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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">Human Rights Reader 171</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><font face="Times New Roman">MORE IRON LAWS THAT AFFECT HUMAN RIGHTS: USE THEM!</font></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><font face="Times New Roman">[Human Rights (HR) being<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>very much on our agenda, what follows is a collection of (not always related) mostly one-liners that are true iron laws in the work we are supposed to do as activists. They will come handy for use in your discussions with others].
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">General:</font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">1. Half truths are like half bricks: you can throw them further.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">2. The rich countries perpetuate the myth that expertise is the prerogative of the few.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">3. If we made poverty and malnutrition contagious across the globe, their elimination would be remarkably rapid.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">4. The rich like to speak of one world, but actually they are worlds apart of the realities of poverty with its ongoing HR violations.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">5. When poor people are suffering and oppressed, the last thing they need is a God of docile love and meekness.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">[We say man is created in the image of God. I refuse to imagine a god who is miserable, poor, ignorant, oppressed, wretched --which is the lot of the majority of those whom he created in his image.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Julius Nyerere].</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">6. In international affairs (including international HR law), countries of the South most often react, but just reacting limits their choices.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">7. "If<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am not for myself, then who is for me? And if I am not for others who am I? And if not now, when?".
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Action-oriented:</font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">8. Stop reinventing the wheel. Start putting wheels on the wagon.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">9. The future has many names: for the powerful few it is status-quo, for the bold (among the not-yet-powerful-many) it is an opportunity for needed structural changes (that will tackle HR violations at their roots).
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">10. Struggle is a principle of development; to be is to do.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">11. Faith in the power of doing is better than doing nothing at all.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">12. Either we unite, organize and cooperate closely or many more will continue dying unnecessary deaths… United, we all have an opportunity to make a difference… Divided we beg, united we demand (… among other, demand autonomy and political voice for grassroots communities plus demand governments, corporations and multilateral/bilateral institutions be held to account).
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">13. Action unites more than words; the latter usually divide.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">14. "Raise hopes, don't destroy illusions".</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">15. We are not to preach, but to organize mass actions.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">16. The name of the game is: Focus on lasting/sustainable results, not on any dogma!</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">17. Because men and women experience poverty differently, we need to work harder on the rights of women (and those of minorities).
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">18. Perhaps it is unrealistic to expect poor women to overcome deeply ingrained socio-cultural barriers just because we empower them financially through micro-credit operations and/or we train them in leadership. For their rights to be ultimately respected, more than that will be needed…
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Economics- and globalization–related:</font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">19. An economic system that has little or no use for better than half of the world's population can and must be radically transformed.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">20. The world economic order works for the advantage of 20% of its population.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">21. Neoliberalism globalizes poverty, not development.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">22. The debt of poor countries has already been paid by ever-falling-terms-of-trade. (That is why the HR-based framework calls for debt relief for the poorest countries).
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">23. Money equals force in the market; therefore, those with money dominate. So, world trade is a means of domination of the rich countries.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">24. The laws of supply and demand can fix the market price of bread, tortillas, cassava or rice, but they do nothing to alleviate hunger as a key HR violation.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">25. The invisible hand of the market has no capacity to imagine or create a decent society for all.</font></span>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">26. Globalization does not have a human face; it has a cynical human mask.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">27. In the era of globalization, progress means inequality and, for its staunch promoters, reason means self-interest.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">28. There is enough for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">29. In the struggle for the alleviation of poverty, the check has come back from the 'Bank of Justice' marked "insufficient funds".
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">30. Income for the poor is perhaps the best guarantee of health and food security.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">31. It took Britain the exploitation of half the globe to be what it is today; how many globes would India need?
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">More directly HR-related:</font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">32. As the threat from the many HR violations we see worldwide increases, so does the cost of inaction.</font></span>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">33. Social justice and the universal respect of HR will not succeed if it remains the sole concern of intellectuals.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">34. Death is a social disease: How often do we overlook this axiom?</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span lang="IT" style="mso-ansi-language: IT"><font size="2"><font face="Times New Roman">Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City</font></font></span></p>
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<span lang="IT" style="mso-ansi-language: IT"><a href="mailto:cschuftan@phmovement.org"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">cschuftan@phmovement.org</font></span></a><font size="2">
<font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>NEW ADDRRESS</font></font></span></p>
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<font face="Times New Roman"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt">[All Readers can be found in </span><span lang="IT" style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; mso-ansi-language: IT"><a href="http://www.humaninfo.org/aviva"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US">
www.humaninfo.org/aviva</span></a></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt"> under No.69]</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"></span></font></p></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">Adapted from here and there.</font></p>