PHM-Exch> Food for a campaigner’s thought

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 316



*THE TIME FOR FALSE NOTIONS IS OVER: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ARE NOT
PERVERSE AGITATORS.*

* *

-As much as it is criminal to promote a war that is avoidable, it is also
criminal not to promote a struggle that is inevitable.

For social activists to evaluate everyday problems and, with their
constituents, to identify matching goals and actions is not enough; the
final objective is to figure out how to get there, through what processes.
For that to happen, a veritable paradigm shift is now deemed indispensable
so as to allow joint decision-making of what needs to be done, what not,
and how to do it. (A hint for the post 2015 process?). In the search for
the best way to bring about this shift, the social, economic, political and
environmental determinants to be addressed are many --and some are well
known and indeed addressable and manageable. Changing these determinants,
and addressing urgent human rights (HR) issues, often means stepping on the
toes of those who will resist change when it touches their (mostly
non-deserved) already acquired privileges; these groups will, to be sure,
defend their interests aggressively. The need for the active involvement of
those-affected-who-become-conscious-of-the-‘abnormality’-of-their-situation
(i.e., claim holders) is not questionable any longer. That is the only way
forward despite any doubts, obstacles and/or risks you hear or read about.
Steps in the wrong direction can, with high probability, mean failure. A
political consensus on this may not be easy to achieve yet, but needs to be
built.

For the full Reader, go to

http://wp.me/plAxa-1I6

Claudio
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20130526/e53a9c97/attachment.html>