The United Nations General Assembly, on the initiative of Nurbch Jeenbrev, the Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to the U.N. in New York, has proclaimed 20 February as the \u201cWorld Day of Social Justice\u201d. The World Day of Social Justice gives us an opportunity to take stock of how we can work together at the local, national and global level on policy and action to achieve the goals set out in the resolution of \u201csolidarity, harmony and equality within and among states.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the resolution states \u201cSocial development and social justice are indispensable for the achievement and maintenance of peace and security within and among nations, and that in turn, social development and social justice cannot be attained in the absence of peace and security or in the absence of respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>The Preamble to the UN Charter makes social justice one of the chief aims of the organization using the more common expression of that time \u201csocial progress\u201d.\u00a0 The Preamble calls for efforts to \u201cpromote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>The US representatives who worked on the draft of the UN Charter were strongly influenced in their views of social progress by the \u201cNew Deal\u201d legislation of President Roosevelt and its philosophy as it had been set out by his Vice-President Henry A. Wallace in 1942 when he set out the US war aims. Wallace\u2019s speech was the first time that the war aims of a country were not stated in terms of \u201cnational interest\u201d and limited to the demands that had produced the start of the war.\u00a0 Wallace, who had first been the Secretary of Agriculture and who had to deal with the severe depression facing US agriculture, was proposing a world-wide New Deal based on the cooperative action of all of humanity. Wallace said \u201cThe people\u2019s revolution is on the march.\u00a0 When the freedom-loving people march \u2014 when the farmers have an opportunity to buy land at reasonable prices and to see the produce of their land through their own organizations, when workers have the opportunity to form unions and bargain through them collectively, and when the children of all the people have an opportunity to attend schools which teach them truths of the real world in which they live \u2014 when these opportunities are open to everyone, then the world moves straight ahead\u2026The people are on the march toward ever fuller freedom, toward manifesting here on earth the dignity that is in every human soul.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>The People\u2019s Revolution found its expression in the cry of the Tunisian uprising \u2014 Liberty-Work-Dignity. Today in the demands of \u201cLiberty-Work-Dignity\u201d we hear the demands of farmers to own land under sure conditions, to receive a fair price for their crops as well as the right to organize to protect their interests.\u00a0 We hear the crises of industrial and urban workers to be able to organize and to have their work appreciated for its full value. We hear the demands of students and the young for an education that opens minds and prepares for meaningful work.<\/p>\n The people\u2019s revolution is on the march. While the forces of the status quo <\/em>are still strong and often heavily armed, the energy has shifted from the rulers to the people. \u00a0\u00a0The concept of Social Justice has articulated and focused deep demands for liberty, jobs, and dignity.<\/p>\n Some have been surprised \u2013 even alarmed \u2013 that the people\u2019s revolution in Tunisia and Egypt did not have recognized leaders or an organized political party structure.\u00a0 But the people\u2019s revolution is not that of an elite willing to replace the existing ruling elite.\u00a0 The people\u2019s revolution is a wave of all moving together, with deep currents below the surface. The tide moves with only a few visible waves but the aspirations are collective.\u00a0 No doubt, there will be individualized leadership, and demands will be formulated into political-party platforms, but the collective demands for social justice and dignity is what makes the difference between the people\u2019s revolution and a military coup. \u00a0This is the true meaning of the World Day of Social Justice.<\/p>\n ________________________<\/p>\n Ren\u00e9 Wadlow is Senior Vice President and Chief Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva of the Association of World Citizens. He is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The United Nations General Assembly, on the initiative of Nurbch Jeenbrev, the Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to the U.N. in New York, has proclaimed 20 February as the \u201cWorld Day of Social Justice\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}