Cultural Rights in the 20th Century

In Our Time: Philosophy

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4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 1998

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

On the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Human Rights at the United Nations in New York, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the current status of that original declaration. Is it possible for any sort of rights to be ‘universal’? What are the implications of the ideas enshrined in that declaration - has the emphasis changed - and if so what are such rights? New thinking in this area has focused on ‘cultural rights’ but do these work alongside human rights, or do they supplant them? Has the advent of globalisation had an impact on human rights, and if so, how? At the end of the 20th century, can we look back to any progress in this area, and, if we look forward, do we see the oncoming train, or the light at the end of the human rights tunnel? With Professor Homi Bhabha, Professor in English Literature and Art, Chicago University and Visiting Professor of the Humanities, University College, London; Profesor John Gray, Professor of European Thought, London School of Economics in January 1998.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for down learning the In Our Time podcast. For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co.uk.
0:09.0	I hope you enjoy the program.
0:12.0	Hello, today is the 50th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Universal
0:16.5	Declaration of Human Rights in New York, and we're going to attempt to discuss that in the context
0:21.6	of globalization, cultural rights and responsibilities.
0:25.7	With me to do that is Professor Homi Baba, who currently holds the chair in English Literature
0:30.0	and Art at Chicago University, as well as being visiting professor of the humanities at University College London.
0:36.0	Last year his book The Location of Culture, which addressed the question of ethnic minorities in the post-colonial world has reissued.
0:43.4	Professor John Gray's Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics,
0:47.3	and his latest book, Extremely Well received, is called False Dawn,
0:50.9	The Delusions of Global Capitalism. What shape is that Universal Declaration in 50 years
0:56.1	on John Gray? Well I think we have to remember it arose from what was the worst violation of human rights this century, namely the genocidal
1:07.4	policies of the Nazi regime.
1:09.0	It emerged from the Second World War.
1:11.4	And in the 50 years since, it's really served as a standard by which governments and other
1:17.4	organizations can be judged and of course a lot of the time they're found wanting but it's I think its significance
1:24.7	is that it is a standard to which beleaguered individuals communities and even peoples can repair when they are oppressed.
1:36.0	Having said that, I think it's not without its own difficulties and problems.
1:41.8	Not all of the rights which it embodies are in fact universally
1:45.8	accepted or universally interpreted in the same ways.
1:48.6	Any you have some examples? Well, what actually does democratic representation mean?
1:54.4	What is freedom of the press mean?
	...

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