Human rights: Food for urging a thought ‘HR activism’
[TLDR (too long didn’t read): If you are reading this, chances are you care about HR. This Reader is about activists pushing harder in the direction of justice, democracy and human rights. For a quick overview, just read the bolded text]. Traducir/traduire los/les Readers; usar/utiliser deepl.com
—When there is no hope, struggle is the hope. (Politika)
–Struggling for a dignified life often costs us our own lives. (grafitti in Santiago, Chile)
1. Activists can find a source of inspiration in history, often not so distant, when leaders and movements, for all their flaws and failures, agreed to agree. In other words, in many countries, political leaders, dissidents, and social movements, having exhausted so many militant/principled ideas and endured so much oppression and tragedy, did begin to push in the direction of justice, democracy and human rights (HR) –…often not compromising. Of course, there is much that is oversimplified in this sentence when dark currents persist in their respective countries (since, the forces of reaction still hold the power*). But the promise of history-past can be realistic if it runs deep. Work with claim holders has thus to come up with realistic options. Activists do not have the option of being pessimistic. It may take years for a new political culture to take hold –a process that is never fully achieved anywhere, but it cannot be relinquished only to fall in a state of despair. (David Remnick) Activists must, therefore, keep their friends close, but their strategic enemies even closer. (Arturo Alessandri)
*: Everything rests on power relations: Do not listen to what they say; look at what they do. It is not enough to play the guitar and promise the moon… (Politika)
2. Contrast this with the following: As an activist, I am not convinced that well written declarations and denunciations make much of, if any, difference . . . (fairness, is not something that is eeked-out from the powerful –or UN bodies for that matter– …with declarations). I cannot help but feeling this is why the so many declarations we all sign are hot air and will be (are being) ignored –however well or badly written. (Alison Katz)
Much has been talked about Naming and Shaming (Jose Kaire, Arye Neier, Amanda Murdie, Open Global Rights)
–“To be a man is precisely to be responsible, it is to know shame in the face of a bad action. It is to be proud of a victory won by one’s comrades. It is to feel that by placing one’s own stone one contributes to build the world”. (The Little Prince, Saint Exupery)
3. Perpetrators of HR violations repress people(s) fully knowing they will face criticism. This reality should not push us to conclude that the efforts of activists are ineffective, even if/when perpetrators rarely stop ongoing abuse in response to naming and shaming campaigns.
4. Improvements in the HR situation critically depend on the simultaneous actions** of many different advocacy actors. Therefore, only if HR activists raise the stakes high enough will abusive regimes eventually start to respect, protect and fulfill HR. Governments may choose restraint, because they know that the world is watching (even the most abusive governments feel that they must take into account the international public opinion to preserve or improve their international reputation especially if their HR violations capture the attention of journalists and advocates across the globe). This means activists do have to take the deterrence effect of naming and shaming seriously.
**: ‘Coordin-action’ is a strategic concept being used more and more and it means going beyond coordination in the sense of exchange of information to ensure that on-the-ground activism takes off. (CSIPM)
Tactics without strategy are noise before defeat (Sun Tzu)
5. Documenting abuses is a precursor of naming and shaming so as to build cases against the duty bearers to be shamed and to put duty bearers on notice. Naming and shaming is of particular immense importance to victims whose basic physical integrity has been affected by those responsible for their suffering –once they are unmasked. (The fact that those convicted for such abuses are serving prison sentences has brought about some measure of deterrence).
6. Drawing-in third-party actors creating a naming and shaming network*** is thus important (important for encouraging third-party actors to also pressure repressive regimes themselves –even if unable to physically enter the violating country due to closed borders). But the international HR community can still create enough pressure for change from abroad. [Two caveats here: a) Admittedly, there is no silver bullet to stop all abuse; some countries seem impervious to the vocal demands of activists, and b) the foreign policy rationale for naming and shaming has not played a very important role in promoting HR. Nevertheless, even if it is long after (years) the abuses took place, it seems to be possible to hold anyone accountable (the International HR Court has proven this). (all the above from J. Kaire, A. Neier, A. Murdie, Open Global Rights)
***: The network to be congruent with the three pillars of HR activism: a) a critical political economic analysis; b) popular mobilization; and c) a convergence of a broad front of social and political movements. (PHM)
Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City
Your comments are welcome at schuftan@gmail.com
All Readers are available at www.claudioschuftan.com
Postscript/Marginalia
–“You cannot dialogue or negotiate with decision-makers who confuse Austria with Australia.” (Vladimir Putin) … or the Swiss with the Swedes.
—Material goods and the commons are not inherently owned by the bourgeoisie, they are a human heritage that the bourgeoisie has stolen; HR activists aim to take them back and distribute them among everyone. (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)