Postmodern understanding of rights

The postmodernists reject a context free, universal theory of emancipation. They do this by following two ways:

• By defining the powerless in new ways; and

• By enlarging the scope of rights.

Postmodernists’ definition of the powerful and the powerless is based on the critique of the conventional definitions of power. It brings into its ambit not only the political power but also all laws and customs which are discriminatory for any group of people. The discrimination often occurs on the basis of race, age, caste, class, region, language, gender, sexual minority status, etc. Thus one may talk about emancipation of African women of United States through a mix of feminism and anti-racist policies, emancipation of legal minors through education etc., emancipation of dalits through effective implementation of policy of protective discrimination and redistribution of land, emancipation of peasants and laborers through land distribution and welfare policies, emancipation of slaves through anti-slavery laws, emancipation of women through empowerment, and emancipation of sexual minorities by granting them legal power to exercise their sexual preferences, and fighting against stigma and stereotypes.

Thus emancipation is not based on traditional or class considerations alone. For example, the highest problem of sexual minorities, which include kothis, panthis, transgenders, lesbians and many other varieties, is stigma. The fight for their economic, legal, health and social rights cannot be separated from the fight against stigma. It is stigma which debars them from job, from seeking education, from availing testing and treatment facilities (HIV), and from participation in political and cultural life. The fight against stigma is very very different than advancing the class struggle or leading a peasants’ movement.