Interesting piece...
By Liliana Segura, AlterNet - A famous 1970s experiment was recently replicated, revealing our vulnerabilities and what it takes for us to question those in positions of authority.
Between 1963 and 1974, Dr. Stanley Milgram conducted a series of experiments that would become one of the most famous social psychology studies of the 20th century. His focus was how average people respond to authority, and what he revealed stunned and disturbed people the world over.
Under the pretense of an experiment on "learning" and "memory," Milgram placed test subjects in a lab rigged with fake gadgetry, where a man in a lab coat instructed them to administer electrical shocks to a fellow test subject (actually an actor) seated in another room in "a kind of miniature electric chair."
Participants were told they were the "teachers" in the scenario and given a list of questions with which to quiz their counterparts (the "learners"). If the respondent answered incorrectly to a question, he got an electric shock as punishment.
The shocks were light at first -- 15 volts -- and became stronger incrementally, until they reached 450 volts -- a level labeled "Danger: Severe Shock." The actors were never actually electrocuted, but they pretended they were. They groaned, shouted, and, as the current became stronger, begged for relief. Meanwhile, the man in the lab coat coolly told the test subjects to keep going.
To people's horror, Milgram discovered that a solid majority of his subjects -- roughly two-thirds -- were willing to administer the highest levels of shock to their counterparts. This was as true among the first set of his test subjects (Yale undergrads), to subsequent "ordinary" participants as described by Milgram ("professionals, white-collar workers, unemployed persons and industrial workers"), to test subjects abroad, from Munich to South Africa. It was also as true for women as it was for men (although female subjects reported a higher degree of anxiety afterward).
For people who learned of the study, this became devastating proof, not only of human beings' slavish compliance in the face of authority, but of our willingness to do horrible things to other people. The study has been used to explain everything from Nazi Germany to the torture at Abu Ghraib.
But what if Milgram's obedience studies tell us something else, something just as essential, not about our obedience to authority, but what it takes for people to resist it? Now, for the first time in decades, a psychologist has replicated Milgram's famous study (with some critical changes).
The bad news: His results are statistically identical to Milgram's. The good news: Contrary to popular perception, the lesson it teaches us is not that human beings are a breed of latent torturers. "Actually," says Dr. Jerry Burger, the psychologist who led the exercise, "what I think is that the real lesson of the demonstration is quite the opposite."
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Showing posts with label humanity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label humanity. Show all posts
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Rights Group Launches Series of Blueprints for the Obama Administration
A friend sent this to me. I think it’s a good start to repairing the US human rights record and regain our image as a country that follows the edicts of The Geneva Conventions!
The blueprint series draws on the organization's extensive body of work on a range of issues to address the human rights implications of many of the international and domestic policy challenges the new administration will face:
- "How to Close Guantanamo," released last August, offers a step-by-step strategy that minimizes the risk to America's national security and ensures that detainee suspected of committing crimes against the United States are prosecuted in fair proceedings. It is based on Human Rights First's extensive work on Guantanamo -including over 25 trips to observe the proceedings since 2004 - and its study of the prosecution of terrorism cases in federal court, the findings of which can be read in the comprehensive report, "In Pursuit of Justice: Prosecuting Terrorism Cases in the Federal Courts."
- "How to End Torture and Cruel Treatment," released in October, provides a detailed, multi-phased strategy to end torture and official cruelty and to invest instead in effective and humane intelligence gathering, including offering a single standard of humane treatment across all government agencies. It draws on the organization's extensive work on, and analysis of, U.S. detention and interrogation policies since September 11, 2001, as well as its close collaboration with more than 50 retired generals, admirals and civilian national security officials to advocate against torture and official cruelty.
- "How to End Impunity for Private Security and other Contractors," released in November, offers a practical strategy for putting into place the key components of a comprehensive system of legal accountability for U.S. government contractors abroad, who now number more than 250,000 in Iraq and Afghanistan alone. Many of the findings derive from the group"s comprehensive report, "Private Security Contractors at War: Ending Contractor Impunity" which was released in January.
- "How to Repair the U.S. Asylum System," released in December, puts forward a series of concrete recommendations to restore the U.S. commitment to providing refuge to those who flee persecution and arrive in this country in search of protection. New legal obstacles, restrictions on basic due process, and overly-broad counterterrorism measures have made it increasingly difficult for refugees to gain asylum protection.
- "How to Promote Human Rights in Russia," released in December, is a country specific blueprint that advances a strategy for striking a viable balance between shared strategic concerns and the consistent promotion of human rights. The recommendations focus on two areas that are crucial to enabling Russians to promote the rule of law and secure human rights, supporting independent human rights defenders and increasing efforts to combat racism, xenophobia and violent hate crimes. The latter, a seriously escalating human rights problem, is extensively documented in Human Rights First's 2008 Hate Crime Survey.
- "How to Stop Arms to Sudan," released in December, sets out a three-stage strategy for the incoming administration to lead an effort to ensure that arms-supplying states halt their sales, as well as to use its voice and vote at the U.N. Security Council to enforce and strengthen the U.N. imposed Darfur arms embargo. This blueprint follows a rare NGO briefing of the U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee on the Darfur arms embargo by Julia Fromholz, Interim Director of the Crimes Against Humanity program earlier this month.
- "How to Confront the Iraqi Refugee Crisis," also released in December, puts forward a strategy for the incoming Obama administration to address the Iraqi refugee crisis as part of its pledge to withdraw from Iraq. The recommendations include the proposal that the President-elect place an Iraqi refugee coordinator in the White House, responsible for ensuring that appropriate policy toward Iraqi refugees is integrated into U.S. strategic and operational plans in Iraq, and for the U.S. government to set "refugee benchmarks" for the Iraqi government and for U.S. assistance to shift from the government to NGOs if those benchmarks are not met.
Rights Group Launches Series of Blueprints for the Obama Administration
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Red Cross Accuses Israel of Neglecting Gaza Wounded
By Alan Cowell - PARIS: The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday it had discovered "shocking" scenes — including small children next to their mothers' corpses — when its representatives gained access for the first time to parts of Gaza battered by Israeli shelling. It accused Israel of failing to meet obligations to care for the wounded in areas of combat.
In response the Israeli military did not comment directly on the allegation. In a statement, it accused Hamas, its foe in Gaza, of deliberately using "Palestinian civilians as human shields" and said the Israeli Army "works in close cooperation with international aid organizations during the fighting so that civilians can be provided with assistance."
The Israeli military "in no way intentionally targets civilians and has demonstrated its willingness to abort operations to save civilian lives and to risk injury in order to assist innocent civilians," the statement said, promising that "any serious allegation" wouldl "need to be investigated properly, once such a complaint is received formally, within the constraints of the current military operation."
In an unusually blunt criticism , the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross said it had been seeking access to shell-damaged areas in Zeitoun in the east of Gaza City since Saturday but the Israeli authorities granted permission only on Wednesday — the first day that Israel allowed a three-hour lull in the attacks on Gaza on humanitarian grounds.
The statement said a team of four Palestine Red Crescent ambulances accompanied by Red Cross representatives made its way to Zeitoun Wednesday where it "found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all, there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses."
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In response the Israeli military did not comment directly on the allegation. In a statement, it accused Hamas, its foe in Gaza, of deliberately using "Palestinian civilians as human shields" and said the Israeli Army "works in close cooperation with international aid organizations during the fighting so that civilians can be provided with assistance."
The Israeli military "in no way intentionally targets civilians and has demonstrated its willingness to abort operations to save civilian lives and to risk injury in order to assist innocent civilians," the statement said, promising that "any serious allegation" wouldl "need to be investigated properly, once such a complaint is received formally, within the constraints of the current military operation."
In an unusually blunt criticism , the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross said it had been seeking access to shell-damaged areas in Zeitoun in the east of Gaza City since Saturday but the Israeli authorities granted permission only on Wednesday — the first day that Israel allowed a three-hour lull in the attacks on Gaza on humanitarian grounds.
The statement said a team of four Palestine Red Crescent ambulances accompanied by Red Cross representatives made its way to Zeitoun Wednesday where it "found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all, there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses."
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"Everything You Can Imagine, We Do Not Have": A Q&A with Gaza-Based Journalist Sameh A. Habeeb
By Zahra Hankir, Indypendent - "Today I wanted to go to the market to bring home some food. Thank God, I did not go; there was a massacre from artillery shells."
Twenty-three-year-old Sameh A. Habeeb, a photojournalist based in Gaza City, hardly sleeps. The sounds of the bombings keep him awake.
Habeeb seldom leaves his home for fear of being killed by sporadic bombing, but he has slipped out several times to take pictures and to obtain chilling first hand accounts of daily life ever since the Israeli attacks on Gaza began on Saturday December 27.
During the days, his main priority is to find a place with electricity so he can charge his laptop and connect to the Internet. His goal is to get the word out about what is happening on the ground in Gaza. He works primarily from his phone, calling up a number of sources, from doctors to media contacts to human rights workers.
Habeeb is one of few local journalists in besieged Gaza who are attempting to reach out to international media outlets by way of the Internet and the phone. "I'm not sleeping so you are welcome to call me on this number in the night," says one of his blog notes.
Aware that mainstream media have fallen short of reporting on the crisis, in part because international reporters have been banned from entering Gaza but also due to political biases, he has been issuing daily reports of the situation. The reports can be found on his blog, on his Facebook account and on arabisto.com.
Habeeb was born and raised in Gaza, and has worked in civil society for many years. He has also worked as a journalist at the Ramattan News Agency, a regional media facility based in Gaza. He has offered his journalistic work to various organizations worldwide for free.
The young journalist is currently confined to his home with his three sisters, his two brothers, his parents and his grandmother with barely any food.
During the interview below with the Indypendent, Habeeb speaks from his phone over the sound of persistent bombing that he has grown used to. "Can you hear that one?" he says. Boom. Boom. "That was an F-16 [bomb]. I know how an F-16 sounds. I can distinguish what types of bombs they are."
His voice trembles a little, but he goes on speaking, even after being asked if he would like a moment to collect himself. "You know that I can speak and that I will speak at whatever hour and in whatever situation," he says, resolutely.
It is almost 1 a.m. in occupied Palestine.
Zahra Hankir: What is the current humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza?
Sameh A. Habeeb: If we counted the things that are missing and that we need, we would not finish [this interview]. There is no bread. There is no sugar. There is no gas. There is no fuel. There is no electricity and there is no wood. There is no cement. Everything you can imagine, we do not have. And this was a problem that started with the blockade and that has accentuated since the attacks began. It was preplanned. It is not only a matter of a rocket being fired here and there. It is a strategy that Israel has followed.
As for daily life, and the humanitarian situation, Israel is telling the world that they are not allowing a humanitarian crisis [to unfold] in Gaza. [Israeli foreign minister] Tzipi Livni is a big fool, because she is trying to convince the international community and those working on the Palestinian cause that Israel is helping with the humanitarian situation. But on the ground, she is allowing a big catastrophe to continue. Gaza was in need before the siege. During the siege, Israel was allowing some 40 trucks carrying basic commodities (cans, goods, etc) in. Now, at the time while the war is taking place, they say they are allowing commodities to move in, but they are allowing nothing in! Thirteen trucks with commodities are not enough for a population of a million and a half. They say they opened the crossing, and that everything is okay, but this is a big lie.
Some houses do not have water, as power is needed. Israel has targeted many wells of water in the middle of the Gaza strip, and a well that was in the north. Add to that the coastal authorities were saying that Israel was not allowing them to bring materials to purify water…
Tomorrow, I will be visiting one of the doctors at al-Shifa hospital to investigate the types of weapons that are being used.
As for the medical situation, since the beginning of the siege, around 270 people died because they were not able to leave Gaza for treatment, or were not able to get medicine during the blockade. Medical machines and equipment were also not available, as well as spare parts. Today, there is a very big problem in hospitals because of this. Hospital management has called medical students in their senior, second or third level to help at the hospitals.
ZH: What has been the general attitude of Palestinians in Gaza towards Hamas?
SAH: The main concern for the Palestinian people now is how to find food, how to light candles, how to keep warm. They do not think much about politics. Generally, support for Hamas is still there, and the decisive battle would be proving whether Hamas will have support or not as it still did not [attack] "hot" areas.
ZH: What is your current living situation?
SAH: I live in Gaza City, two kilometers from the Israeli borders. Since the beginning of the blockade, which was imposed 20 months ago, and since the beginning of the war, my life has been turned upside down. There is no gas. No power. No Internet. I charge my laptop by going here and there to get Internet, but generally, there is no fuel, no gasoline, and no oil. In the humanitarian aspect, we do not have anything now. Today I wanted to go to the market to bring home some food. Thank God, I did not go; there was a massacre from artillery shells. Israelis hit the market -- the busiest market in Gaza.
read more digg story
Twenty-three-year-old Sameh A. Habeeb, a photojournalist based in Gaza City, hardly sleeps. The sounds of the bombings keep him awake.
Habeeb seldom leaves his home for fear of being killed by sporadic bombing, but he has slipped out several times to take pictures and to obtain chilling first hand accounts of daily life ever since the Israeli attacks on Gaza began on Saturday December 27.
During the days, his main priority is to find a place with electricity so he can charge his laptop and connect to the Internet. His goal is to get the word out about what is happening on the ground in Gaza. He works primarily from his phone, calling up a number of sources, from doctors to media contacts to human rights workers.
Habeeb is one of few local journalists in besieged Gaza who are attempting to reach out to international media outlets by way of the Internet and the phone. "I'm not sleeping so you are welcome to call me on this number in the night," says one of his blog notes.
Aware that mainstream media have fallen short of reporting on the crisis, in part because international reporters have been banned from entering Gaza but also due to political biases, he has been issuing daily reports of the situation. The reports can be found on his blog, on his Facebook account and on arabisto.com.
Habeeb was born and raised in Gaza, and has worked in civil society for many years. He has also worked as a journalist at the Ramattan News Agency, a regional media facility based in Gaza. He has offered his journalistic work to various organizations worldwide for free.
The young journalist is currently confined to his home with his three sisters, his two brothers, his parents and his grandmother with barely any food.
During the interview below with the Indypendent, Habeeb speaks from his phone over the sound of persistent bombing that he has grown used to. "Can you hear that one?" he says. Boom. Boom. "That was an F-16 [bomb]. I know how an F-16 sounds. I can distinguish what types of bombs they are."
His voice trembles a little, but he goes on speaking, even after being asked if he would like a moment to collect himself. "You know that I can speak and that I will speak at whatever hour and in whatever situation," he says, resolutely.
It is almost 1 a.m. in occupied Palestine.
Zahra Hankir: What is the current humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza?
Sameh A. Habeeb: If we counted the things that are missing and that we need, we would not finish [this interview]. There is no bread. There is no sugar. There is no gas. There is no fuel. There is no electricity and there is no wood. There is no cement. Everything you can imagine, we do not have. And this was a problem that started with the blockade and that has accentuated since the attacks began. It was preplanned. It is not only a matter of a rocket being fired here and there. It is a strategy that Israel has followed.
As for daily life, and the humanitarian situation, Israel is telling the world that they are not allowing a humanitarian crisis [to unfold] in Gaza. [Israeli foreign minister] Tzipi Livni is a big fool, because she is trying to convince the international community and those working on the Palestinian cause that Israel is helping with the humanitarian situation. But on the ground, she is allowing a big catastrophe to continue. Gaza was in need before the siege. During the siege, Israel was allowing some 40 trucks carrying basic commodities (cans, goods, etc) in. Now, at the time while the war is taking place, they say they are allowing commodities to move in, but they are allowing nothing in! Thirteen trucks with commodities are not enough for a population of a million and a half. They say they opened the crossing, and that everything is okay, but this is a big lie.
Some houses do not have water, as power is needed. Israel has targeted many wells of water in the middle of the Gaza strip, and a well that was in the north. Add to that the coastal authorities were saying that Israel was not allowing them to bring materials to purify water…
Tomorrow, I will be visiting one of the doctors at al-Shifa hospital to investigate the types of weapons that are being used.
As for the medical situation, since the beginning of the siege, around 270 people died because they were not able to leave Gaza for treatment, or were not able to get medicine during the blockade. Medical machines and equipment were also not available, as well as spare parts. Today, there is a very big problem in hospitals because of this. Hospital management has called medical students in their senior, second or third level to help at the hospitals.
ZH: What has been the general attitude of Palestinians in Gaza towards Hamas?
SAH: The main concern for the Palestinian people now is how to find food, how to light candles, how to keep warm. They do not think much about politics. Generally, support for Hamas is still there, and the decisive battle would be proving whether Hamas will have support or not as it still did not [attack] "hot" areas.
ZH: What is your current living situation?
SAH: I live in Gaza City, two kilometers from the Israeli borders. Since the beginning of the blockade, which was imposed 20 months ago, and since the beginning of the war, my life has been turned upside down. There is no gas. No power. No Internet. I charge my laptop by going here and there to get Internet, but generally, there is no fuel, no gasoline, and no oil. In the humanitarian aspect, we do not have anything now. Today I wanted to go to the market to bring home some food. Thank God, I did not go; there was a massacre from artillery shells. Israelis hit the market -- the busiest market in Gaza.
read more digg story
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Israel Halts Attack Briefly to Allow Aid Into Gaza
By TAGHREED EL-KHODARY and ISABEL KERSHNER
GAZA — Israel pressed on with its 12-day bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday , but it allowed a brief suspension to permit humanitarian aid to reach the beleaguered population and agreed to future brief halts, while the Israeli security cabinet postponed a vote authorizing a further stage of the ground operation.
The day after Israeli mortar shells killed as many as 40 Palestinians, among them women and children, outside a United Nations school in Gaza, diplomatic efforts to bring the fighting to a halt intensified. France and Egypt and Turkey were working on a plan that would work to halt rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, open up crossings into Gaza from both Israel and Egypt, and end weapons smuggling from Egypt. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said the cease-fire plan had been agreed on, but Israel and Hamas both said that there were many details to be worked out. Israel was due to send officials to Cairo for further discussions.
The death toll in Gaza reached around 660 on Wednesday, according to Palestinian health officials. The United Nations has estimated that about one-fourth of those dying in Gaza are civilians, but there is little certainty about the current figures.
Israel has said repeatedly that it will not end the operation in Gaza until it is assured that Hamas will stop firing rockets into Israel and that arms smuggling will halt. The Israeli military reported on Wednesday that a rocket fired from Gaza landed in a yard in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and nine people were treated for shock. Three other rockets landed elsewhere.
The Israeli military contended that it fired on the school on Tuesday because Hamas fighters had fired mortars from the school compound. United Nations officials have called for an independent inquiry into the episode.
While the guns fell silent for several hours on Wednesday, news reports from the Israel-Gaza border area said a string of explosions was soon heard after the three-hour lull ended. Israel said the three-hour lull would be repeated every other day between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to allow Gaza’s population to seek medical help, buy food and receive humanitarian supplies.
In Paris, Mr. Sarkozy, who toured the region earlier this week in a diplomatic drive for a cease-fire, issued a statement welcoming what he called “the acceptance by Israel and the Palestinian Authority” of a cease-fire plan put forward Tuesday evening by President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Mr. Sarkozy said he was urging the implementation of the plan “as soon as possible for the suffering of the population to stop.”
But the status of the proposal was far from clear and some Palestinians remained skeptical. Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian legislator, told the BBC that the plan fell short of a cease-fire. “Israel is still buying time to create facts on the ground,” she said.
According to Reuters, Mark Regev, the spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said: “We welcome the French-Egyptian initiative. We want to see it succeed.
read more digg story
GAZA — Israel pressed on with its 12-day bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday , but it allowed a brief suspension to permit humanitarian aid to reach the beleaguered population and agreed to future brief halts, while the Israeli security cabinet postponed a vote authorizing a further stage of the ground operation.
The day after Israeli mortar shells killed as many as 40 Palestinians, among them women and children, outside a United Nations school in Gaza, diplomatic efforts to bring the fighting to a halt intensified. France and Egypt and Turkey were working on a plan that would work to halt rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, open up crossings into Gaza from both Israel and Egypt, and end weapons smuggling from Egypt. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said the cease-fire plan had been agreed on, but Israel and Hamas both said that there were many details to be worked out. Israel was due to send officials to Cairo for further discussions.
The death toll in Gaza reached around 660 on Wednesday, according to Palestinian health officials. The United Nations has estimated that about one-fourth of those dying in Gaza are civilians, but there is little certainty about the current figures.
Israel has said repeatedly that it will not end the operation in Gaza until it is assured that Hamas will stop firing rockets into Israel and that arms smuggling will halt. The Israeli military reported on Wednesday that a rocket fired from Gaza landed in a yard in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and nine people were treated for shock. Three other rockets landed elsewhere.
The Israeli military contended that it fired on the school on Tuesday because Hamas fighters had fired mortars from the school compound. United Nations officials have called for an independent inquiry into the episode.
While the guns fell silent for several hours on Wednesday, news reports from the Israel-Gaza border area said a string of explosions was soon heard after the three-hour lull ended. Israel said the three-hour lull would be repeated every other day between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to allow Gaza’s population to seek medical help, buy food and receive humanitarian supplies.
In Paris, Mr. Sarkozy, who toured the region earlier this week in a diplomatic drive for a cease-fire, issued a statement welcoming what he called “the acceptance by Israel and the Palestinian Authority” of a cease-fire plan put forward Tuesday evening by President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Mr. Sarkozy said he was urging the implementation of the plan “as soon as possible for the suffering of the population to stop.”
But the status of the proposal was far from clear and some Palestinians remained skeptical. Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian legislator, told the BBC that the plan fell short of a cease-fire. “Israel is still buying time to create facts on the ground,” she said.
According to Reuters, Mark Regev, the spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said: “We welcome the French-Egyptian initiative. We want to see it succeed.
read more digg story
Monday, December 22, 2008
Zimbabwe prison guards stealing prisoner food to stay alive
Zimbabwe's highways are littered with police checkpoints, which is discomforting for foreign journalists working there illegally. But they are simply a pretext for extracting food or money from drivers.
“What are we having for Christmas?”, one policeman asked The Times. “I'm hungry,” another said bluntly. A third threatened to issue me with a ticket for stopping a yard past the point where he was standing. He then said that my companions - hitch hikers - were “unlawful passengers”. Eventually he backed down, but a black driver would have had to pay.
More alarming was when I was flagged down by two police officers near Bulawayo, prompting visions of Christmas in a lice-infested Zimbabwean prison. But they just wanted a lift.
In the car they raged against President Mugabe's regime. The senior one, a sergeant of five years' standing, claimed that his monthly salary did not buy even a litre of cooking oil. His work was merely “community service”. He said that he felt sympathy for the suffering of ordinary people, and that if they rebelled he would not fire on them.
Another passenger was a warden at Bulawayo's infamous Khami prison. The previous month he had earned 200 million Zimbabwean dollars - less than US$1 at today's rate. Of that sum he could withdraw only a fraction after queueing for four hours at the bank each morning. Every day and a bit, its value halved.
He said that he had five children to support and had not eaten bread for a year. He survived by stealing the prisoners' sadza - a porridge that is now a luxury for most - or by trading favours for food brought in by families. “There's no discipline ... We depend on the prisoners to stay alive.”
read more digg story
“What are we having for Christmas?”, one policeman asked The Times. “I'm hungry,” another said bluntly. A third threatened to issue me with a ticket for stopping a yard past the point where he was standing. He then said that my companions - hitch hikers - were “unlawful passengers”. Eventually he backed down, but a black driver would have had to pay.
More alarming was when I was flagged down by two police officers near Bulawayo, prompting visions of Christmas in a lice-infested Zimbabwean prison. But they just wanted a lift.
In the car they raged against President Mugabe's regime. The senior one, a sergeant of five years' standing, claimed that his monthly salary did not buy even a litre of cooking oil. His work was merely “community service”. He said that he felt sympathy for the suffering of ordinary people, and that if they rebelled he would not fire on them.
Another passenger was a warden at Bulawayo's infamous Khami prison. The previous month he had earned 200 million Zimbabwean dollars - less than US$1 at today's rate. Of that sum he could withdraw only a fraction after queueing for four hours at the bank each morning. Every day and a bit, its value halved.
He said that he had five children to support and had not eaten bread for a year. He survived by stealing the prisoners' sadza - a porridge that is now a luxury for most - or by trading favours for food brought in by families. “There's no discipline ... We depend on the prisoners to stay alive.”
read more digg story
Martin Fletcher in Harare
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: The Musical
Yesterday, we collectively said happy birthday to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Okay, that's probably not strictly true. I'll go out on a limb and say that many Americans probably have absolutely no idea what the UDHR is and have never read it, much less celebrated its birthday. That being the case, it's time for an introduction.
The UDHR has influenced constitutions around the world and made its way into countless other documents. It forms the basis for much of the modern human rights movement. You should check it out. It's not too long, but if you'd rather watch it in film format, here you have it, courtesy of the Human Rights Action Center.
There are times when I'm fairly cynical about international human rights law. Bad things happen everywhere, and articles like this one show us how toothless it still is. On the other hand, it has huge normative value. Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, puts it nicely:
"...the last thing I'm going to do, though, is run away with the idea that the UDHR is the panacea for the world's ills. The unpleasant reality is that the leaders of countries like North Korea, Iran, Zimbabwe, Burma and dozens more either hold the UDHR's values in contempt or they cynically pick and choose which to adhere to. But there are grounds for optimism too. Very few countries are nowadays able to dismiss core human rights principles out of hand and literally thousands of people have been released from detention or had ill-treatment stopped as a result of pressure exerted by human rights defenders at home and abroad. "
Without further adieu, here are two organizations' ideas on how to capitalize on the UDHR's birthday yesterday. Witness has launched a video (below) intended to explore how images such as photos or videos inspire us to take action for human rights. If you'd like to post an image that inspired you on their site, click here. Following that below is an amazingly catchy song put together by Amnesty International featuring tons of great international musicians rocking out at the UN General Assembly (doesn't hurt that it also has an introduction by the always bad-ass Laurence Fishburne). You can even buy the song on iTunes and all profits benefit Amnesty.
read more | digg story
The Roots of Contemporary Homelessness
Following the New Deal of the 1930s and the Great Society programs in the 1960s, homelessness was considered to be history in America. In the 1980s, however, the number of homeless people in America surged to levels not seen since the Great Depression. What caused homelessness to go from practically a non-issue to a population that today is more than one percent of the nation and growing?
There is no simple, concrete answer. The Western Regional Advocacy Project, for example, attributes the rise to "everything from economic downshifts, to high unemployment, to deindustrialization, to global outsourcing of jobs, to the rollback of social programs, to disruptions of familial networks, to urban renewal, to the reduction in open-market low end housing, to racial discrimination, to gentrification, to the near elimination of federally supported affordable housing." Phew.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Price of Silence
Anniversaries are a dime a dozen. We’ve got days for everything. Sled Dog Day. Bubble Gum Day. Ballet Day. Dump Your Significant Jerk Day. I’m not kidding. Today is different.
60 years ago this December 10th – after the horrors of World War II – the world came together to unanimously pass the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Not one nation dissented (though a few abstained). The declaration says that every human being deserves dignity, freedom and respect. It’s the first blueprint for global rights, establishing fundamental freedoms for every human being.
I guess years of a hellish war have a way of teaching you what’s important.
60 years later, millions if not billions still suffer from tyranny, torture, injustice and inequality. Amnesty International reported earlier this year that the world’s leaders owe an apology for failing to deliver on the promise of justice and equality in the UDHR.
16 global musicians aren’t waiting around for the apology. Instead they collaborated on a new music video project called “The Price of Silence”. The video features artists who’ve personally fled oppressive regimes:
- Yungchen Lhamo (Tibet) was born in a Chinese labor camp and left Tibet in 1989 at the age of 22, trekking across the Himalayas with her two-year old son to escape oppression from the Chinese regime.
- Alicia Partnoy is a survivor from the secret detention camps where about 30,000 Argentineans “disappeared.”
- Emmanuel Jal was born in war-torn Sudan in the early 1980s. He was taken from his family home in 1987 when he was six years old, and sent to fight with the rebel army in Sudan’s bloody civil war.
- Chiwoniso recently relocated from Zimbabwe to the United States in August 2008, removing herself and her two children from the political and economic unrest there.
Other artists include Hugh Masekela, Julieta Venegas, , Angelique Kidjo, Aterciopelados, Yerba Buena, Natacha Atlas, Rachid Taha, Kiran Ahluwalia, Natalie Merchant, and Chali 2Na of Jurassic 5.
Don’t be silent. Watch it, and pass it on. Even to just one friend, one family member.
You can also buy the track on iTunes. All proceeds go to support Amnesty International’s life saving work.
Special thanks to Link TV, Nacional Records, Aterciopelados, music producer Adres Levin (and his organization Music Has No Enemies) and video director Josh Atesh Litle for their help creating “The Price of Silence”.
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Thursday, November 20, 2008
Poverty Facts: 10 Detestable Statistics In Pictures
Pictures that will move your heart. Click on the "read more" link to see the rest.
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Thursday, November 6, 2008
A Sudan Peace Roadmap for Obama
Forty thousand people displaced in the past two months. Hundreds of thousands dead. The largest humanitarian operation in the world has so far failed to bring peace and stability to Sudan, but a new commitment and new approach from the Obama administration can bring peace to Darfur and the rest of the country...
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Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Ten Ways the World Will End
The universe is trying to kill us. Start worrying in a few million years about a cosmic dust collision, when the sun hits the closest spiral arm of our galaxy. Take your chances with an exploding star. Or manage to escape these threats, and you just get an extra 1035 years before all matter decays anyway.
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Monday, May 19, 2008
158 Relief Workers in China Are Killed by Landslides
The announcement of the deaths came as China observed a moment of silence for quake victims.
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Sunday, May 18, 2008
China holding 3 days of mourning for quake victims
BEICHUAN, China - China declared three days of national mourning for earthquake victims and ordered a suspension of the Olympic torch relay, as the search for survivors of the disaster grew bleak Sunday.
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Monday, April 7, 2008
Protesters scale Golden Gate Bridge
Three people protesting China's human rights record and the impending arrival of the Olympic torch climbed up the Golden Gate Bridge on Monday and tied the Tibetan flag and two banners to its cables. The banners read "One World One Dream. Free Tibet" and "Free Tibet 08."
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What a heroic and daring way to shout the message of "Free Tibet" and "One World One Dream."
Peace and Bright Blessings to the activists shouting the message loud enough and peacefully enough to get the attention of the world!
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What a heroic and daring way to shout the message of "Free Tibet" and "One World One Dream."
Peace and Bright Blessings to the activists shouting the message loud enough and peacefully enough to get the attention of the world!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Baptist Church Nixes Family Photos Rather Than Include Gays
We exist. We aren't monsters. We have families.
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Yes, we do have families...we also take excellent care of our children...and we're definitely here to stay!
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Yes, we do have families...we also take excellent care of our children...and we're definitely here to stay!
Friday, December 28, 2007
The Bhutto Assassination: A Human Rights Perspective
With the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the human rights community has lost a strong and steadfast ally.
by Mary Shaw Page 1 of 1 page(s)
http://www.opednews.com/
On Thursday, December 27, Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan and the current opposition party leader, succumbed to an assassin's bullet. Chaos has ensued.
Will this be a step backwards in efforts to restore democracy in nuclear Pakistan? I hope not, but Bhutto's assassination is not a good sign.
Benazir Bhutto was good for Pakistan and good for the world. She worked tirelessly to promote democracy in her country, and to stand up for the rights of the poor and the needy. This is in stark contrast to Pakistani President Musharraf's preferred method of governance by military dictatorship.
As the first woman ever elected to lead a Muslim state, Bhutto was also a symbol of progress for women's rights in the Islamic world.With Bhutto's death, the human rights community has lost a strong and steadfast ally.
In response to the assassination, Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch said, "Benazir Bhutto was a democrat who believed in the supremacy of constitutional rule and, throughout her career, sought power through the ballot box. She died campaigning for votes and calling for a free election."
Amnesty International (AI) is calling on Musharraf's government to uphold the rule of law and the rules of democratic behavior in the aftermath of the Bhutto assassination. AI's Catherine Baber stated, "The killing of Benazir Bhutto must not be allowed to become a setback to civilian governance or indeed lead to a further crackdown on civil liberties."My condolences go out to Bhutto's family and political followers.
May she rest in peace.
###
http://www.maryshawonline.com/
Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist, with a focus on politics, human rights, and social justice. She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights group Amnesty International, and her views appear regularly in a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites. Note that the ideas expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Amnesty International or any other organization with which she may be associated.
read more digg story
by Mary Shaw Page 1 of 1 page(s)
http://www.opednews.com/
On Thursday, December 27, Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan and the current opposition party leader, succumbed to an assassin's bullet. Chaos has ensued.
Will this be a step backwards in efforts to restore democracy in nuclear Pakistan? I hope not, but Bhutto's assassination is not a good sign.
Benazir Bhutto was good for Pakistan and good for the world. She worked tirelessly to promote democracy in her country, and to stand up for the rights of the poor and the needy. This is in stark contrast to Pakistani President Musharraf's preferred method of governance by military dictatorship.
As the first woman ever elected to lead a Muslim state, Bhutto was also a symbol of progress for women's rights in the Islamic world.With Bhutto's death, the human rights community has lost a strong and steadfast ally.
In response to the assassination, Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch said, "Benazir Bhutto was a democrat who believed in the supremacy of constitutional rule and, throughout her career, sought power through the ballot box. She died campaigning for votes and calling for a free election."
Amnesty International (AI) is calling on Musharraf's government to uphold the rule of law and the rules of democratic behavior in the aftermath of the Bhutto assassination. AI's Catherine Baber stated, "The killing of Benazir Bhutto must not be allowed to become a setback to civilian governance or indeed lead to a further crackdown on civil liberties."My condolences go out to Bhutto's family and political followers.
May she rest in peace.
###
http://www.maryshawonline.com/
Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist, with a focus on politics, human rights, and social justice. She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights group Amnesty International, and her views appear regularly in a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites. Note that the ideas expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Amnesty International or any other organization with which she may be associated.
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The Politics of Murder, The Politics of Humanity
I've been digging tons of stories about the assination of Benazir Bhutto...I can't stop thinking that peaceful people get assinated much more often than bad people, and how unfair that is.
Then I read this post by Garlin II - Cliff Schecter - Friday December 28, 01:57 AM;
The murder of Benazir Bhutto leaves the world with many questions, puzzles the world with many implications, and presents to the world both challenges and opportunities. There are political realities in Pakistan, throughout the Middle East, and across the world that now exist due the killing of this woman. However, these are neither the most sensible nor the most appropriate issues to be discussed at this point. What we, the media, and anyone conversing on this subject should be grappling with is the fact that a woman, a daughter, a wife, a mother of three, was murdered because she had different ideas.
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Then I read this post by Garlin II - Cliff Schecter - Friday December 28, 01:57 AM;
The murder of Benazir Bhutto leaves the world with many questions, puzzles the world with many implications, and presents to the world both challenges and opportunities. There are political realities in Pakistan, throughout the Middle East, and across the world that now exist due the killing of this woman. However, these are neither the most sensible nor the most appropriate issues to be discussed at this point. What we, the media, and anyone conversing on this subject should be grappling with is the fact that a woman, a daughter, a wife, a mother of three, was murdered because she had different ideas.
read more digg story
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