Wielding the human rights weapon against the American empire: the second Russell Tribunal and human rights in transatlantic relations

Abstract

The article discusses the evolution from the 1966–1967 “first” Russell Tribunal, an unofficial and political gathering that censured the USA for its aggression in Vietnam, to the “second” Russell Tribunal, which took place in Rome and Brussels between 1974 and 1976 and put human rights violations in Latin America in the international spotlight. Both Tribunals shared a profound anti-Americanism and an explicit proximity to Third Worldism. Yet, there was also an important difference, since the language of human rights shaped only the “second” Tribunal. The article is mostly based on documentary sources held by the Fondazione Lelio and Lisli Basso in Rome. This choice is based on the importance Italian Senator Lelio Basso had for the Tribunal. Basso was the main organizer and the driving force of the Tribunal and coordinated many transnational groups in support of this event. Moreover, his intellectual reflections on decolonization as a revolutionary force and his fierce anti-Americanism offered a blueprint for the proceedings and the sentence of the Tribunal. Bringing together the recent literature on the emergence of human rights during the 1970s and that on European anti-Americanism, the article shows how some prominent European intellectuals and politicians appropriated human rights jargon to criticize American foreign policy and denounce its responsibilities for ongoing human rights violations in Latin America. In doing so, it argues that the human rights language renewed European anti-Americanism during the 1970s.

The Cambridge History of Latin American Law in Global Perspective

“…As he clarifies, for many years, this way of doing legal history privileged official sources and focused mostly on legislation and legal doctrine. 169 traced the origins of Latin America's legal categories and institutions mostly to Iberian colonial law and Roman law. Norms were either a transplant or subject to the influence of foreign legal debates, such as those posed by the Historical School, and foreign legislation, such as the French Civil Code.…”

“…168 A title like the Manual for Confessors by Martín de Azpilcueta, for example, had more than ninety editions published in Portuguese, Latin, Spanish, and later in Italian during the author's lifetime, making it a bestseller in the book trade. 169 Each edition of this work was updated, and the revised edition then served as a model for other books printed to help guide the clergy in their duties. These books, together with the many manuscripts and excerpts that traveled with missionaries and priests, contributed to the emergence of a dense web of communication between Europe, the Americas, and Asia, far beyond the control of the communication between Rome and its dioceses.…”

“…168 In March 1808, the Legislature promulgated Brown and Moreau-Lislet's work as the Digest of the Civil Laws Now in Force in the Territory of Orleans (Digest of 1808). 169 While it did not include an exposé des motifs explaining its sources, 170 a number of copies contain interleaves with manuscript notes dictated -or, in some cases, even written -by Moreau-Lislet. 171 One of these manuscripts, the de la Vergne volume, includes references to Roman and Spanish materials linked to the Digest's provisions, 172 as well as to French texts grounded in Roman law, such as the works of Pothier and Domat.…”

“…Thus, Tulli concludes, "the first Russell Tribunal was a specific expression of a global movement against the Vietnam War, whereas the second drew inspiration from transnational activism for human rights." 169 Transnational mobilization of solidarity was evident not only in the activities of the tribunal, but also in the efforts to establish it. Simona Fraudatario reports a proliferation of international committees that supported the creation of the tribunal: following Lelio Basso and Linda Bimbi's trips to several European countries, committees were formed in the Netherlands, Belgium, West Germany, and France.…”

“…In the region, six of every eight buildings are constructed outside the state market economy's limits, and around 80 percent of the real estate is not controlled by the state legal property system. 169 Extralegal strong legal pluralism is therefore the rule rather than the exception. This legal pluralism regarding property is also generally constructed in bottom-up processes as a consequence of the state's absence or the state legal system's indifference to the social reality of the most socioeconomically vulnerable individuals in the political community.…”