PHM-Exch> Food for an emancipatory thought

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 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. (adapted from Haiku #1533, J.
Koenig).



  As HR activists working in health, we face a double challenge. We must
work for fundamental economic, social and political changes underlying what
we know as the social determinant of health and, at the same time, we must
work on changes in the specific field of health where additional localized
resistance (often by doctors) is to be reckoned with. We thus need to set-up
networks --not forgetting the health workers, organized or not-- to
integrate our health and our human rights (HR) aims in what will inevitably
become a political challenge. (As this Reader has repeatedly said, HR are a
powerful idea which should be spread, starting with concerted efforts to
launch more and more HR learning activities).



  Actually, it is the HR-based framework that contains the powerful ideas;
ideas that are at odds and counter neoliberal ideology, ideas that are
a counter-power
to the prevailing market forces --and, let’s face it,  that is why the
spreading of the HR idea is opposed.



The full text of this Reader can be found at

http://www.socialmedicine.org/2010/06/02/human-rights/social-medicine-as-a-praxis-is-profoundly-linked-to-the-praxis-of-emancipatory-human-rights/

Claudio
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