10/05/2012 - Myclipp

is easy to chalk up to retrograde interests. But the fact
is that they know that the idea of human rights today is
about getting things done and not just keeping evil at
bay. It is true that human rights allow their most
hopeful partisans to claim that the movement means
something beyond the chastening of extremist
governments. In Europe, the idea of human rights has
penetrated deeply into the way the Continent governs
itself, becoming a source of appeal to all comers, not
just a weapon against totalitarianism. But it is in this
broader realm that human rights have proved most
politically divisive and disappointing. For some
dreamers, human rights mean ensuring citizen welfare
in the form of economic justice, both within and among
states. Yet the idea of international human rights has
become prominent in an era when many governments
are turning away from the welfare state in the name of
the free market. For those who long for a state and a
world that not only protect liberties but also promote
well-being, the human rights movement hasn’t made
enough of a difference. Human rights have succeeded
The New York Times/ - Politics, Sáb, 12 de Maio de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Civil Rights)
in combating totalitarianism and preventing atrocities
but have proved less able to promote the good life for
people suffering less spectacular wrongs. That human
rights have come down to earth since the days of the
glamorous dissidents doesn’t make them useless. But
it does mean that the utopia they call to mind is now
inseparable from the realities of the world as it exists
— from states to international bodies to transnational
movements. For that reason, Chinese dissidents and
their Western allies will need to be even more creative
than their predecessors were in using human rights
norms to achieve a reformed government. Most of all,
when they appeal to international human rights, they
will have to face the fact that these once pure ideals
are now much harder to separate from the impure
world of daily policy making, international power and
unfulfilled hopes.
A professor of history at Columbia University and the
author of “The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History.”
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