Wendy Brown
I agree with Browns claim that human rights cannot be reduced to “a pure defense of the innocent and powerless. She backs up her reasoning with evidence from the war of Iraq. She states Donald Rumsfeld declares the “War of terrorism is a war of human rights”, this use of language is being used through the lens of the scared and revengeful American. This comes from the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, as New Yorkers it was instilled, hammered, into our minds by the media which is politically driven, that Muslims were dangerous even barbaric people, who knew nothing of human rights. American troops entered a country and killed thousands of innocent people and children; we stereotyped a whole entire country, on the acts of a selected group. How in God’s name is that portraying human rights activism? Brown states, “Rather, the point is that there is no such thing as mere reduction of suffering or protection from abuse- the nature of the reduction or protection is itself productive of political subjects and political possibilities” (p460).
Brown argues that the power human rights is the protection of people, and their individual right. But who determines those rights; the agency in which those powers lie in then determines how those rights are protected. Are the equally distributed among all nations, first world and third world countries? He example of the War on Terrorism is just that, human rights in that insist was seen through the western lens, Americans were protecting what they saw as human rights. The American government didn’t think of the people of Iraq as human and deserved the same rights as we did, so how is this the war of human rights; complete contradiction. I don’t think that there is one human rights law that can be applied to every individual, it all depend on what lens is being used. If the foundation of human rights is to protect to innocent and powerless then why did it do the opposite of that? It seems like a simple concept but in fact it is complex and has intricate loop wholes, it varies on who is using it as a tool of ‘protection’, and who they are trying to protect. we discussed in class if it is possible to be free, I don’t believe that one can truly be free and still have human rights being equal. I believe there is human rights because , as history as shown us, human aren’t always humane beings.
