From the last post until now, I have traveled over 6,500 miles from Sugar Land to New York City to Santiago, Chile. Words cannot fully describe the magnitude of this experience. I will try my best to convey how my travels have shaped my understanding on human rights as well as shed light on my evolving approach on comprehending power imbalances and violations of rights.
We began our program in New York City, questioning if and to what extent universal human rights exist. Is it true that universal values are shaped the forces of globalization or do specific cultures maintain their own rights? It is too early for me to answer this question as my comprehension of this idea changes with each formative conversation, lecture, and site visit. While it is difficult to pinpoint which human rights are global, I have quickly realized that global oppression of rights is in fact similar, blatantly visible and unfortunately prevalent. Even though the protection of rights may take varying forms, its denial is undoubtedly felt around the world.
One of our stops in New York City was the UN Headquarters. It is rather naïve to say that as a world we have achieved all of the Millennium Development Goals. However, it is more appropriate to realize that we have become significantly more aware that systematic inequalities persist. The actions of developed actions disproportionately affect the livelihoods of other citizens. Solidarity is a key to identifying the mistakes of the past and present and helping redirect energy, resources, and human capital to restructure, rebuild and restore the rights of people around the world.
Moreover, in Santiago, pursuing solidarity has manifested in the form a catalyst for connectivity. One of the biggest fears after the atrocious human rights violations in Chile from the 1973 coup d’état to the reconciliation that continues today is allowing those who were victimized by their respective governments to not be voiceless. We traveled to Casa de Memoria (House of Memory) to see with actual atrocities from the war were committed—excessive torture, disappearance of citizens, and indiscriminate killing of loved ones. The site presented an eerie image of the realities of the war. The damage had been done from the past decades and all we could do was join in a solemn silence with them. Nevertheless, it was this solemnity and solidarity that reinforced our commitment to being a part of the reconciliation process.
In summary, I wish to conclude with thought from one of our speakers on access to education as a way to address systematic inequality. He boldly articulated, “revolution is not only one day; it is a process. There is no day after the revolution, rather it is a life long struggle.” Similarly, solidarity is not a stoic recognition of human rights, rather it is also a struggle that motivates those who pursue it to rise to action and take charge of situations of injustice. Solidarity is an empathetic understanding, a cross-cultural dialogue, and a continually evolving strategy guided towards betterment.
We must be aware and cognizant of our historical struggle and be mature in our belief that our collective consciousness is the precursor to our collective action as human rights activists. Solidarity, thus, identifies and understands oppression of human rights as a means to achieve and actualize these rights.
Thanks for reading, and I will share more thoughts soon!