Paper
HUMAN RIGHTS
REMEDIES: CAMPAIGNS
*
HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENTS
- Tools: protest, litigate, boycott, inform, monitor and analyze
- Historic
- Amnesty Intl.: most widespread but narrow mandate
- Human Rights Watch: most US-centered
- ICRC: Geneva Conventions, most humanitarian
- Service providers: IRC, IOM
- Country-specific: Burma, Tibet, Darfur
- Sectors: labor, women, religion, professions
- Issues: Invisible Children, Free the Slaves
- Victims vs. advocates: families, survivors, vulnerable groups
*
INFORMATION POLITICS
- Human Rights Watch brings attention to
- Child domestic workers in Indonesia, c. 200,000—numbers, hidden problem
- Impunity in killings of journalists in Russia—distortions of rule of law
- U.S. renditions and disappearances--investigations
- Rape of refugees in Congo—battlefield reporting
*
GOVERNANCE:
CIVIL SOCIETY AND INTL. LAW
- Red Cross and Geneva Conventions
- Convention Against Torture and Amnesty
- ICC:
- 1995 coalition, 800 orgs
- Regional lobbying
- Gender justice: rape as a war crime
- Struc infl: ind. Prosecutor
Designated standing in UN Indig Peoples’ Forum, ILO
*
BOYCOTTS AND SANCTIONS: MKTS“INVISIBLE HANDCUFF”
- Nestles to Nike boycotts lead to codes of conduct, inspections
- South Africa disinvestments (same pattern with Burma: Liz Claiborne, Pepsi)
- “blood diamonds” campaign leads to Kimberley Accords, diamond registration system
- Affirmative fair trade networks
*
PROTEST CAMPAIGN MODE
- Genocide Intervention Fund
- Started by Swarthmore students re Darfur, now over 100 colleges
- Raised $250,000
- Backed by Mia Farrow and Don Cheadle
- Special appeal to Jewish and Armenian student groups based on history
- Money for African Union peacekeepers
- Lobbying for Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, which calls for sanctions on Sudan and no-fly zone
*
LAWSUITS FOR LABOR RIGHTS
- Colombia—rights of the person
- assassinations of union organizers who work for MNCs; 94 killed in 2004 (2100 killed since 1991)
- five lawsuits vs. Drummond, Coca-Cola bottlers
- indirect impact on Colombia’s trade negotiations and mili aid from US; recently 19 prosecutions
- Unocal—also Shell in Nigeria, oil and mining cos.
- Burma pipeline slave labor
- alleged complicity with state repression
- settled out of court
- International Labor Rights Fund suing Walmart re Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Swaziland violations of code of conduct, as “contract”—wage violations, physical assault by managers, being locked in factories, fired for backing unions
- note due to previous boycott threats and bad publicity, Walmart has 5,000 factories inspected (108 banned for child labor)
*
PROTEST: FUNCTIONS OF A CAUSE CELEBRE
- Embodies and puts a face on repression
- Speaks for a cause or identity
- Counters dehumanization with moral worth and dignity
- Acknowledged state behavior, leverage on state power, manageable concession
- Appeals to widely accepted universal civil/political rights
*
*CHINESE ARTIST AND BLOGGER
*HELPED EXPOSE 2008 SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE CORRUPTION
*ARRESTED AND STUDIO DEMOLISHED IN 2010
*ARRESTED 2011 ON TRUMPED UP CHARGES
*RELEASED AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS BUT OTHERS DISAPPEARED
*CHINESE CULTURE IN ART TO ASSERT UNIVERSAL RIGHTS
CHINA’S CULTURAL CONSCIENCE: AI WEI-WEI
*
GLOBALIZATION OF CHARISMATIC VOICE
- Heroes: Nelson Mandela
- Martyrs: Mothers of the Disappeared
- Expertise: Doctors Without Borders
- Personification: Dalai Lama
*
GLOBALIZATION OF PERFORMANCE
protest as performance
occupying public space
cultural politics: literature, theater
power of performance genres:
Satire: Pussy Riot
Testimonial: literature, Truth Commissions
*
GLOBAL SOLIDARITY:
Free Pussy Riot, London, England
FRAMING AND SHAMING
power of established frames
telling a causal story
rights vs. fate
Poster children: Sex Trafficking
Reframing FGM: From honor to feminism to health
Recognition: Darfur=genocide vs. Congo=chaos
*
RECOGNITION: DARFUR
*
GLOBALIZATION OF PERFORMANCE
protest as performance
occupying public space
cultural politics: literature, theater
power of performance genres:
allegory: Indian Summer
Satire: Pussy Riot
Testimonial: Truth Commissions
*
GLOBAL SOLIDARITY:
Free Pussy Riot, London, England
GLOBAL MEDIA: IS THERE AN APP FOR THAT?
- Diffusion
- Interactivity
- New Voices
- Iran 2009: #Neda, “where is my vote?”
*
TWEETS HEARD ROUND THE WORLD
BRAZIL-”I don’t deserve to be raped”
(contesting public opinion poll)
After a recent public opinion survey in Brazil that showed 26% of respondents said that “women who dress provocatively deserve to be raped,” Brazilian women protested and President Dilma Roussef tweeted her disapproval. The photo to the right is from a domestic violence campaign in Lebanon.
THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING?
CONSTRUCTING ATTENTIVE IDENTITIES
Transnational circuits of identification:
Professional: PEN
religious
Bridging narratives:
Post-9/11: JACL and Arab-Americans
Relationships and solidarity: Men and VAW
*
PATHWAYS TO CHANGE
Monitoring: observe, investigate, attribute
Advocacy: speak for those without voice
Humanitarian service
Justice
Mobilization
Leverage
Prevention
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
After a recent public opinion survey in Brazil that showed 26% of respondents said that “women who dress provocatively deserve to be raped,” Brazilian women protested and President Dilma Roussef tweeted her disapproval. The photo to the right is from a domestic violence campaign in Lebanon.
*
*