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The Divided World: Human Rights and Its Violence
Taking a critical view of a venerated international principle, Randall Williams shows how the concept of human rights—often taken for granted as a force for good in the world—corresponds directly with U.S. imperialist aims. Citing internationalists from W. E. B. Du Bois and Frantz Fanon to, more recently, M. Jacqui Alexander and China Miéville, Williams insists on a reckoning of human rights with the violence of colonial modernity.
Despite the emphasis on international human rights since World War II, Williams notes that the discourse of human rights has consistently reinforced the concerns of the ascendant global power of the United States. He demonstrates how the alignment of human rights with the interests of U.S. expansion is not a matter of direct control or conspiratorial plot but the result of a developing human rights consensus that has been shaped by postwar international institutions and debates, from the United Nations to international law. Williams probes high-profile cases involving Amnesty International, Nelson Mandela, the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission, Abu Ghraib, and Guantánamo, as well as offering readings of works such as Hotel Rwanda , Caché , and Death and the Maiden that have put forth radical critiques of political violence.
The most forceful contradictions of international human rights discourse, he argues, come into relief within anticolonial critiques of racial violence. To this end, The Divided World examines how a human rights–based international policy is ultimately mobilized to manage violence—by limiting the access of its victims to justice.
Despite the emphasis on international human rights since World War II, Williams notes that the discourse of human rights has consistently reinforced the concerns of the ascendant global power of the United States. He demonstrates how the alignment of human rights with the interests of U.S. expansion is not a matter of direct control or conspiratorial plot but the result of a developing human rights consensus that has been shaped by postwar international institutions and debates, from the United Nations to international law. Williams probes high-profile cases involving Amnesty International, Nelson Mandela, the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission, Abu Ghraib, and Guantánamo, as well as offering readings of works such as Hotel Rwanda , Caché , and Death and the Maiden that have put forth radical critiques of political violence.
The most forceful contradictions of international human rights discourse, he argues, come into relief within anticolonial critiques of racial violence. To this end, The Divided World examines how a human rights–based international policy is ultimately mobilized to manage violence—by limiting the access of its victims to justice.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 10, 2020
This books draws from a range of Marxist and anticolonial theorists and historical examples to construct a well-researched and deservedly unforgiving critique of international human rights and its relationship to the interests and practice of imperialism. Williams is especially gifted at highlighting the contradictions between human rights idealism and its material effects in the context of globalized relations of power all within 115 pages. I also genuinely enjoyed reading this book because of the theoretical and political clarity. The authors commitment to and familiarity with radical politics and the horizons of liberation that human rights politics circumscribe makes the book pleasurable even beyond its academic and intellectual sophistication. It is both very detailed and very straightforward, so I think it could also be a good primer for those who are interested in international human rights. And of course brownie points for extensively citing Fanon, whom I love and is generally a necessary citation for anyone talking about violence and decolonization.
January 23, 2013
This book offers a scathing account of human rights institutions, such as the UN, Amnesty International, or even in film. Williams highlights important moments of failure in the struggle for human rights that are rarely remembered as such. This short book should give pause in the face of glaring inadequacies in 'human rights' as a paradigm for advocating change around the world.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews