The Rights Revolution

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The Rights Revolution Page 15

by Michael Ignatieff


  exit rights, 18–19, 73, 79, 107

  family, 20, 22, 90, 91, 94, 109–10. See also child abuse; divorce; women, abuse of

  working families as community of rights-bearing equals, 21, 22, 100, 108, 110, 112

  crisis in, 21–22, 102 (see also

  conservative critique) division of labour in, 22, 85, 86, 98, 105, 110

  sacrifice in, 97–98, 99, 103–4, 107, 110

  stability of, 90, 92–93, 103–4 trust and love in, 21, 22, 91

  types of, 90, 102–4, 111

  family values, 102–3, 110–11, 122

  federalism, 13, 119, 133

  feminism, 21, 94–95, 98–99 “Fidelio,” 48

  force, limits to use of, 51, 52, 53

  France, 4, 12, 13, 61, 127, 128

  freedom of assembly, 33, 67

  freedom of choice, 18–19, 73

  freedom of speech, 5, 17, 33, 88

  French Canadians, 14, 63. See also Quebec; Québécois

  language rights of, 62, 63, 120

  as minority, 66, 70, 71

  French Revolution, 35, 64, 127, 128

  Fukuyama, Francis, 89–90

  gay rights, 1, 7, 20, 85, 86, 87, 93, 110, 113, 116, 117

  gays, 88. See also same-sex families

  approval of, 87, 89, 122–23

  vs. straights, 19, 114

  Geneva Convention, 46

  genocide, 46, 51

  Germany, 47–48, 49, 128

  Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 47

  good, language of, 20, 21, 22

  government power, 28, 30

  limits on, 6, 28–29, 30, 97

  Great Depression, 47, 98

  grievances, legitimacy of, 29, 32, 33

  group difference, 57–58, 64, 66

  group identity, 60–61, 64

  group recognition, 86–87 group rights, 8, 67, 70, 71

  in Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 7, 65

  as enhancing individual rights, 24, 66

  vs. individual rights, 18–19, 24, 66, 67, 69, 71, 77–78, 125

  and individuals within

  groups, 18–19, 71–74, 79

  to nationhood, 60

  in other countries, 8, 12

  group-rights regimes, 13

  Gwyn, Richard, 128

  Havel, Václav, 4

  health care, 7, 30, 110, 111

  Hitler, Adolf, 23, 47

  Hobbes, Thomas, 56

  Holocaust, 17, 42, 138

  human difference, 53, 55, 141

  and equality, 14–15, 41

  and human identity, 14–15, 35, 41, 53, 137

  in politics, 14, 57

  protection of, 2, 43, 53

  human rights, 2, 35, 37, 38, 41

  and democracy, 46–47 function of, 39, 43, 48

  as inherent, 28, 34

  and local values, 45–46 and natural law, 43

  origins of, 34, 39–40, 43

  as residual system of entitlement, 36, 48

  and self-defence, 36, 43

  as self-limiting authority, 51–52

  as standard of best practice, 43–44

  and state law, 28

  human-rights legislation, 49

  and national laws, 45–46 Humphrey, John, 10

  identity. See also group identity and agency, 24

  Canadian, 13

  of majority, 114, 130

  and politics, 14–15

  immigrants

  assimilation of, 71

  impact of, 129–30

  limits on numbers of, 37

  vs. native-born Canadians, 114

  in Quebec, 71, 72, 119, 132

  rights of, 36–37, 66–67, 69, 72

  imperialism, 50, 52, 60, 123

  income inequality and democracy, 29

  invisibility of, 19, 92

  and rights talk, 19–20, 24, 30

  Indian Act, 59, 63

  individualism, 15, 24, 33

  capitalist, 23, 24

  in other countries, 11, 12

  individualist rights regimes, 12

  individual rights, 11, 29, 33, 49, 65

  equality of, 7, 63, 65

  vs. group rights, 18–19, 24, 66, 67, 69, 71, 77–78, 125

  within groups, 71–74, 79

  indivisibility, 39, 40

  of rights, 48–49, 53, 125–26

  inequality, 92. See also particular forms of inequality and democracy, 24, 29

  and rights talk, 19–20, 24, 29, 30, 92

  International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, 10–11

  International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, 10

  Internet, 5, 124

  intervention, 44–45, 49–52, 73

  conditions for, 50–52 consent to, 50, 51, 52, 73

  limits to, 97

  military, 49–50, 51–52, 84

  in personal lives, 50, 52, 94–96

  intimacy, 20, 90, 100, 111

  Islamic law, 45

  Islamic world, 44. See also Muslims

  Israel, 4

  Italian city states, 64

  Japan, 90

  Jews, 4, 42, 47, 48

  Judaism, Orthodox, 18, 19, 72

  justice, 2, 30, 82, 112

  justification, right to, 108, 112

  just society, 64

  Kiev, 4

  King, William Lyon Mackenzie, 132

  King Lear (Shakespeare), 146n11 Kolakowski, Leszek, 33

  Kosovo, 50, 133, 140

  Kymlicka, Will, 11

  Lafontaine, Louis-Hippolyte, 132

  Laforest, Guy, 11

  Lamer, Antonio, 124, 141

  land claims, 7, 80, 83

  land rights, 68

  aboriginal, 1–2, 8, 59, 68, 80, 84, 113, 120–21, 124

  as group rights, 18, 24, 66

  non-aboriginal, 68, 81, 84, 123–24, 149n7

  language rights, 1, 7, 13, 61, 62, 68, 71, 118, 120

  as group rights, 18, 24, 66

  of immigrants, 66–67, 69, 71, 72

  in other countries, 10, 12

  as privileges, 74, 77

  in Quebec, 63, 77, 134 (see also Quebec, language legislation in) Lanzmann, Claude, 138

  Lapointe, Ernest, 132

  law, 45, 82. See also due process of law; human-rights legislation; natural law

  equality under, 131, 141

  and human rights, 28, 45–46

  rule of, 39, 121, 126

  taken into one’s own hands, 36, 121

  League for Social Reconstruction, 10

  legal culture

  of Canada, 13

  of Quebec, 58, 134

  lesbians, rights of, 1, 20. See also

  gay rights liberals, views on family and

  rights of, 95, 97, 101, 102–4, 106, 108–9

  Locke, John, 57, 139

  love

  of Canada, 124–25

  in families, 21, 22

  right to, 21

  majorities

  identity of, 114, 130

  in democracies, 2, 46

  limits on, 2, 65, 70, 114, 118

  and national unity, 114

  privileges of, 69–70

  recognition of, 122–23

  Mao Zedong, 23

  marriage, 90, 101

  right to, 47, 73, 86, 110

  Marx, Karl, 25, 53

  McLachlin, Beverly, 13

  Meech Lake Accord, 77

  men, 88

  abuse by, 22

  in divorce, 104–5, 105–6

  as fathers, 101, 104–5

  vs. women, 18, 19, 25

  mentally handicapped, 38–39

  minorities, 3, 12, 13, 46, 88

  and affirmative action, 74

  national, 11, 66, 68

  protected from democracy, 1–2

  recognition of, 114, 121

  minority languages, 71

  minority rights, 10, 11, 66, 69, 70, 79, 83, 87, 113

  vs. national rights, 66

  in Quebec, 71, 131–32

  mobility rights,
118

  Moguls, 32

  Montgomery (Alab.), 3

  Montreal, 131

  moral individualism, 15

  multiculturalism, 7, 70, 130, 131

  Muslims, 12, 19, 72

  Musqueam band, 149n7

  national cultures, rights of, 44, 46, 66, 73. See also minorities, national nationalism, 124, 126. See also

  under English Canadians

  Quebec

  national unity, 25, 57, 78–79, 114, 115–16, 128

  and ancestry, 129

  and assimilation, 64

  and Charter of Rights and

  Freedoms, 77

  and equality of individual

  rights, 7, 55, 63, 64, 65, 119, 124

  and equality of recognition, 124

  and multiculturalism, 130

  and rights, 25, 113, 116–17, 119, 126–27

  nation-states, 128–29, 136, 140

  natural law, 40, 43, 48

  New Brunswick, 120

  Newton, Isaac, 56

  New Zealand, 8, 60

  non-aboriginals, 121. See also land claims; resources vs. aboriginal peoples, 18, 68, 82, 83–84, 114

  North America, 12, 91

  Nunavut, 83

  Nuremberg Laws, 47

  “Ode to Joy,” 48

  Oka (Que.), 84, 121

  Ontario, 15

  Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), 10

  Pakistan, 45

  parents, 108

  vs. children, 18, 112

  parliamentary democracy, 135

  patchwork quilt model of political space, 57–58, 68, 78, 79, 80, 84

  patriotism, 124

  pensions, 8, 16, 30, 86

  permissiveness, 100–101

  Poland, 3–4, 61, 138

  police brutality, 37, 130–31

  political community, 55, 62

  created by political rights, 34

  political correctness, 87–88, 122

  political equality, 62

  political inequality, and rights

  talk, 19–20

  political rights, 4, 34, 47

  political space

  Canadian, 58, 62, 64–65, 67–68, 69, 78, 79, 80, 84, 114, 119

  patchwork quilt model of, 57–58, 68, 78, 79, 80, 84

  pool table model of, 56–58, 64–65, 68, 78, 79, 84, 119

  politics

  and identity, 14–15

  and rights talk, 17, 20

  politics of reciprocity, 120

  pool table model of political

  space, 56–58, 64–65, 68, 78, 79, 84, 119

  poor vs. rich, 19–20, 114

  poverty, 19–20, 92, 105

  power

  distribution of, 56, 81, 120, 133–34

  and respect, 59–60

  prisons, 3, 38, 39, 46

  privacy rights, 30, 97

  privileges, 56, 68, 73–74

  vs. rights, 27, 55, 65

  property rights, 4, 5, 30, 47, 80, 97

  and inequality, 24, 30

  protest rights, 18–19

  Quebec, 14, 47, 63, 69, 77, 133, 135

  anglophones in, 69, 71

  in Canadian federation, 115–16, 132–35

  and Charter of Rights and

  Freedoms, 77

  in common history, 134–35, 136

  distinctiveness of, 58, 77, 119, 121, 134–35

  immigrants in, 71, 72, 119, 132

  language legislation in, 8, 58, 69, 70–72, 74, 79, 120

  language rights in, 63, 77, 134

  minorities in, 131–32

  as nation, 66, 67, 73, 133

  nationalism in, 62, 76, 77, 119, 131, 132, 133–34

  Quiet Revolution, 6

  referenda in, 78, 116, 131

  religious rights in, 58, 134

  rights of self-determination, 9, 77, 133 (see also secession) Quebec Act, 134

  Québécois. See also French Canadians

  ancestry of, 129, 131, 132

  assimilation of, 62, 64

  vs. English Canadians, 18, 19, 62, 64, 114, 121

  as linguistic minority, 70, 71

  privileges of, 74, 77

  Quiet Revolution, 6

  racial inequality, 92

  racism, 60, 61, 76, 115, 118

  recognition, 42, 86–87

  and approval, 88–89

  of differences, 86–87, 141

  and equality of rights, 86, 89

  and human rights, 39–40

  of individuals, 55–56

  mutual, 122–24, 126, 136

  political, 66, 80–81, 84

  reconciliation, 141

  redress, 29, 74–76, 115, 119, 125, 135

  referenda, 8, 9, 77, 78, 116, 117, 131

  refugees, 36–37

  relativism, 104, 137

  religion, 13, 40, 61, 140. See also

  specific religions religious rights, 12, 67, 120

  as group rights, 24

  as individual rights, 67

  vs. individual rights, 18, 19, 72–74

  in Quebec, 58, 134

  Renaissance, 64

  residential schools, 60, 75

  resources

  aboriginal rights to, 1–2, 8, 9, 59, 68, 80, 120–21

  non-aboriginal rights to, 68, 121

  respect, 2, 45, 65, 111

  for human agency, 39, 44

  and power, 59–60

  of rights of others, 33, 59

  responsibilities, 21, 56, 112

  and rights, 32, 50, 90, 96, 100, 101–2, 110

  rich vs. poor, 19–20, 114

  rights. See also group rights; individual rights; specific rights abuse of, 37–38

  as adjudicators of conflict, 25, 31

  community created by, 32, 33–34, 53– 54, 125, 127, 139, 140

  conflict between, 9, 25, 30, 31

  and democracy, 1–2, 6

  enforcement of, 35

  equality of, 55, 62, 63, 65, 86, 119, 120, 139, 140, 141

  as expressing values, 3, 31, 33, 53, 54

  as indivisible, 48–49, 53, 125–26

  as legitimizing, 32, 33

  origins of, 27–29

  as precondition of agency, 23, 53

  vs. privileges, 27, 55, 65

  as reciprocal, 32, 53

  and respect, 33, 45

  and responsibilities, 32, 50, 90, 96, 100, 101–2, 110

  and societal reform, 32–33

  rights claims

  costs of, 119 (see also redress)

  and national unity, 119

  rights culture, 33, 46

  Canadian, 7–9, 11–12, 13–14, 27, 124–25

  and national unity, 126–27

  in other countries, 2, 7, 8, 11–12

  rights struggles, 4, 5–6

  benefits to all citizens of, 117

  rights talk, 9, 18, 45, 52, 53, 78

  exported by Canada, 10–11, 13

  and inequality, 16, 19–20, 24, 29, 30

  as language of politics, 17, 20

  and language of the good, 20, 21, 22

  limitations of, 19–21, 24, 29

  and national unity, 117

  and societal reform, 16, 32–33, 90

  right to be different, 2, 54, 66

  Roosevelt, Eleanor, 46

  Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 27

  Royal Commission on Aboriginal

  Peoples, 80

  Russell, Peter, 11

  Russia, 61. See also Soviet Union

  Rwanda, 10–11, 51, 140

  sacrifice, 72, 98, 126

  in family life, 97–98, 99, 103–4, 107, 110

  same-sex families, 90, 102, 103, 110, 113

  Saul, John Ralston, 132

  Scandinavia, 38

  scarcity, 92, 93

  Schiller, (Johann Christoph)

  Friedrich von, 48

  Schumpeter, Joseph, 91

  Scotland, 12

  secession, 8–9, 104, 122, 133

  self-government, 67, 68, 73, 76, 79, 13
3, 134

  aboriginal, 3, 11–12, 16, 18, 28, 59, 60, 61, 76, 80, 82–83

  right to, 13, 50, 59, 66

  self-respect, 60–61, 76, 107, 112

  Selma (Alab.), 3

  Serbia, 49, 133

  sexual equality, 113

  sexual identity, 85, 90

  sexual inequality, 19, 92

  sexual revolution, 85, 89, 90, 96, 106

  Shakespeare, William, 30, 146n11 Shoah, 138

  single-parent families, 90, 101, 102, 104, 105

  social inequality, and rights talk, 19–20, 24

  social security, 89

  Solidarity, 3–4

  Somalia, 50

  South Africa, 13

  sovereignty

  devolution of, 12, 134

  national, 44, 46, 49, 50, 52

  popular, 45, 46

  shared, 80–81, 84

  Soviet Union, 4. See also Russia

  speech, freedom of, 5, 17, 33, 88

  Sri Lanka, 13

  Stalin, Joseph, 23

  state-nations, 128–29, 129–30

  states, 49. See also political space abuse by, 49, 50–51

  civic nationalist, 128–29, 129–30

  ethnic nationalist, 128–29, 132, 140

  legitimacy of, 67

  multinational, 10, 11, 12–13, 65

  neutrality of, 69–70, 73

  sterilization, 38–39, 125

  straights vs. gays, 19, 114

  Strasbourg, 44

  Supreme Court of Canada, 8, 9, 10, 13, 17, 30

  taxation, 24, 97, 119, 126

  exemption from, 59, 68

  without representation, 68, 149n7

  Taylor, Charles, 11, 86

  Texas, 46

  The Hague, 11

  The Personal Is Political, 17

  Third World, 10

  toleration, 87, 88, 89, 122

  Toronto, 129, 131

  trade unions, 3, 33. See also union rights

  treaties, 8, 58–59, 80–81, 121

  treaty rights, 15–16, 58, 61, 68, 80

  Trudeau, Pierre Elliott, xii, 7, 17, 63, 64, 65, 69

  trust, 21, 33, 91, 100, 109

  Tully, James, 11

  tyranny, 23, 45, 65, 70, 88

  unborn, rights of, 90, 101–2

  unemployment insurance, 8, 10, 30, 110, 119

  union rights, 5, 16, 20. See also

  trade unions United Nations, 6, 37, 49, 51

  United States, 3, 11, 13, 38, 46, 60, 128–29

  pre-existing rights in, 28

  rights culture of, 7, 8, 11–12, 46

  Universal Declaration of Human

  Rights, 3, 10, 49

  U.S. Congress, 46

  U.S. Constitution, 46

  use rights, 121, 123

  values, 2, 91, 130, 137

  expressed as rights, 3, 31, 33, 53, 54

  local, 45–46

  Vancouver, 131, 149n7

  victims, 17–18, 45, 50, 114–15, 119.

  See also redress

  Vienna, 4

  violence, 9, 76, 84, 137

  avoidance of, 9, 25, 31, 32

  vs. conflict, 6, 11

  voting rights, 3, 5, 31, 47, 68

 

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