At the end of June, two staff members from Hesperian traveled to Detroit, Michigan for the United States Social Forum, where we joined 15,000 other community organizers and social justice activists from around the US to network, share, and learn. We’ll be blogging about the Social Forum over the next couple of weeks, and wanted to begin by sharing some of the inspiring stories we heard from people across the country who are organizing around the human right to health.
At a popular education workshop put on by the Highlander Center and Colectivo Flatlander, we came away with the clear message that, to quote the facilitator Pancho Argüelles, “people won’t fight for shit they don’t think belongs to them.” In other words, understanding that human rights – including the right to the highest possible level of health and well being – belong to all of us without exception can give us the strength to fight to make sure that those rights are realized.
In this spirit, several groups, including Hesperian and the People’s Health Movement, organized a People’s Movement Assembly (PMA) on the right to health and health care, titled “What the health happened and how do we get the health care we need?” The goal of the PMA was to develop a joint resolution outlining shared values and ways to move forward together. The full text of that resolution, along with the other resolutions created at the USSF, is online here.
Over 100 people participated in the PMA, and many shared stories of both hard times and successes – when they were denied health and dignity, and when they fought back. Often, these stories highlighted some of the opportunities (and challenges) for using a human rights framework to organize in the US.
For example, Vermont is the site of a major state-level victory in the struggle for the right to health. The legislature recently passed a bill requiring that the state hire an independent consultant to develop three plans for a universal health care system, including one single payer model.
A speaker from the Vermont Workers Center explained the human rights approach that led to this remarkable success: “human rights… really means engaging folks first. It is about finding out from people where the system has failed them.” The VWC spent the first year of their campaign holding community meetings across the state, declining to include legislators. Focusing on people’s stories and experiences meant that the campaign was centered on those most affected. Only after they had developed a broad base of support did they approach the legislature.
In the end, although legislators balked at using the term “human rights” in the bill, they enshrined fundamental human rights principles by requiring that all 3 plans “ensure universal access and coverage, be comprehensive and affordable, be transparent in design and… ensure public participation in the design, implementation, evaluation, and accountability.” Plenty of work is still needed to make sure this bill is effectively implemented, and the Vermonters called on all of us to stand with them as they continue this fight.
On the other side of the country, in South Los Angeles, shared values of health and human rights have allowed organizers, service providers, and community residents to build bridges and mobilize around the many causes of poor health in their community. Last summer, 700 people, including Hesperian staff, came together for a historic conference in South L.A. Individuals and groups working on diverse issues including homelessness, violence, transportation, food, and health care, collectively developed a framework and goals: the South Los Angles Declaration of Health and Human Rights.
Here in the Bay Area, Hesperian has helped to start a health and human rights learning circle to strengthen our understanding about the framework and build community locally. We certainly have a lot to learn from the struggles in other parts of the country and the world, and will be continuing to meet monthly over the next year (contact phm@hesperian.org if you are interested in receiving information about meetings and events).
Nationally, many other groups are actively advocating for a just and inclusive health system—to learn more, visit the websites of the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative and Healthcare-NOW!.
Of course, in addition to envisioning and working towards truly universal and accountable health systems at different levels, we also have to address immediate challenges as best we can. We’ll be writing more on that and a workshop organized by the People’s Health Movement and Doctors for Global Health in the coming weeks. Also stay tuned for our reflections on the June 26th protest against a local incinerator in Detroit, a clear example of how realizing our right to health requires working for social and environmental justice.
Opening march photo by Chris Crass, photos of PMA by Leona McElevene
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