From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai)
Subject: 3RD WORLD RESOURECES V8 N3: BOOKS: Human Rights
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 23:46:14 GMT

[Via misc.activism.progressive from PeaceNet's twr.nl]
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        The following is from the quarterly magazine, THIRD WORLD
        RESOURCES: A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF RESOURCES FROM AND ABOUT THE THIRD
        WORLD; subscriptions to the 24-page hardcopy edition are $35/year
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        PeaceNet, or email to tfenton@igc.org (Tom Fenton)
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Topic 123       BOOKS, 8:3 - 1992       Response  9 of 16 
tfenton 
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***<HUMAN RIGHTS IN CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES: A QUEST FOR  
CONSENSUS.> Abd Allah Ahmad Na'im, ed. University of  
Pennsylvania Press, 418 Service Dr., Philadelphia, PA  
19104-6097. 1992. vii + 479 pp. $32.95. Cloth. ISBN 0-8122- 
3104-X. Notes, bibliography, index. 

Forty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration  
of Human Rights the discrepancy between the theory and the  
practice of those rights is all too apparent. Perhaps  
international standards for human rights are not really  
universal because they "lack legitimacy in major cultural  
traditions." An international conference convened by the  
University of Saskatchewan in 1989 attempted to address the  
fact of and the reasons for this apparent discrepancy from a  
cross-cultural perspective. The papers for that conference  
(Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives) form the basis  
for this book. 

Understandably not a book to be read from cover to cover, in  
it is something for everyone. The chapter entitled  
"Considering Gender: Are Human Rights for Women, Too? An  
Australian Case" might catch the eye, for example. There the  
reader will find scholarly discourse, good sense, down-to- 
earth Australian experiences applicable to the wider world,  
clear and clever expression, and real nuggets of wisdom. Or  
a particular contributor might draw the reader: Richard  
Falk, who has written extensively on international law,  
international relations, the environment, and peace, here  
offers a major article on the cultural foundations for the  
international protection of human rights. 

The essays are organized into four sections: general issues  
and basic problems, the prospects and problems of cultural  
reconstruction within the liberal and Marxist traditions,  
case studies from certain regions and countries, and the  
theoretical and practical implications of the cross-cultural  
approach. 

Forestalling criticism, the editor in his introduction  
explains the emphasis on so-called Western perspectives in  
the book because of their "formative impact on the human  
rights field...[and] because liberalism and Marxism are, and  
will continue to be, relevant and highly influential in many  
parts of the world." This is not to say that much of the  
material does not pertain to other than Western cultures, as  
essays on Latin America, China, and indigenous cultures in  
Australia, Brazil, and North America show. The analysis and  
critical thinking embodied in this book make a substantial  
contribution to the furtherance of human rights in our  
diverse world. 
  


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