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A Declaration of the Rights of Human Beings: On the Sovereignty of Life as Surpassing the Rights of Man

Raoul Vaneigem is an iconic figure in French philosophy. One of the founding fathers — along with Guy Debord — of the Situationist movement, his writings helped trigger the events of May 1968. After the inevitable Situationist split, Vaneigem pursued his own interests, and he has since established a unique place in the world of French political thought. In this new book, he sets out quite literally to create a new declaration of human rights, by updating earlier declarations — from the French Revolution to the UN declaration in 1948 — on the grounds that ‘we can no longer make do with the liberties derived from free exchange, while the free circulation of capital is establishing a tyranny that reduces humankind and the earth to a commodity’. By turns playful, poetic and provocative, this is a remarkable book that makes a profoundly serious point about the way in which human rights have been eroded by globalization.

  • Format
  • paperback
  • Pages
  • 176
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9780745320212
  • Genres
  • philosophy
  • Release date
  • 2003