Abstract

The 1960s and 1970s have seen the emergence of religious movements for economic justice and change, networks of protest, and reform groups. These have become significant characteristics of the cultural situation in South and Southeast Asia. Four movements which are examples of this phenomenon are discussed briefly in this paper. 1. Sarvodaya Shramadana is a Sri Lankan village Buddhist reform movement founded in 1958. It involves over two thousand villages and one million people nationwide. Its work has been in the poorest villages of Sri Lanka and it has an articulate Buddhist working philosophy. A. T. Ariyaratne, recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, is its founder and leader. It is well known for its work camps called Shramadana. The movement also deals with nutrition, health care, and land reform, as well as religious renewal. 2. The Asian Forum on Cultural Development is a Bangkok based interreligious and intercultural network founded in 1973 that includes Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims active in grass roots community development work in several countries in Southeast Asia. Its activities involve a wide range of people from fishermen to village monks. It is headed by Sulak Sivaraksa, a Thai Buddhist layman and social critic. 3. The Christian Workers Fellowship of Sri Lanka works among industrial workers, farmers, and tea plantation workers. They advocate the cause of some of the poorest in the nation, and they operate across religious and ethnic lines under a broad international economic philosophy. 4. The Thai Interreligious Committee on Development (TICD) is a network of religious leaders and students who work at grass roots educational and social projects primarily in rural areas. Its student participants are largely Buddhist, many of whom are influenced by the Buddhist Bhikkhu Buddhatat.