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Gattaca dystopia: future, present or the past?
It’s hard to work out if the 1997 movie Gattaca presents a vision of triumph or failure of humanity. It presents a dystopian future which echoes the dystopian elements of our present and past. In this future, people are judged solely by their genetic scorecard. Those whose parents do not engineer them for success before birth are marked out as an underclass fit only for menial tasks. Those who try to cross the genetic border are ‘de-generates’ and ‘invalids’ – a criminal other. The “genoism” (discrimination) that arises from the use of genes to judge human worth, echoes the race science of Nazism and early 20th century eugenics in…
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A Fitting Memorial
On or around 14 November 2010 another 97 men, women and children lost their lives as asylum seekers crossing the sea to Australia. The recent Four Corners report (which focussed also on the people smuggler network involved) explored something of the lives of those lost. We here record their names, and what few details that Four Corners published concerning their lives. Such a listing can never be a fitting memorial. Among them was 24 year old Mohammad Rezaie whose fiance waited for him in Melbourne. He left home the day after his sister’s wedding. Ayad Al Kazami his wife and Hiba and Huba, their two daughters, were also on the boat. They also…
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We have to bring the world together and learn to live as one
Sometimes our musicians capture in few words ideas at the heart of human rights. This article is dedicated to the song “United”, which was produced by a group of musicians “Playing for Change”. They wrote the song in cooperation with 7 billion actions, bringing together musicians from around the world. Where some might see the figure of 7 billion as a cause of alarm, these musicians see 7 billion human hearts. As 7 Billion Actions say on their webpage: 7 Billion Actions is connecting people and creating positive change through the universal language of music. Music has the power to break down boundaries between people. Music transcends geographical, political, economic, spiritual and ideological distances, uniting people…
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Equal Pay for Equal Work
Everyone, without discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 23(4) This idea is hard to argue with. It appeals to our sense of fairness. It appears in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in other human rights treaties, as well as in international labour conventions. Its history and elaboration is an achievement of the women’s movement. The principle is not however limited to gender inequality. Like other human rights principles, its realisation is a work in progress. Country after country has entrenched the principle of equal pay for equal work in national laws. Yet on a global scale, equal pay for equal…
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The Duty of Kindness and Sympathy Towards Strangers and Foreigners
It is hardest to write of those things about which we feel most deeply. Today I wish to write about someone whose words and life have profoundly influenced and inspired me. That person is Abdu’l Baha: the son of the founder of the Baha’i Faith and its leader from 1892 to 1921. I wish to address particularly what Abdu’l Baha had to say about the issue of ‘foreignness’. One hundred years ago, on 16 and 17 October 1911, he gave his first recorded talk to the people of Paris. The theme of his talk was “the duty of kindness and sympathy towards strangers and foreigners”. What did Abdu’l Baha see…
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The borders of virtue and power
Closing borders: to refugees, to undocumented migrants, raises questions of virtue and questions of power. The public debate around borders is so fractured, so superficial, so bedevilled with assumption and ritual conflict that it conveys little new meaning. It simply reiterates the existence of a continuing contest – a contest that often is more about power than rights. In this contest we see progressively increasing brutality and violence. Resort to force, implicit or explicit, is the modern day tool of choice underpinning this public debate. Whether in the sophisticated armory and defenses of international borders or the increasing instances of riot of those who assert their freedom. The tiny island of Lampedusa saw such an example this…
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Would you have me argue that all human beings are equal?
Frederick Douglass was a remarkable worker for human rights. Although he lived more than a century ago, his thoughts remain pressingly relevant. He began life as a slave, but winning his own freedom, he fought not only for abolition of slavery but also gave his support to other human rights causes, such as the emancipation of women. Born in 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland, he was separated from his mother at an early age, he writes, as was typically done with slave children. His father, he believed, was his mother’s master. Even though it was against the law for slave children to be taught to read and write, Sophia Auld the…
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It’s [not] a free planet
“It’s a free country.” In an age of anxiety you don’t hear people say it so much. And you certainly won’t hear anyone say “It’s a free planet”. For some people it’s getting less free all the time. The retreat in planetary freedom is measured in the rise of terms such as “border security” and the real and virtual fences are going up on the borders of the world. The barriers going up not just at the borders – within countries and beyond them mechanisms to keep ‘them’ out are being reinforced all the time. The highest and most impassable barrier is the wall being built in our minds, so that it becomes more and more difficult…
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The Anti-Immigration Era: What is going on in the United States?
What is happening in America? America is in turmoil on the issue of immigration. Some describe it as the new ‘civil rights’ issue. Laws are being introduced across the country to mark out people who are to be excluded. These laws impact particularly on people of Latino heritage, both migrant and not. Ordinary activities such as driving a car, going to school, picking someone up from the roadside: have all been regulated or criminalised to drive migrants out. Walls have been built to prevent people crossing the border. The border region between the United States and Mexico has been militarised. Across America there are 370 prisons where immigrants are detained and processed for…
