Kitchen Table Activism

Background: Kitchen Table Activism (KTA) is a monthly project of the Rural Organizing Project. Often building on quarterly themes, short actions are described in each KTA. The theory is that basic steps and tasks can lead to powerful collective results as small groups of people gather to complete the same action throughout the state of Oregon.

ROP works to keep the basic tasks easily achievable so that groups with other projects or groups with limited immediate energy can still manage to complete the KTA each month.

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December 2005 Activity

And the HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD goes to…

 

WHAT IS THE ACTIVITY? 

This month’s activity is to award a certificate to a community member(s) whose work strengthens some of the thirty articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).  Over the years, this KTA has been repeated as an annual action because you tell us that this is a fun, easy, and effective way to celebrate and raise awareness of human rights victories and struggles.

WHY THIS ACTIVITY?  

December 10th marks the anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).  This annual date offers human dignity groups across Oregon the opportunity to educate their communities and celebrate important local human rights work.  Every issue addressed by the Rural Organizing Project and its member groups is a human rights issue in one form or another and can be identified as a protected right in the UDHR.  This year December 10th is also an international day of protest against the WTO and for the right to organize unions, one of the human rights protected in the UDHR, with events in Portland, Hong Kong, and around the world.   

 

Is your group working on defending civil rights by opposing the USA Patriot Act and the REAL ID Act?  Have you taken a stand for economic and social rights by pushing for funding for schools, health care, social programs in our communities and nationwide as we attempt to Rebuild America after Hurricane Katrina?  Are you supporting civil and economic rights by speaking up for fair immigrant rights legislation?  Is your group advocating for political and cultural human rights by calling for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq?  Much like ROP’s Democracy Grid, the UDHR can work as a structural framework to connect seemingly distinct issues. 

 

The five categories of human rights outlined in the UDHR are civil human rights, economic human rights, social human rights, cultural human rights and political human rights.  (To see a copy of the UDHR go to www.udhr.org or ask ROP to mail you one.) Civil Human Rights are those such as free speech, peaceful assembly and freedom from discrimination.  Economic Human Rights include the right to a living wage for your work, the right to be able to feed your family after working, the right to be able to survive if you are not able to work.  Social Human Rights speak to the needs each person has for housing, education and health care.  Cultural Human Rights include the rights to practice your own culture, your religion of choice and your language of choice.  Political Human Rights include the right to free elections, the right to a nationality and the right to free movement in and out of your country. 

 

STEPS TO COMPLETE THE ACTIVITY:

 

  1. Reach consensus that your group wants to use the UDHR as a vehicle to highlight the human rights work of a community member.

 

  1. Brainstorm ideas of people in your community that would be notable candidates for receiving a certificate of appreciation for their human rights work.

 

  1. Enclosed with this packet is a certificate.  Fill out the certificate and decide how you will present it (by mail, in person, at your next monthly meeting, at a local governmental meeting, etc.)

 

  1. Delegate a person or a small team to submit a letter to the editor and/or a press release about the award (samples are attached). 

 

  1. If time permits, discuss how your group can further utilize the UDHR as a framework.  How does your work connect to human rights principles?  How does it fall under the articles of the UDHR?

Previous KTAs are now located in the KTA Archive.