Chris Ealham, Living Anarchism: Jose Peirats and the Spanish Anarcho-Syndicalist Movement (original) (raw)
Reviews: Social movements 593 countries have confronted these issues and consistently failed to offer effective remedies. Litigation may succeed in achieving a narrow victory but rarely has an impact on the underlying causes of inequality. In effect, movements commit immense resources to legal challenges that are inherently incapable of systemic social change. The way rights are used to encourage movements to focus on institutional forums or pursue minimalist objectives is another way that rights are used as weapons. In effect-to take the metaphor further-rights are weapons that, in this case, produce friendly fire. That some progressive movements also reject human rights is an essential perspective for countering claims that people who oppose framing grievances as human rights violations are all right-wing privileged individuals seeking to create hierarchies of rights. In fact, many scholars who are critical of human rights are people engaged with progressive movements who are concerned about the limited potential of this strategy for social change. Bob's study is propitious and timely. Sociologists have been slow to contribute to human rights studies because, in part, of a disciplinary opposition to the notion of a universal principle. But recent work by William Armaline, Davita Silfen Glasberg, Patricia Hynes, Mikael Rask Madsen and Gert Verschraegen, among others, has spurred renewed interest in this field of study. This book is essential reading for scholars interested in understanding the social implications of human rights.