Living through that 'last resort.'.

• Author: Gordimer, Nadine
• Position: Protection of human rights

Everyone who ponders the Universal Declaration of Human Rights inevitably will give particular attention to those articles that pertain to circumstances with which he or she is personally involved. As a writer, Article 19 has a special significance for me. Freedom of expression is the oxygen of writers' creativity. But this is not a professional privilege that seeks exclusive protection: literature is one of the most enduring means by which ideas cross frontiers and become universal, but freedom of expression, to impart and receive information "through any media", is the first condition of freedom in civilized governance.

Suppression by censorship, banning, imprisonment and even edicts of death continue to exist in many countries, imposed by both secular and religious authorities. Article 19 established incontrovertibly the se means as a primary contravention of everyone's birthright to read, to listen, to regard and to speak out.

Article 26 is fundamental to Article 19: its Clauses 1 and 2 - "Everyone has the right to education", and "Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality". Freedom of expression is an empty phrase unless education equips every individual with freedom of the word, the ability to read and write. No other form of expression, oral or visual, can compensate for deprivation of these basic skills in human intercourse, understanding and the development of the intellect. Although the right to literacy surely is implied in Article 26, it is not specifically named; I believe it ought to be. This Article brings the hope of justice to the millions excluded-by ignorance, wirier is no fault of their own - from participation and benefit in the making of our world.

For me, the most important Article of the Universal Declaration has no number; it is not an Article at all. It is a paragraph of the Preamble: "Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the role of law." I have lived through a time in my own country - South Africa - when this "last resort" compelled the majority of the people to turn to rebellion, first in the form of civil disobedience and passive resistance, and finally in the form of armed struggle, against tyranny and oppression that denied them human rights. I have seen how to be compelled to take this last resort...