Why High Road for
Human Rights? Embracing Democracy for Humane Action
Reach beyond yourself.
Become empowered.
Help others who are in need.
Make a difference.
How often have you learned of a terrible injustice, but felt unable
to do anything about it?
Have you wanted to help bring about change in our world, but believed
it was too difficult and too big for you to tackle?
Do you wonder
where the leaders are – why
so many people are suffering, yet no one is
leading the way toward effective solutions?
Have you said
to yourself, “I
feel strongly about the genocide in Darfur
[or about human trafficking, about
global warming,
or about other human rights violations], but
what can I do about it?"
Now, there is a channel for your caring, your passion, your desire
to make a positive difference in our world.
High Road for Human
Rights is a unique organization, bringing together
thousands of compassionate people throughout the United States to effect
change.
Imagine
the power of a citizens' lobby – people
throughout the nation who together achieve specific, effective,
humane changes
in public policy.
During
the early stages of the genocide in Rwanda, a human rights
activist urged
President Clinton’s National Security Advisor
to take urgent action. He said that people were not calling to express
their concerns and that no action would be taken unless people made “more
noise”. Senator Paul Simon thought 100 letters to each US Senator
would have spurred the action necessary to stop the genocide. The American
people were silent, letters were not sent, phone calls were not made – and
800,000 men, women, and children were brutally butchered. The United
States and the international community did nothing – they did
not even pursue aggressive diplomatic action – to stop the atrocities – because
the American people remained silent.
Let us never be silent again.
Organizing together, we can make more noise. We can call for humane
action. We can make a real, positive difference. And we can live
our lives knowing we did what we could.
We
can know we mean it when we declare, as after the Holocaust, “Never
Again.”
This
is a unique approach – and an effective approach – to
changing public policy in building a better, safer, more
compassionate world.
Imagine, for example:
At
every town meeting held by every member of Congress, dozens of
members of High Road
attend, demanding
effective
action by the
United States, working with the United Nations, to stop the on-going
genocide
in Darfur. We don’t stop with one demonstration, with one
meeting, or with one letter-writing campaign. We keep acting,
with one voice
nation-wide, until effective change is achieved.
Relentless phone
calls and sending of letters by hundreds of constituents in every
congressional district, week after week, demanding a moratorium
on the construction of atmosphere-destroying coal-burning power
plants
and a commitment to the utilization of clean, renewable sources
of energy.
A sustained public
information campaign, enlisting millions of people nation-wide
in a persistent call for economic sanctions against nations
that condone sexual slavery.
Automobile manufacturers have their lobbyists who succeed in stopping
legislation requiring greater fuel efficiency.
Drug manufacturers have their lobbyists who make sure Americans pay
outrageous prices for drugs.
Arms manufacturers have their lobbyists who push enormously expensive
and unnecessary weapons programs through Congress.
It’s
time that compassionate American people have their lobbyists
to persuade Congress to undertake
humane
policies toward our brothers
and sisters throughout the world, including later generations.
Those lobbyists are us. Each of us. Working together. Embracing our
democracy for the common good.
High
Road for Human Rights:
- Identifies a limited number of precise human rights or climate protection
issues.
- Develops
a strategy for informing and organizing people – just
like you – who can, together, effectively push for humane
change.
- Supports and coordinates efforts in local communities throughout the
United States to bring about major changes to save and improve lives
and build a better world.
Join
a unique grassroots nationwide organization of people who care – people
who are committed to bringing about positive change in
our world.
Join High Road in organizing thousands of people who will lead toward
change. We will make our voices be heard, and we will make certain
our elected officials never again use as an excuse for inaction the
absence of a call by the American people for positive action.
We have all experienced frustration and a sense of powerlessness
in knowing that people are unjustly suffering and that our planet is
becoming a place that cannot sustain life. Until now, there has not
been a continuous grassroots organizing mechanism available to provide
numerous ways of acting with others to bring about change. High Road
brings together people in partnering for a better tomorrow. Working
with High Road, you will be part of an historic new movement, embracing
our democracy to bring about a safer, sustainable, more just world.
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