Text written by journalism student Emanuelle Leones, enrolled in the Journalism course at IDP.
First of all, welcome to the first post in our column! I truly hope you enjoy our cozy little corner where we try to understand politics a bit better, especially the politics of our country, which is, to say the least… intriguing. The intention here is to create a space where everyone can understand the subject in the lightest and most relaxed way possible; being Brazilian is complicated enough already.
Now, speaking of being Brazilian, that wasn't the topic I wanted to bring up in our first post, but what other species has the privilege of suddenly waking up to the beloved Braga Neto celebrating a military regime, followed by demonstrations calling for a military regime again, if not Brazilians, right?
Given this, let's talk about something very important to all of us, human beings who inhabit planet Earth, that's right, Human RightsDo you know what Human Rights are? Where did they come from? What are they for? Find out right now, on Politize-se.
Human rights are literally the rights that all human beings have, simply by virtue of being human. Men, women, children, the elderly, etc. Everyone has exactly the same rights.
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But Mannu, even columnists?
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Yes, my dear friend, even those. But let's go back in time a little, I'll tell you from the beginning.
As one might imagine, in the beginning, human rights didn't exist; it was basically every man for himself, trying to survive as best he could and creating his own laws and morals, following what seemed most convenient to him. Also, as one might imagine, things didn't work very well that way. Seeing all this, a man named Cyrus the Great (unfortunately, I don't know if he was actually a tall man or just 1,50 meters tall, and the name was ironic) decided that things were bad this way and resolved to change the situation.
Cyrus then conquered Babylon and announced that all slaves would be free, that all people could choose their religions, regardless of the group they belonged to. (Which, from my point of view, would still be a revolutionary attitude today, since we all know that's not how governments work in practice). His words were recorded on a cylinder, which was called Cyrus CylinderThat's how Human Rights were born. The people, who are neither stupid nor naive, spread the rumor, and the story reached Greece, India, and Rome.
People realized that everyone naturally followed certain laws that hadn't been declared or written anywhere, and they decided to give them names. Natural LawBut, unfortunately not to our surprise, those in power completely ignored these laws. Until one day in England, which finally made the king see that the rights of the people should be inviolable, even by the highest authority, the king himself.
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Oh Mannu, how wonderful! Now that these rights have been recognized, no one in power has overridden them?
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Of course it passed. Before the king announced that he had recognized the people's rights, a group of British rebels declared independence, and that's how America was born, or rather, what we who study geography call the United States of America.
On the other side, the French also began their own revolution, for their own rights. They defended an idea similar to what I've already told you here: rights weren't invented by anyone; they were something natural to us, human beings. In other words, the Roman concept of Natural Law became... Natural Rights.
Since it's practically impossible to please everyone, in France, a guy we all know, named Napoleon, decided that French democracy wasn't cool, and he set out to end it. Ambitious as he was, he declared himself emperor.
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Emperor of France, Mannu?
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Not a small grasshopper, but one from all over the world. A visionary, I would say, with a mindset that would make coaches around the world envious.
But our little Napoleon's plan didn't work, since the countries of Europe decided to unite and put the narcissistic fellow on the chopping block. So, with Napoleon out of the house, the new leader Europe went back to discussing the rights of the people (I promise the reality show references are over), but not for the whole world, only for Europe, after all I never said that only Napoleon was narcissistic.
Instead of seeing people all over the world as equals deserving of the same rights, Europe chose to view the rest of the world as territory to be discovered and conquered. We already know that a good story always has a revolution; in India, a lawyer emerged who decided to oppose it. Mahatma GandhiHe declared that absolutely all people on Earth had rights, until Europe itself agreed.
But I'll give you a spoiler straight from philosophy, as Nietzsche already said: "Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs man's torment." Two World Wars. Hitler exterminated thousands of people from the face of the Earth, 9 million people died in concentration camps, and Human Rights became nothing more than a fairy tale, forgotten on the shelf.
In this particular fairy tale, the one who helps save everyone is a woman (hold that information a little longer), and amidst all this chaos and despair, the countries of our blue planet united and formed the United NationsAll these countries seemed to have a concept of what Human Rights would be, from the beginning in the Cyrus Cylinder to Natural Rights. The woman in question, who helped save the group, is... Eleanor RooseveltShe was responsible for overseeing and, together with all the nations, forming the official document: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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Corner of Thought
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Now, my dear friends, the reflection I leave here in our column (yes, it's ours, mine and yours, how nice!) is this: humanity spent years and years, between revolutions, deaths, and wars, to finally obtain a document that guarantees rights and dignity for all, a document that serves not only to declare our rights, but also to demand that they be fulfilled and to hold those responsible accountable if they are not.
Why is there still a possibility of debating whether a dictatorship is good or not? Why does humanity still discuss whether a coup that killed innocent people, persecuted and censored artists, journalists, and musicians, and made these people afraid to live in their own country, was a "revolution" or not? Honestly, it's hard to imagine that after so many struggles and wars, there is still an extremely vocal segment of Brazilians who defend a regime that violates Human Rights in numerous ways.
Now, I, a young Brazilian woman, stand in solidarity with you, fellow Brazilian, and leave you with a nice, relaxing video featuring our incredibly good music, to remind you that being Brazilian isn't just about panic and despair:
A kiss and a scent,
Mannu Leones.
