Happy 74th Human Rights Day!
My Living Rights Activity Book and Journal
Substack Living Rights Book
Happy 74th Human Rights Day!
My Living Rights Activity Book and Journal
Today is the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights UDHR), spearheaded by Eleanor Roosevelt. It might be interesting to consider which of our human rights are being violated in the context of those enshrined to us in 1948 by the Human Rights Commission headed by Eleanor Roosevelt.
Btw, yesterday, December 9 was the Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. Now we have a concept, framed by Toby Rogers of “Iatrogenocide.”
In 2018 I created a deck of cards of the UDHR for the 70th anniversary to help make human rights more personal, alive and engaging. I added 10 new rights not yet imagined in 1948 and included some activities to do with the cards.
I then developed a companion activity book and journal for use in workshops, events and schools to raise consciousness about human rights. It is available on Amazon as an e-book or print-on-demand. I am trying to find alternatives to Amazon and welcome ideas.
Below is a description of the book, endorsements and the table of contents.
On my website this link https://www.consciouspolitics.org/livingrights has tabs to purchase the book and some free stuff as well.
Purchase Now tab – to get e-book or print-on-demand
Free Human Rights Deck tab - to print out human rights cards (5 pages with 8 cards on each). Anyone can print and cut them out so you can keep your rights their rights in your pocket.
Free Activities & Coloring Pages tab – to go with the e-book, but available to anyone
Below is more information and a table of contents. Contact me if you want a quantity discount for a group, class or a school.
LIVING RIGHTS: Making Human Rights Come Alive
An Activity Book and Journal
Many around the world are unaware of the existence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a landmark document spearheaded by Eleanor Roosevelt, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948. Awakening to the fact that we have inalienable rights can shift consciousness, can be life-changing and ultimately world-changing. Discovering this deep, unspoken truth can be like breaking a spell.
Living Rights is an interactive workbook and journal with activities for all ages with space for writing and creative expression. It has resources for individuals, classes and groups or for those who plan workshops and events. It's designed to make our rights come alive with engaging activities to promote personal and global awareness and deeper understanding of our place in history, our common humanity and the importance of human rights for everyone in the world.
It contains background information on the UDHR and 37 varied activities to enrich our appreciation of rights. These include thought experiments; prompts to imagine 1948; categories of rights; applications to history, social studies, literature, current events, refugees, disabilities, Black Lives Matter, the pandemic, the right to healing and repair from historical trauma, legal abuse, storytelling, vocabulary words, coloring pages, word searches, a maze and opportunities to make up rights and activities. A section was just added to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to celebrate the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, highlighting the right to live free from the fear of war and the nuclear threat.
Living Rights amends the 1948 UDHR with new rights regarding the environment, war and nuclear proliferation.
The Journal Section provides a page for each right with blank space and a recommended strategy for a ”Right of the Week” theme.
The Resource Section includes quotes, lists of Nobel Peace Prize winners, books, films, songs & organizations; resources for disability rights, Black Lives Matter & whistleblowers; a calendar of international days, weeks, years & decades; a Child’s Environmental Bill of Rights; and pledges, oaths & ethical codes. It provides an easy formula for designing events, workshops & assemblies.
ENDORSEMENTS
“This book is an invitation to act, to make a difference, to live with meaning on front after front. Each right constitutes an imperative to address a disparity, to reject the status quo, to define oneself as an activist. Each triggers an awareness that may come from outside but somehow activates something inside. We recognize a mandate that we can no longer ignore to circumstances we might have been numbed to in the past. It awakens something inside us, something right, something that we know is ours.
“Silence and inaction are not neutral. Read this book. Live with meaning.”
Edgar S. Cahn PhD, JD, legal professor, former counsel and speechwriter to Robert F. Kennedy, Executive Assistant to Sargent Shriver, co-founder the David A. Clarke School of Law at the University of the District of Columbia
“The importance of ‘Making Human Rights Come Alive’ cannot be overstated. Faith communities committed to social justice, ecological integrity and sustainable peace understand well that a practical articulation of values we hold dear is contained in the compendium of universal human rights. Diane Perlman’s excellent, practical resource can help generate the deeper thinking and civic engagement so desperately needed in our broken world.”
Marie Dennis, Senior Advisor to the Secretary General, Co-President (2007-2019), Pax Christi International
“As citizens, we will enjoy more secure and meaningful lives if we promote human rights for ourselves and for people everywhere. Diane Perlman’s Making Human Rights Come Alive ingeniously guides readers through interactive activities of many kinds, imparting all the while a deep appreciation of why we owe it to ourselves and to others to learn as much as we can about human rights, and then practice what we learn throughout our lives.”
Richard Falk, author, international law professor at Princeton University, United Nations Special Rapporteur on “the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967”
“It is with great pleasure that I endorse Diane Perlman’s book and Journal. It is a cry for justice that brings Human Rights to our attention in our busy lives and remind us of our brotherhood and sisterhood for all. It is an inspiration for the young and old to look at life as a joy and see how many people accept and recognize that every person has rights. It is an example for children, families and communities to use this book for education to bring human rights as the basis of human dignity. It is a gift of the spirit to those whose rights have been violated and feel depressed to show them that they have the same inalienable Human Rights without exception.”
Mubarak Awad, a Christian Palestinian-American psychologist, referred to as the Palestinian Gandhi, founder of Nonviolence International
“Diane Perlman is right: Many people around the world are not aware that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights exists. This book, together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights cards, offer a great experiential way to everyone to get a deeper understanding of our common humanity and our place in history, and to appreciate why human rights ideals are such a revelation and gift to humanity.”
Evelin Lindner, PhDs, founding president of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
“Diane Perlman takes on a subject that most Americans either ignore or know nothing about—the role of human rights whistleblowers in the functioning of our democracy. What is a democracy without respect for human rights, without transparency, without honesty, without those sentinels of the public trust promoting ethics and morality in our society? A society cannot exist without the whistleblower. And without human rights, the United States as a beacon of freedom is simply a myth.”
John Kiriakou, CIA whistleblower on torture, former CIA analyst, and senior investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
“As a literacy educator and researcher, I define literacy as the capacity to navigate the world. Together, we can work to build a society where every person is not only equipped with reading skills, but also with information literacy, digital literacy, financial literacy, health literacy, environmental literacy, and political literacy. Dr. Perlman provides the backbones for the development of another fundamental literacy: rights literacy.”
Allister Chang, Member, DC State Board of Education
“Dr. Perlman brings an intimate, personal, deeply human approach to the greatest, most imminent threat to human rights and sustaining civilization—the possibility of the explosive use of nuclear weapons by accident, design, or madness. Often the issue of addressing the production and threat to use these horrific devices remains abstract and in the distant realm of complex geopolitics. Dr. Perlman’s work helps bring it into our lives, where it belongs. Ignoring, denying, or avoiding the issue will not serve us well. Facing reality is the first step to improving it. Thank you, Diane, for this book and bring attention to the nuclear threat as the ultimate human rights violation to help us move to a safer, saner world.”
Jonathan Granoff, President Global Security Institute
TABLE of CONTENTS
Introduction
How to Use This Book
Section 1: Activities Introductory Activity: Recognizing Our Inalienable Righ
Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Simplified Version Universal Declaration of Human Rights: New 21stCentury Rights
Brief History of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Activity 2: Categories of Rights
Activity 3: Imagining 1948 13
Activity 4: Deep Dive into a Right 14
Activity 5: List of Your Rights 15
Activity 6: Thought Experiments 16
Activity 7: Country Comparisons 17
Activity 8: Apply to History, Social Studies, Literature, Current Events 18
Activity 9: Human Rights of Refugees 19
Activity 10: Drawing Rights 20
Activity 11: Make Up Your Own Rights 21
Activity 12: Nobel Peace Prize Winners Activities. 22
Activity 13: Maze 23
Activity 14: Word Search 24
Activity 15: Color and Learn Poem 25
Activity 16: Color and Think About the Abolition of Slavery 26
Activity 17: Color and Think About Suffrage 28
Activity 18: Color and Think About Civil Rights 30
Activity 19: Storytelling 32
Activity 20: Miscellaneous Activities 33
Activity 21: Disability and the Right to Accessibility 34
Activity 22: Legal Abuse and the Right to Court-Free Conflict Transformation 35
Activity 23: 21st Century Rights 36
Activity 24: Black Lives Matter 37
Activity 25: Historical Trauma and the Right to Healing and Repair 38
Activity 26: Pandemic and Human Rights 41
Activity 27: My Brother’s Keeper 44
Activity 28: The Human Rights Pledge 46
Activity 29: Make Up Your Own Activity 47
Activity 30: Vocabulary Words, Concepts, and Phrases 48
Section 2: Journal 51
My Human Rights Journal 53
Recommended Strategy: Right of the Week Theme 54
Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Preamble 55
Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Proclamation 56
UDHR Article 1: Right to Equality 57
UDHR Article 2: Freedom from Discrimination 58
UDHR Article 3: Right to Life, Liberty and Personal Security 59
UDHR Article 4: Freedom from Slavery 60
UDHR Article 5: Freedom from Torture and Degrading Treatment 61
UDHR Article 6: Right to Recognition as a Person Before the Law 62
UDHR Article 7: Right to Equality Before the Law 63
UDHR Article 8: Right to Remedy by Capable Judges 64
UDHR Article 9: Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest and Exile 65
UDHR Article 10: Right to Fair Public Hearing 66
UDHR Article 11: Right to Be Considered Innocent Until Proven Guilty 67
UDHR Article 12: Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence 68
UDHR Article 13: Right to Free Movement 69
UDHR Article 14: Right to Protection in Another Country 70
UDHR Article 15: Right to a Nationality and the Freedom to Change It 71
UDHR Article 16: Right to Marriage and Family 72
UDHR Article 17: Right to Own Property 73
UDHR Article 18: Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion 74
UDHR Article 19: Freedom of Opinion and Information 75
UDHR Article 20: Right to Peaceful Assembly and Association 76
UDHR Article 21: Right to Participate in Government and Elections 77
UDHR Article 22: Right to Social Security 78
UDHR Article 23: Right to Desirable Work and to Join Trade Unions 79
UDHR Article 24: Right to Rest and Leisure 80
UDHR Article 25: Right to Adequate Living Standard 81
UDHR Article 26: Right to Education 82
UDHR Article 27: Right to Participate in Cultural Life of Community 83
UDHR Article 28: Right to a Social Order 84
UDHR Article 29: Responsibilities to the Community 85
UDHR Article 30: Freedom from Interference in These Human Rights 86
2019 Proposed Amendment to the 1948 UDHR: New Rights Preamble 87
New Rights Article 31: Right to Sustainable Environment for Future Generations 88
New Rights Article 32: Right to Clean Air 89
New Rights Article 33: Right to Clean Water 90
New Rights Article 34: Responsibility to Protect Plants 91
New Rights Article 35: Responsibility to Protect Animals’ Rights 92
New Rights Article 36: Right to Clean Power 93
New Rights Article 37: Right to Freedom from Toxins 94
New Rights Article 38: Right to Freedom from Plastic Waste 95
New Rights Article 39: Right to Freedom from Living Under the Nuclear Threat 96
New Rights Article 40: Right to Freedom from War and Right to Nonviolent Conflict Transformation 97
Section 3: Actions and Events 99
Easy Formula to Design an Event/Workshop/Assembly
Actions I Can Take 101
Calendar of International Days, Weeks, Years, Decades 102
Activity 31: Calendar Activities 103
Section 4: Useful Resources
All Nobel Peace Prize Winners
Quotes
Songs
Short Videos
UDHR Black Lives Matter Resources: Films, TV Shows and Books on Systemic Racism
Human Rights Films
Some Human Rights Organizations
Twenty-Two NGOs Keeping Peace
More Resources
Storytelling Resources
Disability Resources: Very Few of Many
A Child’s Environmental Bill of Rights
Pledges, Oaths and Ethical Codes, including the Nuremberg Code
Section 5: Nuclear Awakening and Human Rights
Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the US Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki & Celebrating the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons’ Entry into Force on January 22, 2021
Preliminary Activity 32: Nuclear Awareness
Activity 33: Nuclear Word Search
Activity 34: Nuclear Thought Experiments
Activity 35: US Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Activity 36: The Doomsday Clock
Activity 37: War Itself
Nuclear Background Information
Nuclear Awakening Education Activities for Events, Workshops and Assemblies
Activities for Summer Camps and Beyond
Resources: People, Organizations, Books and Films
About the Author
Statue of Liberty is from Freemasons, Eleanor was a commie. Inalienable rights? They sure look transitory to me.
Catholic Church always talks of rights in terms of using them to satisfy our duties towards God.