People(s)-Centered Human Rights (PCHR)

Wish you were here, we could talk. The proprietor reminds me that there’s no substitute for talk. Places like hers have been springing up and getting banned and spreading for five hundred years. From Constantinople and Mecca and Damascus, war carried them to Europe, where they disturbed the serenity of La Serenissima, then spread civic and intellectual ferment to Oxford and London and throughout Europe. Miles’ Coffehouse hosted a republican cabal, the Coffee club of Pepys’ diary, and prospered despite losing a couple regulars to the chopping block.

Fifty-two years-ago on February 21st, the world lost the great anti-colonial fighter, Malcolm X. Around the world, millions pause on this anniversary and take note of the life and contribution of Brother Malcolm. Two years ago, I keynoted a lecture on the legacy of Malcolm X at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon. While I had long been aware of the veneration that Malcolm inspired in various parts of the world, I was still struck by the love and appreciation that so many have for Malcolm beyond activists in the black world.