Launch: KNEEN: The Tyranny of Rights - Saskatoon
Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 9:40 amA book launch by Brewster Kneen - THE TYRANNY OF RIGHTS - Saskatoon - Sept. 14
Turning the Tide Bookstore and Beyond Factory Farming present:
A book launch by Brewster Kneen - THE TYRANNY OF RIGHTS
14 September · 7 to 9 PM
Amigos Cantina (back room)
632 10th St E
Saskatoon, SK
You may be familiar with Brewster Kneen's previous books, including Farmageddon: Food and the Culture of Biotechnology; Invisible Giant: Cargill and its Transnational Strategies, as well as the Ramshorn, the food system analysis newsletter he and his wife Cathleen publish monthly. Tyranny of Rights is a bit of a departure from his critique of the corporate sector and the food system. He turns his attention to social movements and the way current struggles are framed and understood, and the implications thereof. Read some commentary on the book below and then come out for an interesting and engaging discussion with him on September 14.
...
Description:
In this provocative book, Brewster Kneen asks why the demand for rights – human rights, intellectual property rights, the right to save seed, the right to food – has become such a dominant strategy of movements for social and economic justice. As he discusses this question, he uncovers ways in which concept and language of rights imposes the individualistic and legalistic approach on other civilizations and ways of thinking.
Brewster points out that a demand for a right is made to an authority which is deemed to have the ability (though not necessarily the intention) to grant the right. This automatically puts those claiming a right in a position of subservience to that authority. Such a situation is particularly poignant for those, like Indigenous peoples, for whom ‘rights’ are secondary to responsibilities and relationships, but who nevertheless find themselves using the rights language as the only way to communicate with an imperial or colonial legal system.
He also notes that while this legal system may indeed grant a right – as in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights – that does not mean that the right will actually be fulfilled. The right to food, he says, is an empty bowl, which if it is filled, may be found to contain the products of an industrial system which provide no nourishment.
In referring to this as a tyranny, Brewster intends to spark dialogue and debate about the concept of ‘rights’ and the best ways to achieve genuine justice and equity among people and the Creation we inhabit.
The book includes discussion of:
• The Individualism of Rights
• The False Assumption of Universality
• Rights and the State
• Property Rights: Human and Corporate
• Right to Food and the Empty Bowl
• Farmers’ and Plant Breeders’ Rights
• Land Rights
• Right to Die A Death of One’s Own
• The Right to Intervene
“In [Kneen’s] eyes, all fights for rights are ultimately beholden to a
narrow Western concept of human rights that feeds into today’s globalized
capitalism. The rights framework privileges the individual over the collective
and leads us away from other notions, like responsibility and gratitude,
which are central to many non-Western societies and provide, in his view,
a better footing for social transformation.
The rights framework also feeds into a more generalized proliferation
of rights claims, which only favours corporations and the powerful. The
global push of intellectual property rights, for example, is commodifying
knowledge while strangling our capacity for collective work and creativity,
whether we are farmers, writers, musicians or software developers.”
— Devlin Kuyek, Briarpatch
- - - - -
“Author and long-time activist Brewster Kneen’s The Tyranny of Rights
is shocking at times in its striking examination of rights discourse, arguing
that international human rights legislation often translates to very little in
reality, given that global rights legislation or international law is rarely
enforced. The book argues further that an obsession, both socially and
legally, with individual rights can be isolating and dangerous for the collective well-being of society.” – Aziz Choudry, HOUR, Montreal
- - - - - -
“Brewster Kneen’s book the Tyranny of Rights ... is a worthy analysis
of where our civilization is heading. He dissects the process that has ceded
power to the corporate sector through a detailed examination of how the
language of individual rights has been used on a global scale as a tool to
manipulate others and serve the interests of the rich and powerful.”
– JoAnn Cook, Ottawa
===========================
Cathy Holtslander
Beyond Factory Farming
PO Box 36003
2511 8th St E, Saskatoon, SK S7H 0V4
Phone: (306) 955-6454
Fax: (306) 955-6455
Toll free: 1-877-955-6454
www.beyondfactoryfarming.org
www.citizensguide.ca
Subscribe to the Beyond Factory Farming listserve - go to
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/beyondfactoryfarming
Join our Fan Page on Facebook – go to www.facebook.com
sign in and search Beyond Factory Farming
Turning the Tide Bookstore and Beyond Factory Farming present:
A book launch by Brewster Kneen - THE TYRANNY OF RIGHTS
14 September · 7 to 9 PM
Amigos Cantina (back room)
632 10th St E
Saskatoon, SK
You may be familiar with Brewster Kneen's previous books, including Farmageddon: Food and the Culture of Biotechnology; Invisible Giant: Cargill and its Transnational Strategies, as well as the Ramshorn, the food system analysis newsletter he and his wife Cathleen publish monthly. Tyranny of Rights is a bit of a departure from his critique of the corporate sector and the food system. He turns his attention to social movements and the way current struggles are framed and understood, and the implications thereof. Read some commentary on the book below and then come out for an interesting and engaging discussion with him on September 14.
...
Description:
In this provocative book, Brewster Kneen asks why the demand for rights – human rights, intellectual property rights, the right to save seed, the right to food – has become such a dominant strategy of movements for social and economic justice. As he discusses this question, he uncovers ways in which concept and language of rights imposes the individualistic and legalistic approach on other civilizations and ways of thinking.
Brewster points out that a demand for a right is made to an authority which is deemed to have the ability (though not necessarily the intention) to grant the right. This automatically puts those claiming a right in a position of subservience to that authority. Such a situation is particularly poignant for those, like Indigenous peoples, for whom ‘rights’ are secondary to responsibilities and relationships, but who nevertheless find themselves using the rights language as the only way to communicate with an imperial or colonial legal system.
He also notes that while this legal system may indeed grant a right – as in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights – that does not mean that the right will actually be fulfilled. The right to food, he says, is an empty bowl, which if it is filled, may be found to contain the products of an industrial system which provide no nourishment.
In referring to this as a tyranny, Brewster intends to spark dialogue and debate about the concept of ‘rights’ and the best ways to achieve genuine justice and equity among people and the Creation we inhabit.
The book includes discussion of:
• The Individualism of Rights
• The False Assumption of Universality
• Rights and the State
• Property Rights: Human and Corporate
• Right to Food and the Empty Bowl
• Farmers’ and Plant Breeders’ Rights
• Land Rights
• Right to Die A Death of One’s Own
• The Right to Intervene
“In [Kneen’s] eyes, all fights for rights are ultimately beholden to a
narrow Western concept of human rights that feeds into today’s globalized
capitalism. The rights framework privileges the individual over the collective
and leads us away from other notions, like responsibility and gratitude,
which are central to many non-Western societies and provide, in his view,
a better footing for social transformation.
The rights framework also feeds into a more generalized proliferation
of rights claims, which only favours corporations and the powerful. The
global push of intellectual property rights, for example, is commodifying
knowledge while strangling our capacity for collective work and creativity,
whether we are farmers, writers, musicians or software developers.”
— Devlin Kuyek, Briarpatch
- - - - -
“Author and long-time activist Brewster Kneen’s The Tyranny of Rights
is shocking at times in its striking examination of rights discourse, arguing
that international human rights legislation often translates to very little in
reality, given that global rights legislation or international law is rarely
enforced. The book argues further that an obsession, both socially and
legally, with individual rights can be isolating and dangerous for the collective well-being of society.” – Aziz Choudry, HOUR, Montreal
- - - - - -
“Brewster Kneen’s book the Tyranny of Rights ... is a worthy analysis
of where our civilization is heading. He dissects the process that has ceded
power to the corporate sector through a detailed examination of how the
language of individual rights has been used on a global scale as a tool to
manipulate others and serve the interests of the rich and powerful.”
– JoAnn Cook, Ottawa
===========================
Cathy Holtslander
Beyond Factory Farming
PO Box 36003
2511 8th St E, Saskatoon, SK S7H 0V4
Phone: (306) 955-6454
Fax: (306) 955-6455
Toll free: 1-877-955-6454
www.beyondfactoryfarming.org
www.citizensguide.ca
Subscribe to the Beyond Factory Farming listserve - go to
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/beyondfactoryfarming
Join our Fan Page on Facebook – go to www.facebook.com
sign in and search Beyond Factory Farming