Economic Human Rights
SECURING
EVERYONE’S
ECONOMIC
HUMAN RIGHTS
JOIN US IN CREATING A
BASED ON JUSTICE AND
GENEROSITY
SATURDAY JUNE 9, 2007
1-4 PM
THE
EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER
5700
Forbes Avenue, Squirrel Hill
(2 doors down from the Jewish
Community Center)
LEARN MORE
Learn how to use the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights to
advocate for safe and affordable
housing, mass transit, health care,
education, and living wage jobs.
Learn about a multi-racial,
multi-cultural movement of
people living in poverty, and
their allies, which is grounded
in
world where the system that
and maintains poverty has been eradicated.
Learn more and register. Contact the Network of Spiritual Progressives—Pittsburgh Chapter at 412-596-0066 or Bob Mason at
bmasona@gmail.com.
Co-sponsored
by the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP) Pittsburgh Chapter and
the National Association of Social Workers—Pennsylvania Chapter
SECURING EVERYONE’S ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS
by Bob Mason
Have you had difficulty obtaining safe and affordable housing? Have you remained in a bad relationship because leaving would result in serious economic hardship? Have you postponed medical care because you have no insurance or because of high deductibles and co-pays? Do you worry about the quality of public education and the availability of “living wage” jobs?
If your answer is “yes” to any one of these questions, your economic human rights have been violated! In 1948 the United Nations passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which guarantees to all human beings the following Economic Human Rights:
Jobs at a living wage with just and favorable working conditions
Health and the well being of all people and their families—including food, clothing, housing, medical care, and necessary social services
Education directed to the full development of the human personality
Come to “Securing Everyone’s Economic Human Rights” on
Saturday, June 9, 2007 from 1-4 PM at The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer at
5700 Forbes Avenue, Squirrel Hill and learn about how to join with thousands in
Pennsylvania, hundreds of thousands in the United States, and millions world
wide who are committed to eradicating the structure of poverty. This event is co-sponsored by the Network of
Spiritual Progressives, Pittsburgh Chapter, and the National Association of
Social Workers, Pennsylvania Chapter (www.nasw-pa.org.).
Trainers associated with NASW-PA and
the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign
will facilitate a dynamic, interactive program that will promote community
organizing and strengthen coalitions with well established social justice
groups. Participants will also learn how
to identify and document violations of Economic Human Rights. When people grant permission these violations
are added to a documentation bank.
The establishment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 was the foundation of this movement to eradicate poverty. Another pivotal event occurred in May of 1967 when The Reverend Martin Luther King articulated a new vision in a speech to the leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, stating that “we have moved from the era of civil rights to the era of human rights”. He spoke of a mass movement that would emphasize the rights of all people, regardless of color, to decent jobs, homes, and quality education. He laid the foundation for a transformational strategy of socioeconomic change when he proclaimed, “We have moved into an era where we are called upon to raise certain basic questions about the whole society. We are still called upon to give aid to the beggar who finds himself in misery and agony on life’s highway. But one day, we must ask the question of whether an edifice which produces beggars must not be restructured and refurbished.”
Hearkening back to the vision of Dr. King, the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign is an empowering movement that emphasizes leadership from people living in poverty because they have, for too long, been left out of the decision making process and have an invaluable perspective to contribute to professionals, academics, elected officials, and policy makers.
Yet the tentacles of poverty entwine many more people than those traditionally thought of as living in poverty. While Americans are hopefully aware of and distressed by poverty in this country and around the world, fewer are familiar with the plight of the 37 million Americans who still live in poverty despite being employed. It is easy to recognize that their Economic Human Rights are being violated. Many more people are one pink slip away, one serious illness away from poverty. They live with chronic worry. What is less clear, but equally true, is that most peoples’ rights to health, for example, are violated if they risk hospital acquired infections because of staffing shortages at hospitals due to our fragmented and unjust health care system. Everyone’s right to health is violated by Global Warming and environmental degradation.
As human beings we are profoundly, emotionally and spiritually affected by each other’s suffering. When we lose this awareness or feel powerless, we may drift into compulsive behavior—addiction, consuming, greed. When we behave like an oppressor, we constrict parts of our humanity and become crippled. Everyone experiences or is affected by violations of Economic Human Rights.
The English Renaissance poet and Protestant minister, John Donne wrote: