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Abolire Estraneità
Otto milioni di bambini sotto l’età di cinque muoiono ogni anno in gran parte per cause prevenibili. In alcuni paesi il 20% dei bambini muore prima di raggiungere i cinque anni. Migliaia di persone in fuga da guerre, persecuzioni o povertà muoiono attraversando le frontiere internazionali. Paesi ricchi continuamente rafforzano leggi e misure per prevenire che le persone attraversano le frontiere. Centinaia di migliaia sono detenuti nelle carceri di migrazione – come se fossero dei criminali. 67 milioni di persone vivono come rifugiati o sfollati interni a causa della persecuzione, guerra, povertà o altre cause. Un miliardo di persone vivono in estrema povertà. Credere che gli esseri umani sono “stranieri” rende tale profonda violazione dei…
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The Crisis of Human Rights: Discrimination Against Non-Citizens
The basic idea at the heart of human rights is that all human beings are equal: equal in rights – equal in human dignity. This idea is universally accepted and believed. At the same time another idea – the idea that we are separately citizens of different countries is also a feature of the modern world – and the way it is practised has led to enormous discrimination and violation of human rights. In reality people, as a matter of law, have different fundamental rights even though we believe that all human beings are equal. In a recent paper titled “Human Rights in the Age of Migration: An Empirical Analysis of Human…
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Villawood Protests
What is a “protest”? In the context of democracy we think of them as citizen action – citizens speaking to their government – expressing their dissatisfaction with a policy or state of affairs. What then are we to make of the actions of a few non-citizens protesting on the roof of the Villawood detention centre in Sydney Australia? The protest started with the leap to his death of Josevata Rauluni 36 from the same roof on 20 September 2010 – who did not wish to be deported. A needless tragedy – for what harm could have come to Australia to extend to this man the hand of welcome? On our…
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What ended chattel slavery in the British Empire?
The question of how legal chattel slavery in the British Empire came to an end is an important question to ask. It is far from a historical curiosity. The end of legal slavery in the British Empire potentially contains lessons on how the human rights abuses of our own time might be addressed. Given the political and commercial interests invested in the continuation of slavery and the slave trade how could change ever have come about? Slavery in the British Empire: Hochschild In this video, Adam Hochschild, talks about why chattel slavery in the British Empire ended. He discusses the different stories that have been told (and not told) about this…
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Abolire Estraneità
“Quando … le nazione …, sono state trovate, attraverso una lunga successione di età, di concorrere ne le stesse usanze e abitudini, ci sembra sorgere una presunzione, che tali usi non solo sono eminentemente utili, ma si fondano anche sui principi di giustizia. Tale è il caso per quanto riguarda la schiavitù … “Thomas Clarkson 1785 Thomas Clarkson ha vissuto in un tempo e di luogo quando la schiavitù era legale. Ha lavorato per far cessare il commercio degli schiavi. Viviamo in un tempo quando è opinione diffusa che è ‘solo’ a discriminare gli “stranieri”. Le sofferenze subite dagli esseri umani a causa della divisione della famiglia umana in cittadino e…
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Abolire Estraneità
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“Crossing Over” – Harrison Ford stars as ICE Agent
Crossing Over is a 2009 American independent film drama exploring the lives of illegal immigrants attempting to “cross the border” literally and metaphorically to achieve legal status in the United States. The film deals with the border, document fraud, the asylum and green card process, work-site enforcement, naturalization, the office of counter-terrorism and the clash of cultures. The film highlights the dehumanising effects of border controls on both those seeking to cross the border and those involved in maintaining them. It also explores the crossing of cultural boundaries and the real and psychological conflicts that can result. Harrison Ford stars as ICE Special Agent Max Brogan, Ray Liotta plays Cole Frankel and…
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Australia seeks to process asylum seekers in East Timor
In a policy announcement echoing the discredited ‘Pacific solution’ of the previous Liberal Government, the new Australian government has decided to seek to detain asylum seekers in a ‘regional processing centre’ in East Timor. The new Australian policy reflects a general hardening of policies towards asylum seekers in the lead up to national elections. ABC news report ex-Amnesty International chief as saying that this policy will not work. The policy also reflects increasing practice engaged in by European nations of engaging third countries to prevent arrivals of asylum seekers and irregular migrants. A notable example is the detention in Libya of migrants seeking to reach Europe. The Global Detention Project…
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Remote Control Borders: Violating Freedom of Movement
Article 13(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that everyone has the right to leave any country. Increasingly countries are cooperating to violate this human rights by preventing aslyum seekers and others from leaving a country to seek refuge in another country. Some examples are: Egypt: which prevents Africans from leaving Egypt in attempting to enter Israel. On 11 June Reuters reported the killing of migrants on the Egyptian border, who were attempting to leave Egypt. 18 people have been killed this year so far, as compared to 19 for the whole of last year. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE65A0CZ.htm Indonesia: which cooperates with Australia to prevent asylum seekers leaving Indonesia to…
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Abolish Foreignness
Eight million children under the age of five die each year from largely preventable causes. One billion people live in abject poverty. Thousands die crossing international borders while fleeing poverty, war or persecution. Rich countries reinforce barriers, laws and measures to prevent people crossing their borders. Hundreds of thousands are held in migration prisons as if they were criminals. 67 million people live as refugees or are internally displaced as a result of persecution, war, poverty or other causes. Believing that human beings are “foreigners” makes such profound human rights violations possible.
