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    The Complexity of Universalism in Human Rights: Makaumutua

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    The document discusses the complexity of universalism in human rights. It suggests approaching claims of universality with caution as such claims can promote narrow ideas. It also states that all truths are local and contextual, though local truths can potentially become universal. The document questions how local truths are legitimately transformed into universal ideas and who makes such judgments and for what purpose.

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    The Complexity of Universalism in Human Rights: Makaumutua

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    37 views2 pages
    The document discusses the complexity of universalism in human rights. It suggests approaching claims of universality with caution as such claims can promote narrow ideas. It also states that all truths are local and contextual, though local truths can potentially become universal. The document questions how local truths are legitimately transformed into universal ideas and who makes such judgments and for what purpose.

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    JIJI

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    978-94-017-6172-7_3

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    The document discusses the complexity of universalism in human rights. It suggests approaching claims of universality with caution as such claims can promote narrow ideas. It also states that all truths are local and contextual, though local truths can potentially become universal. The document questions how local truths are legitimately transformed into universal ideas and who makes such judgments and for what purpose.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    37 views2 pages

    The Complexity of Universalism in Human Rights: Makaumutua

    Uploaded by

    krisha
    The document discusses the complexity of universalism in human rights. It suggests approaching claims of universality with caution as such claims can promote narrow ideas. It also states that all truths are local and contextual, though local truths can potentially become universal. The document questions how local truths are legitimately transformed into universal ideas and who makes such judgments and for what purpose.

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    Chapter 2

    MakauMutua

    The Complexity of Universalism


    in Human Rights

    I want to suggest, at the outset, that we must approach all claims of univer-
    sality with caution and trepidation. There can be little doubt that visions of
    universality and predestination have been intertwined throughout modern
    history, and have been deployed as the linchpin for advancing narrow, sectar-
    ian, and exclusionary ideas and practices. At the purely theoretical level, there-
    fore, we are chastised to look not once, but twice, and again, at universalizing
    creeds, messages, ideas, and phenomena. This is not to suggest that universal-
    ity is always wrong-headed, or devious, but it is rather to assume that uni-
    versality is not a natural phenomenon. In other words, universality is always
    constructed by an interest for a specific purpose, with a definite intent.
    Second, I want to suggest that all truths are local-they are contextual,
    cultural, historical, and time-bound. Again, this is not to say that local truths
    cannot become universal truths-they can, but the question is how one gets
    there. If we do not understand this basic admonition, we risk repeating the
    colossal inhumanities and incalculable mistakes which were wrought by the
    evils of slavery (in pursuit of the universalization of the market); Christianity
    and Islam (in the quest for the spiritual conquest of non-European and non-
    Arabic peoples and the destruction of their cosmologies); and colonization
    (in search of the imposition of commerce and Eurocentrism).

    Andras Saj6 (ed.), Human Rights with Modesty: The Problem of Universalism, 51-64.
    © 2004 Koninklijke Brill Nv.
    52 MakauMutua

    The question therefore is how local truths are legitimately transformed


    into universal creeds-what value judgments are made, who makes those
    judgments, how they are made, and for what purpose. Ultimately, we must
    ask ourselves what good is intended by universal creeds-and whether they
    redound to the benefits of peoples everywhere. For me these questions are
    non-negotiable because they must be answered before we can declare a par-
    ticular creed universal, in effect a glimpse of eternity, or an inflexible truth.
    This is crucial because once we confer such status on a creed or truth, then
    that truth becomes transhistorical, universally valid, and urgent. The failure
    to comply with it denotes a fundamental breach of civilization, for which the
    direst consequences might be borne by the violator.

    1. The Forcible Embrace ofHuman Rights


    In 1998, amid much fanfare and pageantry, many important personalities and
    institutions, including numerous governments, celebrated the fiftieth anni-
    versary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That seminal docu-
    ment launched human rights internationally, an idea that has arguably given
    expression to one of the most important developments of our times. But
    largely lost in those celebrations were the voices that problematize the idea
    of human rights and point to its difficulties from normative, institutional,
    and multicultural perspectives. Perhaps there should have been wrenching,
    soul-searching, and probing inquiries into the phenomenon known as the
    human rights movement. But it was not to be. Was it because the human
    rights movement is an unqualified good, or were critical voices muffied and
    silenced? What could have accounted for the universally near-total approval
    and unbridled joy that marked the moment of the UDHR milestone?
    It is a virtual certainty that the human rights corpus, if fully implemented,
    would alter the fundamental character of any state, its cultures, and society.
    On that basis alone, without even judging its appropriateness, the doctrine of
    human rights bears close scrutiny. It is true that there are emergent debates
    and disagreements between scholars, policymakers, and advocates about the
    character and purposes to which the human rights corpus should be put.
    Some of these debates focus on questions of normativity, the need for a cul-
    tural consensus and legitimacy, and the problems of effective and consistent
    enforcement. Others suggest a radical reformulation of human rights.These
    are the vexing problems that we must urgently address.
    Since the human rights corpus has profound implications for all human
    societies, particularly those that are non-Western, there is a need to openly
    discuss the political agenda of the human rights movement. The movement's
    apoliticization obscures its true character and the cultural identity of the

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