245 HAVING RIGHTS DOES NOT PRESUPPOSE A SIMULTANEOUS ABILITY TO CLAIM THEM.
-There is a clear difference between having a right and having a right realized. Slaves in the US had the right to freedom before President Lincoln and native Africans in…
244 WHEN YOU DREAM ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS ALONE, IT IS JUST A DREAM; WHEN YOU DREAM WITH OTHERS, IT PRE-EMPTS REALITY. (R. Pereira G.)
-Martin Luther King did not say “I have a nightmare”. (L. Stoddard) -Our future may be beyond our vision, but not beyond our control. (Senator Edward M. Kennedy) 1. History…
243 WE ARE REALLY IN CLOUD CUCKOOLAND IF WE ACCEPT THAT NEOLIBERALISM IS A BENIGN SOCIAL IDEA THAT BACKS THE HUMAN RIGHTS FRAMEWORK. (Theodore MacDonald)
People in a healthy society are mindful of the human rights of all of its members. 1. In neoliberal orthodoxy, certain inalienable laws govern the give-and-take of market forces and…
242 SOCIAL MEDICINE AS A PRAXIS IS PROFOUNDLY LINKED TO THE PRAXIS OF EMANCIPATORY HUMAN RIGHTS.
Time was when we could; we’ve come to the time we can; we do not want to come to a time when we’re out of options. (Jerome Koenig) 1. As…
241 ONLY WHERE AND WHEN HUMAN RIGHTS ARE RESPECTED CAN WE SPEAK OF DEMOCRACY BEING STABLE.
The human rights framework provides a normative base for poverty reduction, while democracy organizes political and social life to this end. (Sida) 1. Ratification of UN Covenants and Conventions (has…
240 THE DOZEN HATS WORN BY HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS
Activists do not need to be original thinkers as much as they need to be original listeners. They are not only witnesses, but doers, particularly social mobilizers. 1. As a…
239 HAVE YOU ASKED YOURSELF: WHERE IS THE POLITICS IN POLITICAL WILL?
-Politics often is the art of knowing how to choose between two equally bad, unpopular measures. (R. Aron) -In politics, the power of the purse is the most undemocratic power…
238 IRON LAWS ABOUT PARTICIPATION IN THE CONTEXT OF HUMAN RIGHTS WORK
– If the people will lead, the leaders will follow. (Mahatma Gandhi) – Changes in human rights are hardly ever achieved in a simple straightforward way –they bring about interior…
237 SOME REACTIONS TO WHAT WE HEAR (AND DO NOT HEAR) IN MANY A PUBLIC HEALTH CONFERENCE THESE DAYS.
1. Am I tired of going to such conferences? Sort of. 2. It is just that, in them, we hear about so many things that need doing and have so…
236 THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE MARKET FUNDAMENTALISM OF GLOBALIZATION ARE IRRECONCILABLE.
Let’s call a spade a spade: Globalization is a project of the North to globalize its corporate power. The market fundamentalism at its base is not only a system of…