Abstract
In this opinion the author considers the background and ethos to the civil society movement and the importance of human rights instruments in inspiring it. He moves to address the difficulties of regarding the state as inherently the enemy and the apparent contradiction of this approach with the central role accorded to democracy in these same human rights instruments. This leads to the conclusion that greater participation in political life is human rights activism and a discussion of the idea of democracy, the individual and collective will behind it and human rights as a tool in our post-modern age.