STEP 4. UNDERSTAND DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS Equal Protection under Law is the foundation of democracy and human rights. Why? Because if a group can simply use its size and strength to "vote" away the basic freedoms of another group, then no minority population or individual has any reason to participate in sustaining the existence of such government. Majoritarianism is not democracy. Democracy is defined by Majority Rule AND Minority Rights, another way of saying Equal Protection under Law. Human rights are not a popularity contest. Freedom is not a popularity contest. Your basic rights as a human being are not debatable. People will of course try to come up with any number of excuses for violating human rights, but none of them are valid. Most often violators will say that human rights violations are part of tradition, or that people "voted" to violate human rights. Both excuses are absurd on face value. Human rights are the birthright of every human being, rights which acknowledge that civil society has learned from the mistakes and horrors of world history and which affirm that countless human beings who have suffered and died around the globe did not do so in vain. Human rights are to be defended universally to overcome thousands of years of discrimination, persecution, and exclusion that are at the core of human suffering. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights however acknowledges reality, so when diplomacy fails, human beings may do whatever is required to end human rights violations. This reflects the reality that for every good politician, official or religious leader who upholds human rights, there are evil politicians, officials or religious leaders who seek power and/or money violating the human rights of others. STEP 5: Assess Participation STEP 6: Hold Top Human Rights Violators Accountable STEP 1: State Groups STEP 2: Topic Groups STEP 3: Help Out Community Groups