A monthly column from Robert Ellsberg, Publisher Orbis Books

Dear Friends,

This month we have been struck by images of unimaginable suffering from our island neighbor, Haiti. The earthquake that struck this week was the most powerful in 200 years, and it will be some time before the full measure of the devastation can be reckoned. We know that this suffering is visited on a country that was already the poorest in the hemisphere, already impoverished by an incredible history of natural and political disasters.

I was reminded that it is twenty years since we published a small book by a then-obscure Haitian priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, In the Parish of the Poor. It began with these words: "To all my sisters and brothers who have worked for so long. . . .In a dark corner of our little world, I take up my pen to write to you. The light I set by my side to illuminate my task is a faint light, but an unwavering one. It will grow stronger as I write, because it is the light of solidarity. If we hold that torch ahead of us we will never stray from our path, though our road is long and weary and filled with obstacles: barricades, bullets, ambush, fire, death."

In this impassioned and poetic book he evoked the sufferings of his people, chronicled his own struggles against the forces of dictatorship, including his own narrow escapes from assassination. (In one case, government sponsored terrorists burned down his church and massacred the worshippers inside.) 

Within weeks of the publication of this book, Aristide was elected president of Haiti. But the hopes initiated by this victory were short-lived. He was overthrown in a military coup and spent most of his term in exile. He returned briefly and then was expelled again. Meanwhile, conditions in Haiti have continued to deteriorate.

My thoughts also turned to Jon Sobrino's book, Where is God? Earthquake, Terrorism, Barbarity, and Hope. In this book, the Salvadoran theologian reflected on the age-old question, often raised in the face of senseless suffering and natural disasters: "Where is God?" But for Sobrino, whose book was inspired by a devastating earthquake in El Salvador, the question is really "Who are we human beings?" What does it mean to be human in a world of inequality, injustice and barbarism? In examining the cruelty of history from the standpoint of the victims, Sobrino discerns a challenge not just to find meaning, but to answer a call to personal conversion, structural change, compassion, and solidarity.

Solidarity—it is the same word that Aristide used. May the lamp of solidarity shine its light on the sufferings of Haiti and of all the poor, directing our hearts, and inspiring our actions.