Food for thought for a new beginning (part 1)
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MORE ON THE POLITICS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Human Rights Reader 69
What should drive human rights (HR) activists in their daily
work? Why choose HR and not another field? Why the appeal of
working, either locally and/or globally, to alleviate the suf-
fering of those whose rights are being violated? Are HR activ-
ists more aware of the political implications of their daily ac-
tivities both as professionals and as concerned citizens (two
inseparable spheres of action)? Can anybody working in develop-
ment evade the responsibilities that these questions bring with
them? (from HRR 55)
A BASIS TO DEVELOP A NEW VISION FOR THE FUTURE. (Part 15 of 16)
151. Sustainable development is about processes of popular en-
richment, empowerment and participation which our technocratic,
project-oriented view has simply failed to accommodate. Unfortu-
nately, difficult problems have the power of leading us to focus
on their more manageable components thus totally avoiding the
more complex basic, structural questions. This is known as 'the
exclusion fallacy' in which 'what-we-choose-not-to-discuss is
assumed to have no bearing on the issue'.
152. An uncritical, repetitive reliance on the same old, shallow
interpretation of unresolved issues --i.e., not considering all
the human rights (HR) violations we witness as outcomes of com-
plex social and political processes-- has equally foreseeable
conservative consequences. Outlooks stemming from such a vantage
point particularly suffer from an inexcusable narrow understand-
ing of the nature of control processes in society (both in the
North and in the South).
153. Somehow, debates about past historical rights and wrongs
are not guiding us to come up with more cohesive propositions
for tomorrow. If there is no cohesion in our vision, as cam-
paigners we will weary and the campaign will perish; we thus
need to reshape our vision firmly embedding it in a more realis-
tic practice. To walk away from making our debates ultimately
relevant to those we purport to serve is a luxury we cannot af-
ford. A vision is not much good if it simply stays in the air as
something devoutly to be desired; a vision of that sort is a mi-
rage: it recedes as you approach it. To be of use, the vision
has to suggest a route, and this requires that it takes into ac-
count many unpleasant realities.
154. A vision is of no use unless it serves as a guide for ef-
fective action. These actions will, once and for all, have to be
biased towards the oppressed, because it is their rights that
are being trampled-upon day-in-day-out. We can no longer abandon
the have-nots to the dollar-dispensing Northern bilateral or
multilateral agencies. The moment cries for us to press for
more. Windows of opportunity have a way of slamming shut.
155. I am aware it is still very difficult for some of us to
maintain our political agility in a hostile environment. But the
role of an avant-garde is to cause fermentation. We cannot fall
in the trap of believing someone else is going to take care of
these things for us; we have to get active. A strategic overhaul
of our actions requires nothing less than a crisis in our think-
ing and if by now there is no such a crisis in the horizon, we
have to perhaps create one.
156. The future of our work cannot be a simple extension of the
past. If we try to pursue a path of business-as-usual we will
find some altogether unusual consequences. As said, however much
we may engage in fine-tuning the engine, this will not suffice
unless we redesign certain sizable parts of the motor itself.
157. A new politically conscious professionalism will emerge
only if we are explorers and ask, again and again, who will
benefit and who will lose from choices made and actions under-
taken in our work. New professionals 'who put the last first'
already exist; we still are a minority though. The hard question
is how we can multiply and, most importantly, how we can inter-
act, coalesce and organize dynamic networks among ourselves and
between us and grassroots organizations.
158. Making prescriptive recommendations on what each of us
needs to do to contribute our individual grain of salt to making
pro-HR interventions more effective and sustainable would be
presumptuous. The materials in this Reader are just a wake-up-
call for some and an always-timely-reminder for others. It is
about being more critical about what we do and see. This, as a
basis for each of us to develop our own (new) vision for the fu-
ture: a vision that fits our own specific situation, one that we
commit ourselves to share, and one that we are willing to imple-
ment working with others.
Claudio Schuftan
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
mailto:claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn