3. Effective Distance: A Polish Dissident’s Encounter with Amnesty International and Its Western-Born Rules

Individual actors involved in defending human rights differ widely and have divergent views on goals and how ‘effective activism’ should be defined. In this chapter, two human rights actors meet, and their worldviews clash. Emil Morgiewicz, Polish dissident of the 1970s, had one main goal: liberating Poland from Soviet domination. As the first ever member of Amnesty International in his country, his attempt to further his goals through this worldwide movement was curtailed by strict rules within the movement, which were meant to safeguard the organisation’s effectiveness. While Morgiewicz was clear about his goals, he was flexible in terms of how to achieve them, as long as the method was effective. Amnesty had members with diverse goals within its ranks, but members were generally united around a shared vision regarding the need to be effective; a vision that was, however, not shared or attainable in Eastern Europe. This contribution explores the differences between the interpretation of human rights by an individual and an organisation; between the actor who acts on behalf of himself and the actor who acts on behalf of others.