Thread by @the_hope_guy

🧵: Some tips for building support for #humanrights based on five years of messaging workshops with activists around the world:

1/ Use values - always make an emotional, moral case for HR, not just legal/political/rational (RoL, accountability etc). "We are all human" "We treat each other the way we want to be treated"

2/ Empower - talk about HR as something we do, not just something inherent or given/taken by govt, leaving us passive.

(this ground-breaking analysis comes from @anatosaurus commonslibrary.org/wp-content/upl…)

3/ Offer hope - make a forward-looking case based on how a HR approach can make our societies better, not just lessons of past/threats/risks.

"We need more humanity to respond to challenges like pandemics, climate change etc."

What would society look like with MORE HR?

4/ Unify - put the human in human rights, this is about recognising our connectedness/interdependence: avoid national frames like "Strasbourg", "Europe vs UK" etc.

"Human rights brings us together, that's why divisive politicians dont like the idea!"

5/ Be emotional - to activate passionate support for HR in people use Lakoff's progressive worldview "empathy, responsibility [to care for each other] and hope" (i'd add shared humanity). We need to bolster the underlying ideas, mindsets and emotions. Legalese alone cant do that.

5b/ this can be hard for a very legal/policy focused sector but in my experience, when even hardened HRDs dig down to the basic reasons why they care about human rights, they find words like:
- Love
- Kindness
- Empathy
Maybe we need to get better at saying these words out loud?

For more: Seeing Hope: A Visual Guide for Communicating Human Rights, with more values messages and creative commons #hopebased content (from artists around the world thanks to @fine_acts) to push them out. seeinghope.fineacts.co

Artist credits:
1 David Espinosa
2 Sebastian Rubiano & Ashwin Chacko
3 Michela Esposito & Monique Jackson
4 Pietro Soldi & Vanessa Mundle - minttu
5 2CHOEY
All for @FineActs

2b/ Personifying HR or #humanrightsact makes an easy target, and takes the focus away from us, the people, and our own agency. HR is about so much more than pieces of legislation - dont let the focus shift away from that.