Nearly a year ago I wrote this post on the topic. I actually began the part 2, but let it lie for a while. Given the dramatic events in Iran and the pseudo-debate in the US about how Obama should react, I find it apt to finish up the topic now.
Continue reading about Feature: Humanitarian Intervention – Part II
Israel’s has always been relatively tolerant of internal dissent. Relatively meaning exactly what it says. I often cite the fact that at one time meeting with anyone from the PLO was a crime, and Abie Nathan sat in jail for that crime. It is somewhat disturbing that activists from New Profile were recently arrested. Is [...]
Israel’s democracy has a three part hierarchy. If you are Jewish, Israel is a relatively democratic society. If you are an Arab citizen of Israel, not so much. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live under totalitarian rule. Here is the story of Samieh Jabbarin. I don’t necessarily agree with all his political views. [...]
It angers me that Guatanamo has become the focus of “liberal” outrage in this country. Every day thousands of people are tortured in US prisons in various ways. Yet little is written condemning these practices. On the contrary, they are glorified and justified in popular culture (cf. Con Air for one of thousands of examples) [...]
Today marks the 60th anniversary of the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I have often mentioned this document on this blog, notably here and here. I strongly recommend anyone who hasn’t yet done so, to read it now.
Continue reading about Creating a Universal Standard for Human Rights
In the run up to the Iraqi war I was involved in a project called Stand Down which attempted to gather bloggers on the “right” and “left” of the political spectrum to write posts in opposition to going to war. Sadly the site is down. I say sadly because it would provide useful documentation of how correct the anti-war [...]
The war in Yugoslavia was a turning point in the human rights movement. Appalled by the atrocities they saw, many Western war correspondents advocated for military intervention by the US and the EU. The rallying cry was “how can we stand by and let another Holocaust happen?” Eventually (not soon enough for what would soon be known as the [...]
Continue reading about Feature: Humanitarian Intervention – Part I
Nearly two years ago, I wrote a piece titled Hypocrisy and Empire Part I. I raised some questions from my good friend Sister B. and promised to answer them in part II. For many reasons I never got around to writing that second article. However, since hypocrisy has been my theme for the last few [...]
When the UN was founded in 1948, the General Assembly adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It’s opening paragraph is based on the ideas of the enlightenment, embodied in the French Revolution:
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act [...]