A took part in a drawing-painting competition on the occasion of Independence Day. The topic was Freedom. A coloured the whole page in the colours of the tricolour, drew a map of India, inside which she drew birds flying out of a cage, and children playing. Below the painting, she wrote the caption: FREE TO DREAM. I am not sure about the merits of her painting in terms of a painting competition, but I give her full marks for the spirit that she wanted to convey.
- But then, are we truly free to dream?
- Aren't we limited by our beliefs, societal norms and beliefs, conditioning within families, etc?
- How many of us really realize our true potential?
- How many of us have access to realising it?
- And how many actually dare to dream about it?
- We live in a democracy, which by its very definition should grant us this freedom, but does it really happen?
- And how many of us are even aware of something being amiss?
- Do we even get our fundamental rights as citizens of a free democracy?
- Our Human Rights by virtue of being human beings?
- What do even know about human rights?
- Do we know what they are?
- What do you say to children who are pulled out of school and made to work for a living?
- What do you say to victims of domestic violence who have no refuge with either the society they have to live in, nor the government who just makes noises about bringing in laws, but does zilch about implementing them in a way that ensures the dignity of the victim?
- What do you say to the victims of khap panchayats and fatwas issued by religious leaders?
- What do you say to your everyday human being who is denied his/her feelings and aspirations to just be a human being without being deitified or demonised?
So many questions. They could go on. While everyday the newspapers are full of stories of incidents of blatant breach of these human rights.
An awareness of rights of human beings has been an integral part of human history. All great religions and great civilisations have pondered upon the question, and come up with their own guidelines. It is a different matter, though, what their definition of a human being was. So some people were more equal than the others, and enjoyed more rights. A situation that continues to this day, at least in the minds of people with vested interest in this mindset, universal laws and local laws notwithstanding.
A renewed interest, and the motivation to list human rights, and to put in place a mechanism to regulate their enforcement came into being only after WW2. The Holocaust, that blot on the 20th century, was in direct contravention to a belief in human rights. Post-war, in the Nuremberg trials, the world was made aware of the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis, and the United Nations (UN) was established in 1945, with a goal to promoting and ensuring "respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion." India became a member on 30th October, 1945
An awareness of rights of human beings has been an integral part of human history. All great religions and great civilisations have pondered upon the question, and come up with their own guidelines. It is a different matter, though, what their definition of a human being was. So some people were more equal than the others, and enjoyed more rights. A situation that continues to this day, at least in the minds of people with vested interest in this mindset, universal laws and local laws notwithstanding.
A renewed interest, and the motivation to list human rights, and to put in place a mechanism to regulate their enforcement came into being only after WW2. The Holocaust, that blot on the 20th century, was in direct contravention to a belief in human rights. Post-war, in the Nuremberg trials, the world was made aware of the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis, and the United Nations (UN) was established in 1945, with a goal to promoting and ensuring "respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion." India became a member on 30th October, 1945
The UN then formulated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was formally brought into force on 10th December, 1948. The preamble of this gives us the reasons why such a declaration is necessary, and then goes on to list 30 articles stating the rights.
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| AI logo courtesy wikipedia |
I happened to read two different books published in association with Amnesty International. One is a picture book for children. The other is a story covering many generations, many continents, many people, many beliefs, many situations, many individual stories, and yet with a link between them.
The first is a book published by Tara books in India in association with Amnesty International, and under licence from Frances Lincoln Children's Books. Cover page image taken here is of the original international edition. No image is available for the Tara Books edition, which is, however, available at bookstores and at Flipkart.
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| Image courtesy AI |
WE ARE ALL BORN FREE
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Pictures
Published by Tara books.
Ages: Can be read by ages 8+, but as it says, "it is for children from the sge of 12 onwards that this book offers the maximum rewards."
It is in essense the same as the international edition, except for a foreword and an afterword with a note for Parents and Educators by V. Geetha and Gita Wolf of Tara books. These give us an idea of how the book may be used, the concept of Human Rights, the history of the UN and this declaration, and its relevance locally, in the Indian context. There is also a discussion on how the illustrations can be interpreted in the context of the Article that they highlight. And how this can be applied to what we see around us.
The Articles themselves are worded in a simpler, more child friendly and more identifiable terms.
For eg., Article 1 & 2 state:
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."
"Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty."
This is stated in the book as:
We are all born free and equal.
We all have our own thoughts and ideas.We should all be treated in the same way.
These rights belong to everybody,
Whatever our differences.
The book is a collage of sorts, with 30 internationally acclaimed artists known for their illustrations in children's books and picture books contributing. I was delighted to find old favourites like John Birmingham, Polly Dunbar, Nicholas Allan, Axel Scheffler, Bob Graham, Chris Riddell and Marcia Williams.
They are from all corners of the globe- UK, Sweden, Argentina, South Africa, France, Austria, Japan, Canada, Zimbabwe, USA, Brazil, South Korea, Australia, Ireland. This makes the book a wonderful opportunity to study their various styles too. The illustrations are full page, sometimes double spread.
I think that this is one of those books that should be introduced to everyone. The one negative point is its price, which at Rs 240, is not very affordable. But surely, each school can have a copy? Maybe it can be brought out in a more affordable edition without the high quality paper that this one uses, but retaining all the other features?
Take a look at this video for a good look inside the book.
The second book is also a collage of sorts, with ten established writers writing one chapter each. We are introduced to the main characters in the first chapter, and the rest take off from there.
CLICK
Written by: Refer to cover page picture for the whole list.
Published by Scholastic Children's books.
Ages: 13+
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| Image Courtesy Amazon |
Have you ever seen a picture, a photograph and wondered about it? If there were some story behind the person in it, the place it had been taken at, the situation it had been taken in, the reasons for taking it?
George "GEE" Keane is a photographer of international acclaim, who specialises in photographs of human interest. In his quest, he goes where an everyday person might not go: where there is war, famine, imprisonment, torture, as also where there is beauty and peace. He goes to all parts of the world in the process, and meets many people- extraordinary and ordinary.
In the first chapter Gee is dead, and has left behind for his 14 yr old grand-daughter Maggie a handcrafted wooden box with seven compartments, each with a distinctive shell from a different continent, with the instructions: Throw them all back. And for his 17 yr old grand-son his camera and a packet of original photographs signed by their subjects.
The story goes to all corners of the world from there. It goes to the past, the future and also lingers in the present. We meet
- prisoners in a Soviet prison at the height of the Cold War,
- people mutilated by and children affected by war in their backyard, and reclaiming their human dignity,
- a young girl struggling against her feelings of guilt as a victim-was there some way she could have prevented what happened- and finding closure,
- a single mother caring for an epileptic child and struggling to make ends meet,
- a young boy meeting his idol Muhammad Ali by chance,
- a young girl finding discovering a life-long quest and finding solace in it after losing a loved family member,
- and much more.
The beauty of the book is also to be found in the uncanny way that the different stories link across continents, across differing situations and across many decades. Maggie, whom we meet in the first chapter as a 14 yr old, is an old lady, Margaret, on a quest in the last, handing over the baton to her grown-up grand-niece, Iona.
Speaking to her, Margaret says, "He wanted us to see. That was his legacy. He gave his grandson- your grandfather-a camera, and he gave me a set of shells. Jason took the camera, and took off- his life took off. He saw through the lens. He learnt to adjust the aperture, to see as keenly as the instrument allows. I took the shells and I took off too, and wandered the world, and saw what came my way. That's all we ever want to give away, you know. Not really ourselves, not even our genes. Just our hopes that the young will remember to look, and to see. Through whatever means possible."
This book is also published in association with Amnesty International. In an afterword by AI, it is written: "Human Rights are why the authors of CLICK could write this book. Human Rights mean you can read it. In some countries people are imprisoned and even tortured for expressing their ideas in writing or for daring to support Amnesty International. You could even be imprisoned for reading a book like this."
Here are two of my favourite songs in the same spirit. One is a quiet solo number. The other is again a collage of sorts. A musical one. This is one A enjoys listening to, too. You too enjoy.
Crossposted here.
