Strengthening Our Connections
April 2006
Banner photo: ©MIMOTITO/Digital Vision/Getty Images
Eleanor Roosevelt Lecture on Human Rights
Shulamith Koenig talks about the ability of human rights education to create transformation
[©Seikyo Shimbun]
"In Our Hands: Human Rights Is a Way of Life," the fifth and final lecture in the Women of Courage Lecture Series, cosponsored by the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century (BRC) and Wellesley Centers for Women, was held at the BRC on February 1. Over 120 people attended including peace activist Dr. Elise Boulding.
Launched in 2002, the annual lecture series has honored great women in American history who have led the way to establishing lasting peace and nonviolence, human rights, environmental ethics and economic justice.
Shulamith Koenig, founder and former executive director of the People's Movement for Human Rights Education (PDHRE) and a recipient of the United Nations Human Rights Award in 2003, delivered the lecture, and there was a special performance by Elena Dodd, actor and coauthor of the one-woman play Meet Eleanor Roosevelt.
From bottom left clockwise: Elise Boulding; Susan Bailey, executive director of the Wellesley Centers for Women; Ginny Benson, director of the BRC; and Shulamith Koenig before the lecture
[Seikyo Shimbun]
Koenig, a self-described "human rights fanatic," believes we need to develop specific cultural habits of being "in community in dignity with others." She holds that human rights education can transform entire systems in which differences are seen as liabilities into systems where diversity brings richness to our lives. Once people become human rights "claimants," she asserts, they are empowered to make fundamental changes in their daily lives and their communities. She shared inspirational stories of people committing themselves to human rights as a way of life. She also argued that human rights education can essentially redefine gender relations and proposed concrete actions we can take to carry forward Eleanor Roosevelt's global vision, urging the audience to take steps to foster dialogue. For further information on her work, including her vision for Human Rights Cities, see www.pdhre.org.
