The Long View: Human Rights Activism, Past and Present

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Notes

1. For example, the observation that in places like Somalia few of those with weapons “had ever heard of the Geneva Conventions” is repeated three times (98, 116, 243).

2. Hunt (2007) relates the “invention of human rights” in the late eighteenth century to new cultural practices that allowed people for the first time to empathize with strangers.

3. It is tempting to try to find connections between the theological doctrines and the organizational practices, and at least in the cases of the ICRC and the British abolitionists some linkage is evident. Many of the ICRC traits—discretion, nonflamboyant style, conservative means, risk aversion, unwillingness to directly confront governments, a results-oriented culture—can be linked with Calvinist ethos. And there is certainly a linkage between Quaker practices and the way Clarkson's Society operated—most of all the centrality of “bearing witness” (which is an irrelevant value for the ICRC) in public, and organizational style that finds importance in process as well as in outcomes. Interestingly, Hopgood finds that Amnesty style is close to Quakerism (though he does not imply direct theological influence). If we see these not as theology-ridden terms but as nominal labels, it could be possible to identify a “Quaker” model and a “Calvinist” model of activism, both applicable beyond these particular movements.

4. Another contemporary engagement with slavery is the recent calls, especially by some in the African American community, for reparations for slavery and the slave trade. See Torpey (2004) for a useful critical summary of the debate.

5. One implication for this shifting focus is the potential limited “attraction” of judicial bodies such as the ICC as campaigning objectives for supporters—in comparison with the release of prisoners of conscious—and thus the challenge of Amnesty and other organizations to mobilize engaged constituencies on these issues. I thank Brian Phillips for this observation.

6. For one among numerous examples see “Algeria: Amnesty Law Risks Legalizing Impunity for Crimes Against Humanity,” Amnesty International press release, April 14, 2005.

7. See “Amnesty International Defends Access to Abortion for women At Risk”, press release, June 14, 2007.

8. Directed by Michael Apted, screenplay by Michael Knight.