Human rights have their beginning in revolution. The declarations of 1776 and 1789 make this much clear. However, in an age when universal human rights are still a lofty dream for most, the merits of conservatism, of the past and tradition, deserve acknowledgement. In looking at the promotion of human rights and human rights violations, the use of tradition as a tool for achieving human rights can ground the abstract in the concrete.
Sir Edmund Burke is generally regarded as the founder of modern conservatism. An eighteenth century Irish statesman, Burke was a vocal critic of the French Revolution, authoring a lengthy pamphlet that outlined the numerous failings of the uprising. In his writings, Burke advocated gradual change and the concept of “inherited rights” as opposed to violent revolution and theoretical “natural rights.” He argued that rights are passed down from generation to generation, rather than being inherently existent within individuals. Burke gave great store to the place of tradition in society, seeing a custom’s endurance through time as proof of its validity.
Burkean Conservatism Today
Though Burke’s work was met with much criticism at the time of its initial publication, it has managed to maintain relevance through the centuries, giving birth to many aspects of modern conservatism. Remnants of Burke’s philosophy can be seen in the writings of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, as well as the policies of Benjamin Disraeli, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Within the current human rights community, there is a tendency to view conservative ideology, as championed by Burke, as problematic and oppositional to the goals of the movement. Graeme Reid, director of the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, in a contribution to CNN, described tradition as a stick “to beat difference, discourage dissent, [and] keep people in line.” Indeed, throughout history, tradition has been employed in opposition of interracial marriages, desegregation, and equality for women.
In the United States, appeals to historical practices were common rhetoric amongst pro-slavery advocates. In India, as well as numerous other countries, child-marriage is still legitimized through its role as a long-standing custom. The recently passed United Nations Human Rights Council resolution advocating the use of “traditional values” to promote human rights is widely regarded as a step towards the condoning of human rights abuses. As a result, the human rights movement has largely moved away from the utilization of traditional practices and towards claims based on the universality of rights.
Due to this shift, however, Burke’s critique of the French Revolution can be applied almost verbatim to the conventional approach to human rights. Like the Revolution, the human rights movement has its roots in the abstract, in what Burke deems as “vague speculative rights” rather than “positive, recorded, hereditary titles.” And like the French Revolution, the human rights movement has fallen prey to the realities of politics and political considerations. Sixty-five years after the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that provides little historical context for the rights listed within it, universal realization of such rights is still only an aspiration, a goal rather than reality. “All members of the human family” are granted neither the “inherent dignity” nor “equal and inalienable rights” named in the Declaration. Human rights violations, rather than human rights themselves, are universal, with abuses of the UDHR occurring in both eastern and western nations, developed and developing countries. As Burke wrote, “What is the use of discussing a man’s abstract right to food or to medicine? The question is upon the method of procuring and administering them.”
Like most issues involving diverging ideologies, the solution lies in the middle, in the tempering of the theoretical with the tangible. No one, in good consciousness, can deny the poor track record conservatism has had previously with regards to human rights. The current criticisms of the UNHCR resolution are valid, insofar as they predict that the resolution has the potential to be used as a method for legitimizing human rights abuses.
However, in many, if not most, cases, appeals to traditional values and practices still stand as an effective form of realizing human rights. As Gerald Neuman, a professor at Harvard Law School and member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee says, we must adopt “different approaches to different places.” Using tradition as part of the argument for human rights allows for this tailoring of the argument to the specific situation. The utilization of practices already present within a society as a means for promoting human rights is key to ensuring both the recognition and longevity of those rights.
Looking Back
History shows that this strategy has seen successful. At first glance, the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. appears to be in direct opposition of the philosophy of Burke. After all, King spearheaded the movement to extend equality and the full rights of citizenship to African Americans, a group not historically granted these liberties. Burke himself would have likely been a vocal opponent of Dr. King’s cause. However, the Civil Rights Movement utilized a key aspect of Burke’s philosophy: an emphasis on tradition.
Though he admonished those who opposed the Civil Rights Movement on the grounds of favoring order over justice, King repudiated claims of radicalism and extremism made against him by drawing a connection between himself and a common past. In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, one of the defining essays of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. King justifies his use of civil disobedience by drawing parallels between his actions and those of biblical figures, early Christians, Socrates, participants of the Boston Tea Party, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson. By doing so, King grounds his actions in a shared tradition, thus creating a historical legitimacy for the Civil Rights Movement, the very legitimacy Burke claimed the French Revolution lacked.
While King’s invocation of tradition with regards to the Civil Rights Movement did not automatically lead to its success, the rationale it provided helped draw supporters from every cross-section of American society. One of the key elements of a successful strategy for social change is the support of vocal, visible community leaders. As Rachel Vogelstein, a fellow in the Women and Foreign Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations, puts it, “Engaging at the local community level is the critical question. It is so important and critical to have local leaders on board.” In the 1960s, King achieved exactly that, involving communities and their leaders in his movement.
Tradition, Unity, and Empathy
In today’s world, organizations such as Tostan, an NGO that serves communities in eight African countries, emphasize tradition to foster change. Tostan’s work focuses largely on grassroots level involvement, with an emphasis placed on Tostan’s integration into the community. By incorporating local traditions, language, and communities into their work, Tostan has been able to achieve lasting, meaningful change in the communities where it has worked. As a result, the organization ensures that human rights gains that have been made survive after Tostan has left. Vogelstein deems Tostan effective “because it takes this local approach.”
In addition to legitimacy, the use of tradition also cultivates a strong sense of empathy within an audience. Empathy has long played a crucial role in the establishment of human rights. Once individuals see themselves as the victims of human rights abuses, they are drawn to action. Lynn Hunt, a professor at the University of California Los Angeles, isolates emotion as essential to the creation of human rights in her book, Inventing Human Rights, as it acts as a catalyst that brings protestors and activists to their feet.
Framing issues in terms of a common practice or custom immediately establishes a similarity between the victim and the audience, a crucial connection for a human rights movement. Tradition shortens the perceived distance between the bystander and the sufferer. Both King and Tostan achieved as much with their respective work. King created empathy for the African American community by anchoring himself to the American identity, while Tostan did so through language and social practices.
Part of the worry over the use of traditional values stems from a fear for the fortune of minority traditions. “By human rights, we mean the rights of the minority,” says Piotr Kobielski, fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and member of Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The use of a specific religious or cultural tradition naturally means its promotion, lending cause to the worry that this strategy may lead to the ostracization of minorities. However, if one truly believes in a common humanity, it is not an unbelievable leap of faith to assert that there exists a common denominator amongst all traditions, a factor that allows for reconciliation between them. As Kobielski noted, “There are the same principles everywhere. You just have to discover them and admit them.”
This belief lies at the heart of Tostan’s work, as well as other human rights movements throughout history. The work of Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian movement against British colonialism, stands as an example. The foundations of Gandhi’s philosophy lay in his use of non-violence, a concept that can be found in Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, and Jain philosophy. By grounding his movement in a tradition that is present across religious divides yet still painting it as an inherently Indian one, Gandhi successfully gained the backing of the numerous religious groups in Indian society. This unified support was key to the success of his movement.
Ultimately, adding tradition to the debate on human rights frames questions in terms of identity. The entirety of Burke’s claims rests on his identity as an Englishman; it is from this identity that he derives his rights as a citizen. Traditions, customs, and practices that have been handed down through the generations comprise this identity. Using these traditions is essential to the realization of human rights. Activists cannot be deemed illegitimate, because they are now part of a shared identity. Abuses become harder to ignore when they are seen as an attack on one’s own identity, rather than that of a removed other. Minorities, though distinct, still share some form of identity with the majority. And while tradition may not be the silver bullet that ends all human rights violations, acknowledging its usefulness brings the world one step closer to this end.