Smuts, the United Nations and the Rhetoric of Race and Rights

The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 was formulated at precisely the same time that South Africa committed itself to the policy of apartheid. In the second half of the twentieth century, the problem of racism and apartheid became a leading test case for the assertion of human right...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of contemporary history 2008-01, Vol.43 (1), p.45-74
Main Author: Dubow, Saul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
20th century
African history
Apartheid
Attitudes
Civilization
Cold War
Colonialism
Equality
Freedom
Government
Height
Holism
Human Rights
Humans
International cooperation
Political history
Politicians
Prime ministers
Race
Racial equality
Racism
Rhetoric
Smuts, Jan
Smuts, Jan C (1870-1950)
South Africa
UN Charter
United Nations
Universalism
War
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Summary:The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 was formulated at precisely the same time that South Africa committed itself to the policy of apartheid. In the second half of the twentieth century, the problem of racism and apartheid became a leading test case for the assertion of human rights. During the Cold War, it constituted one of the few issues around which UN members could establish common cause. Yet it is largely forgotten that the Preamble to the United Nations Charter, which foregrounded the concept of human rights for the first time, was inspired and partly written by the South African premier Jan Smuts, a statesman of international stature and a symbol of world freedom who always presumed the superior claims of white Christian civilization. This paper explores what Smuts meant by the term 'human rights'. In considering Smuts's pre-war experience and thought, it highlights shifts in the language of race and rights at mid-century and points to the new international challenges posed by the assertion of popular democratic and universalist claims to human equality at the dawn of a new age of anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggle.
ISSN:0022-0094
1461-7250
DOI:10.1177/0022009407084557