PHA-Exch> Food for a fixer’s thought

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 187



THE PURPOSE OF FREEDOM FROM WANT IS TO CREATE IT FOR OTHERS.



Variations on a theme by* *Bernard Malamud. Inspired, plagiarized and
paraphrased from his novel "The Fixer", Penguin XXth Century Classics,
Penguin Books, London, 1967.



A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their
mission can alter the course of history. (M. Gandhi)



1. In a 'sick' country, every step towards healing is seen as an affront by
those who benefit from its sickness. They, therefore, do not hesitate to
destroy the independence of the courts, the free press, the prestige of the
legislative or any other perceived impediment; as deemed necessary, they
will incite nationalism, will persecute minorities; popular discontent will
be countered with xenophobic outbreaks --which is a simple solution to their
problems…and it is good for business.



2. But courts do exist and justice is possible. The law does live in the
minds of men. If a judge is honest, the law is protected. If that is the
case, so are people whose human rights are being flagrantly violated --but
is that the case?  The question, then, is: Under what circumstances is real
justice possible…?



3. Religion also exists. But either God (who is invisible) is our invention
and can't do anything about injustice, or She is a force in Nature, but not
in History (…and such a force is simply not succeeding as a justice- and
human rights-promoting mother). *



4. We are all in history, that is sure; but some are more than others… In
history, too much happens that is untold. For the sufferers of human rights
violations, history is the world's bad memory; it remembers the wrong
things. For these sufferers, it is the same fate wherever they are in the
world; they all carry similar packs of servitude, diminished
opportunities/access, marginalization and vulnerability on their backs; and
that is forgotten by history. Government after government has destroyed
their freedom with impunity by reducing their worth. But if they become
active adversaries, they are beaten, imprisoned, starved, degraded; no
actively rebelling victim of human rights violations is innocent in the eyes
of a corrupt state.



5. One thing we have learned: There is no such thing as an apolitical
wo/man; you cannot be one without the other --that is clear enough. You
cannot thus sit still and see yourself and your family destroyed.  Where
there is no fight for universal human rights, there is no freedom. If the
state acts in ways that are abhorrent to human rights, it is the lesser evil
to actively oppose it. By being conspicuously silent about theses acts, we
provide-for and virtually-accept the (often not so) veiled attempt of these
states to oppress to maintain the status-quo.



6. But, beware: Where there is opposition to oppression, there is also
repression. [Fortunately, legitimate human rights claims cannot be
suppressed forever by authoritarian means].



7. This leaves me to ask: Better repression than widespread public and
passive acceptance of injustice? Or: Is the war on injustice the real
locomotive of history?



Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City

cschuftan at phmovement.org

[All Readers can be found in www.humaninfo.org/aviva  under
No.69<http://www.humaninfo.org/aviva%20%20under%20No.69>
]



*:  - Religion is about *eternal truth* #

     - Development is about *change*.

     - Human rights are about *social justice*.

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#: God is said to act through spiritual gifts bestowed on the faithful.
It/and its teachings of the truth are experienced/followed by believers
only. (H. Dembowski)  Unfortunately, religion can be abused for power
purposes to shape worldviews. Strict religious dogmatism (fundamentalism)
has the ability to suppress serious debate on given subjects. By providing
social networks for marginalized people, it has the ability to mobilize
people in their hundreds of thousands with the help of professionally run
campaigns of misinformation, cleverly positioning the issues dear to them in
the particular context they are interested-in. The networks create high
internal social pressure and even intervene extensively in the everyday
lives of the devout; absolute compliance with the rules is demanded. In what
concerns us in human rights, fundamentalist groups of any denomination lay
down rules for its members with respect to how they should live their lives
--even if in contravention of universal human rights principles. (Adapted
from D+C, 34:10, October 2007 and D+C, 34:12, December 2007.  )
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