‘We Declare Solidarity’
The document below was the product, in late 2023, of a series of discussions and conversations among moderators and participants in the Symposium on Strength and Solidarity for Human Rights. The intention was to use the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as an opportunity to draw attention to the rapidly accelerating abdication by states across the globe from their binding commitment to uphold and protect human rights. At a moment when many felt moved to celebrate the UDHR, our view was that there was little to celebrate and a great deal to criticize.
The original draft was prepared by Principal Moderator Professor Chris Stone with Program Director Akwe Amosu, and then worked on by the six-strong moderator team. Drafts were then shared with the full Symposium participant community (approximately 140 people at that time) and feedback incorporated. On 9 December, we held an in-person meeting in New York composed of 20 participants drawn from each of the Symposium’s eight groups to date, and five moderators.
The draft changed and improved in significant ways through being workshopped at the New York meeting, but disagreement arose there about how closely to relate the declaration to the bombing and killing of civilians under way for the past two months in Gaza. For some participants, the document would have no credibility if it did not center that crisis. For others who hoped to use the document as a tool for challenging states and mobilizing solidarity in multiple settings beyond the Middle East, such a focus might limit its use. The fact that any condemnation of the genocide of Palestinians was being used punitively by pro-Israel actors to censor news, cancel grants, expel students and terminate faculty or staff in many places across Western societies added intensity and urgency to the argument.
Due to time constraints, the moderators were mandated to finalize a new draft overnight integrating the diverse elements on the table and a new version was shared the next morning with both Symposium participants and other guests. It did not resolve the disagreement, however, and in the absence of shared ownership or clarity about whose views were represented, the process was indefinitely paused.
For the Symposium moderators, this outcome may partly be explained by the process by which the original draft was generated by the moderators, rather than Symposium participants. It should be stressed that there was no disagreement in the New York group about the horror in Gaza – anger and distress was unanimously shared; but the group could not reach consensus on how the document should respond. That the failure by states to intervene in the ongoing genocide was a stark proof of our overriding complaint only made the disagreement more ironic. Moderators felt both responsibility and regret for our failure to resolve these issues.
We reproduce the document here as an artefact of the Symposium’s experience from which there are valuable things to learn and tensions to understand. We greatly appreciate the insight and views of all who contributed and believe the fundamental point, on which there was broad consensus, still stands – those who seek to defend rights must build power with each other rather than waiting for states and their systems to act.
The complete document can be accessed here: ‘We Declare Solidarity’
Akwe Amosu
Program Director and moderator,
The Symposium on Strength and Solidarity for Human Rights.