Decolonizing the Teaching of Human Rights?

Csar Augusto Baldi 1 August 2013 El Mestizaje / Oswaldo Guayasamin According to the new Bolivian constitution, education is one of the most important func-tions and primary fin-an-cial responsibilities of the State; it is unitary, public, universal, democratic, participatory, communitarian, decolonizing and of quality (art. 78, I); and, throughout the entire educational system, it is intra-cultural, inter-cultural and multi-lingual (art. 78, II), where its inter-cultural char-ac-ter is the means for cohe-sion and for harmonic and balanced existence among all the peoples and nations (art. 98). The Brazilian constitution asserts the pluralism of pedagogic ideas and conceptions in the field of edu-ca-tion (art. 206, III), and the pro-tec-tion of cul-tural rights, access to sources of national culture, and the protection of expression by groups participating in the national civil-isa-tion process in the cultural domain (art. 215, header and 1). But to what extent can we really say that other cultural wisdomsthose of indigenous peoples, of Afro-Amerindians, etc.are no longer silenced, suppressed, hidden, or treated as non-existent? Is it true to say that the pro-claimed plur-al-ism of ideas actu-ally has a cor-res-pond-ing cog-nit-ive justice? It would be inter-est-ing to under-take such an exer-cise to ana-lyse how human rights are cat-egor-ised and taught in nor-mal cur-ricula. Accord-ing to the hege-monic line of thought, the sys-tem is gen-er-a-tional: first, civil and polit-ical rights; second, social, eco-nomic and cul-tural rights; then a third gen-er-a-tion of human rights; and per-haps even a fourth (demo-cracy) or a fifth. But is this trajectory universalcan it be universalisedor does it simply hide the tra-ject-or-ies of human rights struggles behind the pro-ject of mod-ern-isa-tion itself? Think back to just two paradig-matic moments: (1) the French Revolu-tion, seen as a moment in which we consolidated liberty, equality and fraternity, did not recognise womens rights and nor did it ques-tion the enslave-ment of black people; (2) the Uni-ver-sal Declar-a-tion of Human Rights was being debated while large parts of Africa and Asia were colon-ies of the European coun-tries who adop-ted it. They fought against the bar-bar-ity of the Holo-caust, but the mas-sacre of col-on-ised peoples was swept under the car-pet. We can put for-ward, there-fore, sev-eral other top-ics and talk-ing points to help us ques-tion, decol-on-ize, plur-al-ize and under-line the neces-sity of interculturalism. 1. Dis-tinct European modernities The epi-stem-o-lo-gical priv-ilege awar-ded to the Enlight-en-ment has con-cen-trated atten-tion on the second mod-ern-ity (Eng-land, France and the Neth-er-lands) at the expense of the Renais-sance period and the first mod-ern-ity (Italy, Por-tugal and Spain) in its entirety. This is why

discussion has focused on the rights of man, forgetting the controversial matter of who counts as human: the argument between Seplveda and Bartolom de las Casas (who became Bishop of Chiapas, Mex-ico, in 1544) con-cern-ing the rights of indi-gen-ous peoples is a good example. How-ever, Latin Americas own contributions have been ignored, as demonstrated by the writings of Guaman Poma de Ayala (15351616). The Inca descendant wrote a treatise on good gov-ern-ment, in which he cri-ti-cises the mon-archy; he puts for-ward a new sys-tem of gov-ern-ment (based on a mix-ture of his know-ledge of Span-ish and Inca soci-ety), anti-cip-at-ing a division of power, and produces a rich iconography that asks profound questions of the colo-nial order. It is there-fore also a mat-ter of recognising the existence of an imperial difference (see Mignolo), which was made evident recently with France and Germanys use of the expression PIGS to refer to the economic crises of Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spainthat is, South-ern Europe. 2. Bour-geois revolu-tions and anti-systemic uprisings Although at that time in his-tory indi-gen-ous people were con-sidered car-ri-ers of the soul (a privilege that black slaves did not have recognised by the Catholic Church, nor by bourge ois revolu-tion-ary move-ments), the fact is that the human rights nar-rat-ive emphas-ised only bour-geois revolu-tions (espe-cially the French Revolu-tion and the Amer-ican Revolu-tion). Con-com-it-ant with the so-called Revolutionary Era (17891848), two silenced insur-rec-tions took place in the lands we now call Latin America. First was the revolution in Haiti (1804), which was to become the first black nationof illiterate slavesto become independent, abolish slavery and establish, amongst other achieve-ments, equal rights for chil-dren born out of wed-lock, and the pos-sib-il-ity of divorce. Second was Tpac Katari and Bartolina Sisas movement (17801781) in Bolivia, against Span-ish rule, which would lead to a pro-found reor-gan-isa-tion of the com-munity and the cre-ation of new forms of polit-ical and com-mer-cial nego-ti-ation. It was a battle ideo-logy that sug-gests, draw-ing on the Aymara word pachak-uti (rad-ical change), that the present can incub-ate another time, which is both a future and a re-imagining of the past. A tradition of the defeated would see all its emancipatory energies reinvigorated with the 1952 revolution, the gas and water wars (2003), the debate on the rights of nature, indi-gen-ous lead-er-ship, and discussion of the Indian Revolution led by the Aymara intellectual Fausto Reinaga (1906 1994). In Kataris words as he died, Today I die, but thousand upon thousands of us will come back. These struggles for inde-pend-ence are not cel-eb-rated with count-less bicen-ten-ar-ies and their principal actors are not criollos. They are the movements of oppressed black and indi-gen-ous peoples against the bed-rock of the colo-nial sys-tem and their vic-tory over it.

3. African dia-spora and slavery In the seventeenth century, various narratives by freed slavesdealing with slavery, a life without meaning, the need to recognise the dignity of all regardless of race and geographical originwere available for study. Why have they been for-got-ten, as though slavery were a mere pothole on the road to modernity and not the wicked face of the colonialism of power? How can books talk about Frances history without considering its interaction with its colonies, when the colonies stories are always remembered in the context of dependence on the metropole? It is unima-gin-able that a sys-tem that las-ted more than 400 years in Brazil (the coun-try has been inde-pend-ent for less than 200 years) should be con-sidered an event of little importance rather than a crime against humanity (Durban Declaration), and, moreover, be deemed a con-stitutive part of the mod-ern system. Colo-ni-al-ism is the other face of mod-ern-ity, but this is hid-den from recog-ni-tion. Otto-bah Cugoano (17571791), who was born in Ghana and educated in England, not only proposed meth-ods for end-ing slavery, but also for com-pens-at-ing African nations for the dam-age caused and for leg-al-ising work. For Cugoano, human beings are equal and free not in relationship to government but in relationship to other human beings. Olaudah Equianos (17451797) account was similar. And then theres Sojourner Truths (17971883), which criticised not only racial inequal-ity, but also dis-crim-in-a-tion against women, at a time when US cul-ture placed white women on a ped-es-tal but ignored black women. This was not just an abol-i-tion-ist discourse, but also a defence of womens rights. 4. Second pro-cess of decolonization Hav-ing recently reached the fiftieth anniversary of the UN Declar-a-tion on the Grant-ing of Inde-pend-ence to Colo-nial Coun-tries and Peoples (1960), the import-ance of the struggles of Asian and African peoples in the pro-cess of estab-lish-ing human rights in the wake of the Second World War deserves re-evaluation. It is worth con-sid-er-ing not just the lead-ers of the pro-cess (Nyer-ere, Sam-ora Machel and oth-ers), but also con-tri-bu-tions by Fanon, Glis-sant and Csaire, from the point of view of black rights, and all the con-tri-bu-tions that have been made in Asian countries (of which the subaltern studies of India are just one small part) andlets not forgetthose that dont fit a markedly secular mould, such as Islamic feminism or even the indigenous feminism movement. We also shouldnt forget that secularism in the colonies served the colonial purposes of keep-ing women sub-ser-vi-ent. This post-colonialism, how-ever, is of a dif-fer-ent hue from the res-ult of the first decol-on-iz-ing pro-cess (the inde-pend-ence of the Amer-icas) and their dif-fer-ences should be recognised. 5. Use of other tech-niques and vocabulary The use of lit-er-at-ure, cinema and the visual arts in dis-cus-sions of human rights has become com-mon. This is bene-fi-cial since aesthetic-expressive ration-al-ity was col-on-ised for a long time

by sci-entific and legal reason. It is import-ant, non-ethe-less, that it is not just the medium that is altered: what we need is to change the lan-guage of the debate itself. This should not just be with regard to the con-tent, but also the enunciation. Antigone, for example, has been used in the teach-ing of law to estab-lish the oppos-i-tion between nat-ural law and pos-it-iv-ism, a European debate that was laid out by Hegel, in the eight-eenth cen-tury, on the basis of Greek tragedy. What about using the three Theban plays, as Judith Butler did, to discuss aberrant parentage (after all, Anti-gone is the daugh-ter of Oed-ipus and Jocasta, her grand-mother), het-ero-norm-ativ-ity, sexism and patriarchy? How would these questions transform if, instead of the Oedipus complex, the debate was reconfigured from the point of view of an Antigone complex (George Steiner)? At the National Uni-ver-sity of Singa-pore, Syed Farid Alatas and his col-league Vin-eeta Sinha have spent many years devel-op-ing a dif-fer-ent study of soci-ology. Instead of just ana-lys-ing the classicsDurkheim, Weber and Marx (white European men)their stu-dents are encour-aged to work with con-tri-bu-tions by Ibn Khal-dun (Tunisia), Jos Rizal (Phil-ip-pines), Benoy Kumar Sarkar (India) and Har-riet Mar-tineau (Eng-land), amongst oth-ers. In their opin-ion, this is the way to show that there were also white women and non-European men and women in the nineteenth century who theorised the nature of emerging modern societies. How about start-ing a sim-ilar move-ment in the study of human rights? Per-haps this way we could defeat the epistemic racism and change the geography of reason (Lewis Gordon). Or, as Walter Benjamin would say, we might wrest tradition away from a conformism that is about to overpower it and write a history against the grain. Csar Augusto Baldi, PhD can-did-ate at Pablo Olavide Uni-ver-sity (Spain), is Advisor to the Brazilian Regional Fed-eral Court 4th Region and the editor of Direitos humanos na sociedade cos-mopol-ita [Human Rights in Cos-mo-pol-itan Soci-ety] (Renovar, 2004). Trans-lated by Alex Higson. Hide ori-ginal text Descol-on-iz-ando o ensino de Direitos Humanos? Csar Augusto Baldi Segundo a nova Constituio boliviana, a educao, funo suprema e primeira responsabilidade financeira do Estado, unitria, pblica, universal, democrt-ica, par-ti-cip-ativa, comunitria, descol-on-iz-adora e de qual-id-ade (art. 78, I), e, em todo o sis-tema educativo, intracultural, intercultural e plurilngue(art. 78, II), no sentido de que a inter-cul-tur-al-id-ade o instru-mento para a coeso e con-vivn-cia harmn-ica e equi-lib-rada entre todos os povos e naes(art. 98). A Constituio brasileira assume o pluralismo de ideias e de concepes pedaggicas, no campo educativo (art. 206, III), e a proteo de direitos cul-turais, acesso a fontes da cultura nacional e proteo das manifestaes dos grupos participantes do processo civilizatrio nacional, no campo da cultura (art. 215, caput

e 1). Mas at que ponto, efetiva-mente, out-ros saberes afro-amerndios, de pop-u-laes tradi-cion-ais, etc no con-tinuam a ser silen-cia-dos, oprim-idos, oculta-dos e tidos como inex-ist-entes? pos-svel afirmar que ao apre-goado plur-al-ismo de ideias cor-res-ponde uma justia cognitiva? Talvez fosse interess-ante fazer um exer-c-cio sim-ilar, anal-is-ando como os direitos humanos so tem-at-iz-a-dos e ensina-dos nos cursos reg-u-lares. Naquela ver-so que se tornou hegemn-ica, a pre-ocu-pao gera-cional: direitos civis e polti-cos; soci-ais, eco-n-mi-cos e cul-turais; ter-ceira ger-ao; e qui uma quarta (demo-cra-cia) ou quinta. Mas esta tra-jetria uni-ver-sal, uni-ver-sal-izvel ou simples-mente oculta tra-jetrias de lutas por direitos humanos con-tra o prprio pro-jeto de mod-ern-iz-a-o? Recordem-se, apenas, dois momentos paradig-mti-cos: a) a Revoluo Francesa, tida como um momento da con-sol-id-ao da liber-dade, igualdade e fraternid-ade, no recon-heceu direito s mul-heres tam-pouco ques-tionou a escravido da pop-u-lao negra; b) a Declarao Uni-ver-sal dos Direitos Humanos foi dis-cutida quando boa parte da frica e da sia era colnia de pases europeus que a assin-aram: a bar-brie do gen-oc-dio judeu era com-batida, mas o mas-sacre das pop-u-laes col-on-iz-a-das era invis-ib-il-iz-ado. Proponham-se, pois, alguns out-ros temas e revoltas para ques-tionar, descol-on-izar, plur-al-izar e res-sal-tar a necessid-ade da interculturalidade. 1. Dis-tintas mod-ernid-ades europeias. O priv-il-gio epi-stemol-gico outor-gado ao Ilu-min-ismo con-centrou as atenes na segunda mod-ernid-ade (Inglaterra, Frana e Holanda), em det-ri-mento do per-odo do Renas-ci-mento e de toda a primeira mod-ernid-ade (Itlia, Por-tugal e Espanha). Da porque a discusso sobre os direitos do homem seja salientada, mas a polmica sobre quem conta como humano seja esquecida: a disputa entre Seplveda e Bar-to-lom de las Casas (que foi bispo de Chiapas em 1544) sobre os direitos dos ndios um bom exem-plo. Mas a pr-pria produo latino-americana foi ignorada, como mostra o res-gate de Guaman Poma de Ayala (15351616). Este descendente inca escreveu um tratado sobre o bom gov-erno, em que crit-ica a mon-ar-quia; desen-volve novo sis-tema de gov-erno (mescla de seus con-he-ci-men-tos sobre a sociedade espanhola e a inca), antecipando a diviso de poderes e produz uma rica iconografia profundamente questionadora da ordem colonial. Do que se trata, portanto, tambm do reconhecimento da existncia de uma diferena imperial(Mignolo), que ficou evid-ente, recente-mente, com a util-iz-a-o por Frana e Alemanha da expresso PIGS (porcos, literalmente), para referir-se s crises eco-n-m-icas de Portugal, Itlia, Grcia e Espanha (Spain), ou seja, o Sul do Norte. 2. Revolues burgue-sas e insur-reies anti sis-tm-icas. Se naquele momento, os ind-genas foram considerados como portadores de alma (privilgio que os negros escravizados no tiveram recon-hecidos nem pela Igreja Catlica, nem pelos movi-men-tos revolu-cionrios burgueses), o fato que a nar-rativa dos direitos humanos sali-entou somente as revolues burguesas (em especial a francesa e a estadunidense). Concomitante denominada era das revolues (17891848), eclodiam, na hoje denominada Amrica, duas insur-reies silenciadas. Por um lado, a Revoluo Haitiana (1804), que se torna a primeira nao negra, de escra-vos ile-tra-dos, a se tor-nar inde-pend-ente e abo-lir a escravido e estabele-cer, dentre

out-ros, direitos iguais para fil-hos nas-cidos fora do mat-rimnio, a pos-sib-il-id-ade de divr-cio. Por outro lado, o movimento de Tupac Katari (17801781) e Bartolina Sisa, na Bolvia, contra o domnio espan-hol, que vai determ-inar uma pro-funda reor-gan-iz-a-o comunitria e a cri-ao de novas formas de inter-me-di-ao polt-ica e mer-cantil. Um iderio de luta que, se valendo da palavra aimara pachakuti (um vuelco) indica que o presente pode incubar um outro tempo, que , ao mesmo tempo, um futuro e uma reed-io do passado. Uma tradio dos vencidos que ter suas ener-gias eman-cip-atrias rev-ig-ora-das com a Revoluo de 1952, as guer-ras do gs e da gua (2003), a dis-cusso sobre direitos da natureza, o prot-ag-on-ismo ind-gena e a discusso da Revolucin india, realizada pelo intelectual aimara Fausto Reinaga (1906 1994). Afinal, Katari teria dito, ao morrer, que yo muero ahora, pero volveremos miles y miles. No so, portanto, as lutas de independncia protagonizadas por criollos e cel-eb-ra-das pelos inmeros bicentenrios, mas movimentos de oprimidos negros e indgenas contra os fun-da-men-tos do sis-tema colo-nial e sua superao. 3. Dispora afric-ana e a escravido. No sculo XVII, diver-sas nar-rativas de negros liber-tos questionando a escravido, a vida de nenhum significado, a necessidade do recon-he-ci-mento da dig-nid-ade de todos inde-pend-ente-mente de raa e ori-gem geo-grfica est-iveram dispon-veis para estudo. Por que elas so esque-ci-das, como se a escravido fosse um mero acidente de percurso na modernidade e no a face perversa da colonialidade do poder? Por que os livros tratam da histria da Frana sem considerar a inter -relao com as colnias, mas a histria des-tas lem-brada como depend-ente da metr-pole? Como ima-ginar que um sis-tema que, no Brasil, durou mais de 400 anos (e o pas no inde-pend-ente nem h 200), um acontecimento de pouca importncia e no um crime contra a humanidade (Declarao de Durban) e mais que isto con-stitutivo do sis-tema mod-erno? A colo-ni-al-id-ade a outra face da modernidade, e isto no se quer reconhecer. Ottobah Cugoano (17571791), nas-cido em Gana e edu-cado na Inglaterra, vai no somente apresentar pro-pos-tas para ter-minar com a escravido, mas tam-bm para com-pensar as naes afric-anas pelos danos ocorridos e para legalizar o trabalho. Para ele, os seres humanos so iguais e livres perante outros seres humanos e no perante o Estado. No mesmo sentido, o relato de Olaudah Equiano (17451797). E que dizer de Sojourner Truth (17971883), que vai criticar no somente a desigualdade racial, mas tam-bm aquela com relao s mul-heres, no momento em que a cul-tura dos EUA colocava as mul-heres bran-cas em ped-es-tal, mas ignorava as mul-heres negras? Um dis-curso no somente abo-l-i-cionista, mas tam-bm de defesa dos direitos das mulheres. 4. Segundo pro-cesso de descol-on-iz-a-o. No momento em que se pas-saram cin-quenta anos da Declarao de descol-on-iz-a-o da ONU (1960), a importn-cia das lutas de asiti-cos e africanos no pro-cesso de instaur-ao de direitos humanos aps a Segunda Guerra Mun-dial merece ser reavaliada. No somente os lderes do pro-cesso (Nyer-ere, Sam-ora Machel e out-ros). Tam-bm as con-tribuies de Fanon, Glis-sant e Csaire, den-tro de uma per-spectiva negra, e todas as contribuies que tem sido feitas no mbito asitico (de que os estudos subalternos da ndia so apenas uma parcela) eporque no salientar aquelas que no tm mat-riz

marcadamente secular, como o feminismo islmico ou mesmo o movimento de feminismo indgena. No demais lembrar que o secularismo, nas colnias, serviu aos props-i-tos colo-ni-ais de sub-mis-so da mul-her. Este ps-colonialismo, con-tudo, de matiz dis-tinto daquele res-ultado do primeiro pro-cesso desco-lo-nial (inde-pendn-cias das Amricas) e devem ser obser-va-das suas diferenas. 5. Util-iz-a-o de out-ras tc-nicas e lin-gua-gens. Tem sido comum a util-iz-a-o de lit-er-atura, cinema e artes visuais para a dis-cusso dos direitos humanos, o que salutar, na medida em que a racion-al-id-ade esttico expres-siva, dur-ante muito tempo, ficou col-on-iz-ada pela racion-al-id-ade jurdica e cientfica. necessrio, con-tudo, que no somente o meio util-iz-ado seja alterado: do que se trata de mudar os ter-mos do prprio debate. No diz respeito somente aos con-te-dos, mas pr-pria enun-ciao. Antgona, por exem-plo, vem sendo usada, nos cursos jurdi-cos, para estabele-cer uma oposio entre jusnat-ur-al-ismo e pos-it-iv-ismo, uma dis-cusso europeia que fora sali-entada por Hegel, no sculo XVIII, a partir de uma trag-dia grega. Que tal utilizar a trilogia tebana, como fez Judith Butler, para discutir o parentesco aberrante (afinal, Antgona filha de dipo e de Jocasta, sua av), a heteronormatividade, o sexismo e o patriarcado? O que seria destas questes se, ao invs de um complexo de dipo, o debate fosse reconfigurado a partir de um complexo de Antgona (George Steiner)? Syed Farid Alatas e sua colega Vin-eeta Sinha vm desen-volvendo, na National Uni-ver-sity of Singa-pore, h mui-tos anos, um estudo difer-ente de Soci-olo-gia: ao invs de somente anal-isar os clssicos Durkheim, Weber e Marx (homens brancos europeus), os alunos so instigados a tra-bal-har as con-tribuies de Ibn Khal-dun (Tun-sia), Jos Rizal (Filip-i-nas), Benoy Kumar Sarkar (ndia) e Har-riet Mar-tineau (Inglaterra), dentre out-ras. Uma forma de mostrar, segundo eles, que havia tambm mulheres brancas europeias, alm de homens e mulheres no europeus e no bran-cos que, no sculo XIX, teor-iz-aram sobre a natureza das sociedades mod-ernas emergentes. Que tal comear um movimento sim-ilar no estudo dos direitos humanos? Talvez, aqui, se consiga vencer o racismo epistmico e mudar a geografia da razo(Lewis Gordon). Ou, como diria Walter Benjamin, arrancar a tradio ao conformismo, que quer apoderar-se dela e escrever uma histria a contrapelo.