The Need for Nuance and Political Neutrality
By Lauren Banham
Since the beginning of our working relationship and the founding of Legal Pact for the Future, Anna and I have been exclaiming, “It’s just more nuanced than that!”. While the repetition of this phrase has resulted in a fond inside joke, the reason for this exclaim is rooted in our deep frustrations with the global trend of increasing personal and political divisions.
At a time when argumentative Twitter threads, identity politics and culture wars have become everyday occurrences, it is no wonder we are failing to find collaborative, united solutions. The dominant cancel culture pushes us towards condemnation and alienation, not rectification and progression.
Having a nuanced conversation does not mean that we fail to prioritise accountability and define right from wrong. I would argue it does the very opposite. In allowing ourselves and others to extend the conversation beyond our initial instinct to shut down opposing opinions, we are able to examine issues beyond what is immediately obvious. Nuanced debates allow us to dissect issues and discover solutions that exist outside of our current binary understandings of issues.
The work of the Legal Pact is intentionally as non-political as possible.
This is not because we wish for those involved to be neutral in stance or independent in ideology but because we believe that our most basic interests can be agreed on despite differences. We believe the collective need for enforceable rights for all transcends division.
Illustration by Alara Acik
Our explicit neutrality is driven by the desire to foster connections across the board. We believe that we are stronger together, not just in spite of our differences but because of them. International law and innovative legal solutions must be representative of the world they seek to protect.
Historically, many voices have been systemically absent from conversations of governance, and the worrying trend of exclusionary divisions threatens to continue this damaging pattern. Therefore we encourage the promotion of diversity in identity, ideology and ideas. Through embracing constructive debate and harnessing difference, the Legal Pact seeks to break down the barriers to participation and representation that constrain our global systems of law and governance.
In one of our previous posts, Anna outlines how our deep divisions have resulted in a widespread loss of connection between people and governance. We see nuance and neutrality as an essential starting point to bridging this divide.
The law exists to inject nuance into our divided systems, providing a neutral counterbalance to partisan governance. The law is what we can rely on go beyond to political differences and to exist outside of echo chambers. Legal Pact unites people, NGOs, businesses and governments in a united call for people-centred justice that addresses the root causes of our entrenched differences.
It is because the enforcement of basic rights for people and the planet transcends partisanship that the Legal Pact is able to call for approaches to conversations which are rooted in the desire to examine issues from every angle and discover solutions beyond presently constructed notions.
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