April Meeting - Do Human Rights Have a Future?

This event will be in lieu of our April discussion session:

Title: Do Human Rights Have a Future?

Speaker: William Schultz

Time: 4-5:30 PM

Place: Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto - 550 E. Charleston Road, Palo Alto.

Please also see attached flyer.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Armineh

Minorities feel rising tide of bigotry

Barney Zwartz
March 21, 2011

DISTRUST of Muslims and hostility towards homosexuals and pagans remain widespread in Australia, a new Australian Human Rights Commission report to be published today says.

The biggest snapshot of Australian attitudes about religion in more than a decade, the report also suggests rising political involvement by religious groups, tension between religious and secularist groups and great wariness about rights legislation.

The report, Freedom of Religion and Belief in 21st Century Australia, reveals a vastly more complex religious landscape than 1998, when the last similar survey was done.


The research involved community consultations with 274 religious and secularist groups, and with governments, human rights groups, ethnic and city councils, plus more than 2000 public submissions.

The report suggests that a far wider religious diversity and the emergence of significant religious communities (Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, among others) means a very different context for issues of religious freedom and belief.

It says there is a current of anti-Muslim discourse that suggests an entrenched hostility often related to overseas events. Meanwhile, genuine religious differences have not become any easier to manage. Pagans (nature-based religions, such as Wicca) in particular claim to face prejudice and discrimination.

Muslim concerns include problems for women who wear the hijab, in getting permission to build mosques and Islamic schools, and following certain Islamic laws, for example in relation to food or funerals.

The Australian Multicultural Foundation director and co-author, Hass Dellal, said yesterday the report's role was to record the varying views, so that every group could hear its own voice represented. It did not make recommendations but would be a resource for governments and faith communities.

"Faith in general, and specific faiths, are often misunderstood or feel misrepresented, and this report highlights the importance of faith to many Australians, and the central role faith plays in Australian society," Dr Dellal said.

According to co-author Gary Bouma, the report highlights how diverse and difficult the issues facing Australia are, but also that there is hope they will be solved.

"Over the past 15 years - so it's not a result of September 11 - religious voices have re-entered the political domain vigorously," Professor Bouma said. "It's the resurgence of religion around the world - but it doesn't mean people are going back to church."

He was surprised at how strongly some religious groups claimed the right to protect themselves and promote their own interests, even at the expense of other religious groups.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/national/minorities-feel-rising-tide-of-bigotry-20110320-1c28j.html

TEN "COMMANDMENTS" FOR A GLOBAL HUMANISM (Dr. Rodrigue TREMBLAY)

These ‘commandments’ provide a good summary of the important issues for rational humanists.

The ten rules of living and of social behavior of rational humanism for a more harmonious and just world:  

1- Proclaim the natural dignity and inherent worth of all human beings.

2- Respect the life and property of others.

3- Practice tolerance and open-mindedness towards the choices and life styles of others.

4- Share with those who are less fortunate and mutually assist those who are in need of help.

5- Use neither lies, nor spiritual doctrine, nor temporal power to dominate and exploit others.

6- Rely on reason, logic and science to understand the Universe and to solve life's problems.

7- Conserve and improve the Earth's natural environment—land, soil, water, air and space—as humankind's common heritage.

8- Resolve differences and conflicts cooperatively without resorting to violence or to wars.

9- Organize public affairs according to individual freedom and responsibility, through political and economic democracy.

10- Develop one's intelligence and talents through education and effort.
_________________________________________
From: The Code for Global Ethics: Ten Humanist Principles
Prometheus Books,  (ISBN: 978-1-61614-172-1), 2010.

TO READ MORE, GO TO: http://www.thecodeforglobalethics.com/index.html

Book review: Poorly Made in China – An insider’s account of the tactics behind China’s production game. (By Paul Midler, 2009)

Midler is a Mandarin-speaking MBA that has spend some years working as an intermediary between American importers and Chinese manufacturers in China. In fact, he calls China home. His account of what takes place between the American importers and the Chinese manufacturers is informative, nuanced, somewhat humorous, and (in my opinion) balanced. He discusses the complexity of this relationship and who the real losers are: the American consumers.

The manufacturers will do anything to get contracts; after securing contracts, they do anything to increase their profit margins, even if it is at the expense of quality. The importers are aware of this, but turn a blind eye. They import goods that have quality flaws, with unknown effects on the consumers. The consumers buy these products not knowing that quality controls do not exist and ignorant of the fact that these products might cause serious health issues (think of shampoos, soaps, etc.).

Midler describes how the relationship between the manufacturers and importers change with time. It begins with the manufacturers pleasing the importers to get contracts; but as time goes on, the tables are turned and the importers find themselves at the mercy of the manufacturers and the Chinese suppliers win in the long term. He says that the tactics are “straight out of Sunzi’s The Art of War, and it only occurred to importers much later – if it occurred to them at all – that their suppliers knew from the very start where they planned to be at the endgame.”

Midler says, “The manufacturer-importer relationship can be seen as an allegory for the future of relations between the United States and China…. Some leaders may feel that they have only the political past to use as a guide; but in fact, they have many microcosmic examples to take from business, and in these models can be found an appreciation for a variety of strategies and tactics.”

I highly recommend this book. We often hear sound bites that are not linked to the big picture from our politicians or pundits. Midler’s on the ground account is really key to understanding this incredible economic dynamic between the U.S. and China, which has lead to incredible growth in Chinese manufacturing, while decimating the American one.

Armineh Noravian

Humanist Schools in Uganda

The Uganda Humanist Schools Trust supports three Ugandan schools, each of which offers liberal, humanist education to needy children. The schools are in impoverished rural areas, where few families can pay for education, and where many children, orphaned by disease, are cared for by extended family members.

To read more, go to: http://ballisticduckphotos.co.uk/uhst2011/

The assault of conservative lawmakers on the federal and state level on the right to choose.

We all agree that the choice to have an abortion is a complex one. But the one thing that is demonstrated over and over is that the right for a woman to have that choice is as important as the right of any human being not be tortured.

The video here shows a Nebraskan couple who were not given the right to choose even though they knew their baby had little chance of survival, because Nebraska law prevented them from having the choice to end the pregnancy. They describe their experience as “torture.”

The mother says, “There are things worse than death.” She goes on to say “The outcome of my pregnancy, that choice was made by God. How to handle the end of my pregnancy, that choice should’ve been mine. It wasn’t because of a law.”

She has this to say about the law (that conservative legislators have pushed in place): “If they thought about their daughters, their sisters, their mothers, their wives being in this situation, they would never want them to go through that.”

See video: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid48788398001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAACEa20sk~,awHVm72MyKltMOqg2JcN9xSyrh4zXV0_&bclid=0&bctid=815506650001

Full-face veils outlawed as France spells out controversial niqab ban

"...face coverings put those who wear them "in a situation of exclusion and inferiority incompatible with the principles of liberty, equality and human dignity affirmed by the French republic."

To read more, go to: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/03/niqab-ban-france-muslim-veil?CMP=EMCGT_040311&