CiNii Books - The riddle of human rights

What are human rights? Are human rights disputed ideological concepts? and how can they be defended, and extended? Wolf-Dieter Narr of the Free University of Berlin writes that through this book "one is able to recognize the fundamental ambivalence which characterises all the 'theories' on and the practices of human rights in the West." It, "makes the reader aware of human longings and needs which are the other part of human rights." This book challenges the concept of human rights, it shows that the contradictions that characterize human rights reflect the conflicts inherent in capitalist society, lead to the pervasive violation of those rights, and make respect for them impossible, particularly in this era of global capitalism. The author argues that human rights as spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are not 'human' rights - but rather time-bound and relative to a particular mode of production.

Volume: : pbk. : Canada ISBN 9781551930398

Description

Demands for "human rights" and resistance to their violation are rarely out of the news. Yet their definition is far from a settled matter, their legal status is quite varied, their uses and defence widely inconsistent between jurisdictions, and respect for them is blatantly limited. If it is held that all humans are abstractly equal in the possession of these rights, there is little agreement on anything else about them. The "human rights" of the United Nations' Charter and Universal Declaration contain a host of inconsis-tencies and a mixture of truths and untruths that contradict the assumptions of universality and timelessness. Gary Teeple makes the case that "human rights" are peculiar to an historically given mode of production; they comprise the public declaration of the principles of the prevailing property relations. In that they are proclaimed absolute and universal is no different than similar declarations and beliefs about the nature of principles arising in different social formations. Although the tenets underlying "human rights" are distinct from pre-capitalist rights in several ways, there is one very significant distinguishing characteristic: implicit within them are goals that are qualitatively different from any relations yet realized in existing social formations.

Table of Contents

Introduction The Riddle The Argument Chapter I: The Diverse Origins Civil Rights Political Rights Social Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Chapter II: The Absolutes The Human in Human Rights The Assertion of Equality Rights as Inherent Rights as Indivisible and Inalienable The Assertion of Universality The Relativity of Human Rights Chapter III: The Contradictions In Principle The Contradiction in Private Property The Corporation and the Individual Civil Rights and Social Rights Political Rights and Corporate Civil Rights Human Rights and Institutionalized Religion In Practice The Unequal Rights of Men and Women The Rights of Children The Right of Self-Determination of Peoples Chapter IV: Rights Outside Capitalist Relations "Socialist" Countries Human Rights and the Third World An African Concept of Human Rights Islamization and Human Rights Human Rights and the Fourth World Chapter V: The Curious Unanimity Contradictory Demands Support from the Right Support from the Reformist Left The Meeting Ground of Left and Right: NGOs On the National Level NGOs on the Global Level Human Rights Watch HRW on Cuba The Problem of Amnesty International The Meaning of Social Rights Chapter VI: The Future of Human Rights Globalization and Human Rights Non-Corporate Rights at the Global Level? Recent Global Mechanisms for Enforcement Truth and Reconciliation Commissions UN Ad Hoc Tribunals Compromised Commissions and Tribunals The International Criminal Court Chapter VII: Principles for the Future? Respect for Human Rights The "Corporatization" of the United Nations: "The Global Compact" The Meanings Implicit in Human Rights The Irrepressible Spread of Resistance Chapter VIII: September 11 and the New Behemoth Peace as a Problem The Need to Defend Global Class Relations The Political Economy of Military Spending The Search for a Threat A Strategy Long in the Planning Global Ascendancy and "Full Spectrum Dominance" The Militarization of Space The Expansion of NATO New Technology for Civilian Repression Global Surveillance: Echelon A New Role for Nuclear Weapons "Benevolent Global Hegemony" The Question of Pretexts The Meaning of September 11: Its Aftermath Class War at Home Global Assertion of Dominance The Transformation of International Relations and Human Rights The Coming End of Liberal Democracy Appendix: Universal Declaration of Human Rights Notes Bibliography Index

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The riddle of human rights

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