PHM-Exch> Food for a thought beyond mere consultation

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 287



*IN HUMAN RIGHTS WORK, IT IS THE HIGHLY UNEQUAL RELATIONS OF POWER THAT
SEVERELY LIMIT THE TERMS OF CITIZENS’ ACTIVE PARTICIPATION AND
REPRESENTATION.*



-Je participe, tu participes, il participe, nous participons….. ils
profittent. (1968 Paris Revolution poster)

-For human rights processes to be truly participatory, representation has
to be timely, truly active, free and meaningful, i.e., “you come; you buy
the land; you make a plan, you build the house…and now you ask me what
color I want for the walls of the kitchen?” is not really participation.


Oppressed people that lack the capacity for collective action are
historically doomed. That is where empowerment comes-in in human rights
work. Actually, for us, the very meaning of participation is empowerment.
It pursues a significant input in decision making processes rather than
mere consultation. In our case, among other, empowerment implies that, to
make progress, claim holders have to use tools such as legal and political
action, i.e., we see participation as exercising a painstakingly earned
political right. As someone said, the problem is that: “Part of being
powerless is that people are always speaking on our behalf”.



As the Occupy Movement around the world has shown, the voices of protest
become insignificant and devoid of power when they are contradicted by the
media and the computers of officialdom (…and of the secret service). As Amartya
Sen rightfully reminded us, some of the real progress that has happened in
recent years has come from public discussion --and from agitation.



To exercise one's political rights, the new form of participation we foster
in HR work is not *‘reactively-problem-oriented’*, but *
‘proactively-solution-oriented’*.

For the full Reader, go to

http://wp.me/plAxa-1yV

Claudio
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