Motion 97
Music is a Human Right
“That this Congress notes that humans are musical animals and, while not alone in using song or rhythm, we are unique in creating structures that diminish music’s place in our nature. Musicality is foremost a fundamental human trait, not a commodity or a measurable accomplishment. Making music together has long taught humans about listening, responding, and unity.
“A movement built around collective purpose must understand universal access to music making is fundamental, not a luxury. People making music together rehearse the very skills trade unionism depends on: cooperation, empathy, and shared intention. We must defend music’s core meaning to us as people.
“Recognising humans as inherently musical provides powerful counters to arguments that music is an ‘extra’ in schools and communities, making the case for its inclusion in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and their right to participate fully in art and culture irrefutable.
“The market and institutions have rebuilt music as a commodity and a measure of attainment. Increasingly, expectations of music reflect these definitions. However, such structures exclude many from taking part in music. This is alienation, as many who work with music in schools will recognise, as they fight for the right for children to grow up singing.
“Congress calls on the General Council to:
- recognise and affirm music-making as a human birthright, rooted in our nature as social animals and central to the practice of solidarity;
- understand and reduce the barriers that commercial and institutional constructions of music-making place in the path of universal participation;
- campaign for every person in Scotland to have free and equal access to participatory music-making in schools and communities as a human right; and
- urge the Scottish Government to enshrine the right to make music as a core element of education, culture, and social wellbeing policy.”
Mover: Musicians’ Union (MU)
RSS