racism
Racism operates directly and indirectly to exclude people from real access to equality. Racism feeds unjust policies which deny people categorised as "other": their human rights. Racism can feed social exclusion within communities and in turn breed cycles of hostility and violence. Treating "non-citizens" differently to "citizens", apart from what else it amounts to - amounts to discrimination on the basis of race.
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Electing the President
There is something fascinating about the “contest” which elects the President of the United States. The 2016 election is no exception. Candidates who weren’t imagined before the election year have come to the fore and with them the discourse and the “contest” has been thrown open. Issues of gender are right on the surface. And the fact that a women has never been elected as President is one of the issues. Gender issues are present in other ways. Women’s bodies and women’s rights have repeatedly surfaced as a political football. Issues of race are prominent, who is allowed to belong – who needs to be locked out. Who can claim…
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Racism – a daily reality
Racism is an almost daily news item. For many, its a terrible lived problem. But, many have trouble believing it exists, except perhaps at the the margins of society. If we don’t see the obvious symbols of racism: arm bands, hate flags, white hoods, we may think the problem is no longer there. We have a curious situation where “racism” is almost a taboo word. It is politically incorrect to call racism, well, racist. As a consequence we sometimes see heated debate over whether this or that is an example of racism. A recent example from my own country was the treatment of Adam Goodes on the sporting field. He is a…
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Frontera Movie Review
The Frontera movie is a story about lives shattered by the US-Mexico border. The story unfolds around two families: one from the Mexican side, one from the U.S. side. Miguel (Michael Peña) crosses the border to find work to support his family, including his pregnant wife Paulina (Eva Longoria). On the other side lives a retired sheriff Roy (Ed Harris) and his wife Olivia (Amy Madigan). From the moment Miguel crosses the border everything goes wrong. As the tragedy unfolds, Olivia is shot and killed. Miguel, in the wrong place at the wrong time, is wrongly blamed. The actions of a cast of villains and fools deepen the tragedy as…
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Seeing With New Eyes: Ibn Al Haytham, Optics and Foreignness
When we think of the science of optics we may think of Isaac Newton, who together with his other discoveries, made important studies in the field of optics. We are far less likely to think of the breakthroughs in optics and science made by Ibn Al Haytham, a scientist who lived in the Islamic world in the tenth century. To Europe he was known as Alhacen or Alhazen. Al Haytham largely solved a scientific problem that had frustrated previous thinkers for more than a thousand years. How do we see? The problem stretched back to the time of Aristotle. Aristotle spoke Greek. Al Haytham’s work was written in Arabic and…
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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…
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Under One Sun
“ …We come from one ancestor, Just one forefather, And one Earth Mother, Under one sun ...” Source: ABC Radio National: The Baha’i soul of Australian singer Shameem Under One Sun features on Shameem’s album titled The Second City
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Alain Locke on Identity and Human Rights
Of Alain Locke, Martin Luther King Jr. said: “We’re going to let our children know that the only philosophers that lived were not Plato and Aristotle, but W. E. B. Du Bois and Alain Locke came through the universe.” In this article we explore an idea in the work of Alain Locke – the idea that identity and oppression are related to each other. That the pathway to emancipation is through re-imagining our identity. Early on he explored these themes in the introduction he wrote to his 1925 anthology titled “The New Negro“. The tribute above, particularly from Martin Luther King, calls for greater attention to Alain Locke’s philosophy and…
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Elysium – The Future of Human Rights is Now
Like Gattaca, the movie Elysium paints a picture of a dystopian future. Both movies explore questions of human rights and exclusion. That’s pretty much where the similarities end. Elysium’s Social Justice Message Elysium is unashamedly a sci-fi action flick in mainstream Hollywood tradition. It’s heroes and villians ride in guns blazing. If that’s your thing, then you’ll enjoy the ride. If not, underneath the hero myth, it’s a movie with a serious message. It deals with economic and social extremes in our world today. The future is just a mirror to help us see the present more clearly. In that sense, its science fiction doing what science fiction does…
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Martin Luther King Jr – Civil Rights Leader and Peace Advocate
Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life for the poor of the world, the garbage workers of Memphis and the peasants of Vietnam. The day that Negro people and others in bondage are truly free, on the day want is abolished, on the day wars are no more, on that day I know my husband will rest in a long-deserved peace. —Coretta King This article is part of a series on human rights forebears. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived a life beyond the ordinary and writing about him is challenging. His life made the world that came after him better. This article will not do justice to his…
