PHM-Exch> Food for a thought elites will have to abide by

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 238



*IRON LAWS ABOUT PARTICIPATION IN THE CONTEXT OF HUMAN RIGHTS WORK.*



- If the people will lead, the leaders will follow. (M. Gandhi)

- Changes in human rights are hardly ever achieved in a simple
straightforward way --they bring about interior power struggles and
resistance which need to be dealt with people’s counter-power. (F.
Holtmeier) It is thus people’s counter-power that has to create demand for
change.

- In human rights work, participation is not about pointing our fingers, but
about raising our hands to be counted. (S. Koenig)



I have gathered many statements about *participation and empowerment* (by
far not all my own) that I think qualify for the status of ‘iron laws’ in
our human rights (HR) work. Here they are:


1. Participation is not just a consultation process; we understand it as an
empowerment process. (Reminiscent of the principle of magnetic resonance,
empowering participation seeks ‘social resonance’).

The full text of this reader can be found at


http://www.socialmedicine.org/2010/04/21/human-rights/iron-laws-about-participation-in-the-context-of-human-rights-work/
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