Tag Archives: Human rights

Watch Live Gael Garcia Bernal Q & A Today.

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TODAY – FILM STAR GAEL GARCIA BERNAL TAKES PART IN LIVE Q AND A AHEAD OF UK LAUNCH OF OSCAR-NOMINATED FILM ‘NO’

Gael García Bernal, the star of the Oscar-nominated film ‘NO’, will take part in a Q and A with Amnesty International to be broadcast live on YouTube at 3.45pm today, ahead of the film’s UK launch on 8 February.

The film documents the fall of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and stars García Bernal as René Saavedra, an advertising executive who devised the campaign that brought democracy to the South American country in 1988.

The character René Saavedra is loosely based on the real-life advertising executive Eugenio García, who will join García Bernal in the live Q and A. They will be taking questions from the public submitted to Amnesty on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AmnestyUK and on Twitter using the hashtag #AskGael.

The film features many of the individuals who were banned from appearing in the Chilean media during Pinochet’s era. The critically acclaimed film also won the Art Cinema Prize in Cannes in 2012.

The Q and A will be broadcast live on this link from 15.45 today:

Chile, like a large number of South American countries, has yet to fully address the human rights abuses committed by the nation’s authorities during the 1970s and 80s.

In 1973 General Pinochet led a bloody coup that overthrew the democratically-elected government of President Salvador Allende. During his 17-year rule, Amnesty believes 1,100 people were people forcibly disappeared, more than 2,000 were unlawfully killed and several thousands were tortured by the military forces.

Hundreds of people are still awaiting justice for the human rights abuses committed against them.

TUTU MAKES A STAND – Calls for Bush and Blair to be Tried Over Iraq

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Writing in the Observer on Sunday, former Noble Peace Prize Winner Desmond Tutu has called for George Bush and Tony Blair to be tried over the Iraq war.

The move follows Tutus decision to pull out of a leadership summit in Johannesburg because he refused to be on the same stage as Tony Blair. He wrote, ‘I couldn’t sit with someone who justified the invasion of Iraq with a lie’.

Tutu has been active in the defense of human rights and uses his high profile to campaign for the oppressed. He has campaigned to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia.

He is most famous for his role during apartheid where he played a huge part in bringing about an end to the oppressive regime.

Tutu’s protests and actions were always peaceful. He was critical of the violent tactics of some anti-apartheid groups such as the African National Congress and he always advocated for the reconciliation of all parties. His actions led to him being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

In his article Tutu writes of the, ‘even greater costs that have been exacted beyond the killing fields’. Tutus greatest concern is the deepening divide between West and East. The actions in Iraq have made terrorist attacks more and not less likely and may now lead to war in Iran as well.

This action is typical of Tutu. He has never been afraid to speak out. Although he probably knows there is no chance Bush and Blair will ever face trial at the Hague he is trying to pull the East and West together. I think this article has as much to do with Iran as anything else. This is a conflict Tutu clearly fears.

In response to the article, Mr Blair issued a strongly worded defence. He maintained that he had never lied over weapons of mass destruction.

Pressure on Blair and Bush increased as Human rights lawyer Sir Geoffrey Bindman told BBC Radio 4 the Iraq war was an illegal aggressive war.

It’s now almost certain that the war was illegal because it breached the UN Charter provisions which say that all member of the United Nations must refrain from the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.

Lord Faulkner disagreed

“The dispute between Geoffrey and myself would be whether or not resolution 1441 did or did not authorise war and we say that it did.

However Faulkner’s argument is severely weakened by the attempts of Britain and the US to secure a second resolution to justify military action. They ultimately failed to do so and this implies in my mind that resolution 1441 was not enough by itself and everyone knew that. Indeed speaking in 2004 former Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan said, ‘I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN Charter. From our point of view, from the charter point of view it was illegal.’

Is China Buying The World? | Book Review

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This short book is more than food for the brain, it is fascinating, a snapshot of history. Touching on a popular subject and often asked question by the global media; Is china buying the world?

Peter Nolan’s well researched short book is full of facts and weighty political and financial debate. Nolan certainly knows his stuff, as well he should; he is Professor of Chinese Development at the University of Cambridge and is one of the leading international experts on China and the global economy.

Did you know?: China accounts for 26 percent of the total foreign holding of US debt. However Britain and Japan hold more US public debt than China. China only holds 12 per cent of total US public debt.

Everyone in business should read this book. It also has lots of fun, fascinating graphs and tables. This book gives a stunning insight into business in China, the UK, US and beyond.

Another point I got from the book is a certain racism against China. I know China has a dodgy history of human rights, but it would seem that the western world is finding it hard for anyone else to take over it’s dominance: perceived or otherwise. A point that Nolan point out is not good for peace or international relations. The book also touches on another subject “Who are We?” and are there any business which are British, or American left?

China is the world’s second biggest economy and its largest exporter. It possesses the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves and has 29 firms in the FT 500 list of the world’s largest companies. ‘China’s Rise’ preoccupies the global media, which carry regular articles suggesting that it is using its financial resources to ‘buy the world’.

Is there any truth to this idea? Or is this just scaremongering by Western commentators who have little interest in a balanced presentation of China’s role in the global political economy?

This book is a must-read. A lot of people are worrying about the ‘awakening giant’ of China, let Peter Nolan allay your fears.

You can buy Is China Buying the World? here.

“Yeah, I know what I said but… come on, play fair Infidel!”

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Carlos the Jackal, the notorious terrorist and assassin of the latter part of the last century hasn’t got a nail clipper and he’s peeved. It’s mainly because he’s doing a lot of press and he wants to be presentable, after all, it’s a basic human right to have as much chance of meeting Louis Theroux as anyone else, right?

It always amazed me when people who have taken an oath to destroy an entire society or bring down a government that represents, to them, pure evil and then when they get caught, or their rucksack fails to reap the souls of the infidels around them because it got wet waiting for the train at Luton and now it’s just got cake mix oozing through its webbing, they seem more than happy to bend the principles they killed for if it means a few quid or a comfy cell.

It’s as if they’re saying, “I want to destroy your way of life because it represents all that is wrong with the world… but until I do, can I get a skinny latte and do you have WiFi?”

Osama Bin Laden, erstwhile leader of a terrorist cell that holds the most anti-western viewpoint of them all wasn’t averse to a nice pair of trainers and a designer watch. That video of him rocking back and forth in front of the telly looked more like he was waiting for the Lotto program to skip past the crappy thunderball and get to the main event. You could almost read, “it’s a roll over this week,” in his body language- and while we’re at it, I suspect that he didn’t just go for the ‘Al Jazeera’ channel when it was being installed either. Those long nights in a cave can just fly by if you’ve got Babestation and The Simpsons to keep you going.
It just feels like, if you’re going to take the moral high ground to such an extreme, you should be willing to die by the same sword you came running in screaming with.

Suicide bombers, for example. You don’t get more committed than that. Delusional sheep, bereft of even the most basic common sense they may be, but commitment they do very well. You’d think, therefore, that if their planned trip to everlasting back-patting and more virgins than a ‘World of Warcraft’ convention ended up as six months in an orange boiler suit in Southern Cuba, they’d laugh in the face of such conditions with the kind of scorn only someone who has tried to do to themselves what their captors will always stop short of doing, can pull off. It’s a shame we can’t take some of those that survive and retrain them as call center workers or marriage councilors. A little conversion and they could get employee of the month at The Samaritans on a two day week.

But no. Instead they’re hiring lawyers and complaining that their human rights have been violated. Abu Hamza, the low rent Dr. Evil who hates all non-Muslims and has devoted his life to trying to bring down civilization and turn the world into a Muslim state, screamed like Louis Spence on a ghost train the minute he thought he could lose his council flat and benefits and even appealed against losing his British Citizenship.

So, to any terrorists out there let me just say this: Play fair. I know you hate me, and it’s fair to say I hate you, but come on. Do it properly or not at all. We’ll give you your human rights if we have to because that’s what we do- we’re the human rights people, you’re not. Having them thrust upon you should feel, to you, like a vegan protestor, marching for PETA against vivisection, being given a fur coat and a bucket of KFC so they don’t catch a chill. You should eschew such western ways with a hate-filled ‘harrumph!’ And maybe a gob full of something nasty in the face of your jailer. Screaming that you’ve missed ‘strictly’ and only had four of your five a day just makes you look like the jihad equivalent of Johnny Rotten. One minute he’s sticking pins in the establishment and swearing on TV, the next he’s that property developer off ‘I’m a celebrity’ who advertises butter.

UN Says Cutting Off Your Internet Could Breach Human Rights

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Frank La Rue, the UN Rapporteur for the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of expression, has argued that removing somebody’s internet access deprives them of a basic right.

Mr La Rue presented his report, ‘on global access of the internet as a medium for freedom of expression, to the UN Human Rights Council this week.

In his report Mr La Rue condemned certain proposed and existing government legislation. In particular he singled out the UK’s Digital Economy Act which has a provision to restrict or remove internet access from those breaking copyright laws. His report was particularly concerned with ‘a centralised on/off control over the internet. He said, removing somebody’s internet access is to deprive them of a key component for the basic human right of freedom of expression.

The report comes in the wake of the e-G8 summit in Paris where Mr Sarkozy led discussions on proposals to regulate the internet. Governments worldwide have become increasingly fearful of the power of the internet, particularly in the wake of the Arab spring.

In his opening speech Sarkozy said, ‘the world you represent is not a parallel universe where legal and moral rules and more generally all the basic rules that govern society in democratic countries do not apply.’

But many internet entrepreneurs including Google chairman Eric Schmidt warned governments against attempts at legislation arguing, ‘technology will move faster than governments’.

Sarkozy has faced severe criticism for a recent internet law (the HADOPI law) which he has pushed forward. The law (to be enforced by a new government agency) could see those suspected of illegal file sharing brought before a judge.

Could these new government agencies precipitate a major government crackdown on the internet? While Mr La Rue’s report will be welcomed by many, it will take more than UN reports to ensure the freedom of the internet.

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AUNG SAN SUU KYI RECORDS MESSAGE FOR AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S 50TH BIRTHDAY

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The world’s best known political prisoner pays tribute to the world’s largest human rights organisation and looks forward to the day Amnesty no longer exists

Amnesty International, the world’s largest human rights organisation, is celebrating 50 years of work on Saturday 28 May 2011. In a message to Amnesty International, Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s iconic pro-democracy leader who was released last year after having spent 15 of the last 20 years under house arrest, paid tribute to the work that Amnesty had done over the last half a century and said how happy she will be when there is no longer any need for such an organisation.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, said:

“I wish, on this 50th anniversary of Amnesty International, that its work will continue to be so successful, that there will no longer be any need for such an organisation.

“So I hope that we shall be able to cooperate together to bring about this sad, this happy day when Amnesty International no longer needs to carry on its work. “

Aung San Suu Kyi went on to talk about her early awareness of the organisation, and how she became increasingly aware of its importance when she herself became the focus of Amnesty’s campaigning.

Aung San Suu Kyi, said:

“The work that Amnesty International has done for all those who are suffering as prisoners of conscience is great – all over the world.

“I was quite young when I first learned about Amnesty International and was struck by the fact that it had been founded simply because one thinking man had read about the arrest of two young students in Portugal. One man in the UK decided because of what had happened to two young men in Portugal, that there was a need for such an organisation as Amnesty International.

“From that day I have harboured great respect for the organisation and after I was placed under house arrest and many of my colleagues were imprisoned for their political beliefs, my appreciation for Amnesty International increased by the day.”

Amnesty was started in London, in 1961, when British barrister Peter Benenson read an article about two Portuguese students who had been arrested for raising a “toast to freedom”. In the 1960s, Portugal was one of the remaining European colonial powers in Africa, ruled by the authoritarian Estado Novo regime. Anti-regime conspiracies were vigorously repressed by the Portuguese state police and deemed anti-Portuguese. The simple toast was deemed insurgent and a challenge to the government and the two were sent to prison.

Benenson wrote an article entitled ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’, in which he highlighted the plight of similar prisoners who had been jailed around the world for peacefully expressing their views. In an impassioned plea, he coined the term ‘prisoner of conscience’ and called for like-minded people across the world to unite in an appeal for amnesty on their behalf. The response was immense, and within weeks Amnesty International, a coordinated movement of ordinary people standing up for justice, had been born.

Today Amnesty has more than three million supporters, members and activists working at the forefront of human rights issues in more than 150 countries and territories across the globe. Amnesty’s purpose is to protect people when their human rights are denied, calling for an end to the discrimination, persecution and harassment that individuals face.

Aung San Suu Kyi, said:

“Basic to the strength of Amnesty International is the fact that so many ordinary people from so many countries in the world have been persuaded to take part in its work.

“The letters written by ordinary housewives, by school children, by retired people, by active young businessmen – all over the world – for the rights of those who have been imprisoned, makes a great difference.

“One single postcard means a lot, and it’s this kind of idea; that great things start from small beginnings – that has made Amnesty International such an unusual and such a globally relevant organisation.”

Speaking from Rangoon, wearing her trade-mark huge, bright flower in her hair, the political leader known simply as “The Lady” by her Burmese supporters, looked straight into the camera and smiled as she said what a happy, sad day the end of Amnesty would mark for the world. She acknowledged how vital Amnesty had been in conveying the dire situation of human rights in Burma, and asked that Burma is not neglected after the elections last November.

Aung San Suu Kyi, concluded:

“We should be sorry not to be in touch anymore with all those people who have made this such a very, very valuable organisation, but we should also be very happy when we know that there is no need for Amnesty International any more.”

For more information about Amnesty’s work; past, present and future, and to obtain a copy of the message from Aung San Suu Kyi, contact the press office.