Showing all posts tagged human rights
Watch furore over Stephen Hawking back BDS and realise its morality
Let the public debate thrive. Following Stephen Hawking’s decision to support the academic boycott of Israel, in a highly principled stand, the issue has caused globally gnashing of teeth and reflection. In short, most Zionists just can’t understand why anybody would pick on poor, little, occupying Israel. Some relevant insights below. The Guardian: The celebrated…
Stephen Hawking embraces academic BDS and rightly shuns Israel
Major news that highlights how mainstream this issue is becoming. Taking a stand against Israeli racism and institutional discrimination means more than words. Actions (via the Guardian): Professor Stephen Hawking is backing the academic boycott of Israel by pulling out of a conference hosted by Israeli president Shimon Peres in Jerusalem as a protest at…
Keeping human rights violations in Sri Lanka on the agenda
I’ve been on the advisory council… of the British-based Sri Lanka Campaign… for a number of years. I was interviewed by 278 Magazine about the group and raising awareness of the ongoing abuses in Sri Lanka: How long have you been on the advisory board for SLC? 2-3 years What initially attracted you to joining the board?…
Building a Nazi-style utopia in Paraguay
Intriguing and eerie story (via the New York Times) that highlights the timeless fascination some people have with a utopia lifestyle. From the mad to the bad and the racist to the religious, the quest for some kind of unattainable perfection persists: The year was 1887 when two of the best-known German anti-Semites of the…
The naked love affair between the CIA and #ZeroDarkThirty
The pro-torture, pro-US and pro-war on terror film… is given deeper meaning with the release, via Gawker, of a document that confirms what many of us suspected; the CIA wanted a propaganda film and the film-makers were apparently happy to comply: Kathryn Bigelow’s Osama bin Laden revenge-porn flick Zero Dark Thirty was the biggest publicity coup…
Israel desperate for regional war?
Savvy piece by Larry Derfner in +972 magazine. The lack of mainstream criticism over Israeli actions against Syria reveals the agenda; install a pliant thugocracy in Damascus. Good luck with that: People in this country [Israel] have been worried that the fighting in Syria is going to “spill over the border,” and now Israel, unprovoked,…
Why standing up for human rights, against the tide, matters
Salman Rushdie writes in the New York Times on 27 April: We… find it easier, in these confused times, to admire physical bravery than moral courage — the courage of the life of the mind, or of public figures. A man in a cowboy hat vaults a fence to help Boston bomb victims while others flee…
What torture at Guantanamo Bay feels like
Powerful statement by the campaigning British group Reprieve: Younous Chekkouri, a detainee who has been cleared for release but remains held in Guantanamo, has given the first inside account of… the raid carried out by prison authorities on Saturday 13 April. Speaking to a lawyer from human rights charity… Reprieve… via an unclassified phone call, Mr Chekkouri has…