We seek the death penalty for crimes against humanity, as every one involves murder. To define what constitutes human rights abuse we refer to the UN 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [UDHR] The thirty Articles of the Declaration spell out the many ways human beings abuse, humiliate and devastate the less fortunate among them. In most cases the victims suffer from criminals who are protected by the state apparatus. In varying degrees, the corruption exists everywhere systemic.
Usually, the individual has no chance to loosen the chains that bind him. Those who resist are blocked at every turn. If they persist, they can die without fanfare or notice.
Only the villains survive without punishment to enjoy the fruits of their evil ways. They reap the benefits in and out of government. They flourish as Congressmen, Chief Executive Officers and military leaders. They flaunt convention from high places in the Clergy and in the Courts.
A few political pundits refer to them as heading a conspiracy to rule a New World Order. This is a misnomer. It is a continuation of systems many in place for centuries even thousands of years. Over time they have embedded in the human psyche to the point they seem quite normal an essential part of the culture and of human life. Regularly, nations have gone to war to preserve their slant on normative behavior or to impose it on others.
The UDHR is the most revolutionary document ever written. If the Articles were enforced, they would transform every nation to a home for liberty and justice. Of course, the existing elite oppose the UDHR at every turn. They promote government from the top going down benefitting them and not the people. Although every UN member nation had to ratify the UDHR to join the organization, the Articles are ignored in most countries.
Human rights flow from the common people demanding their rights from the bottom going up if you will. Against the tide of human history, the current seeks liberty and justice.
Many books and pamphlets have been written on the subject. For starters I would list Franz Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth" and the writings of Thomas Paine. You see; we human beings have an attitude problem that unnaturally sets our limits for aspiration at a very low level of achievement.
We worship false idols. Read the Old Testament for full disclosure. Indeed, if I were impressed to describe the Bible in three words, I would say this. "Don't worship idols."
Similarly, for the sake of brevity, I propose to set the human rights agenda with quotations from victims in the Holy Land. These come from my 25-year battle for human rights in Israel. This does not single out the State as being especially abusive, but rather a reflection of where I have spent the majority of my adult years.
Quotations:
"The bandits kidnapped me in Chechnya and flew me to Israel. The Interior Ministry stole my Passport and the National Insurance Office sold me to a pimp. He kept me in a brothel until the age of twenty-nine when he threw me out."
"In 1997 two emissaries from the Israeli San Francisco Consulate told me an incredible story. In 1952 my natural parents had taken me to a local clinic. After a few days my parents visited only to learn that I had died from a dread disease. They received my death certificate and the location of my grave.
The doctor and the Rabbi had done the paperwork for the Interior Ministry. They all co-operated with the social worker who sold me to a childless couple for $2,000. The National Insurance Office maintained the secrets of my 'death' and my adoption for 45 years.
My natural parents learned this after they dug up my 'grave' and found it empty."
"The New York Israeli Consulate organized and financed my kidnapping to Israel at my age two. Despite the frantic efforts of my natural parents in the courts, I have been held hostage here for the past nineteen years."
"One night I was listening to a radio talk show, when a distraught mother from Lagos, Nigeria, called to report her son missing for twenty years. Through the radio station I contacted a local NGO that put me in contact with my long lost mother. Two weeks later the Secret Police closed the NGO."
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