Human Rights Cartoon (96): Modern Slavery

(copyright Monte Wolverton)
Slavery was officially abolished worldwide at the 1927 Slavery Convention. Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:
“No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms”.
Slavery is illegal everywhere and yet it still exists everywhere. Experts estimate that today [...]

Human Rights Poem (49): The Slave’s Lament

The Slave’s Lament, Robert Burns
It was in sweet Senegal that my foes did me enthrall
For the lands of Virginia-ginia O;
Torn from that lovely shore, and must never see it more,
And alas! I am weary, weary O!
Torn from &c.
All on that charming coast is no bitter snow and frost,
Like the lands of Virginia-ginia O;
There streams for [...]

Human Rights Facts (44): Dehumanization

Here’s a small catalogue of examples of dehumanization, of the ways in which humans try to exclude others from humanity, to deny them equality, to ridicule them, to render them objects in their plan, instruments for their advancement or pleasure. It ranges from the harmless national stereotypes and political humor, to the incitement of genocide. [...]

Political Artist (22) : Billy Holiday

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 Facts (23): State of Emergency

Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the main human rights treaty, creates the possibility for states to declare a so-called “state of emergency“, a temporary suspension of mechanisms for the protection of some human rights when this is required by a national crisis:
1. In time of public emergency which threatens the [...]

A Short History of Democracy

1. Ancient Greece
Democracy is a Greek invention, created by some of the ancient Greek city states, in particular Athens. Athenian democracy was a direct democracy. Citizens - not including women, children, slaves, resident foreigners, i.e. the majority of the population - gathered together to discuss and decide on the policies of the state. Within this [...]

Human Rights Poem (29): The Slave in the Dismal Swamp

THE SLAVE IN THE DISMAL SWAMP
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
In the dark fens of the Dismal Swamp
The hunted negro lay;
He saw the fire of the midnight
camp,
And heard at times a horse’s trams
and a bloodhound’s distant bay.
Where will-o’-the wisps and glowworms
shine,
In Bulrush and in brake;
Where waving mosses shroud the
pine,
and the cedar grows, and the poisenous
vine,
Is spotted like the [...]

Human Rights Cartoon (55): Property

“The poor are getting poorer, but with the rich getting richer it all averages out in the long run.”
(Copyright: Joseph Mirachi)
Private property does not have a good press. It’s unequal distribution has often been criticized, also on this blog. However, there is a recognized human right to private property (or, more specifically, the right to [...]

Human Rights Quote (10): Slavery

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. Abraham Lincoln
Fortunately, few people do, these days. Thanks in part to Abe. But although almost no-one argues for slavery, slavery still exists. Outright slavery, but also “grey slavery”, people officially receiving a wage and officially having [...]