In a 2011 paper by Jackie Dugard, the following comment on Heinrich Bohmke's writings appeared:
"Most recently, going beyond the critique of rights, commentators such as Heinrich Bohmke and Luke Sinwell have critiqued rights-based NGOs and social movements themselves for being reformist and led astray by outsiders with middle-class human rights interests. According to Bohmke,“all fledgling movements attracted a coterie middle-class, left-leaning activists and academics, some newcomers and some remnants of earlier disaffections with the ‘revolution betrayed’, searching for a new radical agent”. Along with Bohmke, Luke Sinwell has raised concerns over the “romanticisation” of social movements, arguing that the “Left needs to be careful not to over-romanticise their contribution to a more democratic South Africa”. Thus, even before there has really been much analysis on the extent to which social movements are rights-based or operate within a human rights paradigm, they have been branded as having been tamed by rights-bearing NGOs, lawyers and academics. Not only does thisleave the impression that there is no untainted/untamed collective for real change in South Africa, but also that social movements have no agency."
For the entire article, please visit: http://www.jus.uio.no/smr/english/research/projects/ripoca/rn/9-2011.pdf
"Most recently, going beyond the critique of rights, commentators such as Heinrich Bohmke and Luke Sinwell have critiqued rights-based NGOs and social movements themselves for being reformist and led astray by outsiders with middle-class human rights interests. According to Bohmke,“all fledgling movements attracted a coterie middle-class, left-leaning activists and academics, some newcomers and some remnants of earlier disaffections with the ‘revolution betrayed’, searching for a new radical agent”. Along with Bohmke, Luke Sinwell has raised concerns over the “romanticisation” of social movements, arguing that the “Left needs to be careful not to over-romanticise their contribution to a more democratic South Africa”. Thus, even before there has really been much analysis on the extent to which social movements are rights-based or operate within a human rights paradigm, they have been branded as having been tamed by rights-bearing NGOs, lawyers and academics. Not only does thisleave the impression that there is no untainted/untamed collective for real change in South Africa, but also that social movements have no agency."
For the entire article, please visit: http://www.jus.uio.no/smr/english/research/projects/ripoca/rn/9-2011.pdf