O dilema dos "Direitos": a pobreza da filosofia ante a pobreza

O discurso dos Direitos esgotou-se, mas ainda assombra como se fosse um fantasma descarnado. Esse discurso se desenvolveu mediante uma série de conhecidos dualismos: direitos morais e direitos positivados; direitos econômicos e direitos humanos; direitos institucionalizados e reivindicação de direitos na prática; direitos nos regimes capitalista e socialista; conceitos de direitos eurocêntricos e não eurocêntricos; e discurso sobre os valores asiáticos e dos povos nativos, por exemplo. Porém, independentemente do ponto de partida para o discurso ou do referencial teórico escolhido, a tentativa de fundamentá-lo na materialidade da ordem mundial, inevitavelmente, cai em algum tipo de dilema. Entretanto, se não estiver fundamentado na materialidade contemporânea, o discurso dos Direitos perde sentido, visto que a própria ideia de Direitos está indissoluvelmente associada à sua sociabilidade. Com base na afirmação de que há extrema pobreza da filosofia ante a pobreza generalizada, explorando a relação entre esses dois tipos de pobreza mediante a investigação da relação entre deslocamento populacional e Direitos, defendese que, adotando-se um olhar externo dissociado das tradições filosóficas europeias, talvez seja possível compreender a pobreza da filosofia ante a pobreza. Mais especificamente, trabalhase com o conceito de dukkha, oriundo da tradição filosófica sul-asiática, possível solução para os dilemas dos Direitos

Victor’s law?: colonial peoples, World War II and international law

Contemporary world order rests on a fault-line. On the one hand it is an interstate system founded on the legal equality of all states. On the other hand it establishes institutions that privilege a small number of states in economy and politics. This article examines the fault-line, which has widened in recent times and threatens to destabilise the order established after the end of World War II. The ‘world’ in World wars is because of the global scope of the inter-European wars. The world wars were fought over colonies, in colonial territories, with the manpower and material resources of the colonies. Yet dominant narratives about the world wars speak about the wars as a European war between European nations and write-out colonial questions, colonial contributions and more importantly for this article the colonial impulses in the writing of contemporary international law and establishment of international organisations. This paper examines the human, monetary and material contributions of India in World War II. Britain was the preeminent Empire during the world wars and India the ‘jewel in the British Crown’. India was crucial to British conduct of the world wars. At the same time racism and repression during the interwar period fuelled powerful anti-colonial movements in India. Those struggles ended the British Empire. The irony of racism against millions of people who fought and died for Britain presents many perplexing questions about the legacies of World War II for racism and international law. This article examines the responses of different European powers to the independence movements in India during the world wars and argues that the responses of different Empires of the time to the anti-colonial struggles holds the cues to understanding the widening fault-line in the international order today

Living at the cutting edge: Women's experiences of protection orders. Volume 1: The women's stories

This report examines the experiences of 43 Māori, Pakeha, Pasifika and other ethnic minority women who were victims of male partner violence, the impact of the violence on them and their children, and their experiences of the justice system when they reached out for protection. The objectives of the project were to: a.identify and describe the experiences of a sample of women in obtaining protection orders, the impact of protection orders and the response to breaches of protection orders; b.identify those aspects that are working well (that is, positive experiences of protection orders); and c.identify areas for improvement including barriers that prevent women from applying for and obtaining protection orders

Living at the cutting edge: Women's experiences of protection orders. Volume 2: What's to be done? A critical analysis of statutory and practice approaches to domestic violence

This report examines the experiences of 43 Māori, Pakeha, Pasifika and other ethnic minority women who were victims of male partner violence, the impact of the violence on them and their children, and their experiences of the justice system when they reached out for protection. The objectives of the project were to: a.identify and describe the experiences of a sample of women in obtaining protection orders, the impact of protection orders and the response to breaches of protection orders; b.identify those aspects that are working well (that is, positive experiences of protection orders); and c.identify areas for improvement including barriers that prevent women from applying for and obtaining protection orders

The 'third world' and socio-legal studies: neo-liberalism and lessons from India's legal innovations

A terse, brief order of the Supreme Court of India in the Networking of Rivers case in September 2002 impugns the role of public interest litigation in the wake of neoliberal reforms. At a poignant moment in India's 'tryst with destiny', socio-legal studies in India stand disarmed and disempowered without adequate conceptual and theoretical tools to analyse and interpret the event in emancipatory ways. The case inaugurates a new phase in judicial activism and Public Interest Litigation in India, a subject that has been written about extensively both in India and elsewhere. In this article the Networking of Rivers case is used as a vehicle to explore the trajectories of developments in socio-legal studies in India and the ways in which it may have contributed to the present theoretical and conceptual impasse. The article argues for a more geo-historically differentiated understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of socio-legal studies in India and the 'Third World' generally. Copyright 2005 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution