Mobilizing Social Justice: A Narrow But Significant Space
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DevISSues DevelopmentISSues
Volume13/Number1/May 2011
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From the Editorial Board Mobilizing Social Justice: A Narrow But Significant Space Jeff Handmaker This edition of DevISSues is devoted to perspectives from development practitioners, revealing certain opportunities and constraints faced by civic advocates in advocating for the realization of human rights and social justice. Accordingly, this edition presented a personal challenge for me, having researched the capacity of civic actors to hold states accountable to their human rights obligations. This led me to ask the question: can a deeper and more critical understanding of civic efforts to mobilize social justice be helpful to practitioners, operating in the real world? Turning the question around: can social justice advocates, and the donors and solidarity groups that support them, be more strategic in evaluating the potential of their interventions, or in extending solidarity and support to locally-based groups? To engage with these questions, seven papers were commissioned from social justice practitioners who have a long experience and a critical perspective, and are therefore well positioned to engage with these questions. Olujic´ addresses contemporary human rights and social justice issues in the Netherlands. While many Dutch people take their human rights ‘for granted’, the situation is different for those of a particular background (especially Muslims). The famous Dutch tolerance is under threat, both in the Netherlands and within Europe more generally. Human rights, Olujic´ argues, ‘is everybody’s business’. Roozendaal follows this theme in his contribution, exploring whether homosexuality, only recently tolerated in the Netherlands, is in fact a ‘clash between cultures’. While the rights of LGBT people in Africa have been mainly articulated by Western voices, Roozendaal argues that local human rights groups in Africa should be given more space to take the lead in these debates. Berkhout and Seela follow, questioning whether conventional human rights strategies based on the rule of law show the most potential. Arguing against ‘tunnel vision’, they draw the conclusion, similar to Roozendaal, that social justice advocates, and the donors who support them, must take culture more seriously in mobilizing human rights and social justice. Suharto’s contribution directly engages with culture. After reconceptualizing conventional understandings of disability to a diffability perspective, he argues that empowerment, rather than rehabilitation, is a more relevant and productive approach to advocating social justice for people who suffer some form of impairment, particularly in a developing country. The remaining papers cover an enduring theme in social justice advocacy, namely the Palestinian struggle for human rights and social justice, and explore the potential to draw relevant lessons and inspiration from the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. Barghouti explains how Palestinian scholars have been affected by Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. Drawing on several examples ranging from the closure of Palestinian academic institutions to the deliberate destruction of these institutions, she underscores the Palestinian call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. This call, she argues, both ‘heighten(s) awareness’ on the plight of Palestinians generally, and scholars in particular, and is part of a broader, civic-led struggle of non-violent resistance to Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights. Ngeleza and Vallie share their reflections as prominent social justice advocates in South Africa, noting similarities between the pre-1994 struggle against apartheid in their country and the Palestinian struggle for social justice, arguing that both were/are engaged in confronting an apartheid state. They observe that the strategic decision to push for boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS) in South Africa proved a turning point in the anti-apartheid struggle there, and a ‘similar process may be at work in Palestine today’. Finally, Nieuwhof reflects on the role of global solidarity to help end an authoritarian regime. She reflects on the importance of strategic thinking for global advocates of social justice when extending solidarity to locally-based civic advocates. From a researcher’s perspective, three points are notable in these contributions. First, all authors note the importance of strategic thinking, while vividly illustrating the capacity of civic actors to advocate for state accountability, using a variety of (non-violent) means. In other words, civic actors are active participants in international and national legal processes and combine this with other forms of civic mobilization. Secondly, authors confirm the value of materialist explanations for civic advocacy, acknowledging that shifts in the structural dimensions of a social justice struggle – whether these dimensions are cultural, political or social – frame or condition the possibilities for civic action. These shifts must be clearly understood and engaged with by social justice advocates if they want to succeed. Finally, from a socio-legal studies perspective, social justice advocacy fulfils a crucial mediating role, translating global human rights protection in a locally relevant context. In short, the contributions in this edition of DevISSues confirm my personal contention, arguably also reflected in other contemporary social-justice struggles, that civic advocacy operates in a narrow, but significant space. The space is narrow in that it is heavily framed by state interests, but also significant in its potential to precipitate progressive structural changes (Handmaker 2009, with Berkhout, 2010 and with Dugard and Klaaren, forthcoming in 2011).
About the cover
The guest editor of this edition of DevISSues is currently a lecturer and convenor of the Human Rights, Development and Social Justice specialization at the ISS. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow in the Wits School of Law and Chair of the 3R Foundation (www.stichting3r.nl).
Demonstrators with cardboard signs outside Pretoria High Court. Photo by Louise White, Australia.
ISS is the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam
Contents
Page 4 / Current Human Rights Struggles in the Netherlands: What to learn from the legendary little Dutch boy (or girl)? Franka Oluji´c Page 7 / Homosexuality, a clash between cultures? BjÜrn Rozendaal Page 9 / Stretching a human rights approach in search of social justice Remko Berkhout and Ute Seela Page 12 / Community-based Empowerment for Advocating Diffability Rights Suharto Page 15 / The Struggle For An Equal Right to Academic Freedom Riham Barghouti Page 19 / Some Reflections on Social Justice Struggles in South Africa and Palestine Bangani Ngeleza and Ms. Ghadija Vallie Page 21 / Strategic thinking and solidarity to national social justice struggle Adri Nieuwhof
The views expressed in DevISSues are those of the original authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute. The online versions of all articles with full bibliography can be found at www.iss.nl/devissues
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Current Human Rights Struggles in the Netherlands: What to learn from the legendary little Dutch boy (or girl)? Franka Oluji´c
The Netherlands is considered a respected player in the field of human rights, both at home and internationally. And so it should be. For many years, the Netherlands has been a central player in the drafting of international human rights treaties, many of its experts have served and still serve on key human rights committees and monitoring bodies, and by hosting the world’s main legal bodies, such as the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, The Hague has become the informal ‘legal capital of the world’. Dutch people enjoy more freedom and have more choices than in most parts of the world; to marry a lover of the same gender and adopt a baby together, for example. The Dutch also have the right to choose to end their own life and die with dignity when their suffering is unbearable and the situation is hopeless. The freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, the right to privacy and the right to education are all well embedded in society, one could even say that they are ‘taken for granted’.
However, a few recent developments in the Netherlands suggest that the Dutch should not lie back and reminisce on their role as pioneers in the field of human rights. With this article I do not intend to give a comprehensive assessment on human rights developments in the Netherlands but, recalling the famous legend of the little Dutch boy who poked his finger in a crack in the dyke thus averting a flood, as a concerned
citizen and human rights advocate, I do feel the need to address a few recent and distressing developments that should be seen as early warnings for what could lie ahead. From rights enjoyment to selfbreaching Firstly, there seems to be an increasing suspicion and bias in the Netherlands against foreigners, most visible in the
polarized public debate in the media and in Parliament. The word foreigner seems to have extended its meaning from (non-Western) immigrants, to people with double nationalities (including Members of Parliament) and to Muslims in general, which has left little room for facts and figures in politics and paved the way for politicians with extreme points of view, some of which are discriminating to foreigners. Over the past
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few years the Freedom Party (PVV) and its leader Geert Wilders have dominated the debate, both in Parliament and outside its walls, on the freedom of speech as well as freedom of religion and on matters concerning immigration and integration. Wilders even used the court as a public stage where he is being prosecuted for discrimination and inciting hate against Muslims and Islam. Other political parties are not countering Wilders’ rhetoric constructively, but have merely launched counter-attacks against him. These parties have offered little alternative in the form of a different future vision; one that embraces what diversity has to offer and is inspired and challenged to be more creative in constructing solutions. Instead, the Government is making work and marriage immigration, integration and acquisition of the Dutch nationality more difficult through more restrictive and demanding legislation. Secondly, the harsh rhetoric against foreigners has also been directed against regional and international authorities, such as the European Union and Council of Europe. Once there were noble reasons to establish these institutions: now they are often presented as foreign to us and as a threat to our culture and sovereignty. For example, in November 2010 an article bashing the European Court of Human Rights (ECrtHR) in a mainstream newspaper provoked a fierce discussion on the legitimacy of the Court. The author claimed that the Court was an infringement upon Dutch democracy and expressed his fear of foreign judges and ‘political judgments’, anticipating a take-over of national power and sovereignty by a foreign authority that, in his
view, lacked any legitimacy. The article concluded that the Court should either completely change its course or be dissolved. Most reactions to this article were dissenting opinions from academics, suggesting that many others either agreed or were not eager to vent their view on this matter. During the course of the debate over this article, a motion from an established political party and member of the coalition government, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) mobilized some human rights activists and scholars. The Çörüz/Omtzigt CDA motion (November 2010) argued that the European Court of Human Rights had excessively interfered with national legislation, suggesting there was a need for the Netherlands to have more space to make their own policy based on their national identity. The motion called upon the Dutch government to negotiate a broader ‘margin of appreciation’ for treaty members to the European Convention on Human Rights in the reform of the Council of Europe.
The CDA motion quietly found its way to a parliamentary meeting on the budget of the Ministry of Security and Justice. The media missed this development, and civil society only found out about it two days before a vote in Parliament on the motion. The ‘margin of appreciation’ is a doctrine which allows the ECrtHR judges to take into account the fact that the European Convention on Human Rights will be interpreted differently by treaty members, based on their national and cultural differences. The Dutch Section of the International Commission of Jurists (NJCM) was alarmed by the motion because of the possible consequences for the independence of judges. Anticipating possible funding cuts by the Netherlands, the NJCM argued that the motion was intended to secure more space for the Netherlands to identify its national interests against the determination of the European The little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke. Court of Human FaceMePLS, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/’
Rights. The NJCM further argued that the case law of the ECrtHR had already allowed for a relatively broad margin of appreciation to treaty members, including the Netherlands, and is sensitive to national and cultural differences in Europe. The NJCM immediately lobbied several political parties about the potential consequences of the motion for the national and European legal order: probably as a result of this, the motion was dropped. This recent undermining of the European Court of Human Rights in the Netherlands seems to find backing in the Dutch minority government’s Coalition Agreement (‘Regeerakkoord’). Although European and international (human rights) treaties are minimum standards, the Government seems to think they may stand in the way of new national policy, as illustrated by a quote from the agreement: The government respects international treaties and conventions. These agreements, too, offer protection to citizens and their basic rights. Where new national policy comes up against legal obstacles, the Netherlands will work, within the European Union or other international forums, to bring about changes in the treaties, directives or agreements concerned. NJCM’s Systematic Approach to Human Rights in the Netherlands Because of its consistent and normbased approach to human rights protection, and its reputation among NGOs, politicians and government officials, the NJCM is well positioned to fulfill a meaningful advocacy role in the Netherlands. NJCM is a membershipbased organization that was founded by scholars from the Leiden Law Faculty in 1974 and soon became affiliated with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), a global coalition of jurists based in Geneva. The main approach of the NJCM is to protect human rights in the Netherlands through monitoring and commenting on new legislation and the Dutch government’s human rights policy at national, European and international levels. For example, the NJCM contributes to and coordinates the drafting of shadow reports on the implementation of human rights treaties ratified by the
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Netherlands government and lobbies the Dutch parliament by way of letters and commentaries.
‘...promote and educate youth and adults on children’s and human rights and democratic values.’
The NJCM consists of volunteers, most of whom are jurists from the academic world, semi-governmental agencies, NGOs and law firms, supported by a professional secretariat. NJCMvolunteers form part of a large network of human rights jurists (from students to European judges) who can quickly react to political developments, such as the CDA motion referred to earlier. The NJCM has a strong reputation for its expertise and constructive legal advice
both in legislation and policy, and has therefore been regarded as a trusted source of information by its peers and government. The structure of the NJCM also has its downsides. It is neither possible to stay on top of every human rights issue or development, nor is it possible for the NJCM to explore every means to protect or promote human rights when its volunteer members are busy with their ordinary jobs. But despite these challenges, the NJCM has managed to identify numerous developments of human rights concern, including, recently, alien detention and threats to individual privacy and data protection. Promising Developments for Human Rights in the Netherlands Although the developments discussed in this article indicate that human rights in the Netherlands are struggling, I do not feel that there is reason for despair. In the Netherlands civilians and human rights organizations are generally still heard by their government. There is still space for public debate, open critique, advice and cooperation. There are also some promising developments, the results of advocacy from human rights organizations and in particular through consultations between civil society and the government. These include the foundation of new supervisory and monitoring institutions, such as a National Institute for Human Rights, a Children’s Ombudsman and the House for Democracy and Rule of Law. Part of their core business is to promote and
educate youth and adults on children’s and human rights and democratic values. Civil society needs to monitor the functioning of these institutions and contribute to their development where possible. The negative developments mentioned in this article seem to have sneaked into our society. A challenge for the NJCM and other civil society organizations in the Netherlands is to recognize the early warning signs more quickly through closer and more structural monitoring, enabling earlier action and the possibility of prevention, rather than seeking to reverse the damage that may already have been done - just like the legendary little Dutch boy who, despite his limited strength and resources, potentially averted a disaster. For its part, the Dutch government should live up to its European and international obligations and structurally integrate human rights norms into the curricula of Dutch schools, by way of democratic citizenship education. These efforts should lead to a stronger national consciousness that fundamental freedoms and rights are not a given, not even in the Netherlands, and that the protection and promotion of human rights is not merely ‘our business’ as human rights organizations; it is everyone’s business. Franka Oluji´c is secretary of the Dutch Section of the International Commission of Jurists (NJCM, www.NJCM.nl). This article is written on a personal basis. The author would like to thank her friends and colleagues Quirine Eijkman, Friederycke Haijer, Jeff Handmaker and Nathalie van Schagen for their critical eye and constructive input for this article.
Staff News Two new Deputy Rectors On 1 March 2011, Dr Jos Mooij took up the position o f Deputy Rector Education. Dr Mooij is Associate Professor in Public Policy and Management at ISS and will hold this position for a period of three years.
Professor Mohamed Salih has been appointed the new Deputy Rector Research Affairs. He will take up this position in September 2011 for a period of three years. Mohamed Salih is currently Professor of Politics of Development at ISS and the Department of Political Science, University of Leiden.
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Homosexuality, a clash between cultures? Björn van Roozendaal
In January 2011, only two days after the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon called upon the Human Rights Council to end human rights violations on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, an ongoing homophobic campaign in Uganda culminated in the tragic death of activist David Kato. A few months earlier, the local newspaper The Rolling Stone had published David’s name along with the name of 99 other activists on a death-list. This killing, which was reported by media around the world, serves as an unfortunate example of the difficult struggle faced by courageous human rights defenders working for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people. At the same time, the incident raises serious questions as to whether homosexuality should be defined – on both sides of the debate – as a ‘clash’ between cultures and who should determine whether and how more culturally-sensitive approaches are needed.
Colleagues working in David Kato’s organization, Sexual Minorities Uganda, immediately claimed that evangelicals from the United States should be held responsible for his death. Whilst not claiming that the evangelicals killed him physically, the organization referred to a hateful campaign instigated by American Anglican Evangelicals in 2009. This campaign was reported on by the Rev Kapya Kaomo in the publication Globalizing the Culture Wars. The report describes how a recent wave of homophobia in Uganda is in part the result of evangelization work by conservative religious groups from the United States, which – alongside social welfare – bring their own set of values to the African people.
Values that oppose homosexuality have contributed to the creation of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda. This private members’ bill, which has not yet been adopted by the Ugandan Parliament, aims to further criminalize homosexuality. Among other provisions, the proposed law would oblige people to report lesbians or gays they know to the police. If a mother of a homosexual son did not report her own son to the police, she would risk three-year imprisonment. Under heavy international protest, the process towards adopting this proposed law has now been stalled, but parliamentarians have made it clear that their proposals will not rest forever. David Kato
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In international human rights forums, African states often claim that the continent is capable of developing its own laws and policies, without the need for pressure from the West to impose its values. In this context, homosexuality is often referred to as ‘un-African’ and, as such, specific human rights protection for LGBT people is not considered necessary. On the other hand, human rights defenders, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and former South African judge Ms Navanethem Pillay claim that whilst recognizing that this issue might be culturally sensitive, nobody should be the victim of violence, let alone murder. When issues of sexual orientation and gender identity have been addressed in United Nations forums, some representatives of African countries have claimed that views promoting acceptance, or even the need to decriminalize homosexuality, are culturally unacceptable and rejected by a majority of their societies. The irony however is that a majority of the laws decriminalizing same-sex consenting conduct are leftovers of the colonial era. In addition, most human rights causes have, historically, not been driven by the view of the majority, but rather by a common understanding that human rights are universal, interdependent and apply to all. Indeed, the drafters of the South-African constitution knew this well when they included sexual orientation as a protected status in their constitution nearly twenty years ago.
‘…African LGBT groups and communities…call for [international] support….’
Recent years have seen a noted increase in African LGBT groups addressing human rights issues. Like numerous other civil society organizations, these groups often receive funding from abroad. In the case of LGBT groups, such support is often portrayed by political leaders as unwanted interference with their
Pictures taken from Gay Uganda website
country’s domestic policy. Such accusations fail to consider the fact that African LGBT groups and communities themselves call for such support. International agencies such as UN AIDS also confirm the need to tackle discrimination and stigmatization of minorities: such practises of exclusion prevent a country from developing effective responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and human rights defenders working on issues of sexual minorities often face (threats of) violence, which itself contravenes international human rights agreements. In his essay Africa not clear with LGBTI rights, Lawrence M. Mute, member of the Kenyan Human Rights Commission, analyses how LGBT issues over the years have increasingly become subject to a cultural clash. Mute argues that it is not so much the inexistence of the practice of homosexuality on the African continent which causes this, but rather the dominant role western countries have taken in positioning the debate. At the same time he argues that:
ply to all other human beings in our various jurisdictions. The further development of human rights groups in Africa addressing sexual minority issues is encouraging. Increasingly, brave human rights defenders such as David Kato have stood up to fight discrimination and violence, demonstrating that whilst the term homosexuality might be un-African in linguistic terms, attempts to rhetorically alienate same-sex activities from the African culture run counter to Africa’s own history and social reality. As such, it is doubtful how long governments, politicians and religious leaders will continue to be successful in using LGBT issues to divide societies and impede the continent’s own social justice agenda. What is clear however is that western countries and NGOs need to move with caution in supporting LGBT human rights in Africa. The onus is on LGBT groups from the continent to take the lead in ensuring a fully culturally sensitive approach.
Björn van Roozendaal is international advocacy
African states must acknowledge that there is an irreducible minimum of rights which must apply to LGBTI peoples simply because they do ap-
officer with COC Netherlands, the world’s oldest LGBT organization still in existence. He works with international organizations and assists human rights defenders in their work. BvanRoozendaal@coc.nl.
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Stretching a human rights approach in search of social justice Remko Berkhout & Ute Seela Rights based strategies for obtaining social justice tend to focus on claiming legal rights at the level of the nation state. Drawing on findings from the Hivos knowledge programme in India, South Africa and Uganda, we argue that such a ‘purist’ rights based approach may overlook the potential of ´culture´ as a complementary source of inspiration for civic action.
Since the 1950s, a human rights revolution has swept the globe, encompassing historic developments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international covenants on various basic rights and the emergence of national and international enforcement mechanisms (Handmaker, 2009: 26-28). Data from global rights watchdogs such as Freedom House suggests that the gains have been significant. At the same time, human rights violations persist, even in countries with progressive rights frameworks. Zooming in on the role of NGOs in the development sector, we argue that this mixed record points at serious limitations of a ‘purist’ human rights based approach to promote social justice. NGOs have been key human rights revolutionaries, acting as global ambassadors for human rights, translators of international rights into local frameworks and watchdogs to ensure implementation. Their prime target has been
the state which – as a member of the international community – is anchored in a system of rights and corresponding obligations established by international law. This approach emphasizes the normative responsibility of the nation state, yet it overlooks an often different reality. Firstly, the state may not be neutral in favour of the ´rule of law´. Public debate about communal violence and secularism in India regularly points at the indecisive response of the Indian state, which is said to act in favour of the Hindu majority (Kakarala, 2010). The state – albeit labelled as if it was an abstract entity – equals the collective behaviour of a government (and its bureaucracy), parliament and judiciary. Although the Indian constitution presents a very comprehensive minority rights protection framework, the lawmaking process in parliament is based on - inherently democratic - majority rule. In the process of religious polarization since the 1990s and the rise of
right wing Hindu parties, Parliament and government (both at regional and national level) have become vulnerable to identity politics, favouring mostly Hindutva interests. More generally, one could say that when faced with competing rights claims, law making and implementation tend to be subjected to identity politics, negotiation of interests and political priority. Secondly, getting a state to act, through confrontational or cooperative action, can be a lengthy, costly and complex process beyond the means, capacity and connections of most rights holders. Recent studies by Dawson (2010) and Bond et al. (2010) illustrate that this can lead to uncivic strategies such as violent community protest with outbursts of xenophobia and destruction of public infrastructure. Thirdly, rights may be violated in practice while nothing is wrong with the law. In South Africa, for example, widespread sexual violence and discrimination of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) groups persists despite progressive legislation (MRC, 2009). Community norms, values and practices can operate on a fundamentally different logic than universal human rights. These three sets of limitations point at a critical blind spot in the theory of change underpinning civic action for
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Mobilising Social Justice conference, 23/24 November 2009, Johannesburg, South Africa. Eugene from Africa Realtime Productions
social justice, which may partly explain the NGO-fatigue in different countries. Civic action in the form of donor-driven and urban-biased NGO projects is increasingly judged to be ineffective and out of touch (Dütting & Sogge, 2010: 2). An element here may be the insistence of the human rights approach based on a Western moral framework which tends to view culture and tradition as backward or ‘savage’ phenomena, invariably opposed to the notion of rights as modernity (Mutua, 2001). Furthermore, a ‘purist’ rights-based approach also tends to relate all socio-cultural reform to legal reform (Kakrarala, 2010: 25). This reductionism creates a certain tunnel vision as to the possible solutions for addressing injustices. It furthermore ignores the reality of many communities which live in mixed legal spaces where both statutory law and traditional practice regulate matters of conflict and justice. In other words, where citizens relate strongly to their local, ethnic or religious identity, they act in a space which may not be the nation state but the community, which follows competing ethical principles, rights and responsibilities (CCFU, 2010: 3). A case in point, as analysed by the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU, 2010: 12-22), is the issue of land ownership. CCFU describes how
community governance, culture and the state interplay when it comes to accessing land in Uganda. The traditional system of land tenure still prevails in most of the country. Land is owned by families and passed on from generation to generation without official administration or formal regulation. The system used to protect women. For example, upon the death of her husband, the widow would take over the management of the family land. Recently, however, the idea of private ownership by an individual and official registration has taken root. The study by CCFU provides examples in which male relatives have grabbed and registered the land of divorced or widowed women claiming that women do not own land. The modern idea of individual rights and regulation in these cases has resulted in a loss of rights and dignity for women. In addressing this issue, the study provides examples of how customary land tenure can be strengthened by documenting the rights and responsibilities within this traditional system. Rights and culture can merge, the study shows.
Cultural relativism – the argument that human rights may not be universal but that culture and tradition determine how communities perceive rights and obligations – is not new and has been subject to serious countercritique. But the debate is far from over. Paraphrazing Amartya Sen (2010): If we acknowledge that there are competing principles of justice, isn’t it better to engage with those differing perspectives on how to repair the injustices in which we live rather than building castles in the sky? Living in the 2.0 era where information and knowledge travel instantly and impact social and political developments elsewhere, a change of tone will probably be more than a pastime for intellectuals. By breaking the culture vs. rights dichotomy, the global public debate may receive a much needed impetus to providing space for those who consider themselves deeply rooted in culture or religion yet supportive to values of human dignity. Remko Berkhout and Ute Seela both work as
What can we conclude from this? We believe that a rights based approach that brings culture back in to the framing of strategies offers alternative avenues for civic action and invites academics to explore mixes of traditional and modern mechanisms for social justice.
knowledge officers at the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos) on the Knowledge Programme. They can be contacted at rberkhout and useela @hivos.nl. More information about the programme and its publications can be found at www.hivos.net
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ISS News Only one DevISSues this year! The last DevISSues of 2010 was on the economic crisis. In it, we featured a number of articles, examining the effects of the global financial crisis from a variety of angles. ISS too has fallen prey to the crisis, as has DevISSues. We have had to make some savings on our production costs in 2011 in order to guarantee production of the journal in 2012 and beyond. After much searching and calculating, the DevISSues editorial board has managed to make the necessary savings. A major way in which this has been achieved is that this year we will only publish one issue – this one. This will not only save us some money in the immediate period, but will also provide us with the opportunity to look at how we want to improve DevISSues in the future. We will look, for example, into expanding DevISSues’ online profile, including making use of social media such as Facebook to enable our readers to download and comment on articles and we may even consider offering our subscribers an ‘online only’ subscription option. We also intend to take a critical look at the content of DevISSues: is it too academic, not academic enough, what is missing and how can we improve it? If you have any ideas on this, drop a line the editor at devissues@iss.nl and we will take your suggestion into consideration. For now, we hope you enjoy this 2011 edition of DevISSues and look forward to sending you a brand new issue on Sustainable Value Chains and Social Responsibility in early 2012. The DevISSues editorial board ISS hosts Indices of Social Development database
Social development is about putting people at the centre of development. There is growing recognition that social development is critical not only as a right, but also for broader development outcomes, including sustainable economic growth. Until now, data limitations have hindered international comparative research on weaknesses and strengths within countries, and on links between social development and other outcomes. The Indices of Social Development hosted by ISS brings together 200 indicators, synthesizing them into a usable set of measures to track how different societies perform along five dimensions of social development. Consult the ISD at www. indsocdev.org Flyers for 2011-2012 MA Programme now online A4 flyers containing 2011/2012 programme information, application deadline and fee information are now available in pdf format online. You can find them linked from the general MA page: http://www.iss. nl/MA-Programme or at the bottom of each specialization page.
Special flyer for employers ISS has a special flyer for employers considering sending their staff to study at ISS. It contains information about the various programmes, the ISS student body, our learning environment and academic staff as well as practical details pertaining to costs, application requirements, deadlines and student housing. You can download the flyer from the ISS website at http://www.iss.nl/ Menupages/Education Internationalization as quality feature at ISS In December 2010, ISS received the internationalization as a distinctive quality feature accreditation from the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO). The accreditation was granted to ISS for its good features regarding internationalization. In its assessment, the NVAO panel was particularly impressed with ISS’ teaching and learning and its staff, assessing these as excellent. ISS and student body SCHOLAS on Facebook ISS and Scholas now have their own pages on Facebook. Join us and find out about ISS, our students, programmes and life in The Hague. An Exercise in Worldmaking For the fifth year in a row, Scholas, the ISS student organization, has compiled a ‘best’ student essay book comprising of 14 essays written by the 2009/10 batch of MA student. The full text is available on the Scholas pages of the ISS website: http://www.iss.nl/Scholas. ISS at a glance 2010 The highlights of the ISS year are presented in our latest annual report – ‘ISS at a glance 2010’. The report includes details of our education and research, news about conferences, seminars and other events held at ISS, it describes some of the alumni activities that took place in 2010 and provides facts and figures about ISS staff and students. Alumni profiles on website What do ISS alumni do after graduation? What do they achieve? Where do they work? And how did their study at ISS contribute? To answer these questions we have a number of ISS alumni profiles on our website – take a look! http://www. iss.nl/Prospective-students/Alumni-profiles
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Community-based Empowerment for Suharto Advocacy for diffability (different-ability) – as opposed to ‘disability’ – rights in Indonesia faces a couple of major challenges. One is to frame a terminology explaining who people with impairments are, another is to seek an appropriate development strategy to respect, protect and fulfill their human rights. This article attempts to analyze why diffability has been chosen to socially deconstruct the term disability, what it means in development practice, and how an NGO such as the Indonesian Caritas of Semarang Diosis (ICSD) has understood this idea and translated it into its advocacy of diffability rights. In the Indonesian context, these issues are crucial because, first, Indonesian society makes generalizations about impairment, suggesting that impaired people are disabled and as such are unable to participate in development. Second, the social construct of impairment affects diffability-related policies and projects conducted by both the government and NGOs which often fail to address the root cause of why impaired people are excluded from economic, political and social life. In this context, it is important to consider the distinction between impairment and disability as described by UPIAS (Union of Physically Impaired Against Segregation). This organization suggests that impairment is a medical definition in which a person is ‘lacking part of or all of a limb, or having a defective limb, organism or mechanism of the body’ (UPIAS 1976:3), while disability is a social construct meaning ‘the disadvantage or restriction of activity caused by a contemporary social organization which takes no or little account of people who have physical impairments and those [sic] excludes them from the mainstream of social activities’ (UPIAS 1976:3-4). This social construct disables those who are physically impaired and creates negative stereotyping. The emergence of the new term diffability, which initially came from Indonesian scholars Mansour
Fakih and Setia Adi Purwanta (Suharto, 2010:9), therefore performs a social deconstruction role, revealing that an impaired person is not disabled but merely has different ability due to his/ her impairments. From Rehabilitation to Empowerment The social construct of impairment in the Indonesian context means that most projects and policies aimed at the impaired are charity-based - merely intended to fulfill a particular need rather than to equip the impaired with life skills or to refine societal perspectives towards impairment. As such, this approach is unable to promote the independence of diffabled people. To counter this, ICSD attempted to employ a community-based approach to address diffability rights following the 2006 Yogyakarta-Central Java earthquake. Initially, this local NGO attempted to replicate the United Nations Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR) strategy in order to promote the independence of the survivors of that earthquake by providing medical, livelihood, educational, political and social interventions. CBR is ‘a strategy within general community development for the rehabilitation, equalization of opportunities and social inclusion of all people with disabilities’ (ILO, UNESCO and WHO, 2004:2). It is an example of Michael Oliver’s theory of a social model of impairment (Oliver, 1986:16; 1990:1011; Suharto, 2010:8) that refutes the individualization of diffabled people’s problems, raises community awareness and acceptance towards diffabled people, promotes social inclusion and treats diffability rights as an integral element of human rights. However, the term rehabilitation treats a diffabled person as a target rather than an active actor of development. CBR, therefore, merely provides treatment, both medical and non-medical, with the aim of making impaired people as ‘normal’ as possible. It is a pseudo-social model - ‘an individual
model with an additional requirement of community participation’ (Suharto, 2010:11-2). Furthermore, the CBR framework separates diffability-related interventions from mainstream development, seeing them as two distinct things. For instance, in the employment sector, diffabled people who take on jobs in the public and private sectors are still restricted, while employers argue that
Health rehabilitation provided by ICSD. Haris Munandar, ICSD
the most appropriate post for these individuals is in diffability-related employment. A similar example can be seen in education, where diffabled children of various age groups are restricted from enrolling in general schools. In addition, the trigger for developing a CBR approach was economic - lowering rehabilitation costs and widening service coverage (Barnes and Mercer, 2008:146; Helander, 2007:8) - rather than ideological. The notion of community-based
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Advocating Diffability Rights seemed to be interpreted as encouraging the community to be responsible for rehabilitation activities in order to help the government which felt that its resources were limited. This approach was not interpreted as the need to remove physical and social barriers and raise societal acceptance towards diffabled people’s participation. In line with these objections, my earlier research into ICSD’s post-disaster inter-
the existence, potential and problems of diffabled people and accept their participation in social, economic and political life. Second, the notion of empowerment implies that development policies must empower diffabled people to be dynamic actors of development as well as being its beneficiaries. In short, the CBE is ‘a strategy of empowering diffabled people and promoting social inclusion within broader community development in order to generate an environment that allows active roles of diffabled people in all aspects of lives’ (Suharto, 2010:13-4). Within its community-based assistance, ICSD was not only interested in organizing rehabilitation activities but also in integrating diffability empowerment within municipal development activities. In addition, its choice in using the term diffability other than disability strengthens its ideology of putting the real social model of diffability into action.
vention in translating diffabled people’s right to work in the affected area (Klaten Regency in Central Java, Indonesia), has shown that the approach this NGO took in fact moved beyond CBR. Its community-based strategy was in line with what I term Community-based Empowerment (CBE). There are two main elements to CBE. One, it interprets communitybased sociocultural development as widely as possible and thus includes business communities and decision makers as important players aware of
Like CBR, the CBE model encourages the active participation of Diffabled People’s Organizations and the community as a whole in decision-making and empowerment processes. This avoids problems of misplanning and malpractices evident in government diffability-related policies which evidenced minimum participation of diffabled people during both the assessment and implementation periods of institutional-based rehabilitation. The CBE model moves on from CBR, however, in its rejection of the segregation of diffability-related projects from general development policies. The CBE paradigm is inclusive - it accommodates diffability interests in each project delivered to the general population: projects to improve infrastructure, education, livelihood, health, employment, culture, information technology and community development. Furthermore, this model calls on the government to recognize this paradigm. Therefore, a CBE-based project does not aim at merely fulfilling diffabled people’s needs but rather in
calling on the government to respect, protect and fulfill diffability rights in its policy-making processes and development activities. In practice this approach meant that the ICSD not only adopted the five major concerns identified by WHO (2010:24) – namely health, education, livelihood, social and empowerment – but that it also recognized that anyone who is impaired still has many capabilities. What this meant in practice is that ICSD recognized that a victim of the 2006 earthquake who became physically impaired, for example by becoming paralyzed and unable to walk, still had other physical capabilities such as touching and handling, social capabilities such as communicating and interacting with others, and intellectual capabilities such as thinking, learning and teaching. ICSD thus concluded that diffabled earthquake survivors still had the potential to manage their livelihood, though their physical impairment may limit their ability to return to their previous workplace. It is here that the role of the government became important in minimizing social exclusion, as many diffabled survivors of the earthquake found it difficult to find new work due, partly, to employers’ reluctance to employ them, seeing them as high risk. As the Indonesian government at the time did not seem aware of its duty to protect diffability rights in the aftermath of the earthquake, ICSD took on this role, taking measures to ensure that the many survivors in the productive age bracket were able to make a living. For example, ICSD provided individual medical rehabilitation aimed at optimizing their physical functioning. This individual treatment was not primarily aimed at curing their impairment but rather at improving their physical condition, thus allowing them to work independently (Oliver, 1990b:5). ICSD also donated equipment such as wheelchairs and subsidized survivors who wanted to modify their two-wheeled motorcycle into a
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motorized tricycle. In terms of mental health, ICSD pursued psychological rehabilitation to help survivors develop self-acceptance and self-esteem. These individual treatments were fundamental parts of diffability empowerment and were expanded with social treatment. The aim here was to raise community awareness and acceptance towards diffabled people. It included the destruction of negative stereotyping and the involvement of diffabled people in all aspects of life. ICSD staff participated in village meetings attended by the chief and officers of the village government, religious leaders, youth organization activists and health cadres and suggested that the community should consider the potential and capability of diffabled individuals and encourage them to participate actively in their community. This participation included work and employment. For those diffabled earthquake survivors in the productive age bracket, it was crucial that they could continue working to fulfill their duty of care to themselves and their family. In those instances where survivors were unable to go back to formal work due to the nature of their medical care, ICSD guided them in finding informal work and provided them with vocational training to equip them with new skills. It was not only the working population that was affected by the earthquake; children too were victims. In addressing their right to education, and driven by diffability terminology which does not allow any segregation in education, ICSD attempted to send them back to their previous schools. To anticipate any obstacles that might be faced by the diffabled children, ICSD promoted inclusive education within these schools.
This included improving physical accessibility and confirming that diffabled children have equal rights to education. The NGO believes that inclusive education guarantees education quality, comparing this to special education which has a totally different curriculum from the general school curriculum. This is important as education influences the opportunity and choice of employment in the future. In addition, ICSD attempted to persuade the local government of Klaten Regency to promote diffability mainstreaming, from the planning to the implementation stage, in its programmes and policies delivered to the general population. It drafted a Local Regulation of Promoting Diffabled People’s Independence (LRPDPI) for the local government. The LRPDPI names diffability rights and obliges the government to respect, protect and fulfill these rights. ICSD was aware that the measures set out in this local regulation would not be automatically implemented - a lesson learnt from the Disabled People Act Number 4/1997. This law has resulted in very little improvement in the compliance to diffability rights because it was not put into practice by the government. ICSD therefore continued to work with the local government, even after LRPDPI was adopted, assisting it to formulate diffability budgeting within its annual financial plan. The thrust of this assistance was to ensure that diffability programming was not limited to the Department of Social Affairs but that it was adopted by every department as diffabled people need accessible infrastructure, inclusive education, healthcare services, economic empowerment, job provision and other services just as much as the general population does.
In this role, ICSD worked hand in hand with Disabled Peoples’ Organizations (DPOs). One of its strategies was to establish the CBE Board, an informal institution which acts as an advocacy agency aimed at raising diffability awareness amongst state officials and at developing communication between DPOs and the government to enhance supportive policies related to diffability. Uniquely, membership of this board included representatives of government offices, members of parliament and community leaders. The heterogeneous membership facilitated interaction and the sharing of information between different stakeholders, ensuring that DPO voices were communicated to the government and parliament. It was the CBE Board, supported by ICSD and academics, which drew up the LRPDPI draft. Indeed, the establishment of the CBE Board is interesting as it illustrates the efforts of ICSD and DPOs to awaken the state’s responsibility to respect, protect and fulfill diffability rights. To conclude, by using CBE, ICSD did not indefinitely replace the government’s obligation to fulfill its duty to respect diffability rights. In the short run it filled a gap between what the government should do and what it could or was aware of. In the long run, however, ICSD changed its role to that of advocate and assistant to the government, making it accountable for diffability mainstreaming in policy-making and development practices. In this context, DPOs are entities which can represent diffabled people’s voices; playing a central role in advocating government responsibilities. On the CBE Board, DPO representatives urge government representatives to take diffability into account in every decision – irrespective of whether it is directly related to diffability or not. This is the crux of the CBE model - diffabled people have interests in poverty reduction, employment provision, literacy promotion and infrastructure development, just as the rest of society does. Suharto is an alumnus of the ISS Masters programme specialization Human Rights, Development and Social Justice (2009-10). He is currently programme director of the Centre for Integration and Advocacy of Diffabled People (SIGAB), in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He is also a writer of novels, focusing on diffability, culture and development.
Informal education provided by ICSD. Haris Munandar, ICSD
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The Struggle For An Equal Right to Academic Freedom Riham Barghouti Struggles by Palestinian scholars for academic freedom and equal rights are inextricably linked to Israel’s decades-long, belligerent occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza. Most recently, this brutality by the Israeli occupation was blatantly exposed during Israel’s lethal assault on the Gaza Strip, mainly in densely-populated civilian areas, from 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009. The 22 day assault on Gaza took the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians, at least 85 per cent of whom were civilians, including 313 children (Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, 2009). This assault, termed by the Israeli forces as ‘Operation Cast Lead’, garnered wide condemnation from the international community. In particular, a number of international human rights organizations including Amnesty International (2009), Human Rights Watch (2009) and United Nations agencies (Human Rights Council, 2009) issued reports detailing Israel’s violations of the laws of war and international humanitarian law. There were also numerous allegations of war crimes, including the unlawful targeting of civilians, the use of white phosphorous bombs in densely populated areas, and the targeting of civilian institutions, including academic institutions. The term ‘scholasticide’ has been coined to describe the systematic destruction by Israeli forces of centres of education. The Ministry of Education and the Islamic University of Gaza were bombed, and schools across the Gaza Strip were attacked, including two United Nations schools that were being used as temporary civilian shelters, causing extensive damage and many injuries and deaths (Ahmad and Vulliamy, 2009). These attacks on civilians and buildings, including educational institutions, should not be seen as isolated occurrences. Rather, the attacks reflect a
systematic policy by Israel to target the Palestinian education system, persisting throughout the history of the occupation. Palestinians have historically strived for education as an end in itself, but also as a means of survival and peaceful resistance against military occupation, dispossession and exile. When the first Palestinian universities emerged in the 1970s, their vision was not only to provide opportunities for higher education, but also to support and develop a learned Palestinian society as an intrinsic part of the national struggle for liberation. This potential of education as a tool of liberation made it an easy target for the Israeli military establishment. Attacks against education have come in the form of closure of institutions, denial of access to education, the killing and injuring of students and teachers, arrests and deportations, and the destruction of academic institutions. Israeli Attacks on Education Starting in 1967, the Israel occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip resulted in severe travel restrictions. This denied Palestinians the right to travel to pursue higher education in neighbouring Arab countries or further abroad. These restrictions spurred the emergence of a number of universities in the Occupied Territories, including Hebron (1971), Bethlehem (1973), Birzeit (1973), Al Najah (1977) and the Islamic University (1978). However, almost immediately after their establishment, these Palestinian institutions of higher education came under attack by the Israeli occupation. For example, in 1973, just as Birzeit was nearing completion as a fully-fledged university, the Israeli authorities closed down the campus by military order; a measure that was repeated on several other occasions. A year later, in 1974, the president of Birzeit University, Dr.
Hanna Nasir, was arrested by the Israeli authorities and deported to Lebanon. Dr. Nasir continued to preside over the University in exile for nineteen years. Upon returning to Birzeit in 1993 he stated: It has been my personal belief for many years that the key to the liberation of Palestine can be found in higher education.…The close relationship between academic freedom, human rights, and the right to self-determination remains the crucible in which Palestinian higher education must develop and thrive. (Nasir, 1995) Within weeks of the start of the first Intifada in December 1987, Israel closed down all six Palestinian universities, 13 colleges and five training centres. On 2 February 1988, the Israeli Army ordered the closure of all 1,194 schools in the West Bank until further notice. Less than a year later, the kindergartens were also closed down by military order. Despite these disturbances, the effort to maintain continuity in the education system persisted. For example, Palestinian education went underground with classes being held in churches, mosques and living rooms. However, the Israeli army frequently raided these makeshift classes, arresting those in attendance. On 19 April 1989, The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli police had ‘uncovered a network of illegal classes held by West Bank universities at private high schools in East Jerusalem’ (Cohen, 1989). All six universities mentioned earlier remained closed under military order for four years. As always, the Israeli justification was ‘security’. The authorities argued that schools and universities were sites of student demonstrations and unrest, so therefore all educational institutions had to be closed down. This security rationale was invoked time
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and again by Israel, despite its illegal use as a form of collective punishment, and more so, its wholesale violation of the human right to education provided under international law. In fact, Israeli military and security officials defended the bombing of the Islamic University in Gaza on 29 December 2009 by stating that ‘universities historically have been breeding grounds for radical thought, free speech and protest’ (Freid, 2009). In addition to the attacks and closures of academic institutions, Israel continuously violates Palestinian academic freedom by impeding access to academic institutions and isolating the entire Palestinian academic community. First, Palestinian students from Gaza have been denied permission to travel abroad to continue their education, even when awarded international scholarships. Second, Gaza students have been denied permission to travel to the West Bank to study since 2005. Due to the existence of several hundred checkpoints and closures and the Israeli separation wall, it has become increasingly difficult for Palestinian students living in one area of the West Bank to travel to another area of the West Bank to attend university. Furthermore, Palestinian citizens and residents of Israel are threatened with withdrawal of their residence rights in Israel if they are found in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, prohibiting them from studying at Palestinian universities. At the same time, Palestinian citizens of Israel who choose to study at Israeli universities face numerous discriminatory practices including being denied scholarships, housing opportunities or admission to certain programmes based on failure to serve in the military (Al Balad, 2009).
The Palestinian Response In 2002, Birzeit University launched the Right to Education Campaign (see http://right2edu.birzeit.edu/index) to monitor and document Israeli violations of academic freedom. The Campaign called: …on trade unions, educational institutions, social and political movements [in Palestine] and around the world to support the right to education in Palestine by [among other things] lobbying governments to pressure the government of Israel to adhere to its legal obligations to end attacks on civilian infrastructure and to allow unimpeded access for all Palestinians to their educational institutions. In May of 2002, Birzeit University faculty and staff went a step further, issuing a statement which acknowledged a number of boycott initiatives taking place in Europe and the United States, and appealing: to the international academic community to…suspend ties with Israeli academic institutions, boycott academic conferences held in Israel, and urge their institutions to withdraw any investments they have in Israeli companies and corporations (www.oznik.com). Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott Inspired by international initiatives and building on the strategy of boy-
cott within the Palestinian struggle, Palestinian academics, intellectuals and cultural workers launched the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) in July 2004. PACBI’s statement of principles asserted: Israeli academic institutions (mostly state controlled) and the vast majority of Israeli intellectuals and academics have either contributed directly to maintaining, defending or otherwise justifying the [various forms of Israeli] oppression, or have been complicit in them through their silence. PACBI called on ‘colleagues in the international community to comprehensively and consistently boycott all Israeli academic and cultural institutions as a contribution to the struggle to end Israel’s occupation, colonization and system of apartheid’ through a number of means. These include abstaining from collaboration and joint projects, to advocating for boycott and directly supporting Palestinian institutions without requiring an Israeli partner (PACBI, 2009). This demand was intended to uphold the position of the Palestinian Council for Higher Education, comprised of all presidents of Palestinian universities, to abstain from carrying out ‘technical and scientific cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli universities’ until Israel ended its occupation. The systematic attempts to destroy Palestinian academic and cultural institutions, the complicity of Israel’s academic institutions in the atrocities
Beyond aspiring students, Palestinian academics are also regularly denied the right to travel abroad to attend conferences or to carry out joint projects with international institutions. International academics are routinely denied visas and, as such, are unable to travel to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to attend conferences, give lectures, or teach at these institutions. Foreign passport holders of Palestinian and non-Palestinian origin living in Palestinian territories and working at Palestinian universities are often denied re-entry visas or threatened with deportation. Israeli Army at the gates to the Birzeit University on September 3rd 2002. Yasser Darwish
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carried out by Israel and the misguided, but high regard given to the Israeli academic establishment, made the call for an academic and cultural boycott especially significant. PACBI’s statement was met with widespread support among the Palestinian academic community and was endorsed by nearly 60 academic, cultural and other civil society federations, unions and organizations, including the Federation of Unions of Palestinian Universities’ Professors and Employees and the Palestinian NGO Network in the West Bank. Academic Boycott, Constructive Engagement and Academic Freedom Internationally, a fierce debate ensued around the call for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel. The two main opposition arguments have been that boycotts prohibit ‘constructive engagement’ and undermine academic freedom. The ‘constructive engagement’ argument contends that an academic boycott targets intellectuals who are likely to be the most progressive and supportive of Palestinian rights. It is based on the assumption that, in general, academics and intellectuals tend to be the most sympathetic to the struggle of the oppressed. However, in the case of Israel, this is simply not true. With the exception of a tiny, yet crucial, minority, Israeli academics are supportive of their state’s oppression and are complicit in, or at the very least silent about, it. A study published by the joint Israeli-Palestinian NGO, the Alternative Information Center states: Israeli academic institutions have not opted to take a neutral, apolitical position toward the Israeli occupation but to fully support the Israeli security forces and policies toward the Palestinians, despite the serious suspicions of crimes and atrocities hovering over them (Keller, 2009). Further proponents of the boycott contend that there is an inherent bias in the academic freedom argument in that it regards only the academic freedom of Israelis as being worthy. The fact that Palestinians are denied basic rights as well as academic freedom under Israel’s military occupation is ignored (Barghouti and Taraki, 2005).
Professor Haider Eid, Associate Professor of Postcolonial and Postmodern Literature at Gaza’s al-Aqsa University and a member of PACBI, states: The same argument was used against the academic, cultural and sports boycott of South Africa. In the 1970s and ‘80s, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan talked about ‘constructive engagement’ as a way to defend their diplomatic ties with South Africa. Some academics and athletes echoed these same arguments. But they forget that they were trying to make an abnormal situation into a normal one…I have no problem with the exchange of academic ideas. But I myself am an academic. I have been invited to five conferences over the last year, but I have not been allowed by the Israelis to leave Gaza. Why should there be such preoccupation about the freedom of exchange of ideas with Israeli institutions when Israel itself denies such exchange to Palestinians in all spheres of life? (Ruder, 2009) This double standard is evidenced in the fact that those who have vehemently opposed academic boycott campaigns because they undermine Israeli academic freedom, have failed to decry any of the Israeli violations of Palestinian academic rights. For example, Israeli academics Neve Gordon and Jeff Halper have noted: [n]ot one of the nearly 450 presidents of American colleges and universities who prominently denounced an effort by British academics to boycott Israeli universities in September 2007 have raised their voice in opposition to Israel’s bombardment of the Islamic University of Gaza [in December 2008] (Gordon and Halper, 2008). Growing realization of the need to place pressure on Israel in order to end its violations of academic and other freedoms of Palestinians has propelled a number of international academic boycott campaigns in Europe, the United States, Canada, South Africa and Australia. Even within Israel, Palestinian and Jewish citizens have joined the movement stating:
We are deeply concerned about the potentially irreversible damage inflicted on Palestinians by both the Israeli brutal occupation and international policies and have come to the conclusion that the occupation will end only when its cost for Israelis, its elites in particular, outweighs the benefits (www.boycottisreael.info/). The UN Special Rapporteur and Professor of International Law at the University of Princeton, Richard Falk, agrees: the Palestinians have been winning this second non-military war. Such a war fought on a global political battlefield is what eventually and unexpectedly undermined the apartheid regime in South Africa, and has become much more threatening to the Israeli sense of security than has armed Palestinian resistance (Falk, 2009). The growth of the academic boycott movement, as part of the larger boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel (see www.bdsmovement. net/), may be attributed to a heightened awareness of both the brutality of the Israeli occupation and the impunity that Israel has historically enjoyed despite its flagrant violations of international law. The boycott movement provides an empowering, non-violent and principled means for civil society to actively hold Israeli institutions, be they economic, cultural or academic, accountable for their complicity in Israel’s egregious policies and actions. It is true that academic boycotts may impede the academic freedoms of some Israeli academics. However, a failure to act would continue to allow for the perpetuation of Israel’s extensive violations of Palestinian academic rights and other human rights, while also providing continued impunity that will embolden Israel to carry out graver violations than those we have witnessed thus far. Riham Barghouti is founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, which is part of the BDS National Committee in Palestine. She is also a founding member of Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel.
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New Staff Publications
The Critical Development Studies Handbook: Tools for Change edited by Henry Veltmeyer with contributions by Jos Mooij, Saturnino Borras Jr., Haroon AkramLodhi and Cristobal Kay (and many others
Corruption, Development and the Environment Lorenzo Pellegrini
The Roles of Politics in Aid: Putting China in Perspective an annotated bibliography compiled by Ward Warmerdam and Arjan de Haan
Employment, Inequality and Globalization: a Continuous Concern Rolph van der Hoeven
Social Protection for Inclusive Development European Report on Development with a contribution by Arjan de Haan
The Politics of Biofuels, Land and Agrarian Change edited by Saturnino Borras Jr., Philip McMichael and Ian Scoones
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Some Reflections on Social Justice Struggles in South Africa and Palestine Bangani Ngeleza and Ghadija Vallie
The context of Palestine is somewhat different from that of South Africa and circumspection is required in drawing similarities between them. Even so, we will
which resulted in wide-scale defiance of compulsory conscription laws that obliged young white men to join the apartheid army.
show in this article that interesting parallels exist between civil society organizations in South Africa prior to 1994 and in today’s Palestine. We will suggest that in both countries, civil society organizations played a similar role and share a common analysis of what they were and are confronting: the apartheid state.
In many comparisons of South Africa and Palestine, the parallels in terms of the roles of civil society are not often noticed. In South Africa, there was a lull in political activism following the banning of opposition political organizations in 1961. This lull ended only with the resurgence of civil society organizations which reactivated openly anti-apartheid struggles. Civil society activism had started again in earnest by the early 1980’s following an uprising by students in Soweto and with the emergence of other civil society interest groups across the country. These organizations pursued a range of social justice issues on different fronts. They included religious groups, women’s groups, youth formations, labour unions and academic societies, business chambers of commerce, journalists who created local newspapers and a range of other
issue-based formations which sprung up from the grassroots and became engaged in local struggles for social justice. Organizations of lawyers, for example, such as the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (NADEL) and the Black Lawyers Association (BLA), played a key role in actively providing legal defense for activists inside the country who often found themselves in apartheid courts. Community-based legal advice centres also played a pivotal role in educating people about their rights; hence the emergence of the slogan ‘each one teach one’ during the 1980s. Meanwhile, icons such as Bishop Tutu exposed the immorality of the apartheid regime through religious critique. Progressive white civil society joined some of these grassroots struggles and launched numerous campaigns of their own. These included the end-conscription campaign
In the absence of overt leadership from any political formation, it was the people themselves, as represented by civil society formations, who carried the torch of liberation and pushed for social justice in all spheres of life during the 1980s. This era in South Africa saw ordinary people take the struggle into their own hands. In the end, it was this democratization of the struggle for social justice that made the continuation of apartheid policies unsustainable. This movement effectively made it impossible for the minority regime to govern over the oppressed majority. Furthermore, by linking the internal struggle to the activities of South African activists in exile, the growing coalition of civil society movements contributed immensely to the stimulation of international solidarity action, including the growth of the international antiapartheid movement and the spread of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. It was a combination of these factors that made the struggle for social justice in South Africa broadbased and democratic in character, accelerating the demise of apartheid. A similar process may be at work in Palestine today. Palestine has a vibrant civil society that has championed struggles for social justice, filling a
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Democratization of pre-1994 struggles for social justice in South Africa also served as an investment in the country’s future democratic dispensation. South Africa’s strong legacy of civil society involvement continues today to help safeguard gains made following the defeat of apartheid. The same can be true in Palestine in the future. In Palestine today, civil society and grassroots organizations are leading the struggle for social justice, and their key role needs to be supported and encouraged from outside. Lessons from the past are that this grassroots engagement has a better chance to deliver freedom and peace to Palestine than conventional top-down negotiations. Mass participation in civil society also helps instill a democratic and activist culture among ordinary people that can help safeguard the freedoms, great and small, of Palestinian people against abuses of power in future by post-apartheid governments. Louise White
void that has, for various reasons, been ignored by formal political formations. Perhaps the most telling evidence of the effectiveness of Palestinian civil society organizations is the launch of the Palestinian BDS campaign. This campaign, conceived in 2005, is driven by a coalition of civil society organizations based both in the Palestinian occupied territories and inside Israel. The campaign has become the rallying point around which grassroots struggles have coalesced. As was the case in South Africa, this campaign has broadened the scope for international solidarity action and has raised levels of awareness about the struggles of the Palestinian people. The campaign has also sought to actively involve Palestinians in the diaspora and in refugee camps. Without the diaspora, internationalization of the Palestinian BDS campaign could not happen. This points to the democratization of the struggle for Palestinians’ basic rights. It is this that carries the most hope for the eventual emancipation of Palestine and, as campaigns for sanctions gain momentum, Israel finds itself more and more isolated. Here too, it does seem that the demise of an apartheid regime will be accelerated by the capacities of civil society to mobilize and encourage civil disobedience.
It is furthermore important to note that the benefits of a democratic and grassroots struggle in South Africa did not end with the demise of apartheid. Positive spin-offs are still felt today, with civil society in South Africa – though weakened somewhat after 1994 – continuing to be vigilant and take grassroots action to challenge and curb some undemocratic tendencies of incumbent ANC governments. From time to time the materialism of the new elite is challenged and the rising economic apartheid that excludes the majority of poor people from economic opportunities is also made visible by grassroots demands and initiatives. The struggles for freedom in South Africa did not end with the end of formal segregation. There continue to be efforts to stifle freedom of expression, including the ‘Protection of Information’ bill introduced by the South African government. If passed, this bill would make it difficult for citizens to access information held by the state. The passage of this bill will prevent ordinary citizens from exposing abuses of power by politicians and public officials. However, through a well-organized civil society challenge, this bill is being opposed.
Parallels between South Africa before 1994 and Palestine today have been well documented elsewhere. The contexts of the two struggles for social justice are different, requiring a level of circumspection in drawing comparisons. However, similarities between social justice struggles by civil society are striking. Both in South Africa (prior to democratic elections in 1994) and in Palestine today, political and social struggles are mainly about defeating a system of forced separation (apartheid) that treats people differently solely on the basis of their ascribed identities. The apartheid state of Israel is reflected in the government’s increasingly intolerant treatment of its non-Jewish citizens and in entrenched attitudes towards Palestinians in general. Finally, it is to be hoped that the case of South Africa can indirectly inspire the people of Palestine to continue their efforts for liberation. They can be inspired by the knowledge that South African apartheid once looked invincible, before being eventually defeated. Bangani Ngeleza and Ghadija Vallie are both longtime human rights advocates and social justice campaigners from South Africa.
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Strategic thinking and solidarity to national social justice struggles Adri Nieuwhof
For centuries, national social justice movements have brought about fundamental change. The Anti-Slavery Movement in the United States led to the abolition of slavery in 1865. In the Netherlands, women fought for, and obtained, the right to vote in 1919. The campaigns of the African-American Civil Rights Movement led to the adoption of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965. South African liberation movements (ANC and PAC) overthrew apartheid in 1994. All these examples illustrate the power of citizens and their organizations when they persistently work together towards clear goals.
As Ghandi observed in 1938, ‘a small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history’ (Misra and Gupta, 2008). This short statement reveals a number of key elements for the success of social movements. A movement can be sparked off by a small body of persons when they are determined and have an unquenchable faith in the mission of their social justice movement. These elements correspond with what I experienced at the Holland Committee on Southern Africa (KZA) that, for decades, supported the struggle against apartheid. These elements also apply to how the successful global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in solidarity with Palestinians came about. A core group of dedicated persons shared the conviction that they could make a contribution to fight injustice. However, a small body of determined spirits cannot achieve social change on their own. A social justice movement needs to inspire large numbers of people to join in collective and individual actions in order to be successful. The challenge for solidarity activists is to find the ‘correct use’ of limited resources
Children holding Palestinian flags close to the border line. Mohammed Omer
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required to support the social justice movement. Therefore, strategic thinking is essential to prioritize the actions of social justice movements and solidarity activists. The case of the global BDS movement is a good example of the importance of strategic thinking. In 2005, a small group of Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) explored how to respond to ongoing Israeli violations of the rights of the Palestinian people. Numerous UN resolutions and the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israel’s wall in the West Bank in 2004 confirmed the illegality of the settlements and the wall built on Palestinian land (Nieuwhof and Machover, 2009). Moreover, the ICJ ruled that all states have the obligation not to recognize the illegal situation and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation. In addition, state parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention were reminded of their obligation to ensure Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law and human rights. The struggle against apartheid in South Africa inspired Palestinian NGOs. The anti-apartheid struggle demonstrated that international civil society can be a significant factor in bringing about
social change. After several hundred years of colonialism and more than 40 years of apartheid, President De Klerk and other white leaders had to face the reality that fundamental change was inevitable in South Africa. Demographic pressures, the deplorable state of the economy, the international isolation of ‘white South Africa’, the increasing anti-apartheid protests both inside and outside South Africa and the outreach policy of the ANC were all important factors in bringing about this fundamental change (Nieuwhof, Ngeleza and Handmaker, 2005). Palestinian NGOs have realized that while states have failed to hold Israel to account, civil society could itself play a role in ending Israel’s impunity. The Palestinian BDS campaign-call for action against Israel until it complies with international law, made a direct appeal to international civil society in 2005. 170 Palestinian NGOs supported the call, launched one year after the ICJ advisory opinion on the wall. During the time of apartheid South Africa, solidarity organizations in Europe and the United States mobilized campaigns to build substance and gain momentum. After apartheid formally ended following democratic elections in 1994, it became clear that international
pressure was one of the most significant factors that contributed to fundamental change in South Africa. The Palestinian BDS call is, in fact, an agenda to mobilize and unite international solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom, justice and equality. The BDS call seemed a useful tool for building international pressure on Israel. The mission of a group of Palestinian NGOs to mobilize international solidarity through the BDS call has, in a short time, already proven to be successful. The global campaigns to boycott and divest from companies that are involved in the occupation are effective. Moreover, the campaigns have contributed to an increasing awareness of the oppression of the Palestinian people. In response to the success, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, plans to spend millions of dollars on campaigns to redress the country’s deteriorating image in Europe (Eichner, 2011). However, it may be that the only real way to end BDS activism will be for Israel to comply with international humanitarian law and human rights. Adri Nieuwhof is a human rights advocate and long-time social justice campaigner. She is based in Switzerland.
Staff News NIAS fellowship 2012 for Dubravka Zarkov Dubravka Zarkov received a NIAS (Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Science) fellowship for 2012. During the period February - June, she will coordinate a combined Dutch/ex-Yugoslav research team, working on the research project ‘The Real and the Imagined in the Contemporary Balkans’ and conduct her own research within the larger project. Dubravka Zarkov is Associate Professor in Gender, Development and Conflict Studies at ISS.
Professor Will Hout member of the International Accreditation Council for Global Development Studies and Research In its March meeting in Oslo, the EADI Executive Committee of EADI (the European Association for Development Research and Training Institutes) appointed former ISS Deputy Rector for Academic Affairs, Professor Wil Hout,as Member of the International Accreditation Council for Global Development Studies and Research (IAC/EADI), which will be set up as an autonomous agency of EADI. The task of the IAC will be to oversee the process of accreditation of training programmes in development studies in Europe and beyond and to initiate partnerships and capacity building activities with institutes in the global South. Until recently Professor Hout was deputy rector academic affairs at ISS. His term of office came to an end in March 2011.
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Development and Change
Volume 42 / Number 2 / March 2011
Jonathan Pattenden
‘Social Protection and Class Relations: Evidence from Scheduled Caste Women’s Associations in Rural South India’
Naila Kabeer
‘Between Affiliation and Autonomy. Navigating Pathways of Women’s Empowerment and Gender Justice in Rural Bangladesh’
Arindam Banerjee
‘Food, Feed, Fuel: Transforming the Competition for Grains’
D.K. Leonard with M.S. Samantar
‘What Does the Somali Experience Teach Us about the Social Contract and the State?’
Peter Kragelund
‘Back to BASICs? The Rejuvenation of Non-traditional Donors’ Development Cooperation with Africa’
Robin R. Sears and Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez
‘Forest Policy Reform and the Organization of Logging in Peruvian Amazonia’
Review Essays ‘Review Essays: An Introduction’ Albert Berry
‘The Case for Redistributional Land Reform in Developing Countries’
Larry Lohmann
‘Capital and Climate Change’
Servaas Storm
‘Economics for the “General Case”’
ISS Working Papers The ISS Working Paper series provides a forum for work in progress which seeks to elicit comments and generate discussion. The series includes academic research by staff, PhD participants and visiting fellows, and award-winning research papers by graduate students. The latest titles are listed below but you can download all working papers by visiting the ISS library website at http://www.iss. nl/Library 522
Laos: a state coordinated frontier economy / Edo Andriesse
521
One is not enough! Understanding world trade collapses / Peter A.G. van Bergeijk
520
Multi-membership and the effectiveness of regional trade agreements in western and Southern Africa. A comparative study of ECOWAS and SADC / Sylvanus Kwaku Afesorgbor and Peter A.G. van Bergeijk
519
Human autonomy effectiveness and development projects / Mirtha Muñiz Castillo and Des Gasper
518
Chinese competition: do we need a new competition policy regime? / Pierrette B. Gaasbeek and Peter A.G.van Bergeijk
517
Rescuing exclusion from the poverty debate: group disparities and social transformation in India / Arjan de Haan
516
Incorporating perceptions and experiences of violence into livelihood decision-making: a micro level study in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh / Mohammad Badiuzzaman
515
Bending the private-public gender norms: negotiating schooling for young mothers from low-income households in Kenya / Alice N. Wekesa
514
Education policy and frame conflict : student assignment in the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina / Dylan S. Eyre
513
Inclusive Growth? Labour Migration and Poverty in India / Arjan de Haan
512
The Master model on multi-actor and multilevel social responsibilities: a conceptual framework for policies and governance on stakeholders’ social responsibilities / Patricia A. Ashley
511
Gender trends in developing countries during financial crises / Irene P. van Staveren
510
Nutrition as a public health problem (1900-1947) / C. Sathyamala
509
Structural change, land use and the state in China: making sense of three divergent processes/ Murat Arsel and Anirban Dasgupta
508
The concept of corporate social responsibility: a philosophical approach / Adele Lebano
507
Determinants of urban job attainment in Kenya across time: education and quality of jobs by gender / Wambui R. Wamuthenya
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STUDYING AT THE INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL STUDIES IN THE HAGUE MA IN DEvELOpMENT STUDIES A 15.5 months programme starting 5 September 2011.
The ISS is a University Institute of Erasmus University Rotterdam and based in The Hague, the Netherlands. In a globalizing world development studies has to deal with the interconnectedness of societies on the one hand and with regional and local specifities on the other. It examines societal change within a historical, comparative and global perspective and translates insights into strategies for development. The MA in Development studies offers 15 specializations within this interdisciplinary field: • Agriculture and Rural Development • Children and Youth Studies • Conflict, Reconstruction and Human Security • Development Research • Economics of Development • Environment and Sustainable Development • Governance and Democracy • Human Rights, Development and Social Justice • International Political Economy and Development • Local Development Strategies • Population, Poverty and Social Development • Poverty Studies and Policy Analysis • Public Policy and Management • Women, Gender, Development • Work, Employment and Globalization
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