[FSFLA] [WSF-Discuss] Human Rights in a Turbulent World

Jue Mayo 19 16:10:10 UTC 2016

Dear Umakant,

you wrote:
"How much important role human right could play in building up a better 
world would certainly depend on the required political will on part of 
the State and a strong push for it by different stakeholders."

The first. We need our principles and then this we can write in a text, 
that all people can read it. You speak about "human right". But if we 
have not our principles, then this texts have no value. And this is not 
new. Also Imanuel Kant spoke about. And Sokrates and many others.

In the (real) jewish culture and maybe in many different cultures, not 
in the christian, we find a sentence:

- Never do to other people, what you hate for yourself.

If we transform this more negative construction to a positive side, we 
can say:

- Behave towards others by the way you want, that they behave to you.

Based on this Imanuel Kant constructed the categorical imperative (the 
english translation is very difficult for me):

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative
- Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, 
will that it should become a universal law.

I don't understand this english. I try to give a more easier form, what 
normally i use:

- Behave so, that your behavior could be explained as a general rule of law.

For Imanuel Kant was very clear, that laws on paper have no value, if 
you are not the carrier of this ideas. And this is, what we see. The 
laws are for the others and not for the rulers, the elites, itself.

Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote a little bit about. It seems, that now he 
understand more and more the reality. But is clear, he never speak about 
Palestine. It is to hot for him.

We need our principles. And i propose a simple 3-pol:

1) all people have the same value. If you follow this, we come directly 
to two consequences.
a) all people have the same rights
b) all our working have based on the time the same value. This, because 
only the time we bring in in the economy. Money you don't find in the 
economy. This you find only in the distribution system. And this is a 
virtual layer over he reality. A theater spectacle.

2) we never accept any form of private ownership for common resources.

3) all decision about our form of life the people local create it.

We see, with this we break all the dogmas, all the religion, what we 
have today. 4 main religion we have:
a) Money system
b) State
c) Nation
d) the gods

And nothing of this exist. That are virtual constructions. And if you 
read Cicero, you will understand it. He organized the romean state 
construction. And today, the most people follow this religion.

many greetings, willi
Manaus, Brasil

Am 19/05/2016 um 09:52 schrieb Umakant:
> Dear FriendsGreetings! How much important role human rightcould play in building up a better world would certainly depend on the requiredpolitical will on part of the State and a strong push for it by differentstakeholders. No excuses of any kind would prevent the justification for theever growing need for all human rights for all.  Do read an inspiring speech by Mr. Zeid Ra’ad AlHussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and give it a wide publicityin your circle/network.    With RegardsUmakant, Ph. D Independent Scholar and Human Rights AdvocateNew Delhi  ---------------------------  Human Rightsin a Turbulent World: Statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human RightsZeid Ra’ad Al Hussein
> 17 May 2016 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=19978&LangID=E  Excellencies, Friends,
>
> Thank you for this invitation to speak at Brookings, an institution I’ve alwaysadmired. It has been one hundred years since you began developing policy ideasto address national and global challenges. Today the world, and this country, are caught up ina very tense and difficult period of history. The generation that livedthrough the horror of the Second World War – and which, in its aftermath, builta framework of laws and institutions to keep the peace -- is leaving the scene.We are witnessing policies and posturing that hark back to an earlier period. Aperiod of unprincipled land-grabs and the shelling and strafing of defencelesscities. A period of brutal, nationalist bullies, scapegoating the vulnerable. Aperiod marked by the strutting, boastful sneering of the demagogue, prepared towhip up violence if it will further his agenda.  Tolstoy tells us, in War and Peace, that itis a mistake to look back at history only as a series of clear decisions andsharply defined turning points. It is often, rather, a blur of shifting events,in which half-aware actors never fully grasp that they are making choices atall. Only with hindsight can we see with clarity that at some specific momentwe teetered on the cusp of tragedy – not yet hurtling towards it, still able topull back, and yet blindly swept on, caught up in the lethal churn of events.  My point today is to query whether, in a few yearstime, we will not be identifying the year 2016 as such a moment.  The task of learning to live together, in equalityand justice, is humanity's oldest and most essential challenge. It is, veryliterally, the difference between life and death – between conflict and peace;between destruction and prosperity; between suffering and safety, pain and joy.And as the world lurches from one crisis to another, I suggest we take a closerlook at this process, because when we achieve it – and this is a task that can,and frequently is, achieved – we do so with very practical steps.  How is security constructed? How do we build, pieceby piece, the architecture of well-being and co-existence?  We need tobegin by building trust. Rule of law institutions, which offer the confidenceof impartial justice. Equality: every individual must be clear in the knowledgethat regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, opinions, belief, caste, age or sexualorientation, her equal rights are fully acknowledged. Trust can only build upif government is transparent and accountable, and people must feel certain thatthey are entitled to contribute to all decisions in which they have a stake. Wemust ensure fundamental economic and social rights – such as the right to cleanwater, to education, to adequate health-care. The freedoms of expression,association and belief must prevail, together with strong and independentmedia, in order that people be fully informed and free to contribute ideas andexperiences without fear of attack.
> Step by step, these elements of justice,participation, conflict resolution and power-sharing build into a deep andbroad  process of confidence, mutual respect and minimal, resolvablegrievances. It is a process that embraces diversity and nourishes  theresilient bonds of human dignity. It is deeply principled -- because the valueof human life is the same for all of us, and all of us deserve to live in sucha way. And it is also the most effective way of governing, because human rightsare not sappy notions but sound policy choices, which build strong,economically healthy societies where there is peace. Nations thrive when they build institutions thatempower their people and enable them to develop their full potential infreedom. That broad inclusion immunises society against violent conflict andextremism. But if we fail to maintain this architecture, allowing it tocrumble, or to be picked apart, piece by piece, by profiteers, then we facenightmares. Places where an iron fist crushes all criticism. Where arbitraryviolence and discrimination stands in place of law. Where hate bubbles up andis crushed into hiding, so that it festers and metastases into appalling,inhuman shapes. Where a régime kidnaps, tortures and murders children whoscrawl slogans on the wall of their school; then fires on their parents andrelatives, protesting their abduction; and goes on to shell and bomb millionsof its own people, their fields of mulberry trees and the intricate mosaic oftheir neighbourhoods, into a blasted landscape of alienation and hate.  Conflict, discrimination, poverty, inequality andterrorism are mutually reinforcing man-made disasters that are hammering toomany communities and individuals. They are constructed. They are contagious.This is true for all parts of the world, but we see a striking example in theMiddle East: Spreading out from the destruction of Iraq and the tyranny ofSyria, much of the region is now engulfed in violence, and this ferocity isfurther spreading, with severe extremist threats in almost every State.Widening outwards, to Somalia, Nigeria and Mali, we also see horrific abuse ofhuman rights by terrorist groups that feed on the grievances of the people.Further repressing human rights is not a solution to these conflicts: it is acontributing cause.  The work of undoing this construction of conflict,and building in its place the processes which lead to human dignity, safety andpeace, is the most urgent preoccupation of my Office. We exist to assist Statesto uphold the human rights norms that safeguard human dignity, and which Statesthemselves laid down. Our aim is to build up both their will and their capacityto protect human rights, and to ensure accountability for any violations orabuses – in order to prevent future violations.
>
> The unique value of our work rests on our dual role: we monitor – to identifyand analyse problems -- and assist, to help those problems change. Throughreporting, in-depth assessment and investigations, our field offices identifyand prioritise the gaps in law and institutions that cause wrongful sufferingto individuals – whether torture, land grabs, the oppression of women ordiscrimination against people because of ethnicity or caste. Then, based on thatfact-finding work, we try to assist States to change those factors. We train prison guards and police to questionpeople without torture. We help judges apply the principles of fairness andrights that are upheld by binding international law, and to maintain fairtrials and due process guarantees. We strengthen grassroots actors and amplifytheir voices, including minority and indigenous groups. We help to trainmilitary forces, especially when it becomes their duty to protect civilians. Webuild programs for human rights education. We develop technical cooperationprogrammes, guidelines and other tools that assist government officials andcivil society to build legitimate and accountable democratic institutions and adiverse ecosystem of strong civil society actors and independent media.  In particular, policing and security forces mustembody the rule of law – or fail. It is they who are often seen as the face ofthe State. When security forces act with contempt for people’s rights, treatingthem as enemies, then enemies are what they may become. Every act of torturecontributes to extremism; and every arbitrary arrest and abusive crackdown –every act that represses civil society and legitimate dissent – is a steptowards further violence.
> This is the story of hundreds of quiet successes, some of them small, but allof them significant. Peace, development and human rights are built around eachother, and this work, which builds, piece by piece, that triple architecture isdeeply appreciated. My Office cannot respond to the many requests for ourassistance, because of our miniscule resources. It is a continuing source ofsurprise and dismay for me to note the extraordinarily tiny budgets that wemust rely on – and your help in changing that situation would be a meaningfulstep for the many people who count on our work.    We can set our planet on a course of greaterinclusion; more sustained prosperity; more justice; more dignity; more freedom;more peace. We can build in human rights. We can encourage leaders to embracethe voices of their people, instead of cutting themselves off from their mostprecious resource. We can help them replace institutions that have beenconstructed to enable a political elite to monopolize power, to extract economicresources, and to act in detriment of the common good – because suchinstitutions inevitably generate instability. Groups will struggle to seizethat power, and the élites will live in fear of their own people; that fearwill breed obsessive surveillance systems and mistrust, hampering every kind ofprogress including economic growth, and driving discrimination. Respect for human rights offers States a pathtowards greater stability, not less. Dialogue and respect for human rights,including the rights of minorities, build confidence and loyalty as well asthriving political and economic institutions. Conflict can be prevented. Peace, security anddevelopment can be built. Brick by brick. Equality.  Dignity.Participation. Respect. Human rights are the DNA that links peace anddevelopment work. They are not expensive: they are priceless. They are notluxuries, for times of peace: they are the workhorses, the load-bearing bricksand mortar which build peace. Human rights prime the virtuous cycle of increasingfreedom, increasing resilience, and greater security throughout theinternational system.  That is the essence of the mandate of the UnitedNations, and of my Office. From preventing torture to fighting discriminationand upholding the rights to education, housing and much more, it is the work wedo. And our task today – your task, at Brookings, as you enter your secondcentury -- becomes the need to strengthen the clarity and moral courage of ourpolitical leaders in supporting this work.  There is no time to lose.  ----------------------------
>
> My final words of advice to you are educate, agitate and organize; have faith in yourself. With justice on our side I do not see how we can lose our battle. The battle to me is a matter of joy. The battle is in the fullest sense spiritual. There is nothing material or social in it. For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is battle for freedom. It is the battle of reclamation of human personality.
> B.R.Ambedkar
>
>
>
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