I have visions for a full democracy, where every person on Earth, only some of which are human, are treated as sovereign beings, with dignity and respect. To get to that place, we may need to awaken our imaginations by understanding the rights of various groups whose various needs have been overlooked. Here is a short list of bills of rights that we can all aim for. (They only leave out wealthy adult males, which the dominant culture revolves around.)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed a second bill of rights for US citizens, an economic bill of rights. Many activists have also called for such a bill, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and politicians concerned for citizen rights. Here is a 21st Century Economic Bill of Rights that would guarantee to all Americans:
1. A useful job that pays a living wage.
2. A voice in the workplace through a union and collective bargaining.
3. Comprehensive quality healthcare.
4. Complete cost-free public education and access to broadband internet.
5. Decent, safe, affordable housing.
6. A clean environment and a healthy planet.
7. A meaningful endowment of resources at birth, and a secure retirement.
8. Sound banking and financial services.
9. An equitable and economically fair justice system
10. Recreation and participation in civic and democratic life.
This is all necessary but it is not enough because it is focused primarily on adult needs.
We also need the USA to sign onto the Declaration for the Rights of the Child. This focuses on those 18 and younger.
We also need a bill of rights for babies, who have different needs from children because they are so immature and growing according to experience. Babies are unique.
See a draft of a Baby Bill of Rights (and poster) we have put together:
But then again this is not enough.
As Riane Eisler, Jimmy Carter, and others have pointed out, gender plays a large role behind the injustices of the world.
The Equal Rights Amendment was moved forward by the US Congress in 1972, needing the ratification by 38 state legislatures. Despite the complicated history, before he left office, President Joe Biden formally recognized (ERA) as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The ERA—reads, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
But again, this is not enough.
With increasing awareness of transgender issues, the International Bill of Gender Rights was introduced. (See my previous post on the four or more genders.)
• The right to define and express gender identity
• The right to access gendered spaces and activities
• The right to control one’s body
• The right to competent medical care
• The right to be free from psychiatric diagnosis or treatment
But then again this is not quite enough.
Corporate-colonizing-industrialized civilization has forgotten its responsibility to the rest of Nature. And so we need a Nature bill of rights.
Here is the Peoples’ Agreement on the Rights of Mother Earth:
To face climate change, we must recognize Mother Earth as the source of life and forge a new system based on the principles of:
• harmony and balance among all and with all things;
• complementarity, solidarity, and equality;
• collective well-being and the satisfaction of the basic necessities of all;
• people in harmony with nature;
• recognition of human beings for what they are, not what they own;
• elimination of all forms of colonialism, imperialism and interventionism;
• peace among the peoples and with Mother Earth;
…
we propose the attached project for the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth, in which it’s recorded that:
• The right to live and to exist;
• The right to be respected;
• The right to regenerate its bio-capacity and to continue it’s vital cycles and processes free of human alteration;
• The right to maintain their identity and integrity as differentiated beings, self-regulated and interrelated;
• The right to water as the source of life;
• The right to clean air;
• The right to comprehensive health;
• The right to be free of contamination and pollution, free of toxic and radioactive waste;
• The right to be free of alterations or modifications of it’s genetic structure in a manner that threatens it’s integrity or vital and healthy functioning;
• The right to prompt and full restoration for violations to the rights acknowledged in this Declaration caused by human activities.
Time to get busy!
