Page 7 - Priorities #19 2002-July

Academics
John Kamm:
This Businessman Makes A Big Difference In Human Rights
Civil liberties in China came to the Priory this spring in the person of John Kamm, a successful businessman and human rights activist—a combination many would say is very unlikely to succeed. Mr. Kamm was the subject of a cover story in the New York Times Magazine on May 3 for his extraordinary success in gaining release of politicalprisoners. Farfrombeingahigh-profile advocate, however, Mr. Kamm built his human rights success by the unorthodox approach of quietly tying his personal business meetings to requests for information about individual Chinese prisoners.
Mr. Kamm has longstanding business relationships with China. He is also founder and head of a small, nonprofit human rights foundation. In the latter role, he helped secure release or better treatment for some 250 Chinese imprisoned for nonviolently advocating religious or political views. Equally important, he says, no one with whom he has worked is the worse off for helping him.
Previous to his distinguished humanitarian work, this New Jersey native earned academic degrees at Princeton and Harvard and achieved an illustrious businesscareertakingUSintereststoChina. Hehas recently added such titles as Director of the National Committee on US-China Relations, trustee of the World Affairs Council in Northern California, Director of Stanford University’s Program in Human Rights Diplomacy, and honorary professor at Chinese universities in Guangzhou and Qingdao.
Pragmatism appears to be one key to his extraordinary influence with Chinese officials. Instead of loudly preaching human rights and American moral views, Mr. Kamm offers a fair trade: the Chinese officials provide information about political prisoners of personal interest to Mr. Kamm and in turn win points with the American government for their cooperation.
In the eyes of China, cooperating with Kamm improves United States-China understanding, and doesn’t involve yielding to invasive foreign interventionist demands, the Times article explains. A Chinese spokesperson commented to Times reporter that, "John Kamm is very critical of our policies, but hisapproachisacceptabletous. HelovesChina. He showsrespect. Heisconstructiveandrealistic."
Mr. Kamm said he doesn’t directly use materials from well-known human rights groups such as Amnesty International, because the Chinese view these organizations as anti-Chinese.
John Kamm (right) with Scott Parker, theology department chair
Asked by the Priory students how he finds out what prisoners need help, Mr. Kamm said he often begins by simply reading the local papers. For example, he might find a mention that peaceful demonstrators were detained. He files that information in a binder—one name per page— and when he is meeting with Chinese officials, he refers themtothispublicdocumentandasksabout the detainees. Once a case is raised, the government frequently will follow up at the local level. Often, prisoners are released or conditions improved soon after Kamm simply seeks information from the correct people, he said.
Simply keeping memory alive by finding and recording the names is one of the most rewarding parts of his humanitarian work, Mr. Kamm says. "You can’t talk about human rights without talking about indivdiual human beings. You can’t get a man out of prison if you don’t know who he is," he commented.
As a tribute to his one-on-one approach, many former prisoners or their families contact him individually, months later, with heartfelt gratitude.
Shortly after Mr. Kamm’s visit to the campus, Mr. Carter brought another speaker to his theology classes. Shaista Azad, a young woman from the Islamic Speakers Group, was born in Afghanistan and is now a law student at Santa Clara University. She talked with students about the basic concepts of the Muslim faith.
Often, prisoners are released or conditions improved soon after Kamm seeks information from the correct people.
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