Joyful Human Rights PENNSYLVANIA STUDIES IN HUMAN RIGHTS Bert B Lockwood, Series Editor A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher Joyful Human Rights William Paul Simmons Foreword by Semere Kesete U N I V E R S I T Y O F P E N N S Y LVA N I A P R E S S PHIL ADELPHIA Copyright © 2019 University of Pennsylvania Press All rights reserved Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher Published by University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112 www.upenn.edu/pennpress Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 A Cataloging-in-Publication record is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 978-0-8122-5101-2 For Mason and Delaney He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity’s sunrise —William Blake This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Foreword by Semere Kesete ix Preface xi Chapter The Thrill Is Gone Chapter A Phenomenology of Joy as Transgressive Affect 24 Chapter Whither Joy? 59 Chapter Joyful Activists 96 Chapter Joyful Perpetrators 130 Chapter Joyful Martyrs 170 Chapter Human Rights Winners 195 Notes 239 References 249 Index 275 Acknowledgments 289 This page intentionally left blank FOREWORD Semere Kesete I left Eritrea, my country of origin, in 2002, where I had been locked in dehu manizing solitary confinement without legal charge for one year I managed to convince one of my prison guards to plot an escape After five days and nights of an exhausting and dangerous journey on foot, the prison guard and I crossed the Eritrean border to Ethiopia I then made it to Sweden as a refu gee, and received permanent residence status while struggling to overcome the trauma I had endured It was difficult to adjust to a new country, new society, radically different weather, and a new language It was difficult to find any job and have a normal life It was in this particular time that I got in touch with Professor Simmons, who was involved in creating a public art project to protest against the Eritrean regime A few years later I traveled to Arizona, and I was honored to be one of the first graduates of the master’s program of Social Justice and Human Rights that Simmons founded at Arizona State Uni versity In the MA program, I greatly expanded my passion for and knowledge of human rights, especially from a global perspective Ever since, I have been extensively engaged in promoting human rights and social justice If anyone is asked to define human rights, the answer would most proba bly include words such as victim, survivor, oppression, and tyranny To many of us the word “joyful” sounds odd in the realm of human rights That is why I say that Professor William Paul Simmons has come out with a revolutionary book on human rights Looking back, I won both physically and psychologically over the regime that locked me up Now, I embrace myself not as a victim or survivor but as a winner To consider myself as a victim or a survivor feels as if I am still held captive by my oppressor’s long arm Human rights is not merely about victims or survivors, it is also about winners I presume that the problem stems from ... Death 124,000 Joy and Human Rights Joyful Human Rights 52 Joy of Torture 99,500 Genocide and Human Rights 8,500,000 Joy of Sex3 2,380,000 Joy of Insanity 16,200 Trauma and Human Rights 5,530,000 Joy... placed ? ?human rights? ?? in quotation marks in order to exclude hits for ? ?human? ?? that not involve rights, and to exclude ? ?rights? ?? for things other than humans, including nonhuman/animal rights Not.. .Joyful Human Rights PENNSYLVANIA STUDIES IN HUMAN RIGHTS Bert B Lockwood, Series Editor A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher Joyful Human Rights William