human rights
The work on this site seeks to learn from the human rights struggles of the past. How was legal slavery abolished? How has the emancipation of women been advanced? How did apartheid come to an end? Learning about these profound human rights achievements can help us better understand how to overcome human rights violations against non-citizens. It also reports on human rights issues of today as they impact on non-citizens.
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We will decide who comes here …
We will decide who comes here, Who crosses our golden shore. We will decide who comes here … we said And from our fair southland, Our words went forth, And in a far aged white continent, Our words were heard. Our words weren’t done yet. After long years, The echoes return, Return from faraway. We will decide who comes here … From “Mare Nostrum” the echo returns. Our waves – Our sea. We in possessive. Did you know, That we can paint Lines above the waves And build from them a wall? And are the children still flung overboard? Red meat for that loyal hound which still Waits, waits for…
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Women and Men Have Been and Will Always Be Equal
“Women and men have been and will always be equal in the sight of God.”[1] With these words, Bahá’u’lláh challenges the age old oppression of women. Thus, the following concept applies as much in respect of gender equality as elsewhere: Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other.[2] The general assertion of gender equality is addressed by Bahá’u’lláh in a diversity of fields in which, historically, gender equality has been denied. On work, Bahá’u’lláh states: … It is incumbent upon each one of you to engage in some occupation – such as a craft, a trade or the like.[3] There is no distinction…
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The Poetry of Langston Hughes
Racism and problems of race relations continue to generate injustice and racial animosity around the world. The problem is not confined to any one people or country, but the case of the United States is better known in the English speaking world. The poetry of Langston Hughes comes from a period in which racism had reached a peak – what is known as the “Jim Crow” era. The United States civil war ended slavery, but it didn’t end racism. Gradually racism took a stronger hold in society and by the early 20th century it gave rise to toxic theories of racial supremacy and scientific racism. A fierce segregation was instituted between…
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Agora movie – seeing ourselves through an alien past
The movie Agora (director Alejandro Amenábar) is not history, but perhaps, it rises to allegory. It is well worth watching, despite its ‘interpretative’ approach to history. It is a movie which captures deeper truths about human relationships and its fictionalized past helps us understand the challenges of our conflicted present. The struggles of Agora’s characters are enriched by Dario Marianelli’s haunting film score and the movie’s epic intellectual and scenic setting. Agora takes us to the unfamiliar world of fourth century Alexandria. It is a world being overtaken by change. Certainties of a pagan past are fading as new Christian ways of being emerge. It is a world beset with…
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights 2048
Will the future of human rights look like this? After a century of unimaginable suffering in which hundreds of millions of human beings lived in slave like conditions; wars killed millions; millions more fled – many condemned for generations to squalid “refugee” camps; millions starved; where national democracies collapsed under the weight of sectional interests and armed conflict and the environment was stripped of sustainability for wealth for the few, humanity amended the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and issued the new Universal Declaration of Human Rights 2048 Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, the directly and democratically elected representatives of all humanity, proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS 2048 as a…
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Patriotic Cosmopolitanism
Can we, at the same time, love our family, our neighbours, our country, our people, humanity and the world we live in? Surely we can. And to love any of them, properly considered, is to love them all: for their welfare is intimately interwoven. There is no contradiction in speaking of patriotic cosmopolitanism – understood in this sense. The dichotomy between community and the world is a false one. We can love our history, our language, the good in our traditions, values which have proven their worth in peace and prosperity, our own family stories. And we can also, without contradiction, delight in the history, languages, stories, good in the…
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Parliamentary Committee: Law to Strip Citizenship Lacks Proper Justification
The Human Rights Committee of the Australian Parliament has expressed serious concerns about human rights compatability of the proposed law to strip citizenship from dual nationals suspected of involvement in terrorism. (Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Bill 2015) The Committee, which has the job of making sure Australian laws are human rights complaint, made its findings in its latest review of Bills before the Australian Parliament. The Bill (which is expected to be adopted by Parliament) proposes to automatically strip citizenship from a dual national where the person is involved in a terrorist act or in supporting terrorism. The Committee notes that removal of citizenship has broad ranging human…
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Upgrade Our Social Operating System
“Exiters are leaving outdated systems and creating new ones”. These guys have some interesting ideas. From their website at: http://voiceandexit.com “In this Voice & Exit 2013 talk, V&E co-founder Max Borders sets out his vision for social change. How can people “criticize by creating?” How can human beings flourish? Can we create new communities? Can we upgrade our democratic operating systems (DOS)? Meet co-founder and filmmaker Seth Blaustein as they launch their inaugural event.” Below Max Borders on: upgrade our social operating system.
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Movement Against Xenophobia – I am an Immigrant
“I AM AN IMMIGRANT” is a positive campaign out of the United Kingdom. It celebrates the contribution immigrants make to society. Xenophobia is rising around Europe. Rather than buying into the controversy, the campaign shifts the rhetoric by simply telling the truth. The truth is captured in stories to be placed on posters throughout Britain. The posters tell the story of the contribution that migrants have made to Britain. These stories are as diverse as life itself: from heart surgeon to train driver. Organizers cite the toxic political debate which vilifies migrants and fosters xenophobia as the motivation for the campaign. The video below introduces the campaign. The campaign…
