The Relentless Stream of Consciousness » human rights

No health insurance for US rape victims

Guy — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:35:55 +0000

“Christina Turner feared that she might have been sexually assaulted after two men slipped her a knockout drug. She thought she was taking proper precautions when her doctor prescribed a month’s worth of anti-AIDS medicine … Only later did she learn that she had made herself all but uninsurable.”

The Huffington Post reveals yet another appalling story from America’s abysmal health insurance system, where insurance companies deny cover to people who take HIV-prevention drugs after rape or sexual assault. It’s yet another awful story from a disgusting system. Full article here.

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Penalising pupils for not being poor

Guy — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:56:22 +0000

The BBC reports on a bullshit proposal by the Government to give higher grades to school students from poorer backgrounds. I’m aware that I’m about to sound like a raging Tory (I’m not) but I can barely articulate how much this idea outrages me Not only is it grossly unfair and unethical to even think of giving poorer students better marks than their peers for the same work, but it diminishes the meaning of the grading system across the board and could only serve to demotivate hard-working pupils who are punished for not being poor. It’s yet another example, hot on the tail of university grade inflation and a two-tier loan system, of an awful policy which ignores the root and instead tries to patch over fuck-ups in education policy. The Government should stop trying to treat the symptom and instead look at the cause – underfunding, figure-fiddling, and a ridiculous university policy which says that 50% of the population should be forced into higher education, regardless of whether they are capable or whether the course they study has any meaning or place in a university.

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9/11: Political trials and human rights

Guy — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:18:21 +0000

The Washington Post reports on the lobbying force of the families of 9/11 victims, and their wide range of views – from the relative who says that inmates have it easy (“They’re in the Caribbean on a beach, getting three meals a day”) to those ardently in favour of trying detainees in US courts; and from those who believe they don’t deserve a trial, to those who passionately oppose the death penalty. While I can’t begin to understand the anger and pain and hurt the families feel, however, I really can’t understand how any democracy can base constitutional decisions and its justice system on current raw emotion and conference calls with families. Until Guantanamo detainees are tried in a fair and impartial court, they are innocent in the eyes of the law; and as such, their inalienable human rights and access to justice should be the same as those of anyone else.

Read “Victims’ Families United in Tragedy, Divided in Views”, here.

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ETA’s theory of violence

Guy — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:15:54 +0000

“For Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca, a sociologist at Madrid’s Cumpletense University who specializes in ETA, the answer to why ETA continues its violent fight is more chilling … ‘They have no theory of violence anymore. For the past three or four years, it’s been purely reactionary. It’s all they know how to do.’ “

The Basque separatist group this week marked its fiftieth anniversary with two bombs. Time takes a look at what continues to motivate a terrorist group which has, by all accounts, lost any realistic hope of achieving its aims through bloodshed. Full article here.

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Segregated proms still the norm

Guy — Sun, 24 May 2009 18:13:19 +0000

Incredibly, decades after the legal and official end of segregation, The New York Times reports that the practice of divided proms is alive and well in the American South. In states such as Georgia, it’s common practice for black and white students to attend separate proms. While officially open to all, the two separate nights are in reality divided along race lines, with best friends and classmates unable to attend the others’ prom – and when schools have attempted to organise truly integrated events in the recent past, white racist parents have organised their own ‘private’ proms in competition. Not only is the existence of these divided events appalling, but so also is the ‘it is how it is’ attitude from the spineless students, parents, staff and authorities unwilling to rise up against a racist system.

The New York Times, here. Via NYTimes on Twitter.

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Sri Lanka: past, present and future

Guy — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:23:24 +0000

Sri Lankan leader Mahinda Rajapaksa has officially announced the end of the civil war which has raged there for the last 26 years and killed 70,000 people. The separatist movement were defeated after a bloody offensive by the Sri Lankan army which, despite achieving their aims, ignored international calls for restraint and has been accused of gross human rights abuses as a result – somewhat losing them the moral high ground over the terrorist Tigers. Aside from that issue, the BBC’s South Asia Correspondent reports that the important thing now is for the government to grant some form of political autonomy to the minority Tamil and avoid another uprising over recognition and representation in the future.

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A clear Phorm of snooping

Guy — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:14:52 +0000

“The Phorm system learns your interests by snooping on your internet web traffic. Your ISP does the necessary wiretap in exchange for a cut when advertisers pay a premium for learning precisely what to try and sell you. It’s rather like the postman getting money to peek at your letters, so you can receive a better class of junk mail.”

Richard Clayton perfectly sums up the Phorm advertising system. Despite it being a clear breach of the right to privacy and explicitly illegal under both UK and EU law, the British government has refused to take action against it, prompting the European Commission to step in. From The Guardian, here.

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Burma’s buddies

Guy — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:45:08 +0000

Time reports on the “dash for Burma”, as major Asian powers fight to access resources in the military dictatorship, cosying up to a the regime to mine and exploit fossil fuels, minerals and precious metals. Although not altogether surprising given the human rights records of China, Malaysia and others, this is disgusting. Countries are trampling on the rights and resources of Burma’s indigenous peoples while simultaneously propping up a murderous junta. Meanwhile, the West continues to procrastinate and pay only lip service to their disapproval of an horrific regime.

Read the full story on Time’s website, here.

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Ten years to take our freedom

Guy — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:04:52 +0000

Over the last decade, civil liberties and human rights in Britain have been eroded like never before. Centuries of hard-fought democratic freedoms are being diluted and outlawed. The government uses any pretence it can – from fighting terrorism to social order – to justify the increasing oppression and silencing of the British public. At the same time as politicians insist that ‘you can trust us’, the government holds people in solitary confinement for weeks without charge, bans free speech in Parliament Square, gives broad surveillance powers to a range of authorities with no oversight, removes the right to communicate in private and restricts freedom of movement, to name but a few violations. ‘The Abolition of Freedom Act 2009′, a report on The Convention On Modern Liberty website, is a shocking and deeply disturbing summary of every human rights erosion the government has ushered in since coming to power.

The full report is here [PDF format]. Link via Imran Khan on Twitter.

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Israel: illegality, immorality, impunity

Guy — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 01:13:07 +0000

“Since 1948 Palestinians have lived in perpetual humiliation. They can’t breathe without permission. They have lost their country, their land, their water, their freedom, their everything.”

Eduardo Galeano writes an impassioned criticism of Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians. While there are parts of the article which make me wince and cringe, with its complete and unerring absolution of Hamas and flippant claims of a European ‘game’ of hunting Jews, it is nonetheless a compelling read. Whatever your point of view on Israel, this highly emotive, desperate rally against the country’s immoral and illegal actions is powerful in its passion. Full article on New Internationalist, here.

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From The Relentless Stream of Consciousness

Obama reverses stem cell ban

Guy — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 18:44:10 +0000

“US President Barack Obama is expected to lift restrictions on federal funding for research on new stem cell lines, according to reports … Officials say Mr Obama will authorise the move by executive order on Monday. “

Obama has reversed yet another Bush policy which denied potentially life-saving medical treatment for millions of people, this time reversing the stem cell ban. Allowing these bundles of cells to be used in research could give rise to treatments for a multitude of diseases. The BBC report is here.

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Tide turning: Russia invading

Guy — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:22:11 +0000

While I stand by yesterday’s post that initial media reporting on the Russia/Georgia fighting was rather one-sided, it seems that Russia has now gone beyond simply “protecting the South Ossetians”. As BBC News reports, Western leaders are increasingly worried that Russia is now outright invading Georgia – and it seems they aren’t quite sure what to do to stop it and the potential chaos it could unleash. They had the benefit of the doubt at first, but now Russia’s brazen push deeper into Georgia proper raises worrying questions about how far the country will go to “protect”, regain and hold the territory of a neighbouring country which they’ve long wanted back.

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Media bias over South Ossetia

Guy — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 20:26:04 +0000

Reuters reports that Russia is complaining of Western media bias in reports on the South Ossetian conflict. While I’d normally greet complaints of bias from the Kremlin with a hearty laugh and a cry of “hypocrites”, in this case they may actually have a point. All coverage of the violence seems to be centring on Russia’s part in the aggression, completely ignoring the fact that (1) Georgian forces started the violence; (2) South Ossetians in general support Russia over Georgia; (3) the breakaway nature of the provence means that reports of injured “Georgians” are misleading; and (4) Georgia seems to be at least equally responsible for the loss of life and infrastructure. While it’s never easy to cut through disinformation, it does seem that for once the Kremlin may have a valid point about the Western media. Still, “the boy who cried wolf” and “pot calling the kettle black” both spring to mind…

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Israel: inform or no treatment

Guy — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:02:37 +0000

“Israel’s secret police are pressuring Palestinians in Gaza to spy on their community in exchange for urgent medical treatment, according to a report released today by an Israeli human rights organisation … International law forbids the use of civilians in conflict to damage an enemy state and collaboration in the Palestinian community is a crime punishable by death.”

Yet again, Israel demonstrates a disgusting disregard for human life. Physicians for Human Rights report that Shin Bet have been forcing Palestinians to choose between informing on friends and family, or be barred treatment for life-threatening medical conditions. Unsurprising given Israel’s track record, but absolutely sickening nonetheless. From The Guardian, here.

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Black America’s hidden HIV pandemic

Guy — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:36:22 +0000

The Washington Post recently reported on the shocking prevalence of HIV amongst black people in the US, with two percent of African-Americans infected. This percentage, worse than many developing nations, yet again demonstrates the terrible divide between different racial and socioeconomic groups in the US. Even worse is that this study came out a couple of days before another, which concluded that HIV prevalence in the US as a whole is – and has always been – far higher than previously thought. So if one in fifty infected isn’t shocking enough, the real number may actually be greater.

Black America study as reported in the Washington Post, here.
New evidence about extent of America’s HIV problem on BBC News, here.

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Olympic press freedom threatened

Guy — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:07:56 +0000

“China has opened crevices in the Great Firewall that blocks access to many internet sites, allowing the public to see some quarters of cyberspace that it has long blocked … The issue had caused a major stir and created dissension within the top ranks of the IOC because the move reneged on previous pledges of full free access during the August 8-24 Games.”

Many other human rights violations aside, any country which denies journalists full and free access to the Internet during a worldwide sporting event is really not a suitable choice to host the Olympics. China has unblocked some sites – but many remain off-limits. Appalling. Times article here.

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The real cost of the Games

Guy — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:49:00 +0000

“Yet the one slogan you never hear at the Olympics is that with dreams come responsibilities … And in the global neighborhood, any city’s treatment of its local problems is suddenly a matter of everyone’s concern. So evicting roughly 3 million of the capital’s residents, as Beijing has done, while spending perhaps $200 billion on reconstructing the city (more than 300 times as much as it spent on rural health care for the entire nation in 2006) raises terrible questions about what costs are legitimate in the pursuit of social and sporting acknowledgment.”

The Olympics may bring China many economic benefits and possibly even longer-term social ones, but in the short term it comes at great cost to those most vulnerable and oppressed by the state. Pico Iyer writes in Time, here.

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Database danger

Guy — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:26:18 +0000

The security minister Lord West has refused to reject the idea of a proposed Big Brother database, which would hold details of all phone calls, e-mails and Internet use made in the UK. He slithered around the issue, simply saying that it’s “early days”. “We haven’t made a decision” is not a no and is not good enough. Anything other than an outright rejection of proposals to catalogue every piece of communication in the country shows that the government is willing to shit all over the few civil liberties they’ve left us with post-9/11. To even consider the idea is dangerous, threatening everything Britain stands for and making us no better than the dictators we rail against. Disgusting

Full story from BBC News, here.

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Vote for democracy, not bribes

Guy — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:48:05 +0000

“This is voting as handheld therapy to make us (and politicians) feel better. No one – not the Putney Debaters nor the Suffragettes – put their lives on the line for the right to be patronised madly by an aloof and idea-lite elite. They wanted the right to engage in serious politics on an equal footing, not to have their self-esteem massaged by someone like Hazel Blears or to get an ‘I’m special’ badge for using a biro to tick a box.”

James Panton quite rightly rallies against ridiculous and offensive government suggestions on how to get more people to vote. They include prize draws and stickers for those who take part in the democratic process. From Spiked.

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Compulsory electrocution bracelets

Guy — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:18:16 +0000

Jeffrey Denning blogs for the Washington Times about the latest invention of Lamperd Less Lethal, Inc. The “safety bracelet”, as they’re marketing it, is designed to be compulsory for airline passengers, and would take the place of a boarding pass, contain personal details, and monitor the whereabouts of the passenger and luggage. Oh, and a minor detail – it would also administer electric shocks at the whim of cabin crew through its inbuilt taser. If the idea of a company wanting to force passengers to wear an electrocution bracelet isn’t bad enough, what’s scarier is that the US government has asked for a written proposal regarding this disgusting, inhumane idea.

From Washington Times, via the Open Rights Group mailing list.

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