PHM-Exch> Food for an alternative thought to follow

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 262





WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH THE HUMAN RIGHTS DISCOURSE THAT IT HAS SO FAR BEEN
UNABLE TO BECOME AN AUTHENTIC MASS RENEWAL MOVEMENT?

A contemporary philosopher asked himself: Is it easier to imagine the end of
the world than the end of capitalism?

According to the same philosopher, we tend to ignore existing social
conflicts and contradictions thus avoiding a political mobilization against
the excesses of capitalism. In this vision, human rights (HR) are too often
presented as a (carefully depoliticized) global-humanitarian-cause
disjointed from the existing critical political and ecological discourse,
and not as our best current alternative to follow that covers that
discourse.

It is argued that, in order to fix the  shortcomings of capitalism, one has
to acknowledge that it is technological transformations that are necessary
--and this is deemed beyond questioning. We have, of course, to change this
attitude radically. The global social threat of epic proportions we face
affects not only a few, but everybody. That alone calls for global actions
carried out in many little places at the same time.

For the full text of this Reader go to

http://www.socialmedicine.org/?p=5246

Claudio
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