Katherine's experiential understanding of human rights

This past weekend was spent at a human rights conference on an olive farm. While I went into the weekend expecting it to be long and repetitive, it was anything but. Through the different exercises and discussions, I managed to learn a lot. There were three things about this weekend that stuck out most for me. The first was a simple, two minute exercise on point of view. Two people had their backs against each other, facing opposite directions. A white board was standing in front of one of the people. When asked where the white board was in relation to their position, one person said it was in front of them, while the other person said it was in back of them. Neither person was wrong in this case, despite the fact that they had different answers. This exercise was important because it emphasized the fact that sometimes there is no best answer. People can have different answers to the same question without either of them having to be wrong. I think that is a concept that a lot of people struggle with. Oftentimes we want a simple black and white answer. But that can’t always be granted. What’s right to one person may not be right for another. It all depends on your point of view and the situation in which you are coming from, and I think that that activity was a great demonstration of that.

 Katherine (far left) and friends

The next aspect of this weekend that stuck out to me was the planet exercise. In this exercise, groups were divided into different countries. A scenario was placed in which Earth was no longer inhabitable but a newly discovered planet was. One country had already landed on that new planet and began to live there. Three other countries had followed after the first country; however they landed on the wrong, uninhabitable, side of the planet and wished to be granted the right to join the first country. A final country was still on planet Earth, waiting to be told whether or not they could come join the first country on the habitable part of the new planet. Each group had to decide what rights they wanted to establish for their country, as well as what rights the other countries would have if they were to all merge together. What I found most interesting was when the first country presented their stance; they decided they wanted everyone to unite to create one new, unified country on the new planet. However, they also decided that while they wanted everyone to be unified, they did not want to grant the right to vote to any people other than those of their original country. This to me was a clear example of why things are so complicated in real life. While most people would advocate for human equality, the natural tendency for people to put their own best interests first often can get in the way of things. By taking away the right to vote, the first country had placed themselves above the others. It showed a lack of trust for the rest of the countries, as well as a fear of not having total control over the situation. I think that this showed a great parallel to the issues surrounding Apartheid, and for me it helped to make clear the thought process behind human actions. It made me realize why change can be so slow, and how the lack of one right can hinder the ability to practice other rights.

The final aspect of this weekend that I enjoyed was meeting people from different countries. While we didn’t have a great amount of time to get to know everyone on a personal basis, getting a chance to speak to people from different countries was a great experience. Hearing their viewpoints during discussions as well as why they have those different viewpoints opened up my mind to different interpretations of what is considered acceptable to people of different cultures and countries. I think that just being able to speak with people of different backgrounds added that much more understanding to the issues surrounding human rights.