å Monday, February 6th, 2017

My name is Maria D’Amelio and this will be my second to last semester at CWE. I am grateful for the variety of classes and the dedication of the professors and students, here but I am also very much looking forward to graduating. I was delighted to learn about this class as I have been an activist around various issues – including women’s rights – for over a decade and am always interested to read and learn more about political and theoretical debates so that I can be as informed as possible. Currently, I’m involved in a group to defend women’s reproductive rights, which is something that has been steadily eroded ever since the right to safe, legal abortion was won in 1973. Women’s issues have always been a centerpiece for me in terms of my involvement and my study. I believe very strongly that we need to learn the lessons of the past and build a grassroots movement that takes into account and fights around the issues that affect all races, gender expression, religions, and economic statuses. I actually still have a lot of hope that this is possible. I’m hoping that this class will help me to learn more about issues that are deeply important to me.
The language in the American Declaration of Independence of 1776 – one of the precursors to the Universal Declaration for Human Rights of 1948 that Lynn Hunt discusses in Inventing Human Rights (2007) – is so familiar to so many by now, that it is almost taken for granted. But, the questions raised by Hunt, in particular whether or not something that is supposedly “self-evident” needs to be explained, force a critical examination as to what the actual drafters of the document meant. The irony of a well-known slaveowner penning lines about the equality of all human beings may still be lost on some, but is an act that is nonetheless difficult to defend. It seems rather obvious today, that Jefferson’s vision of “man” was a supremely narrow one. Certainly, as Hunt points out, the word “man” as a term was a stand-in for “people,” though, even this is cause for pause. Jefferson did not intend for women to be part of the category of “all men,” nor did he intend for men of a darker hue to join in the celebration of the equality of “all men.” He spoke to a specific demographic: his own. Those who owned property (slaves were the most profitable form of property in Jefferson’s day), those who were male, and, of course, white. This version of equality or notion of human rights does not jibe with the standard – or the perceived standard – that exists today. What’s interesting, however, is how, even today, human beings are quickly demoted from that category under a variety of circumstances. Hunt points to a few in her essay, including immigrants, but it’s worth talking about prisoners, as well.

Hello everyone. My name is Maria Canela Basilio. Yes, I have both of my parent’s last names. As my mother would say “I birthed you so its only right I get my last name in there as well.” Well my mothers’ strong, independent way of thinking is what has led me to CWE. I am on my final semester of my undergraduate career. My major in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Social Welfare. This was stood out to me because I feel that I need to be more educated in order to be the best feminist that I’m capable of being. During the Woman’s March I saw a sign that read something like “Women rights are human rights.” This sign just proved to me that me taking this course was needed. I’m very interested in becoming more educated and aware of all the struggles that women all around are facing. As we all know, women in the US aren’t being looked at as equal of value as men are according to the new elected President Trump. I hope to gain knowledge and confidence as the semester progresses. I hope to enjoy and feel empowered by this course.

“Founding Fathers,” but what did they really find. The Declaration of Independence, according to Lynn Hunt (2007) didn’t give much independence or human rights to anyone that wasn’t a rich white male. This is similar to the way in which politics are being viewed in today date. This document served as a starting point to proclaim that humans needed to have basic rights. However, the people considered human enough to be granted these rights fell into a very slim group. Jefferson was one of these Founding Fathers, what’s controversial is that him himself was a slave owner. Whether he gave them “better treatment” or not is still going against what he was stating in the Declaration of Independence. Even though, we have come a very long way there is still a lot of gray areas. The United Nations adopted these articles as the International Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. However, there are still restrictions, rights are limited depending on where you fall in the pyramid of society, class, and socioeconomic status and religion. In todays day protests are happening often. Social media is one of the most powerful ways in which injustices are being shouted upon. As individuals it is our duty to call out when one’s basic human rights are being taken advantage of, when a human isn’t being treated equally because of where they come from, because of whom they belief in.