Posted at On The Wilder Side
On the morning of December 10, 2008, Cindy Sheehan, Nelson Valdes, Saul Landau, and I signed a declaration as the U.S. delegates to an international conference assessing sixty years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights sponsored by the Network of Networks in Defense of Humanity. Here is our declaration:
We celebrate sixty years of failure. Human rights have been converted from a noble goal into an instrument of foreign policy used by rich and powerful nations against the poorest and weakest people of the world.
In 2008, almost three billion people throughout the world suffer the most basic privations.
After sixty years of empty human rights rhetoric, we demand that governments focus their attention on fulfilling the promises of 1948. We write this document on the parchment of environment, which everyone shares, and has warned us all to drastically change the ways in which mass production and consumption take place.1. The United States is a member of the commonwealth of nations;
2. Benefits accrue to those who cooperate with the global community and view other countries as potential partners for the upliftment of humankind;
3. Unfortunately, the leadership of the United States Government has consistently been a disappointment to those of us who value the tenets and the possibilities for humankind embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
4. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the rights of self-determination, the rights of women, the indigenous, and the rights of association, expression, and resistance to protect and preserve these precious rights;
5. Poverty, severe income inequality on one hand and greed and over-consumption by a few, on the other hand, deny for far too many on the planet universal application of the Universal Declaration;
6. Climate change, unsustainable agriculture, unbridled militarism, terrorism with impunity, nuclear proliferation represent threats to our planet and threats to humankind;
7. The current implosion of the engine of U.S. imperialism and global capitalism contains the seeds of a new global order in which the rights of humankind and the Universal Declaration can find universal application;
8. The incoming Barack Obama Administration has a unique opportunity to make a clean break with the policies of the past, including installation of dictatorships, campaigns of invasion, terror, and slander, torture, and occupation, and can build bridges of peace and justice with dignity and respect to Africa, Latin America, and Europe;
9. Therefore, we call on the President-elect to put the United States on a clear course of global fraternity by
a) invoking the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
b) rejecting torture and terror and demonstrating this by closing and vacating Guantanamo and
ceding to Cuba its rightful patrimony,c) ending the U.S. embargo,
d) releasing the Cuban Five, and
e) extraditing Luis Posada Cariles;
10. While this list is not exhaustive, it represents a much needed down payment on hope and change.
11. We will disseminate this document through our respective networks.
Signed: Saul Landau, Cindy Sheehan, Nelson Valdes, Cynthia McKinney
7 responses so far ↓
1 inDglass // Dec 11, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Yeah, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights sounds all nice and pretty until you get to Article 29, Section 3:
In other words, you do not have rights if it does not serve the UN agenda for you to have them.
2 Steven Druckenmiller // Dec 11, 2008 at 7:38 pm
It sounds pretty terrible before that:
Article 23.
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
And:
Article 24.
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
It gets a lot worse.
But, hey, it was bad for ol’ Bob Barr to not share the stage with the Green Party’s mouthpiece.
3 Ross Levin // Dec 11, 2008 at 8:05 pm
So they’re condemning the US government for human rights abuses while in Cuba? And they don’t see the irony in that?
4 Wendy Nelson // Dec 11, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Cindy $heehan is not finished globetrotting. The “peace” mom can already say that she has visited Egypt in 2008 as well. No surprise that she only received 17 percent of the vote in San Francisco. She only wanted to go to Congress to have the excuse to visit other places in the world and have the taxpayers cover the expenses.
For somebody who plans to run again in San Francisco two years from now, she should be spending more time in the City by the Bay, especially when she lost by 54 percent. She claimed to be the voice for those living in poverty, yet she can sure put a passport to use. Most of the poor folk in San Francisco are lucky to take a weekend drive to Tahoe.
She bashes the corporate media one minute, and the next minute she gets a radio program in the Bay Area lined up for January 2009 on Green 960 AM. Oh yeah, did I mention the station is owned by Clear Channel?
Cindy, this never was about your brave son, this has been about you all along. Your son, Casey, is a true hero. Shame on you for disgracing his memory for selfish purposes.
God bless all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, like Casey, and all the troops who still serve today.
Peace on Earth
Wendy Nelson
5 paulie cannoli // Dec 11, 2008 at 11:06 pm
I see she has some fans
6 cyrano3000 // Dec 12, 2008 at 4:09 am
This almost (but not quite) reminds me of the We Agree statement promoted by Ron Paul and endorsed by Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr. I look forward to a future declaration that Ron Paul would be willing to endorse. I would love to see Cindy Sheehan, Cynthia McKinney and Ron Paul get together on the topic of restoring Due Process and eliminating US government operated gulags (both named and unnamed).
7 Sue // Jan 5, 2009 at 3:29 am
Cindy DOES still have her fans. She is a good and decent human being who works hard to make things better for others despite having to sacrifice much. We need more people like her. Maybe then this country wouldn’t be such a hypocritical laughingstock in the eyes of the rest of the World.
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