Call for an Alternative Day of Action on Human Rights Day

Saturday, December 10th, 2011

The success of October 15th has triggered an unprecedented momentum for global action. Humanity has united across boundaries in a struggle for real democracy and individual rights. Essential to this struggle is the respect for human life and living conditions, including environments

Global civil society is being threatened by a system based on power and not on human values. Day after day it represses basic freedoms and consistently favors the greed of the few over the needs of the many. This power finances wars, food and pharmaceutical monopolies, it sponsors dictatorial regimes across the globe, destroying environments, manipulating and censoring information flow and transparency. (click here for Oathkeepers - "Orders we will not obey")

Despite our different cultural backgrounds and social contexts, we all suffer the same threats. Our freedom and dignity are under attack as a result of market dynamics and corrupt government institutions that are turning our local and global societies into increasingly unjust places. The governments of this planet must work for the people, not against them. The time has come to stand up for our rights together and to demand the rights we were promised in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed and approved by most of the world’s governments and the basis for many of our constitutions.

The struggle for our rights as human beings underlies everything we have demanded in every square and every demonstration in this historic year of global change. There is no better culmination to this year of protest than a global day of action to defend our inalienable human equity from those trying to take it away from us. From East to West, North to South: on the 10th of December we will take to the streets and squares together to demand the fundamental principles that were promised and are inherent to the Human Beings. (click here for UN statement on Human Rights Day and Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948)

We would like to propose the week starting on the 10th of December (10/12 – 17/12) as a time for alternative forms of protest which will be found after a debate between all of us. The idea is to participate in proposing new forms of action with a creative spirit: we can organize public forums, workshops and flash-mobs; we can promote the movement at local schools and neighborhoods or get in contact with humanitarian organizations working with the same goals.

This is a call out to any person, assembly or independent humanitarian organization to participate in this creative process: tell us what you are organizing for #December10, send proposals and vote for the ones you think are good by clicking here: FEEDBACK. We will post them on the site and spread them across the Internet, so that others can join in or debate.