Ideas & Action Building a Human Rights Agenda

by Keri Iyall Smith

It’s a free country! I learned this retort early in elementary school and immediately used it to attempt to negotiate later bed times, changing rules on the playground, eating cookies for dinner, and more. It was rarely (if ever) effective. The fact that it is a free country did not entitle me to much that mattered, it turned out.

Studying American Indian history as an undergraduate, I saw peoples attempting to use this same refrain to practice religious beliefs, maintain culture and identity, regain lost territories, or protect child welfare. Yet the freedoms of these Americans were not protected, and again the fact that “it’s a free country” was an ineffective negotiating tool. In recent years, the freedoms of Americans have begun to erode again. Homeland Security listens to our international phone calls and tracks foreign money transfers. Immigrants—regardless of their “legal” status—are at risk of deportation. American citizens are imprisoned as enemy combatants.

A glance at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which turns 60 this year, suggests that life could be better for Americans. Its thirty articles ensure rights denied to many Americans: the right to work, freedom from arbitrary interference with privacy, protection of child welfare, access to higher education on the basis of merit, and equality. Might all Americans be more free if the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were a part of United States law? This is the question that is the premise for “Boston Human Rights: Ideas and Action.”

In early August 2007, a group formed to plan a conference inviting local NGOs and academics to discuss the role of human rights in their work. The group would examine Human Rights in Boston, as this is the site of the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association and the Society for the Study of Social Problems. The organizing group consists of members of the Boston College Sociology Department (faculty and graduate students), the Boston College Center for Human Rights and International Justice, Sociologists without Borders, Mass-Care, Mass Global Action, Boston Workers Alliance, Open Media Boston, and the Women’s Institute for Leadership Development. "Boston Human Rights: Ideas and Action" will take place July 31st, 2008 at the Boston Public Library and the Old South Church.

The purpose of our conference, “Boston Human Rights: Ideas and Action,” is to invite academics and activists to explore the current state of human rights activism and research and move forward a human rights campaign in Boston. Participants at the conference will have the opportunity to examine the application of human rights doctrine within the United States. All will be invited to join discussions with local NGOs about applying human rights in the work Boston area social movements. The pairing of academic and activist perspectives will offer a dynamic experience to participants and enhance their work in the area of human rights.

The conference will explore two dichotomies in the study of human rights: academic and activist, local and global. During the morning program, sociologists will examine individual rights: Jean Lynch will analyze rights of the other-abled, Ruben Rumbaut and Tanya Golash-Boza will explore migrant rights, and Dave Brunsma and Dave Overfelt will consider housing rights. Local activist Ty de Pass will respond to the sociological perspective, relating their ideas to the context of Boston. A second session will study collective rights, with John Barnshaw looking at the right to water, Mark Frezzo discussing democracy, Damayanti Banerjee will highlight environmental rights, Rodney Coates will consider cultural rights, and Judith Blau will talk about fair trade. Local activist and former candidate for governor of Massachusetts, Grace Ross, will respond to the sociologists and explore the applications in Boston. The morning program is coordinated with the publication of The Leading Rogue State (Paradigm 2008), edited by Judith R. Blau, David L. Brunsma, Alberto Moncada, and Catherine Zimmer. Speakers at the morning program are contributing authors to this volume.

A leading human rights activist, Shula Koenig of The People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning, will address the group after lunch. She will introduce the idea of a Human Rights City and share her wisdom and experience in human rights education. The afternoon program will shift, creating space for active participation and conversation. Boston area NGO leaders will moderate discussions among activists and academics about Social Identities: Gender, Youth, Immigration, and Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transsexual identities and Social Policy: Health, Environment and Food, Peace and War, Labor, and Housing. How well has Boston promoted equality and nondiscrimination? In these forums, it will be possible for local experts to dialogue with sociologists and critically examine the city of Boston’s performance. Future directions for activism and research might emerge, at the same time new partnerships may form to improve our ability to educate about and promote human rights in Boston and beyond.

I hope that you will join us as we begin to discover more effective means of promoting equality and nondiscrimination in all communities. It’s a free country! Learn more about “Boston Human Rights: Ideas and Action” by browsing the website: http://bostonhumanrights.org. Email queries can be sent to: info@bostonhumanrights.org.