Human Rights Quote (82): African Americans

(source)
President Theodore Roosevelt’s invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage and an insult in many quarters. America today is a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the nomination of an African-American to be [...]

Human Rights Story (4): Animal Farm

(source: http://groups.msn.com/EricArthurBlair/)
Excerpt from George Orwell’s Animal Farm:
Benjamin felt a nose nuzzling at his shoulder. He looked round. It was Clover. Her old eyes looked dimmer than ever. Without saying anything, she tugged gently at his mane and led him round to the end of the big barn, where the Seven Commandments were written. For a [...]

Political Artist (28): Joni Mitchell

Human Rights Quote (74): Democracy or Experts?

The proper judge of the expert is not another expert, but the user: The warrior and not the blacksmith for the sword, the horseman and not the saddler for the saddle. And evidently, for all public (common) affairs, the user, and thus the best judge, is the polis. Cornelius Castoriadis
The best method of choice is [...]

Human Rights Quote (73): Equality of Opportunity

(source: http://www.al3x.net/)
Those who are at the same level of talent and ability, and have the same willingness to use them, should have the same prospects of success regardless of their initial place in the social system. In all sectors of society there should be roughly equal prospects of culture and achievement for everyone similarly motivated [...]

Human Rights Cartoon (94): Types of Equality

(copyright by Bill Mauldin)
Here’s a short overview of different types of equality (I’ll come back to this in future posts):
1. Equality before the law
This concept is linked to the concept of non-discrimination. Laws must be equal for everybody and should not discriminate between people. Everyone should be protected and punished by the law in the [...]

Human Rights Quote (72): Gender Discrimination

The inequality of the sexes has deprived society of a vast pool of talent. If women had the free use of their faculties along with the same prizes and encouragements as men, there would be a doubling of the mass of mental faculties available for the higher service of humanity. Every restraint on freedom of [...]

Human Rights Story (2): Slavery

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe (two excerpts, abbreviated)
1. Two brothers debate the possible slave revolt in the South after witnessing the young Henrique beat the slave Dodo:
 
” ‘All men are born free and equal!’ Poh! one of Tom Jefferson’s pieces of French sentiment and humbug. It’s perfectly ridiculous to have that going the [...]

Human Rights Quote (67): Economic Freedom

“Open markets offer the only realistic hope of pulling billions of people in developing countries out of abject poverty, while sustaining prosperity in the industrialized world.” Kofi Annan

“Africa must be allowed to trade itself out of poverty.” Bob Geldof
Human rights do not include a right to have economic freedom or to have a free market. [...]

Human Rights Facts (39): Women’s Rights & Gender Discrimination, Continued

The “Global Gender Gap Index 2007”, published by the World Economic Forum, ranks 128 countries according to the level of gender-inequality existing in those countries. This ranking is based on 14 indicators covering political representation, access to education, health and economic participation.
All of the world’s countries are affected by gender-based inequality, but some more than [...]