Hijacking human rights (Part 2)

Michael Barker

Continued from June 16 (link)

Indeed, HRW was created in 1978 as the Helsinki Watch (which later became HRW's Europe and Central Asia Advisory Committee) "at the instigation of [ambassador-at-large for President Carter] Arthur Goldberg" with the start-up costs covered by a $400,000 from the Ford Foundation.[12] Furthermore, as Bruce Montgomery (2002) observes their establishment credentials were fortified by Robert L. Bernstein (the founder of HRW) who "began by recruiting the establishment elite to give the cause clout and visibility."[13] Kirsten Sellars (2002) also points out that:

Human Rights

"The Ford Foundation played a crucial part in the development of the human rights movement in the seventies and eighties. A graph based on The Foundation Grants Index shows that Ford provided the lion's share of US foundation grants for international human rights work in the years 1977 to 1991, especially in the first five years. (Kathryn Sikkink, 'Human Rights, Principled Issue-Networks, and Sovereignty in Latin America', International Organization, 47(3), Summer 1993, 421.) In particular, Ford was responsible for financially kick-starting many new human rights NGOs in the late seventies, including Helsinki Watch and the other Watch committees, the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights, and the International Human Rights Law Group [now known as Global Rights. It also revived older groups such as the International League for Human Rights."[14]

For activists and researchers familiar with the Ford Foundation's elitist and anti-democratic history, this in itself should start alarm bells ringing as to the political motivations guiding the financial support which helped bring about HRW's existence.[15] This is because the Ford Foundation's backing of HRW is consistent with 'democratic' changes occurring within the US foreign policy elites thinking in the 1970s, which was beginning to recognise the importance of soft-power in promoting American hegemony.

Democracy

These changes were no doubt informed by the political experiences gained by the political elites running liberal philanthropic foundations (like the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations'), which in 1984 eventually led to the creation of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the United States Institute for Peace (USIP). Ironically, these groups carry out the same disruptive work that the CIA and USAID are well known for, yet under the protective rhetoric of democracy and peace.[16] However, the type of democracy promoted by these organisations is best referred to as low-intensity democracy, or polyarchy.

While only one study has exposed the anti-democratic orientation of the USIP, far more studies (especially more recently) have laid bare the 'democracy' promoting practices of the NED and its cohorts - it's four primary grantees being the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, the Center for International Private Enterprise, and the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center.[17] The seminal study examining the NED is Professor Robinson's Promoting Polyarchy: he notes that:

Foreign policy

The NED was created in the highest echelons of the US national security state, as part of the same project that led to the illegal operations of the Iran-Contra scandal. It is organically integrated into the overall execution of US national security and foreign policy. In structure, organization, and operation, it is closer to clandestine and national security organs such as the CIA than apolitical or humanitarian endowments as its name would suggest. The NED has operated in tandem with all major interventionist undertakings in the 1980s and 1990s."[18]

As the latter part of this study will illustrate, some of HRW's Americas Advisory Board are directly promoting the agenda of the NED-linked 'democracy' establishment, while many others are closely linked to its most influential proponents. For reasons of concision, however, the author has chosen to focus predominantly on the 'democratic' affiliations of HRW's Americas Advisory Board members, and so does not concentrate on each individual's links to what appear to be genuinely democratic organizations.

Primary purpose

This decision has been taken because the primary purpose of this essay is to draw attention to the close interlocks that exist between the human rights and the 'democracy promoting' communities. That many of the people working with HRW are also invited to work with progressive groups' is a given (especially considering the lack of attention paid to their activities), but this should surely also indicate the depth of the problem facing progressive activists who endeavour to promote a democracy based on participatory principles, not imperialism. (In most cases progressive links are not highlighted, although many of them can be found at SourceWatch.)

Before launching into the investigation of HRW Americas Advisors, it is important to clarify a few methodological details to help make the article easier to read. For a start, all the HRW advisors for which biographical information was available online (40 of 43 - biographical information was not available for Mark Kaplan, Andy Kaufman, and Tony White) have been examined in alphabetical order, that is, bar George Soros who is introduced first due to the exceptionally important role he has played in a number of 'democratic' organizations. Secondly, due to the paucity of critical research on many of the 'democratic' organizations introduced in this article, a short summary of their 'democratic' links has been provided in the appendix: however, where a 'democratic' group's work is directly relevant to the HRW advisor being examined this information is sometimes provided in the main body of the text. Finally, to make the article easier to read many of the articles internet references have been omitted, thus a complete version of this essay with all references included can be obtained from the author on request.

Introducing HRW's Americas Advisors: A Truly 'Democratic' Board

George Soros, Roland Algrant, Roberto Alvarez, Cynthia J. Arnson, Lloyd Axworthy - Chair, Carlos Basombrio, Peter D. Bell, Marcelo R. Bronstein, Paul Chevigny, Roberto Cuellar, Dorothy Cullman, Miguel Diaz, John Dinges, Denise Dresser, Nancy Englander, Tom J. Farer, Muni Figueres, Myles Frechette, Alejandro Garro, Peter Hakim, Ronald G. Hellman, Bianca Jagger, Stephen L. Kass, Marina Pinto Kaufman - Vice-Chair, Susanna Leval, Michael Maggio, Kenneth R. Maxwell, Jocelyn McCalla, David Nachman, Robert A. Pastor, Bruce Rabb, Michael Shifter, Julien J. Studley, Rose Styron, Javier Timerman, Arturo Valenzuela, Horacio Verbitsky, George R. Vickers, Alexander W. Wilde

Serious issues

Agent of Imperialism: Human Rights Watch as 'Democracy Promoter'

As this article has demonstrated, the activities of HRW's Americas advisors are closely entwined with those being pursued by various 'democracy promoting' elites. In fact, the numerous overlaps that exist between HRW's Americas advisory board and the 'democracy promoting' establishment are so extensive that in many cases you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two groups. This raises a number of serious issues, as if HRW were really genuinely concerned with the promotion of democracy and human rights, then knowledge of their links to anti-democratic organizations - which they must certainly be aware of by now - should surely give them cause to rethink their choice of advisors at the very least. However, given HRW's elitist origins (fully outlined in the introduction) it seems more likely that such 'democratic' ties are actually an integral part of their modus operandi. Indeed, HRW's intimate relations with 'democracy promoters' like the NED and USIP may be merely seen as a reflection of the high degree of influence liberal elites and liberal foundations have over the running and funding of HRW.

Public consent

Unfortunately, as the mass media do not provide an accurate reflection of society, it is not surprising that the elitist image of HRW revealed in this article is rarely documented in their coverage of human rights issues. This is because as Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky (1988) suggested in their seminal work Manufacturing Consent, the mass media's primary (yet for the most part unstated) goal is to manufacture public consent for elite interests. Bearing this in mind, it is logical - that in spite of contrary evidence - that the mass media portrays HRW as a progressive organization, and that critiques of HRW's elitist history are rendered invisible in the mainstream media.[19] (What is less logical though is the lack of criticism that HRW and many of the other groups examined in this study have received in the alternative media - although perhaps that is another question for later article.)

So is HRW really an agent of imperialism? The short answer is yes: that said, this is of course a difficult question to answer briefly, as there is no doubt that HRW has and continues to carry out progressive work that protects some human rights in some areas of the world. However, it is important to note that this does not necessarily mean that they are helping to create a more progressive global society.

To be continued