The North-South Project Reclaims Human Rights as People(s)-Centered
December 10th, International Human Rights Day, represents one year since the launch of the North-South Project for People(s)-Centered Human Rights. The North-South Project seeks to address the contradiction of the human rights idea being co-opted and instrumentalized as a weapon of white supremacist colonial domination and exploitation. The PCHR frame emerged to counter that. Rooted in the decolonization process, it gives the frame new content that emanates from the values, perspectives and needs of the peoples and nations of the global South that have been subjected to assaults on their humanity since Europeans spilled out of Europe into what became the “Americas” in 1492.
Some of the activities of the Project included the launch of a petition to demand that FIFA and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) ban the U.S. and Israel from participating in or hosting international sporting events, and a coalitional webinar to highlight sports as an arena for principled political struggle. The Project has also observed elections in Ecuador, connecting the process to the PCHR framework and has furthered solidarity with the “Children of the Malvinas” and supporting organizations, to demand people(s)-centered human rights for the people of Ecuador. The Project continues to disseminate a bi-monthly publication, the Bulletin on Domestic Militarism and Repression, connecting global militarism to domestic tactics of repression.
International Human Rights Day supposedly commemorates the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, originally proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on December 10, 1948. Even in this year of its establishment, Eurocentrism corrupted the idea of human rights when Israel and South África were welcomed into the community of nations and the fact that both were racist settler colonialist states was ignored. Furthermore, the “global pledge” of the Declaration is rendered meaningless when the U.S. and Israel continue to commit daily barbarous acts of violence, displacement and genocide against the Palestinians, with never-ending impunity. The UNSC continues to reinforce its standing as a legitimizing agency for U.S. full spectrum domination through its approval of the U.S. “Peace Plan” for Gaza, further oppressing Palestinians’ right to self-determination and calling it a “resolution,” as well as its recent vote on September 30 to intensify the U.S. occupation of Haiti via “gang suppression forces”, using militarized tactics to violently quell the will of the people and advance the U.S. settler colonial project.
This is compounded by the UN’s theme for this year, claiming that human rights are prescriptive “everyday essentials” and that they are “attainable,” rather than fought for, further undermining the necessity for human rights to be grounded in self-determination and social struggle. The PCHR frame rejects this approach, understanding that the process of achieving true people(s)-centered human rights can only be driven by the people, within decolonized systems, through protracted struggle.
With the intensification of the neofascist challenge, the Project intends to broaden the integration of the PCHR frame in 2026 through collective learning and building power with partner organizations globally to support the development of the agency of peoples to define and defend their human rights including the right to self-determination.
Currently, the Project is building an anti-fascist football coalition with key organizations in the countries hosting the 2026 World Cup (Canada, Mexico, U.S.) that have been meeting to further a collective mission and implement objectives, strategies and tactics to move the games from the U.S. and deepen mass resistance from all of our bases. To highlight the contradictions, danger, and urgency of the U.S. as a World Cup hosting country, the Project is launching a series of media propaganda to broaden popular support for the demands of the petition. The first video launches today to reinvigorate the petition’s reach and expand the coalition of organizations in alignment with the stated demands.
Further work for the Project is coordinated through the Global Network for the Advancement of People(s)-Centered Human Rights – a space that fosters connectivity, communication and cooperation that will facilitate information sharing and possible strategic collaborations between activists, researchers, educators, organizers and other interested individuals and organizations. Join the Global Network here to reclaim authentic People(s)-Centered Human Rights and further our collective resistance.
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