Dear Friends and Colleagues,

A few weeks ago, I experienced an amazing tour of the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador. On my first land outing we came across the blue-footed booby pictured here. This beautiful bird sat peacefully while we 12 tourists circled it and took photographs. I asked our guide if the bird was just accustomed to having people around, and he replied, “The blue-footed booby has no natural predators and, therefore, knows no fear.” While I saw many other wondrous species, this particular observation and piece of knowledge had a major impact on me and inspired this writing.

We know in our studies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) that Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedom’s Speech (January 6, 1941) spelled out: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear. These are the underpinnings of the 30 Articles of the UDHR and are reflected directly in its Preamble. I believe that we have an opportunity to explore how to better understand the implications of Freedom from Fear in our personal lives and to how  this could lead to a more inclusive society and the protection of democratic processes.

The 2024 Ford Foundation essay With the Freedom from Fear, the Responsibility to Act provides enlightening information about the factors that contribute to fear and how their mechanisms and levers work to deter and paralyze action. Promoting fear can have deleterious impacts on how we operate as a society, and this essay, while lengthy, provides perspectives on how we can consider the importance of our actions to push back on fear and towards building the “healthy peacetime life” Roosevelt spoke of.

While I recommend reading the entire essay, the following are sections that inspire my thinking for navigating positively, with courage, during these challenging times:

While fear constrains social movements, it also can paralyze well-intentioned leaders. Too often, it keeps those with power and privilege from doing what’s right when that means taking risks that might imperil their organizations or businesses or individual careers. Sometimes, it may tempt them to make rash decisions that, in the name of protecting democratic rights and freedoms for some of us, erode those same freedoms for all of us.

In these cases, fear is used to justify certain actions—such as the increase of government surveillance, or tough-on-crime policy reforms that serve mostly to criminalize people of color. Meanwhile, the underlying causes of that fear—be they racism, sexism, ableism, the effective use of propaganda, or a persistent cultural narrative—go without being examined, let alone addressed.

This is because fear seizes upon our differences and exaggerates them, and almost always compels society to divide along lines of “us” versus “them.” It entices the desperate or the frustrated or the furious. It empowers demagogues and strongmen who exploit the very real anxieties of ordinary people while amassing power for themselves and their cronies. It drives governments—even elected ones—to make decisions that seek to preserve “law and order” at the expense of freedom and dignity. In other words, fear is toxic to our society because it discourages people from taking the actions that might help us feel safer, or make us freer, or allow us to heal—and instead it drives us apart.

The Imperative of Action

If one of the intended effects of fear is that it stifles action, then to oppose fear, we must be willing to act. This is particularly true when the action required is inconvenient or uncomfortable or risky—when taking action might be considered hazardous for our reputations or even dangerous for our careers.

More than just acting for ourselves, we must be willing to act on behalf of others—especially those who live in fear. Our actions can bolster those who might otherwise be vulnerable, and can provide cover to those often targeted because of their identity or affiliation.

History reminds us that the only way to ensure all of our freedoms—our freedom to speak and believe, and to live a “healthy peacetime life”—is to take action on behalf of others. And to do that, we must have the moral courage to face not just our fears, but fear itself.

The UDHR came out of the horrors of World War II, driven by the commitment of many to change the way we are toward each other, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948. It offered an aspirational set of agreed upon universal rights to promote a world of peace. While we may wonder if any of this matters, I would encourage taking inspiration from all the people before us, including those who drafted the UDHR, those who have exerted efforts through history to bring about equality, equity, justice and dignity for all, as well as from this clip from our first presentation The World As It Could Be – A Declaration of Human Rights.

Listed below are direct links to some of the resources we offer to support your agency to speak up, connect with others in compassionate, meaningful ways, and remain engaged in moving from fear to Freedom from Fear.

With best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving and gratitude for our connection,

Sandy Sohcot

Newsletters

• Paradoxical Thinking: A mind-opening way to reframe and rethink our dilemmas and choices—local and global
• We can and must further the narrative of peace
• If You Get Confused, Listen to the Music Play

From Bringing the Meaning of the UDHR Close to Home

• Resources for speaking up
• Resources for navigating complex issues and communications
• Using the UDHR to guide positive community action

• Partial List of Human Rights Advocates and Defenders
• LESSON PLAN 5: EXPLORE THE UNIVERSE OF OBLIGATION* – MOVING FROM RIGHTS TO RESPONSIBILITIES

“Kaninchen und Ente” (“Rabbit and Duck”)
from the 23 October 1892 issue of Fliegende Blätter (learn more)