Friday Notes, December 8, 2023
Dear friends —
Sunday, December 10 is the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has been endorsed at least in part by 192 countries and translated into more than 500 languages. The preamble goes like this:
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms . . . .
In the 30 articles that follow that preamble, you’ll find a set of aspirations that speak to a deep love of and respect for others, and a recognition that being human requires some freedoms from (violence, slavery, torture, arbitrary detention . . . ) and some freedoms to (express oneself, secure a legal identity, obtain an education, move . . . ). It is a sweeping and audacious vision — a north star to orient a lost world so we could get back on course.
Think about 1946, the year the drafting of the declaration started. World War II had come to an end a year earlier with the surrender of Germany and the aftermath of the atomic bombs dropped by the US on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Nuremberg trials were underway, bringing some measure of justice to Nazi leaders. The League of Nations transformed itself into the United Nations. The U.S. economy was contracting, with massive work stoppages and a 30 percent drop in government spending. The first computer, the ENIAC, was fired up at the University of Pennsylvania, starting a technology revolution that we’re in the thick of today.
This was also the year that discussions were underway at the UN resulting in the partition of British-controlled Palestine into two provinces — one for the Arabs and one for Jews seeking a post-war home. This line-drawing led to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and the mass displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian people.
You would not think 1948 would have been the ideal time to think about a shiny new vision of humanity’s potential for love. But it was. In the midst of (and because of) all this global conflict and precarity, Eleanor Roosevelt had a job to do. That job was not to be grounded in the gritty realism of the day but to imagine something much better.
Here’s a little history in five minutes:
No one would claim that any country, let alone the world as a whole, lives up to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights despite the very real progress that has occurred over 75 years. And I am sure you have been thinking about how far we are from that now — with the distance growing every day through aggression, tribalism, and a moral vacuum within many of the institutions meant to hold us together. But it’s inspiring to me to realize that such optimism around international cooperation and common purpose grew out of the devastation of World War II. Is part of the antidote to the poison of inhumanity stored up in the hearts of brave people who imagine we can be more? How can we unlock that?
A couple of videos that brought some light to me this week:
Have a good weekend,
-Ruth