Today, we commemorate World Day of Social Justice and honor those across the globe who stand for the equitable access to opportunities within societies where individuals' rights are recognized and protected.
I have the distinct honor of leading the Social Justice work here at Cisco.
I am also struck by the need to help frame social justice in a way that resonates globally.
Understanding social justice from a broader perspective.
Over the course of my involvement in this work, I have spent equal parts of my time doing the work and learning about social justice both as a set of practices and as an ideal.
Most of my exposure to the topic had come from my own history in civil rights and political activism, life experience, and reading authors/thought leaders like Howard Zinn, David Walker, Michelle Alexander, Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. duBois.
While their writing examined social justice through an anti-racist lens, I noticed common themes as I started to look at social justice from a broader perspective.
Human Rights: ensuring the civil, political, economic, cultural, and social rights of all people are protected and valued equally.
These themes provide a framework for how we can expand our perspective around social justice.
Framing social justice as access, equity, participation, and human rights allows us to transcend the notion that social justice is simply about race.
In my research, I found there were themes around social justice that go all the way back to philosophers like Plato, Thomas Aquinas and Immanuel Kant, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke.
There is also a strong current of social justice in many of the world's major religions.
Building on this foundation in part led to the UN Charter in 1945 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 which focused on political, civil, social, and economic rights.
While this was problematic for a number of reasons, it does explain the anti-racist focus of many social justice programs and initiatives that would come later and how race played a key role in the access to those rights.
The global perspective and Cisco's journey for social justice.
As we continue the work of social justice here at Cisco, we know that many corporations have rolled back some initiatives that were receiving support just a few years ago.
This trend is happening across the globe and underpins what history has already shown us-social justice is global.
Just as the UN believes that social justice is an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations, Cisco believes that social justice is integral to our purpose to power an inclusive future for all.
A global perspective will inform us - and empower us - as we move forward in our social justice journey.
Our focus is on access, equity, participation, and human rights.
This Cyber News was published on feedpress.me. Publication date: Tue, 20 Feb 2024 23:13:05 +0000