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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Human Rights Reader
125<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">BEING A HUMAN RIGHTS
ACTIVIST IS NOT AN ILLUSION ONE SHOULD LOSE AT AGE
40.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 2in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">The goal of providing human
rights to all in the world is as inspiring and formidable a challenge as any
extraterrestrial adventure. (J. Cohen and D. Bloom)
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">1. As sad as it may be,
after 40, many of our peers join the asylum-of-political-convalescents. At any
age, it is OK to have doubts, but one should not, because of that, stop acting.
Just having moral convictions without engaging in political criticism and action
is weak and passive. Too often, we do not measure the moral and political
consequences of our <U>non</U>-acting. Certain things we just have to do (like
breaking the gospel of the civil neoliberal God) even knowing that we may fail
this time around. Battles have to be fought inside the system (“<U>with</U>
which one is during the day --as much as one is <U>against</U> it at night”).
Just keep in mind that politics is ‘the art of swallowing frogs without making
faces’. It is the art of compromise. What counts are the questions asked more
than the responses received. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
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face="Times New Roman"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:time Hour="10"
Minute="2"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">2. After 10</SPAN></st1:time><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"> years of well publicized anti-globalization movements,
we simply cannot show fatigue now. Disillusion is the best ally of vested,
pro-status-quo interests. It manifests itself as a feeling that our work is
marginal, that the work needed is too intense, too long and subject to severe
ups and downs. (But are protracted bumpy roads avoidable in this struggle? No.
Negotiations we have to get involved-in are like bluffing in a card game: with
imperfect information on our opponents and on our own cards, we can move forward
only at a turtle’s pace; but forward we move!). <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">3. Our work is not yet
widely supported and, if not careful and shrewd, what we do, in the end, favors
the powerful.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Slow progress is OK;
inertia or regression is not. We need a grand vision --one that takes a
long-term view and enables us to take a leadership role. The People’s Health
Movement (PHM), for example, is a forum that has defined and pursues one such
legitimate grand vision for the world. (check </FONT><A
href="http://www.phmovement.org/"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">www.phmovement.org</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman">) <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">4. Respect for human rights
(people’s rights) is not a task to be assumed as easy, brief or time-saving.
Human rights (HR) envision the liberation of the oppressed from situations of
domination and exploitation. The struggle for HR helps people advance in their
liberation process.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">5. We therefore need a
systematic drive to train skilled HR activists who can analyze the pros and cons
of adopting certain positions, and can boost the movement using their newly
acquired negotiating skills to foster HR-oriented strategic alliances and to
seek needed technical cooperation. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">6. HR activists can neither
stand-by without taking sides in the power struggle nor can they take science as
objective and neutral when it really sustains the status-quo. They cannot use
‘tourist-approaches-to-HR’ as ‘tarmac-professors’ do in their ivory towers. HR
activists are expected to go and listen to the problems from the horse’s mouth
of the marginalized. (L. Justo) <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">7. HR activists should
<U>neither</U> only pursue the violations-denunciatory-approach-to-rights
<U>nor</U> should they put all their efforts in increasing membership in the HR
movement; that would be a mistake. They should rather build organized
participation… and membership will follow. To continue this list of ‘dos and
don’ts’, HR activists should document HR violations, yes, but should not see
writing reports on these violations as an end. They should also advocate for
policy changes, denouncing old and new policies that negatively impact on HR;
they should raise awareness and educate, as well as establish alliances. HR
activists should further use the right language to address the different sectors
and groups they deal with. When holding governments accountable, it is the HR
activists’ job to reempower the state for it to meet its economic, social and
cultural rights obligations towards its people. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">8. In the international
arena, HR activists will have to move towards achieving a consensus that
International HR Law has to take precedence over trade laws and WTO trade rules;
achieving this will, by itself, be an immense victory for developing
countries.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>(L. London)<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Claudio Schuftan,
</SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Ho Chi Minh
City</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><A href="mailto:claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn</FONT></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Mostly adapted from Carlos
Fuentes, Los anios con Laura Diaz, Santillana<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Ediciones Generales,
</SPAN><st1:State><st1:place><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Madrid</SPAN></st1:place></st1:State><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">, 2001, and F&D, 42:1, March
2005.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>