Declaration of Interdependence
After the world lived through the atrocities of WW2 — the human conscious was outraged. In the process of healing and recreating our new reality, the UN drafted what is now known as the milestone document in the history of human rights. What the events and actions of humans, a physical enemy, during that war uncovered was a disregard for equality and inherent dignity of all human beings.
Humanity went through a horror that mobilized us to provide a physical reminder of what was at the root of it. That time, the enemy was tangible and the underlying ideological problem quite clear.
After the world lives through Covid 19 in what way will we be outraged? The virus is destroying us, and, in a way, upholds the claims of the DHR — it treats us all equally, it levels us. Yet, this enemy is different, and uncovers different issues of our globalized world.
We needed the Declaration of Human Rights. It made us say “I have rights. You have rights. We should let each other be.”
What do we need now? We need yet another milestone.
A Declaration of Interdependence.
What Covid 19 revealed is that we can’t simply recognize each other’s rights, but what is required is communal responsibility, action, a willingness to constrain one’s rights for the sake of the other.
This declaration would be a recognition of the interwoven, interdependent, human family that we are. But perhaps this one cannot be written down on a piece of paper.
For now, my only idea is to turn to the poets’ help and call out, “Write it on your heart…”
