Nasta Loika: Human rights revolution has already happened

euroradio.fm

What are the similarities and the distinctions between human rights and anarchism and how these concepts coexist in Belarus and in the world?

"Kola" center in Mahileu hosted a public lecture of Nasta Loika, Master of International and European Law, intriguingly titled "How human rights and anarchism get along in this world".

"EuroBelarus" Information Service presents some of the theses of the lecture.

"All things I’ll mention are fairly subjective and related to my own perception," - immediately warned the human rights activist.

According to Nasta, there are a lot of stereotypes about both human rights and anarchism.

According to Wikipedia, Anarchism is a political philosophy that advocates self-governed societies based on voluntary institutions, i.e. freedom and it seeks to destroy all types of coercion and exploitation of man by man. The theory of anarchism presupposes freedom from coercion and coercive power, freedom of association, mutual help, equality, fraternity and diversity. But if it sounds so good, why is there so much controversy about anarchism? Once Nasta discovered that anarchism has many faces: anarcho-pacifism, green anarchism etc. The difference lie in a vision of what a society should be.

"As a human rights activist I cannot understand sacrificing civilians for any idea, - switched to the next topic Nasta Loika. - I could never agree to violent methods."

The expert explained that the modern term of human rights emerged after the World War II. The United Nations was created, and it has the right to intervene in the affairs of a state violating human rights.

"It was a particular historical moment when human rights appeared. Maybe one day there will be an anarchist revolution, but the revolution of human rights has already happened, "- stressed the human rights activist.

When talking about the human rights, we are referring to such categories as freedom, equality. Human rights defender is a person who defends human rights through peaceful means and at the same time recognizes them as universal.

On the other hand, human rights are definite norms, standards and conventions. "For example, getting permission from the state to hold a mass event is unheard of, it should be enough to just notify the authorities, which is an international standard, which does not work in Belarus", - the expert says.

Human rights provide an algorithm in case one’s rights are violated. For example, they could go to the Court of Human Rights. Human rights are a shield between a person and a state.

"The states signed it voluntarily. This is not about any injustice but a list limited to 20 rights that states have agreed on among themselves. The more intelligent the management of the state is, the more it listens to the human rights defenders "- pointed out the human rights activist.

According to Nasta Loika, human rights are the mechanism that makes states more humane. And there is a fundamental difference with the idea of ​​anarchism, according to which there should be no government at all. But does the theory of the human rights deny anarchism at large? After all, if a person has right, the state, respectively, has duties. Nasta Loika has the following model: if there is no state, human rights issues are addressed according to the agreement of societies.

Absolutely any government violates human rights. And human rights defenders must control states performing their functions. For this reason, human rights defenders in Belarus are often perceived as opposition. However most countries have a special institution or a person - the Ombudsman - dealing with human rights.

As a summing up of the lecture the speaker expressed hope for this discussion to be continued in the society.