Human Rights Rituals: Masking Neoliberalism and Inequality, and Marginalizing Alternative World Views

Abstract The role played by ritual in the field of human rights has not been widely remarked or analysed. Here I argue that the triumph of human rights as the predominant language for making social justice claims in the international sphere is partly attributable to the power of certain linguistic and embodied rituals. I suggest that these rituals veil the material factors at stake when human rights are invoked internationally, obscuring the relationship between neoliberalism, material inequality, and human rights. I compare the vision of justice propounded through the rituals of human rights with that proposed by the peasants’ movement, Vía Campesina. Vía Campesina’s vision is grounded in material realities and confronts neoliberal policies head on. I consider how it unsettles the rituals of human rights, and whether it can be preserved in the form of a UN Declaration on the rights of peasants.

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The Impact of Social Injustice on Public Health

Social Injustice and Public Health ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190914653.003.0001 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 3-20

Author(s):

Barry S. Levy

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Social Justice ◽

Equal Opportunity ◽

The United States ◽

Social Injustice ◽

Adverse Health Effects ◽

Human Needs ◽

Adverse Health ◽

The Impact ◽

The Relationship

Social injustice creates conditions that adversely affect the health of individuals and communities. It denies individuals and groups equal opportunity to have their basic human needs met. It violates fundamental human rights. It represents a lack of fairness or equity. This chapter provides two broad definitions of social injustice. It gives examples of social injustice, both within the United States and internationally. It describes adverse health effects related to social injustice. And it outlines ways in which health professionals and others can work to minimize social injustice and its adverse health consequences. Text boxes describe concepts of social justice, as well as the relationship between science and social justice. The Appendix to the chapter contains the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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Participatory Ideology

10.1332/policypress/9781447360490.001.0001 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Peter Beresford

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Human Rights ◽

Social Justice ◽

Global Health ◽

Social Construction ◽

Political Ideology ◽

Participatory Approaches ◽

Political Ideologies ◽

First Time ◽

The Relationship

The COVID-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter movement and renewed action against climate change all highlight the increasing gulf between narrowly based dominant political ideologies and popular demands for social justice, global health, environmentalism and human rights. This book examines for the first time the exclusionary nature of prevailing political ideologies. Bringing together theory, practice and the relationship between participation, political ideology and social welfare, the book offers a detailed critique of how the crucial move to more participatory approaches may be achieved. It is concerned with valuing people's knowledge and experience in relation to ideology, exploring its conventional social construction including counter ideology and the ideological underpinnings and relations of participation. It also offers a practical guide for change.

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Populism and environmental (in)justice in Latin America

10.1332/policypress/9781447353836.003.0009 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 149-164

Author(s):

Marcelo Lopes de Souza

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Social Justice ◽

Latin America ◽

Civil Society ◽

Environmental Justice ◽

20Th Century ◽

The Political ◽

Right Wing ◽

Left Wing ◽

The Relationship

This chapter explores the relationship between populism and environmental justice in Latin America. It was not only within the framework of overtly dictatorial regimes during the 20th century that the struggles for social justice and human rights in Latin America faced severe obstacles and suffered setbacks. They have also been badly hampered by populism — both right-wing neo-populism with its component of intolerance and conservatism, and left-wing populism, which, by means of co-opting civil society, helps demobilise it and slow down or limit processes of awareness and radicalisation of democracy. The struggles for environmental justice are a crucial example of this. The chapter then addresses the main aspects of how left-wing neo-populism has undermined environmental justice in Latin America, and particularly in Brazil. It focuses more closely on the political and ideological consequences of left-wing populism's contradictions and failure in terms of a deepening of social tensions and struggles. The chapter argues that left-wing neo-populism has been ultimately part of the problem rather than of the solution.

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Catholicism and Human Rights in Haiti: Past, Present, and Future

Religion and Human Rights ◽

10.1163/187103206781172952 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 1 (3) ◽

pp. 229-248 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Terry Rey

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Social Justice ◽

Liberation Theology ◽

Colonial Era ◽

Track Record ◽

Plantation Slavery ◽

Catholic Charismatic Renewal ◽

The Relationship ◽

The Church ◽

A Current

AbstractThis article surveys the relationship between Catholicism and human rights during four periods of Haitian history: (1) the colonial era of plantation slavery; (2) the 'antisuperstitious' campaigns from 1898 to 1943; (3) the dictatorship of François Duvalier from 1957–1971; and (4) the rise and fall of liberation theology in Haiti from the mid 1970s to the present. My primary argument is that despite a generally deplorable Catholic track record vis-à-vis human rights, there has also been a consistent ethical tributary of Catholic struggle for social justice in this poor Caribbean nation. Its strongest current fed the church-based activism that helped topple the dynastic Duavlier regime in 1986—a current that has since weakened in part due to the emergence of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Prospects for a liberationist renewal within the Renewal, however, could dictate the future of the Haitain Catholic Church's engagement in the struggle for human rights.

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Judaism and Catholicism: The Common Ground of Social Justice

The Downside Review ◽

10.1177/0012580620974280 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 138 (4) ◽

pp. 143-151

Author(s):

Brian Klug

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Social Justice ◽

Social Movement ◽

Social Action ◽

Common Ground ◽

The Subject ◽

The Common ◽

Action Taking ◽

The Relationship ◽

The Church

This article is about the relationship between Judaism and Catholicism. Rather than proceeding on the plane of theology – comparing Catholicism and Judaism in terms of their conceptions of the divine – the author approaches the subject ‘from the ground up’, considering their convergence at the level of social action. Taking his cue from Margaret Archer, who has spoken about ‘the Church as a social movement’, he presents Judaism in a similar light, drawing on resources within Judaism that conduce towards promoting human rights and social justice. Moreover, writing as a Jewish Fellow at a Catholic Oxford college (St Benet’s Hall), he recounts certain experiences that illustrate how Jews and Catholics can come together on common ground.

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Ideologi Konstitusi Piagam Madinah dan Relevansinya dengan Ideologi Pancasila

Volksgeist Jurnal Ilmu Hukum dan Konstitusi ◽

10.24090/volksgeist.v2i1.1778 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 107-129

Author(s):

Nurhadi Nurhadi

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Social Justice ◽

Point Of View ◽

First Principle ◽

Religious Ideology ◽

The Third ◽

The Law ◽

The Relationship ◽

Supreme Being

The Medina Charter as the first constitutional document in Islam, has relationship with Pancasila in the Jakarta Charter as religious ideology. It shows that the Medina Charter has relevance to the philosophical values of Pancasila as the ideology of the Indonesia. This paper presents the relationship between the Medina Charter abbd Pancasia from normative and philosophical point of view in order to prove that the Constitution's Ideology of the Medina Charter is very relevant to the Jakarta Charter with the Philosophical values of Pancasila. The first principle (or Sila) of Pancasila Belief in one supreme being is in line with article in the Medina Charter about monotheism and aqedah. The second Sila of Pncasila Just and Civilized Humanitarism is in relation with the Articles about Human Rights in the Medina Charter. The third Sila of Pancasila about the comitment to the unity of Indonesia is also stated in Articles of Medina Charter about unity and brotherhood. The forth principle about the idea of people led or governed by wise politics in line with the Articles about deliberation and agreement. The last principle about the commitment to Social Justice for All Indonesian People is similar with the law of human rights in the Medina Charter.

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