PHA-Exchange> Food for an overdue empowering thought

[Claudio]

Human Rights Reader 143

 

POWER MAKES EVEN THE UGLIEST LOOK HANDSOME.

                     It is necessary from the very nature of 

                           things that power should be a check to 

                           power. (Montesquieu)

 

1. Let's face it: The majority of laws in a country are passed more as a transaction of power than as a matter of regulation. (P. Simonetti)

 

2. Policy dialogues never occur in a power vacuum; strategic interests shape the contributions of the participants to such dialogues. 

 

3. Therefore, scaling up such dialogues politically means moving towards empowerment of claim holders (CHs) so that tangible, progressive changes in the socio-political environment can occur. (Remember that equity, in health for instance, can only be achieved by unequal treatment; it requires disproportionate attention to and investment in vulnerable groups). (U. Jonsson)  Ergo, fairness and equity require empowerment.

 

4. [This, because the already powerful always want more. (Is that what eventually sinks them? Or, as somebody asked: Does this mean we need to save Capitalism from the capitalists?)].

 

5. Because what never stops occurring are the consequences of one's acting non-politically, we cannot but act politically. Inaction is also an action --perhaps the most dangerous one... For instance, what do we objectively do to counter the politization of the mainstream means of communication by the powers-that-be to avoid the pluralistic and democratic use of the media? Are the consequences not grim?

 

6. In other words, what I am saying is that one cannot be an idealist without political convictions.that ultimately lead to action. Moreover, when acting politically, timing counts; it is more, being effective at it is knowing to assess the right time to act. 

 

6. [We are not here talking about petty politicking; that is what manipulative politicians often do to hide what they are, what they stand for and what they ignore.their vanity devours their intelligence. Such politicians are condemned to become dinosaurs content with aging in the museums of the history of politics. (As Stendhal said: What an immense difficulty this hypocrisy of every instant)]. 

 

7. In politics, one may pretend --true. But keep in mind that, conversely, big business (and sometimes government) is often openly brutal and cynic --e.g., is it not obscene that world business leaders voted poverty reduction as the number one priority for global action in the recent World Economic Forum in Davos?

 

Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City

claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn

 

Mostly adapted from F+D (IMF), Vol. 42, No.4, Dec. 2005; SCN News (UN Standing Committee on Nutrition), No.30, mid 2005; and Carlos Fuentes, La Silla del Aguila, Santillana Ediciones, Madrid, 2005.
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