“You were a flash of light/across a sky of total dark”*
So it’s Human Rights day. The revolutionary idea that we all share certain indivisible rights as human beings in common, irrespective of the accidents of our place or situation of birth has a day. So is the tradition of human rights socialist, or liberal, or a bit of both. How can someone with anarchist principles support human rights LAWS that may be enforced by STATES and can include the defense of the notion of private property? Is a day like this worth celebrating or are we giving in a narrative that is somehow individualist, reductive, imperialist or just plan naive? I could agonise like this all day. I often do. But time is short.
Much as the ideal of democracy contains a world of possibilities for both thought and action that could never be reduced to a tick on a ballot paper once every four years, human rights are not about one law, or institution, they are, as they have to be, living, breathing, embodied things, 365 days a year. We spend a lot of time noting the conspicuousness of their absence or the satisfaction of their expression in print or statute; strategizing how to turn them into a snappy slogan or themed day, and yet more time in rage at their denial, their omission, their perversion. Perhaps just for today we can consider how often we revel in their exercise; either by ourselves or others, in spite of, in defiance of all this negation.
Whether or not we consider rights as fundamental norms derived from a natural or divine source, or whether we accept that they will always be negotiated, contested and localized notions we should never let our frustration over their lack of realization turn to despair. Rejoice, for if you want all humans to enjoy the dignity they deserve, you are NOT alone, and take heart, because even our struggles for those rights to mean something, even if they never reach completion, mean something in of themselves. They are a defiant dance that sweeps cynicism aside and keeps the beauty of the human spirit alive in every moment we keep moving. Enjoy that. Like Emma Goldman (almost said) said
“If I can't dance I don't want to be in your revolution,"^
Albert Camus said the only choice in this absurd life is between suicide or action to find meaning and purpose for ourselves. So long as we keep exercising what agency we have to make what choices we can to live life with meaning and purpose then hope is not lost. Struggle can be beautiful, victories, though they may be scant, precious foundations for the future and reflection and dialogue on what rights are and what they look and feel like for everyone, indispensable. That’s why this Human Rights Day I’m going to talk to my friends, colleagues and neighbors in the community where I currently live about what rights mean to them and what we can do about it so that we can all enjoy them all year round.
“Live your life/and don’t apologise/to the cowards of this world/they’re a waste of time.”
* The opening and closing quotes to this piece are from the Propaghandi song 'Cognitive' Suicide. According to the band
"This song is dedicated to Caster Simenya, a middle-distance runner who was subjected to a public and humiliating “gender verification” after winning the 800 metre World Championships in 2009; and Eudy Simelane, a footballer on the South African women’s national team who was beaten, raped and murdered as a “correction” for being a lesbian and LGBT activist. While Eudy’s life was tragically cut short, Caster perservered and continues to compete in track at the highest level. “Coward” here refers to those who are afraid to think, learn and look critically at themselves, not those who may hesitate, are afraid, or are too physically weak to “fight” in the traditional sense."
This song never fails to touch me and remind me that Human Rights are first and foremost about actual human beings, their lives, their aspirations, their achievements and their dignity.
^http://www.ificantdance.org/About/00-IfICantDance/OnEmmaGoldman gives the following story about this apocryphal quote
"In her autobiography Living My Life (1931) she describes how she was once admonished for dancing at a party in New York and was told “that it did not behoove an agitator to dance. Certainly not with such reckless abandon, anyway.” Goldman responded furiously: “I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from conventions and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement should not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it.” This episode was later paraphrased and transformed into the famous quote"
So it’s Human Rights day. The revolutionary idea that we all share certain indivisible rights as human beings in common, irrespective of the accidents of our place or situation of birth has a day. So is the tradition of human rights socialist, or liberal, or a bit of both. How can someone with anarchist principles support human rights LAWS that may be enforced by STATES and can include the defense of the notion of private property? Is a day like this worth celebrating or are we giving in a narrative that is somehow individualist, reductive, imperialist or just plan naive? I could agonise like this all day. I often do. But time is short.
Much as the ideal of democracy contains a world of possibilities for both thought and action that could never be reduced to a tick on a ballot paper once every four years, human rights are not about one law, or institution, they are, as they have to be, living, breathing, embodied things, 365 days a year. We spend a lot of time noting the conspicuousness of their absence or the satisfaction of their expression in print or statute; strategizing how to turn them into a snappy slogan or themed day, and yet more time in rage at their denial, their omission, their perversion. Perhaps just for today we can consider how often we revel in their exercise; either by ourselves or others, in spite of, in defiance of all this negation.
Whether or not we consider rights as fundamental norms derived from a natural or divine source, or whether we accept that they will always be negotiated, contested and localized notions we should never let our frustration over their lack of realization turn to despair. Rejoice, for if you want all humans to enjoy the dignity they deserve, you are NOT alone, and take heart, because even our struggles for those rights to mean something, even if they never reach completion, mean something in of themselves. They are a defiant dance that sweeps cynicism aside and keeps the beauty of the human spirit alive in every moment we keep moving. Enjoy that. Like Emma Goldman (almost said) said
“If I can't dance I don't want to be in your revolution,"^
Albert Camus said the only choice in this absurd life is between suicide or action to find meaning and purpose for ourselves. So long as we keep exercising what agency we have to make what choices we can to live life with meaning and purpose then hope is not lost. Struggle can be beautiful, victories, though they may be scant, precious foundations for the future and reflection and dialogue on what rights are and what they look and feel like for everyone, indispensable. That’s why this Human Rights Day I’m going to talk to my friends, colleagues and neighbors in the community where I currently live about what rights mean to them and what we can do about it so that we can all enjoy them all year round.
“Live your life/and don’t apologise/to the cowards of this world/they’re a waste of time.”
* The opening and closing quotes to this piece are from the Propaghandi song 'Cognitive' Suicide. According to the band
"This song is dedicated to Caster Simenya, a middle-distance runner who was subjected to a public and humiliating “gender verification” after winning the 800 metre World Championships in 2009; and Eudy Simelane, a footballer on the South African women’s national team who was beaten, raped and murdered as a “correction” for being a lesbian and LGBT activist. While Eudy’s life was tragically cut short, Caster perservered and continues to compete in track at the highest level. “Coward” here refers to those who are afraid to think, learn and look critically at themselves, not those who may hesitate, are afraid, or are too physically weak to “fight” in the traditional sense."
This song never fails to touch me and remind me that Human Rights are first and foremost about actual human beings, their lives, their aspirations, their achievements and their dignity.
^http://www.ificantdance.org/About/00-IfICantDance/OnEmmaGoldman gives the following story about this apocryphal quote
"In her autobiography Living My Life (1931) she describes how she was once admonished for dancing at a party in New York and was told “that it did not behoove an agitator to dance. Certainly not with such reckless abandon, anyway.” Goldman responded furiously: “I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from conventions and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement should not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it.” This episode was later paraphrased and transformed into the famous quote"
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