1. In this day and age, if one looks at the political spectrum in rich countries, value politics overshadow and outdo class politics. As a consequence, in most of these countries, ethics and (class) politics are arbitrarily delinked*. Then, in an attempt to be consequent with their ethical values, some of their governments have felt inclined to integrate human rights (HR) language into their policies and, sometimes, into their budgets and their diplomacy…and less often so into their foreign aid.
*: Typical examples of this ethics/politics split come to the fore when asking: 1) Are poor and minority communities and groups neglected? or are they oppressed?, and 2) Is empowerment a soft or a core issue in HR work? [It is indispensable]. (FAO)
2. But regarding this ‘being consequent’, key underlying questions still remain:
-Has/is the HR framework really become/ing a trans-national common culture? [No. Not yet…], and
-Can the latter occur when the reality is that the values and the issues pertaining to HR are depoliticized, and when diplomatic relations between states are grounded in settings and played-out in situations of unequal power? [Probably not]. **
**: Paraphrasing Herbert Marcuse, we can say that in the rich countries, the status of HR and the institutional violence that underlies ongoing HR violations in poor countries are often seen with a ‘repressive tolerance’. [Actually, in too many countries (with rich countries governments’ connivance), smiling dictators do believe that modernization, repression and HR violations belong together…].
3. As a result, there is no clear (class) political direction in the rich countries that decisively and convincingly puts the redressal of worldwide HR violations at the center. No doubt there are many value arguments tossed, but pragmatic, structural HR-violations-redressing-alternatives ‘somehow’ seem not to be proposed –much less alternatives in which the victims of HR violations are given a voice in the decision-making.***
***: Let’s call a spade a spade, attending ad-hoc participatory events is not the same as having an equal voice and much less as having an influence. Both achieving an equal voice and translating it into influence require political action, i.e., it takes political consciousness and motivation plus a political engagement to achieve changes in the HR arena.
4. [Not being proposed and not being put in place are, for example, a legal system oriented towards HR for claim holders to hold duty bearers accountable; an accessible HR learning system and complaint mechanisms that reach the general population; and a HR training program for judges, lawyers, law enforcement personnel and legislators].
5. Actually, in HR work, you need the hunger-for-global-facts of a journalist, the depth-and-moral-courage of an ethicist and the pragmatic-cold-analytical-head of a political scientist who can rationalize the significance of the unfair and the unjust in every-day life. But beware: by wearing these different hats you cannot confine yourself only to name, blame and shame; you need to do something about it! This, for instance, means that, when existing policies and HR violations are criticized, it is expected that you propose (an) alternative(s).
6. So, in these times of dire financial crisis, together with others I ask:
-Is it so hard, to resurrect class politics as part of a push for a more direct (and not just representative) democracy? (Camapania 2007 por el Derecho a la Salud en Uruguay, diciembre 2008).
-Isn’t direct democracy the desirable delivery system for human rights… where people learn to belong in dignity and in community with others? (S. Koenig), and
-Is something of the like of literally thousands of local-level HR assessment, analysis and action processes and groups possible? (Gonoshastya Kendra)
7. All the above reinforces what this Reader has repeatedly been saying, namely that what is deemed ‘worth embarking-on’ and what brings about ‘effective’ change depends on what one’s values and politics are.
Ideology is simply not dead; it remains the trump card. Politics is not just a moral drama. It is the democratic currency through which, in HR work, we should express our creative anger.
Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City
cschuftan@phmovement.org