20/S1 HMRT 2023 A - Literature and human rights

Flames Group: Paytra Waibel, Muchaneta Nyambuya, Elizabeth Miller

Dr. Amanda DiPaolo

HMRT 2023: Human Rights and Literature

December 2, 2020

Passage:
"More stories out of China. The Government is saying it's just an isolated outbreak, but there are other reports that it's much worse than that. Apparently the area around the outbreak has been closed off, but nobody seems to know whether is has spread. Some people think the government should have reacted faster, but the government just keeps repeating its under control. I want to ask mum about it but she's too caught up with Aunty Mei's death. Yesterday when I spoke to her she seemed to think it was okay but today when I pinged her I got no response, and when I try to access her profile it tells me she's offline. I'm not alone either, there are people all over the net complaining they're finding it difficult to contact relatives in China." (page 192).

Analysis:

INTRODUCTION
After the analysis of Clade as well as the YouTube video with the author Mr. James Bradley, Clade definitely shaped up to be the book that made us think the most. The way in which Mr. Bradley has intricately woven the lives of so many separate people into one story through decades of time is second to none. The novel truly makes us analyze the passing of time and the impact that our actions have for years down the line. Relating this analysis to the specific included passage, any human rights enthusiast can pick out the key human rights issues and violations that Mr. Bradley has highlighted within this apocalyptic story. Further, due to current world events, this passage is even more critical and realistic to our current climate. Through the analysis of human rights, voice and tone, empathy, literary devices, and themes, this passage becomes the essential cornerstone of the novel and a true eye opener for all readers. Additionally, through the lecture of this novel and the analysis of this particular passage, it allows us as readers and human rights students to consider elements such as what steps society could make to allow the world to be more accessible to those on the spectrum, it allows us to examine our own circumstances today with regard to the climate emergency, and it makes us consider the impact of the climate emergency on individuals seeking refuse away from their homelands.

HUMAN RIGHTS ANALYSIS
The entire novel highlights extremely important issues that plague our world today. The passage chosen in particular shows many similarities to the current Covid-19 pandemic. In the novel, the characters deal with a similar outbreak that the government has tried to hide from them, with that comes many human rights violations. This includes Article 12 of the International's Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR) which states that everyone has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (United Nations, 1966). This article also covers the improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene as well as the prevention, treatment, and control of epidemic diseases. This has undoubtably been violated by all countries depicted within the novel. The CESCR has been ratified by China, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada and the USA all for at least 20 years at minimum. Further, within this passage China is also in clear violation of Article 19(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) which states that everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression which includes the right to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds through all mediums including any media of choice (United Nations, 1966). Currently, China has not ratified the CCPR but they signed it on October 27th 1997.

Another big issue faced in the novel is lack of governmental response to the issue as well as them lying about the nature and the spread of the disease. This passage shoes striking similarities to the current state of our world, given that we are currently in the midst of a global pandemic, it started off much the same as the one in the novel, and has had many of the same issues. An article from Amnesty International, outlines what Canada has done to put human rights at the centre of their Covid-19 plan. The article states that the response to Covid-19 must be treated as a human rights obligation and any measures that infringe on human rights, such as the freedom of movement, freedom of education, etc, must be met with strict guidelines (Amnesty International, 2020). This novel illuminates just how striking the resemblance between Canadian and US governments response to the pandemic was compared to that of the Chinese, Australian, and United Kingdom's response within the novel.

The passage we picked shines a light of only a few human right issues from the novel, a few of which being the lack of government information and the right to access the media. It is no surprise to us that China has suppressed the media in their country, in real life and in the novel, and there is a surprising lack of freedom when it comes to what you can and cannot search for on the internet in China. The attached YouTube video demonstrates just this. China's power to censor its internet and users is insurmountable. In such a difficult time where the internet is the only way we can connect to our loved ones, both in the passage and in real life, it is disheartening to see this censorship happen. The novel expresses this lack of information in this passage especially by saying that the government has it under control when in fact they do not, but the citizens do not know this as the information has not been shared with them or anyone for that matter. Every human has the right to life, health and information, all of which seem to be taken from them. This passage and the entirety of the novel shows this and just how much control the government has over our lives.

The right to life and health are both rights every human has coutensy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the many treaty bodies which include the CESCR and the CCPR. The right to health as defined by the United Nations is an inclusive right meaning it includes everyone. The right to health includes more than just access to health care, it also includes access to safe drinking water, food, housing, and the access to health related education and information (United Nations, 1966). The entirety of the novel and the passage chosen show how the right to life and health were violated by the government not suppling sufficient information and supplies to those affected by the disease quickly spreading throughout China and later the world.

VOICE AND TONE
The voice and tone within this passage provides a feeling of urgency within growing climate change and social unrest due to a looming deadly pandemic. Bradley approached this topic not as one huge scary event but as a constant demon, looming in the background. In relation to this specific passage, the author does an exquisite job at demonstrating the fear behind a global pandemic and how scary it must be to loose touch with a close family member during such a hard time. Moreover, connecting this passage to current world conditions, it demonstrates how all of us felt back in March of 2020 when we finally realized the dark truth- that the COVID-19 epidemic in China was not simply an epidemic and it was not simply in China. The voice and tone used within this passage expresses a sense of fear and slight panic when the young girl explains the outbreak and the failures of the Chinese government. Her voice and tone is unrested as she is trying to get ahold of her mother but is not able to because of the internet being shut down due to the Chinese government internet censorship. Throughout this novel, we hear from different voices, each one just as impactful as the one before. The usage of these different voices over time shows the reader how things escalated and changed over time.

EMPATHY
The novel and the passage we chose builds a lot of empathy with the portrayal of various human life experiences. These human life experiences are familiar to all of us regardless of where we are in the world. The reader is bound to have resonated with one if not all the human life experiences raised. It is easy for the reader to see themselves as one of the characters and with our passage, one could easily feel that they too were trying to reach their mother. Our chosen passage builds empathy from the reader with the feeling and sense of the unknown as the passage unfolds. Since the situation unfolding has not been confirmed, it leaves the reader at the edge of their seat as anyone would want to hear from their mother during a time of uncertainty. The reader is thus left to feel like they too are waiting to hear from their mother. On top of dealing with the death of Aunty Mei, they also have to deal with the isolated outbreak. This further builds empathy. What makes it worse is that they are not receiving information nor are they able to reach their loved ones. This is where Bradley puts the reader in a position where they imagine themselves in the shoes of all those who are on the net facing the same situation. It’s hard not to be empathetic in this situation, as it is disheartening to not be able to reach those near and dear to us in a time of uncertainty. Throughout the book and in this passage, the reader gets to relate to everyday lives of the characters. The lack of information leaves the reader helpless and left to ponder and have their minds wondering what could be happening. Reading this novel and our passage above, the reader is left vulnerable.

LITERARY DEVICES
The use of the words much worse in the same sentence emphasizes the fact that the situation is greater than the government is telling people. Throughout this novel and particularly our chosen passage, Bradley uses imagery to help the reader get the full experience and a clear picture of the events that happen. These events become vivid to the reader as we can all imagine trying to reach someone in a serious situation while probably pacing around the room. While reading, the reader imagines being one of the people outside China, trying to access the information of the outbreak while also trying to reach their loved ones. Given the fact that we are currently experiencing a pandemic, Bradley’s writing also allows us to think of our current satiation. One can imagine when the outbreak first got to a place where our loved ones live, all we wanted to do was hear from them and learn about what was happening. This is the same as currently when we hear about a new outbreak surging a second wave of the virus, we try to reach our families to find out how they are doing. Bradley's choice of words in the passage makes it relatable to current issues in the world.

THEMATIC ANALYSIS
The theme of this book and this passage is perhaps one of cautionary to the reader and to the rest of the world. In the novel the author highlights a lot of issues and bring them to light as a way of caution. In our passage, the caution is in the governments actions in reacting to the outbreak. Bradley throughout the novel uses fiction in a realistic and skillful way to highlight the main themes of the book. This realistic and skillful writing depicts real life experiences. Bradley’s novel is relatable and plausible especially when looking at the events that happen in the novel against the events that are currently happening in our world today. The main theme is natural disasters and climate change, which are portrayed through the lived experiences of each narrator. Time is also an important theme portrayed in the novel. This is shown with the different narrators that we get to experience and with each one, we experience different human tragedies that evolved with time from one narrator to the next. The title of the book Clade relates to the structure of the story and adds to the themes of the book. Characters change but they all share a commonality which is Adam in the beginning, this perfectly illustrates the meaning of Clade. The novel does not offer possible solutions to the problem of climate change, or other issues but highlights and foreshadows what is going to happen if nothing is done about the current problems. Loss and tragedy are also themes in this novel, perfectly shown in our passage with the loss of Aunty Mei and then the tragedy with the pandemic outbreak.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this particular passage within Clade highlights an economy on the brink of collapse. The entire world is threatened due to a microscopic organism that the government and health care systems fail to control. This particular novel shows a striking resemblance to our current global climate and it proves to be a warning, that things can get a lot worse, very fast. This passage highlights many human rights violations that the State (duty bearer) failed to deliver to its citizens (the rights holders). The way in which Mr. James Bradley uses voice and tone, literary devices, empathy, and themes, really hammer home the idea of a mass global pandemic with a mortality rate nearing 30%. It puts COVID-19 into perspective with its 3% fatality rate. Further avenues of research into this passage and novel would include how to better our health care systems to not result in an overwhelming amount of patients needing care, doubling hospitals, ICU's and supplies, and treating our health care workers better and hiring more. Research could also be used to analyze the direct cause of why governments do not tend to listen to their health care professionals, using US President Donald Trump as our case study. This novel hits home in a different way than the rest of the novels within this course have. It proves that unless we all collectively work together to end climate change, to fix our education systems, and to fix our healthcare systems, the world as we know it will be forever lost.



Work Cited:

Bradley, James. Clade. First Titan ed. London: Titan Books, 2017.

Amnesty International, Putting Human Rights at the Heart of Canada's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, March 25, 2020. (Accessed December 2, 2020).

"The Right to Health." 2008. PDF file. https://www.ohchr.org/documents/publications/factsheet31.pdf
style="font-size:1rem;"> UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 999. (Accessed December 2, 2020).

UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, 16 December 1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 999. (Accessed December 2, 2020).

Group: Oilers 

Passage: "'How many people do you help?' He shrugs. 'A few'. Ellie sits starring at him. 'Why didn't you tell me? she asks at last. 'Tell you what?' 'About this. About the doctoring. About what you do. I could have helped.' 'Could you? How? We don't just need access to hospitals, we need medicine, school, jobs, not to be frightened all the time. To be able to buy food without being terrified someone will become suspicious because they don't recognize us.' Shocked by his vehemence Ellie falls silent" (pg. 174).

In this passage, James Bradley explains the lives, mistreatment, and fear instilled in the "illegals" hiding within Australia after attempting to find refuge away from the countries that no longer exist due to the climate crisis. This passage explores the human rights issues brought about by the climate crisis, including denial of asylum despite the fact that many countries have fallen and become dangerous due to the climate crisis and the excessive mistreatment of undocumented people. These people are referred to as "illegals" in the novel, causing them to live in constant fear.

Due to the climate crisis in the novel, we see people having to flee and seek refuge in other countries to survive. If we think of this in mass action, it will lead to many people migrating with urgency and a lack of documentation to enter other countries. When people become undocumented, their whole life shifts and become one filled with anxiety of persecution. In this case, we see how Ellie finds Amir's behaviour erratic and weird like he is hiding something. Amir's behaviour comes from the fear to trust or open information to someone who could potentially report him as undocumented. In the book, we encounter Ellie, who slowly sympathizes and worries about them, but this is not the case for many.

Being labeled "illegal" in a country strips down their ability to access fundamental human rights and resources. In this scene, we see how accessing health care can be a deportation sentence for many. So people have to decide if they try to survive the medical complications which could lead to death or deportation that can also lead to death.

In this small passage, we also get criticism of racial bias. When Amir says, "To be able to buy food without being terrified someone will become suspicious because they don't recognize us. (174)". This communicates to us that Amir looks "certain way" for the person to think he doesn't belong in Australia. This becoming media has made a narrative of some "illegal" only looking in the form of BIPOC people. This brings further complications like racism, something we have seen in The United States towards Latinx immigrants. We also have some small insight into immigrants' lives, and how everything they worked on in their home countries most of the time does not count in the new country, they arrive at. In Amir's case, he was a Doctor, but he was forced to take the job of a beekeeper.

The verbal dialogue between Amir and Ellie demonstrates the progression of Amir's emotions and how the expression of these emotions leads to Ellie's understanding as to why she alone cannot help Amir and the other "illegals". The conversation shifts back and forth, demonstrating confusion and frustration from Ellie, but once she comes to the realization, it is emphasized by her falling silent, therefore ending the conversation. Bradley's use of exposition further supports the tone. Rather than stating that access to hospitals alone is not enough, Amir provides background information that helps Ellie and the reader understand other events contributing to Amir's emotions and decisions.

The author's choice of using the term "illegals" for undocumented people who entered the country seeking refuge reflects on the dehumanization government injects through language. In this scene, Ellie confronts the inhuman fears Amir has to live with constantly.

Amid a climate crisis and shadowing apocalypse, Amir and Ellie, among others, are living for survival. Amir's experience as someone undocumented enables him to speak for other "illegals" and the numerous injustices they face among global upheaval. As described in the above passage, many undocumented people face a lack of medicine, education, jobs, respect and trust by citizens, and "to be able to buy food without being terrified someone will become suspicious" (pg. 174).

This international negligence of "illegals" violates many fundamental human rights. If critical human rights documents were to be applied, such as the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), then some of the more applicable human rights violations would be as follows: Article 1 outlining the right to self-determination (ICESCR), Article 6 outlining the right to work (ICESCR), Article 11 regarding the adequate standard of living, Article 13 regarding the right to education, Article 2 outlining freedom from discrimination (ICCPR), and Article 4 about freedom of discrimination in a time of emergency (ICCPR), among others. Each of these articles protects the rights of undocumented people and citizens alike and could be used as a standard to identify and address the social issues as described by Amir and in the rest of Clade, by James Bradley.

Through the dialogue between Amir and Ellie, it allows the reader to understand the intersectional social issues regarding undocumented people in a time of devastating climate crises and global distress. For many people, like Ellie, the solutions to many social issues seem linear and single action. However, as Amir describes, and as the author of Clade writes, these issues need significant work and attention to solve the issues and bring dignity back to the people.

References:

UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 999, p. 171, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3aa0.html [accessed 2 December 2020]

UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 16 December 1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 993, p. 3, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b36c0.html [accessed 2 December 2020]

Canucks Group

"And so instead she finds herself reading about the illegals, trying to imagine their lives. Their presence is a debate that has filled the media for as long as she can remember, a constant rumble of anger and paranoia, but over the years she has learned to tune it out. Tonight she finds herself assailed by it all over again, by the descriptions of the camps, the random harassment by police, the detention and forces expulsion of anyone the government deems undesirable. It is ridiculous, monstrous. Where after all are those who have sought refuge here meant to go? The islands of the Pacific are disappearing, Bangladesh is gone, as is much of Burma and coastal India; hundreds of millions have been displaced and are in need of assistance. Yet in the face of their suffering, politicians do little more than posture and parrot slogans." (p.167)

Clade by James Bradley explores the topic of climate change and environmental degradation through the lens of one family’s experiences. The novel depicts the real-world environmental refugee crisis through the story of Amir, who was forced to flee his home in Bangladesh. In the age of climate crisis, where environmental refugees are not protected under international human rights law, Ellie questions why politicians continue to remain silent when millions are in need of assistance (p.167). In present society, the detrimental effects of climate change are vast and pose a direct threat to the protection of human rights. This year, the Assam floods in India and Hurricane Eta in Central America have caused mass displacement where individuals have been left without assistance from governments and subsequently lack protections under human rights laws. Under Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, states have an obligation to protect human rights by continually working towards the improvement of the environment (UN 1966). Further, the Independent Expert on Human and Environmental Concerns and the Global Compact on Refugees addresses the concerns relating to environmental degradation and its connection to the refugee crisis. Despite this, no legal protections exist for environmental refugees. In order to best protect human rights, the situation regarding climate refugees must be addressed and environmental rights must be considered as human rights.

In the novel Clade by James Bradley, we see an almost apocalyptical collapse of the world through extreme climate changes juxtaposed by human struggles. Although fictional, the events of this novel like coastal degradation, flooding, and natural disasters allude to the possible impacts of climate change if something is not done about it. Through these climate changes, families become displaced, lives are lost, islands disappear (“The islands of the Pacific are disappearing”, (Bradley,167) and people suffer. ‘Illegals’ (Bradley, 167) displaced by natural disasters often lack the financial capacity to help themselves and seek refuge from other countries. They enter these countries with the intention of having more resources and opportunities however they are faced with opposition through governments not willing to support their rebuilding. Although there is no explicit document on protecting environmental refugees, Article 12 (b) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights illustrates that states have a responsibility to ensure the improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene (UN 1966). Under this article, states should promote practices that ensure the safety, health, and sustainability of environmental refugees. The HRC established the Independent Expert on Human and Environmental Concerns with a mandate to address this pertinent concern (UNHCR). The Global Compact on Refugees, adopted by some members of the UN General Assembly in December 2018, recognizes that ‘climate, environmental degradation, and natural disasters increasingly interact with the drivers of refugee movements’ (OHCHR). However, this is not enough.

This issue is increasingly becoming apparent in our world today, where the UN predicts there could be between 25 million to 1 billion environmental migrants by 2050 (Bassetti). In 2017, there were 18.8 million displacements due to disasters, many directly caused by climate change (IMDC). Just this year, India experienced intense flooding in Assam. This area is hit by floods and landslides every year, and tens of thousands of Indians are displaced and lose their homes (Mitra). Again, just this year, millions were affected by the devastating effects of Hurricane Eta in Central America (Cuffe). As more storms are caused by climate change, more people are going to need to seek refuge in other countries. The UN needs to provide environmental refugees with further protections than what exists now. As well, the "detention" mentioned in the passage of these refugees needs to be humane, not as we see in the US with ICE detention centres which violate the human rights of migrants.The islands of Tuvalu for example are already sinking and could be gone in 50 years (Roy). If we start to see entire countries and communities lost, like in Clade, then these refugees need explicit protection that they currently do not have.

Clade by James Bradley tells us the story of one family through its three generations by advancing the narrative, in short, discrete sections. The author takes us on an adventure through time, moving us forward and sideways yet integrating us into the wider structure. Everything is explained in turn, even relationships between characters making Clade by James Bradley a page-turning text that prompts the reader to experience the emotions in phases. Clade is a fantasy novel very much rooted in reality and is a provocative and urgent illustration of how change effects our perception of family, our planet, and the people inhabiting the planet.

Bradley’s play on the word rumble might go on noticed by most but the homonym rumble according to the Merriam Webster dictionary means to travel with a low reverberating sound (as of thunder) and to reveal or discover the true character of. The Author's use of rumble is used to actively illustrate the thunderous properties of the anger and paranoia the public seems to continuously exude which works collaboratively with the end of her statement of ‘tuning’ the noise out. With this, the readers are able to interpret the secondary definition of the author's use of the word rumble to reveal the true character of the public and the media alike.

James Bradley, in this quote, makes a conscious choice by using the word ‘illegals’ when talking about unauthorized immigrants/undocumented citizens. The narrator here obviously is sympathetic to the plight of these oppressed individuals yet uses a phrase that is derogatory and feeds into the narrative that she accuses the politicians of parroting. The author here employs the use of colloquial diction when using the word ‘illegal’ to construct a narrative that is cohesive and imparts the intended meaning. The persuasive rhetoric and connotative meaning of the word ‘illegal’ is used here by James Bradley to evoke emotions, circumstances, and descriptive variations.

James Bradley, in this quote from Clade makes the comment that words matter. The Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Immigrants explains this by stating that “language shapes people’s perceptions. Discriminatory language in reference to undocumented migrants leads to perceptions and actions which negatively impact the daily realities of undocumented migrants, [and] leads to perceptions and actions which negatively impact the daily realities of undocumented migrants.” Humans beings cannot be illegal.

Although the novel is fictional, Clade gives an idea of what our future could look like if the effects of climate change continue to not be taken seriously. Environmental factors are becoming increasingly apparent in cases of migration across the world. This is caused by years of environmentally harmful decisions and activities that have led to a climate emergency. Countries must take action to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in order to prevent climate change from worsening. Additionally, by investing in infrastructure and social services, communities around the world can become more resilient to the effects of climate change and more likely to recover from natural disasters. These are merely preventative measures, however, and do not address the climate refugee crisis that is already happening in various parts of the world today. There is currently no international treaty that warrants protections for climate refugees and this must be changed. While Canada will experience the effects of climate change for years to come, the country must consider accepting climate refugees in the future - especially considering how we have profited from environmentally harmful practices overseas in the past. We, as humans, depend on ecosystems, and our livelihood, health, and even safety (as seen in cases of natural disasters and extreme environmental degradation) are dependent on the quality of our environment. Thus, human rights and the environment are interconnected.

Works Cited:


Bradley, J. (2017). Clade (p. 167). Titan Books.

Eleanor Ainge Roy. The Guardian. "One day we'll disappear: Tuvalu's sinking islands." https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/may/16/one-day-disappear-tuvalu-sinking-islands-rising-seas-climate-change

Esha Mitra. CNN. "Tens of Thousands Displaced in Assam as Floods Heap Misery on Pandemic Stricken Region." https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/21/weather/india-assam-flood-intl-hnk/index.html


Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. https://www.internal-displacement.org/global-report/grid2018/. (2017).

Sandra Cuffe. "HURRICANE ETA DEVASTATES CENTRAL AMERICA AS U.S. WITHDRAWS FROM CLIMATE ACCORD." https://theintercept.com/2020/11/16/hurricane-eta-central-america/.

“Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment.” OHCHR. Accessed December 2, 2020. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Environment/SREnvironment/Pages/SRenvironmentIndex.aspx.

The Merriam Webster Dictionary: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rumble


The Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Immigrants, “Words Matter,” available at https://picum.org/words-matter/.

UN General Assembly. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 16 December 1966. United Nations. Treaty Series. vol. 993. https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b36c0.html

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “Climate Change and Disaster Displacement.” UNHCR. Accessed December 2, 2020. https://www.unhcr.org/climate-change-and-disasters.html.

Quote:
“Still no word from Mum. I’ve been trying so hard not to think about her, not to worry, but it’s really difficult. The media ban is still in place in China but the images that are getting out are bad: hospitals overflowing, bodies in the streets. It’s the same all over Asia, and in America and Europe. Until now I’ve been worried she might be sick, but it could be worse than that, she could be dead, her body lying in some mass grave or lying in the open somewhere….” to “And so I just keep searching and hoping, willing myself to believe she’s okay” (page 205).

Thesis: The environmental devastation displays an inherent lack of human rights as it is not sustainable for human life. The book highlights a world that is facing the consequences of humankind’s negligence toward solving the climate crisis.

Argument:
The novel Clade by James Bradley follows three generations of the Leith family in a world where climate change has changed the world for the worst. It encapsulates our worst fears and feelings towards the fate of our planet if climate change is not taken seriously. The author evokes emotion in the reader as he details a world in which people are living in the aftermath of environmental devastation, apocalypse, disasters and a pandemic. This passage violates Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as it states, “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control” (UDHR). In the case of this novel, the environmental impacts are felt greatly throughout the generations, and widespread diseases are killing people at a rapid rate. The living conditions and lack of rooms in hospitals are a direct violation of the aforementioned article 25. The characters in the novel understand the effects of climate change and its irreversible nature, and despite this they are forced to live in a time where they are not able to live as they choose. There is always a sense of imminent threat or even death. While a pandemic is not something that can be avoided altogether, the environmental protections in the novel were not in place to keep people from suffering in the future. By ignoring the problem of climate change, it led to disastrous outcomes that killed innocent people. The slow nature of climate change is enough for people to think they can get away with doing nothing, however, as seen in the novel, their inability to act quickly when needed resulted in their complicity.

The pandemic in the novel started in China, and was caused by a virus called Acute Viral Respiratory Syndrome, or AVRS. This novel is prescient in that the world is currently facing a pandemic that is known to have started in China. This passage describes the painful reality of a pandemic where individuals are grappling with loss and uncertainty. The narrator is unsure of the health of their mother, and due to the photos they have seen circulating from China, they are filled with anxiety and sadness.
This novel acts as a warning to the future generations on the issue of climate change and if nothing is done to solve it before it is too late. As we are currently living through a global pandemic, it is interesting to note the parallels that exist between this fictional world and our current global climate. This novel is prescient in that the world is currently facing a pandemic that is known to have started in Wuhan, China. This is eerily related to the present day, and it can act as a check on what we are currently doing to combat climate change. While all of the events in the novel are not likely to happen, it is interesting to see James Bradley’s perspective on a world ridden with disease and one that is environmentally decimated.

Jets, Jordan Hendricks, Mary Gannon, Colbie McKay, Megan Hartery

Passage:

Chapter 1, page 17: “Meanwhile Adam found himself searching for new reasons to resist. Unlike his colleagues he had never succumbed to despair over the changing climate, preferring to believe that, faced with looming disaster, politicians and business leaders would be forced to look for solutions. But as the situation grew ever more urgent he found himself increasingly alarmed about what was to come. Each week there seemed to be new evidence that the process was hastening.”

The vision that the novel Clade provides its readers is that of everyday life we see, from loved ones and everyday struggles it quickly changes to a scene from our worst fears as humans. We see examples of what our everyday life may look like now, but get a rude awakening at what our futures may hold in this lifetime and beyond. The book talks of many different topics, the decisions we make bringing children into a world of uncertainty to politicians who are aware of the environmental impacts and futures we may face, but elect to ignore them in favour of their own personal political agendas. Although climate change affects everyone, huge corporations and politicians need to take the lead in regard to our current environmental collapse. Individual people have their own carbon footprints that they can reduce, however it is not enough because of these corporations having a much larger carbon footprint and politicians doing little to nothing to counter these detrimental changes.
Environmental collapse is a huge topic in Clade by James Bradley. In fact, it is a direct mirroring of our planet’s current environmental crisis in that our poles are melting, the temperature is getting hotter, and we are seeing less/increased rain, more wildfires, etc. Our planet’s global temperature has increased a total average of 2 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880, and over the next century scientists expect the temperature to rise nearly a total of 10 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the CSSR report released in 2018, this rise in temperature is likely from our human activities, especially our emission of greenhouse gases. Climate scientists have documented changes in the ocean, our melting glaciers, rising sea levels and oceanic acidification among a plethora of many other things.
Since 1900 our global average sea level has increased an approximated 7-8 inches, with half speculated occurring since 1993 and has affected places such as the United States already with 25 Atlantic and Gulf coast cities reporting tidal flooding at an accelerated rate. Sea levels are expected to rise 1-4 feet by 2100. Across the United States and globally, heavy rainfall is increasing in frequency and severity, and it is not expected to decrease. Since the 1960’s, extreme cold temperatures and waves have drastically reduced, replaced with intense heat temperatures and waves. Due to this, our modern era (1901-2016) was the warmest that had been recorded in our history. The western United States and Alaska have seen an increase in forest fires since 1980 and is predicted to continue increasing. Trends regarding an earlier spring melt and a reduction in snowpack are affecting water resources within the Western United States.
As the earth deteriorates, we see examples of environmental deterioration with the people in Clade facing swaths of food insecurity, the loss of entire habitats and neighbourhoods, and of course the all-too-familiar ravage of disease. As James Bradley addresses in the novel, the environment itself is far from the only threat plaguing the earth. When these devastations occur, economic and societal foundations fundamental in safe-guarding individuals begin to fall directly relating to Article 11: “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions”. With denial of this human right we often witness the mass protests we see not only in Clade but in the world today.
We also believe it is significant to note the biblical names used throughout the novel. The Bible is known to produce grand moments, such as the burning bush or Mount Sinai, as well as assert final statements that ring in the ears of the reader. The unravelling of the world in Clade mirrors these grandiose milestones in both the earth’s and human’s progression. Adam evidently originates in the Garden of Eden, marking the first man and therefore the beginning of mankind. Noah is most commonly known for his role in the floods, embarking on Noah’s ark. Supposedly, the ark was salvation from floods that washed away the earth and its inhabitants as a reset of sorts. This opposes Adam, where Adam was the beginning and Noah observes the end. In relation to Clade, we conclude that Bradley is showing the reader the possibilities that exist for humankind through these names.
In conclusion, the ability for elected officials to neglect their duties to the people whom elected them is quite obvious, the reality is that politicians are free to push their own personal agendas with many voting for the interest of business. Article 12 highlights this issue well, with “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.” and even though this article stands, it is clear that has been ignored both in the book and in real world instances. We are able to predict today what tomorrow may look like with the current state of our environment and allowing politicians to ignore such grave warnings may result in demise for many if not corrected quickly.
https://climate.nasa.gov/
https://science2017.globalchange.gov/
https://globalnews.ca/news/7396045/climate-change-donald-trump-record/
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/only-2-countries-are-meeting-their-climate-pledges-heres-how-the-10-worst-could-improve
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-canada-isnt-doing-enough-to-fight-climate-change-federal-environment/
https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx

https://www.ohchr.org/en/Issues/environment/SRenvironment/Pages/SRenvironmentIndex.aspx

https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx

Group Senators:

Imagine this, your loved one is ill and in desperate need of medical attention, but to get them to a doctor, you risk being arrested, detained, and deported back to a country that barely exists. In his novel Clade, James Bradley presents a similar situation, which he uses to illustrate a lack of available healthcare and supports available to environmental refugees. While this novel depicts a scenario with fictional characters, it is important to recognize that environmental refugees are a reality that has the potential to intensify with the current climate crisis. In this way, by focusing on the passage on page 172, this paper will seek to connect this fictional scenario to the contemporary world. To do so, we will consider the right to health under Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Accordingly, we will argue that a failure to allow environmental refugees to access adequate healthcare, the rights of these individuals were violated, putting their lives in danger.
Literary elements:
Author James Bradley uses multiple points of view for his novel. This creates a fresh take on different events and how people react to situations differently. As it might be hard at first to understand, having multiple points of view allows for a sense of the world that Bradley paints as it shows multiple points of view. The tone can be neutral, as the author keeps a monotone writing style that is there to guide the reader rather than give emotion. Especially on page 172 where it is predominately dialogue, it makes it harder for the author to convey tone. This novel keeps the reader on their feet. The reader will often feel a sense of panic as the plot of this story unravels.
The sick girl on pages 172 and 173 represents the severity of the situation and how the youth and citizens have their health at risk. It also shows how the characters come together to create a plan to help the girl showing unity and teamwork. Without all citizens, young and old society can be jeopardized which is why the sick girl symbolizes the severity of their situation

Human Rights:
Refugees around the world face discrimination on a human rights level, often this doesn’t include environmental refugees because there is no legal document recognizing them as such. Environmental refugees are victims of an environmental catastrophe, but often it happens so that the individual cannot get the status of refugee and must enter another country illegally to stay safe. When an environmental refugee enters another country and requires medical attention or other services usually offered by the State, they face extreme risks of being arrested, detained, and deported. As shown in the novel by James Bradley, sometimes being deported means going to a country that no longer exists because of the climate crisis. These situations are subject to intense human rights violations like the violation of the right to the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health under article 12 of the ICESCR. This can be seen in the novel when many people died due to a pandemic, people’s health was being affected by the change in the climate, but mostly in the passage we have decided to highlight where a young girl who is an environmental refugee needed healthcare, but her parents could not give her the help she needed because they would be prosecuted and sent to a now barely existing country where their lives would be in jeopardy. Another right that is being violated is the right of “the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health” at article 24 of the CRC. This right affects directly the young girl who needed surgery which her life depended on, but again this endangered her whole family’s safety as well as her own. Being deported to a barely existing country would prevent her from getting the follow-up care, and that is if she would’ve gotten the surgery in the first place without the help of Ellie.

According to the United Nations (UN), environmental, or climate, refugees are those individuals forcibly displaced from their homes due to the effects of climate change, natural disasters, or relocating to survive. As with the case for all individuals seeking refuge in other countries, refugee law plays an important role as it seeks to provide safety and protection. However, in Clade, Bradley depicts a situation in which the rights of environmental refugees are not protected, which acts as a barrier for a little girl who is desperate for a hospital. In this passage, Amir calls on his friend Ellie, who is legally a citizen to take the child, Nisha, to get medical attention. By doing so, Ellie protects Nisha’s parents and friends from a genuine risk of deportation, as they are not, legally citizens of Australia (Bradley, 172). By limited healthcare to citizens, the Australian government is violating these people’s right to healthcare under Article 12 of the ICESCR, which recognizes the right of “everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.” This article does not limit state responsibilities to citizens but opens it to include all people, with no explicit distinctions. Accordingly, it appears that by failing to offer healthcare to all people within the state, the government of Australia is committing a gross human rights violation that endangered Nisha’s health, well-being, and both her safety and that of her friends and family.
Moreover, considering that Nisha is a child, this violation of her rights also falls under Article 24 of the CRC. This article is similar to that in the ICESCR, as states are responsible to ensure that children receive the “highest attainable standard of health. However, it also goes farther by noting that states must strive to ensure that “no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.” Again, this article does not distinguish between citizens and refugees but emphasizes this right for all children. That said, the risk of deportation acts as a barrier to Nisha’s access to healthcare, which, in turn, deprives her of this right. In this way, the Australian government violated Nisha’s rights under Article 12 of the ICESCR and Article 24 of the CRC.
In an article for Human Rights Watch, Pearson writes about Australia’s return to a troubling approach in response to refugees and asylum seekers (2020). In 2013, Australia resumed a policy of transferring asylum seekers offshore to camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru (Pearson, 2020). The year 2020 marks the seventh anniversary of this practice, which resulted in the transfer of over 3,000 individuals to these camps after arriving in Australia by boat (Pearson, 2020). With this contemporary example in mind, it is clear that Australia’s approach to refugees is not overly kind or supportive. In this way, it does not appear that refugees are well received in this country, which negatively impacts their treatment, despite international laws on this topic. However, while these failures mark violations of international law, this is not the case for environmental refugees, as they are not included in these documents. As a result, the root causes for the treatment of Nisha and her family reflect troublesome contemporary refugee practices both nationally in Australia and internationally.
To resolve this situation, Australia must adopt better policies that are more accepting and supportive of refugees. In other words, they must follow existing international laws that regulate the treatment of these individuals. On a larger scale, environmental refugees must be recognized as such through these laws. In this way, there is more accountability for all states to protect these individuals and recognize them as refugees. While this may not solve the problem completely, it will help set international standards that can be built upon to establish more accepting practices around the world.


Citations
“Convention on the Rights of the Child.” OHCHR, www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx
“International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.” OHCHR, www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx.
Pearson, Elaine. “Seven Years of Suffering for Australia's Asylum Seekers, Refugees.” Human Rights Watch, 28 Oct. 2020, www.hrw.org/news/2020/07/16/seven-years-suffering-australias-asylum-seekers-refugees
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “Climate Change and Disaster Displacement.” UNHCR, www.unhcr.org/climate-change-and-disasters.html

Maple Leafs: Dillon Allan, Jessie-lynn Cross, Ellen MacDonald, Ashley Swaby

Dr. Amanda DiPaolo

HMRT 2023: Human Rights and Literature

December 6, 2020

Passage:
Our passage from the novel is from page 135. It says:

“And so, come late afternoon, they descend the stairs, wade out into the street. The water is waist-deep but flowing slowly enough not to be a problem. Now it is possible to see the full scale of the destruction: cars and trees banked against buildings and fences, scrape piled upon them, windows damaged or missing, walls standing at all angles. A few hundred metres down the road, a car has been rammed through the front wall of a block of flats; a little further on the entire roof of a house rests upside down but intact in a stand of trees by the side of the road.

There are others, grimmer sights as well. More than once they come across bodies caught in the wreckage. A man pinned to a wall by a car, a woman face down in a sump, a girl hanging suspended in the branches of an overturned tree. At first, they try to shield Noah’s eyes, but after the third body they give up, and just move past them in silence.”

Analysis:
The book we analyzed in this session took place in today’s society. (If today’s society had a hypothetical pandemic and huge climate crisis happening.) Ironically enough, there is a huge climate crisis happening, as well as a global pandemic. This novel was originally published in 2015, so it is very surreal that the author wrote this book five years prior to all of these events, which also occur in their novel.

Point of View:
This novel is quite different from the other novels we have read this semester because there is no one story with one point of view or tone. This novel is a collection of stories with different protagonists, such as Adam and Ellie, Noah, and Li. Out of the 10 “chapters”, only two are told from the first-person point of view. We get introduced to Li Lijuan in “A Journal of the Plague Year”, and his perspective is told in the following chapter, “Echo.”

The passage here is discussed in the third person point of view; the narrator of the story is omnipresent and omniscient. The benefit of this point of view is that we can see personally into the life of multiple characters instead of just one. This novel is powerful in a different way than the other novels were because instead of hearing the personal story of one person’s experience, we are getting the stories of multiple people and families throughout global events, such as the climate crisis and the pandemic. Having a third-person perspective in this particular story would make the story stronger by getting an overall sense of how the characters were feeling versus what individual characters felt.

Tone:
The tone in this passage of the novel comes off as hopeless at first but then comes off as desensitized nearing the end of the passage. The description discussing what has happened illustrates that so many “grim” things have happened, that the characters have given up on hoping for any sort of return to normal.

Literary Devices:
The main literary devices used in this passage are personification, imagery, and foreshadowing. Personification was used in the passage when it said the walls were “standing”. The imagery was mentioned in the passage by describing the sights of the scene; cars rammed into buildings, windows damaged or missing completely, people pinned the walls by cars or hanging from trees. This is all horrific imagery, not just to the readers but to the characters as well. We can notice that the characters are disturbed by the scenery as Adam tries to “shield Noah’s eyes” but the sights are so continuous, that he gives up after a while and they just attempt to desensitize themselves to the tragedies. Finally, the last literary device used in the passage was a hint of foreshadowing. These descriptions of continuous disaster every few hundred metres tells me that other places were possibly hit in a similar fashion, even if the characters are unaware of this.

Thesis:
In James Bradley’s novel Clade, it is very clear to see the violations against environmental rights, specifically portrayed on page 35. For our section we will discuss the violations of section 25 of the UDHR: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family... or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control...” and section 12 of the ICESCR: “ The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.…” With talks about flooding, destruction and grim sights of dead bodies everywhere it goes into detail about the outcome of global warming and an unsafe environment that is inadequate for the health and well-being of every individual.

Argument/ Violation #1:
Within our chosen passage, on page 135, James Bradley goes in-depth about the horrors caused by the storm that struck England.

“Now it is possible to see the full scale of the destruction… more than once they come across bodies caught in the wreckage. A man pinned to a wall by a car, a woman face down in a sump, a girl hanging suspended in the branches of an overturned tree. At first, they try to shield Noah’s eyes, but after the third body they give up…” (Bradley 135).

As the audience enters the second half of the novel it is surely revealed how much damage the Earth is enduring due to the rapidly deteriorating climate caused by humans, which brings us into our first human rights violation. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family... or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control...” (UDHR Art. 25). This human right states that everyone has the right to an environment that is healthy enough to sustain people, which includes striving to keep our Earth from dying. For decades, environmental activists and scientists have been warning politicians and governments about the state our planet has come to, and it has resorted to young individuals boycotting schools and attending protests in order to get the attention of people with real power. Not only does this novel and this passage shows how humans destroy the Earth, but history has also shown it as well. Within the passage, the imagery of what happens when the Earth begins to get to a worse state is portrayed. Page 135 shows that within the novel, the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of individuals has been violated because of the lack of resources the government has failed to put towards trying to save the planet. This passage and violation highlight the real destruction happening in real life and how if we do not begin striving towards a healthier environment, there will become a time when it is too late.

Arguments #2 and #3:
Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights states that everyone has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. The last paragraph of page 153 states that they try to shield Noah from the dead bodies in the flood water but eventually give up because there were so many bodies. It must be traumatic for anyone especially children to wade through a body of water with corpses all around them. These conditions are not only traumatic but unsanitary, anyone wading through these water are exposed to viruses and bacteria which could make them extremely ill. Their human rights to physical and mental health have been violated because states refused to acknowledge climate change and its negative effects. Noah and his family have to witness the destruction of their environment and the tragic loss of life is not in line with their right to have good mental health. The states failed their citizens because they overlooked environmental destruction so that economic growth could continue. The novel brings to light the troubling practice of putting economic growth over environmental preservation. There is no real point in having economic growth if we do not have a planet with a stable environment.

Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights outlines that everyone is entitled to an adequate standard of living and the continuous improvement of living conditions. Section (2) (a) of Article 11 highlights that it is the state’s responsibility to ensure that methods of production are continuously being improved so that resources can be efficiently utilized but this was not done. Greenhouse gas emissions caused by the production and transportation industry contribute greatly to climate change. Governments had the chance to move to cleaner methods of production but they continued to ignore those who called for change. As a result, Noah and his family must prepare to go out into floodwaters to find safety. This is the reality that society faces and unfortunately many people lose their lives as they try to find safety. The states completely neglected their responsibility as it relates to ensuring that living conditions were continuously improved. The states sat by as the environment deteriorated and environmental instability became the new normal for society. The inefficient use of natural resources and a lack of care for the environmental preservation by corporations and the states have led to Noah and other children living on a planet that can no longer support human life in a way that aligns with human rights set out in the ICESCR.

Conclusion:
Floods, fires, hurricanes and other environmental storms are the cause of death, environmental refugees, starvation, homelessness and sickness. On page 35 in Clade, we watch Adam, Summer and Noah experience violations of their rights for an adequate and healthy life. Not only are the circumstances of earth destruction dangerous and harmful to them, but it also causes distress and negatively affects their mental well-being.

Citations: 

“International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.” OHCHR, www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx.

"Universal Declaration of Human Rights" 

United Nations, https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/