Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by mrpg on Saturday February 24 2018, @01:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the the-world-needs-empathy dept.

Original URL: World leaders abandoning human rights: Amnesty

World leaders are undermining human rights for millions of people with regressive policies and hate-filled rhetoric, but their actions have ignited global protest movements in response, a rights group said.

US President Donald Trump, Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and China's President Xi Jinping were among a number of politicians who rolled out regressive policies in 2017, according to Amnesty International's annual human rights report published on Thursday.

The human rights body also mentioned the leaders of Egypt, the Philippines and Venezuela.

"The spectres of hatred and fear now loom large in world affairs, and we have few governments standing up for human rights in these disturbing times," Salil Shetty, Amnesty's secretary-general, said.

"Instead, leaders such as el-Sisi, Duterte, Maduro, Putin, Trump and Xi are callously undermining the rights of millions."

[...] The regressive approach to human rights adopted by a number of world leaders has, however, inspired new waves of social activism and protest, Amnesty said, highlighting the example of the Women's March in January last year, which began in the US before becoming a global protest.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 5, Informative) by bradley13 on Saturday February 24 2018, @02:01PM (19 children)

    by bradley13 (3053) on Saturday February 24 2018, @02:01PM (#643019) Homepage Journal

    While one may disagree with Trump's rhetoric, it's not even on the same planet as what's happening in Venezuela. Or take the new South African president, who is promising to confiscate white property and redistribute it to blacks (shades of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe). Or Turkey, where anyone Erdogan doesn't like gets locked up.

    --
    Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +4  
       Informative=3, Underrated=1, Total=4
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   5  
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 24 2018, @02:23PM (10 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 24 2018, @02:23PM (#643026)

    Yet if you want to lead the Western world, like the US always claims, you are expected to take the moral high ground. As a Western European I can tell you that the US currently doesn't have that. Not even a tiny little bit.

    In my opinion this is not caused by Trump, by the way. After even a president like Obama couldn't change how the US behaves outside of its own borders (and, although I couldn't care less about that, inside its borders), it's clear to me that more is wrong. Something about a state in a state that has too much power and is as morally corrupt as anything can be. Such things.

    But ok. I'm not going to rant about conspiracy theories or anything. The final result is, however, that the US has clearly lost its edge in the so called free world. It's also clear to me that increasingly are EU countries looking at, for example, China for their investments (and the other way around).

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by https on Saturday February 24 2018, @04:50PM (1 child)

      by https (5248) on Saturday February 24 2018, @04:50PM (#643068) Journal

      Your "state within a state" has a name: the military-industrial complex. Say it aloud while you still can.

      --
      Offended and laughing about it.
      • (Score: 2) by pvanhoof on Saturday February 24 2018, @11:31PM

        by pvanhoof (4638) on Saturday February 24 2018, @11:31PM (#643212) Homepage

        I wasn't going to rant about conspiracy theories or anything.

    • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 24 2018, @05:54PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 24 2018, @05:54PM (#643093)

      To me, taking the moral high ground means:

      People get freedom of speech. Europe doesn't have this. In the UK, say anything negative about muslims, and the police will come for you. In Germany, a simple "Heil Hitler!" is all it takes to put you in prison. In France, there has even been an effort to prosecute a presidential candidate for political speech.

      People agree that western civilization is superior to arab, muslim, and african "civilization". The US has a few idiots, but Europe is bending over backwards for savages. Allowing them in, allowing them to retain their garbage cultures, and allowing them to outbreed you are all immoral.

      People accept a right to defend oneself. This means shooting back as needed. While the US has bad spots (CA, MD, MA, HI) and Europe isn't 100% awful, the general trend is clear.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by pvanhoof on Saturday February 24 2018, @11:42PM (1 child)

        by pvanhoof (4638) on Saturday February 24 2018, @11:42PM (#643219) Homepage

        Allowing people freedom of speech is not sufficient. You need to offer them your moral high ground on top. Heil Hitler in Germany won't really get you in jail, because the judge will look at the context of why you said that. Unless that context is hate speech, most EU country's judges wont care about you. Freedom of speech in itself isn't everything. You need a government that cares about its people. You need that much more than just freedom of speech.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 15 2018, @04:11PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 15 2018, @04:11PM (#652983)

          I agree that allowing people freedom of speech is not sufficient, but it is the first step. Only after people of EU can voice their concerns can EU governments start to care about their people. Most EU governments not only lack any care for their people, they actively work against them.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Saturday February 24 2018, @10:22PM (4 children)

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday February 24 2018, @10:22PM (#643198) Journal

      Anyone looking to China for enlightened global leadership or as a safer/better place to invest is an utter fool. They have codified xenophobia as a way of life for thousands of years. It's in their very DNA. The name of their country is "the middle kingdom," (zhongguo) and means more exactly "the country at the center of the Earth, light, civilization."

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
      • (Score: 2) by pvanhoof on Saturday February 24 2018, @11:54PM (2 children)

        by pvanhoof (4638) on Saturday February 24 2018, @11:54PM (#643225) Homepage

        Yes well, the US has a variety of xenophobia-like concepts in their population and politics, too. I don't think Chinese people, or politics, are very much different than people in the US when it comes to that. Nor are Europeans very much different. Nor is that the point.

        The point is that China is the next empire, and the US is not. The EU will need to have a deal with the next empire no matter what.

        It's pragmatic realism or sometimes also called realpolitik.

        The EU got gas from Russia during the Cold War, too. That, that was also realpolitik. The EU will still get Russian gas, by the way. That is also realpolitik.

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Sunday February 25 2018, @12:55AM (1 child)

          by Phoenix666 (552) on Sunday February 25 2018, @12:55AM (#643250) Journal

          Even on a realpolitik level China has a very long way to go. China doesn't have much in the way of real friends. North Korea is about it, but they're more an albatross.

          Nobody speaks Chinese, so that quite limits how far they can project power through cultural hegemony. China has always practiced a China-first foreign policy, so that limits how many people want to emulate them or their values.

          China has been building its military and tech, sure, but that means a repeat of the Cold War, not Chinese supremacy.

          Also, let it not be forgotten or glossed over how fractious Chinese society is. It is riven by around a dozen deep social fissures to America's one. It doesn't take much going wrong for those to rise to the surface.

          --
          Washington DC delenda est.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @03:10AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @03:10AM (#643300)

            . ...fractious Chinese society is...

            Also:
              How corrupt is it at all levels, everything happens with bribes.
              Lack of rule of law (the local strongman often makes the local rules).

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @02:53PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @02:53PM (#643445)

        the same can be said about USA, they have a whole industry on making profits deporting people btw

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Saturday February 24 2018, @02:33PM (3 children)

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Saturday February 24 2018, @02:33PM (#643030)

    Or Turkey, where anyone Erdogan doesn't like gets locked up.

    Yet they're still good buddies of the US and the rest of NATO. If Italy started acting this way, would they still be as friendly?

    • (Score: 2) by pvanhoof on Sunday February 25 2018, @12:04AM (2 children)

      by pvanhoof (4638) on Sunday February 25 2018, @12:04AM (#643229) Homepage

      Ever since Russia's Southstream pipeline will go through Turkey, isn't Erdogan good buddies with the US anymore. They are still buddies with the rest of NATO, though. The rest of NATO is to whom Turkey will sell all that Russian gas to. However, Turkey has been buying Russian made SAM systems. Didn't you notice? It has been all over the news.

      You could even say that the whole point of Crimea being annexed by Russia had everything to do with the Southstream pipeline. And Turkey apparently has everything to do with that.

      Liking Erdogan or not has very little to do with it.

      • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Sunday February 25 2018, @01:22AM (1 child)

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Sunday February 25 2018, @01:22AM (#643255)

        Turkey isn't really between Russia and the rest of Europe; it's too far south. Wouldn't it be easier to put a pipeline through other eastern European countries instead?

        • (Score: 2) by gawdonblue on Sunday February 25 2018, @02:31AM

          by gawdonblue (412) on Sunday February 25 2018, @02:31AM (#643282)

          Yep, through Ukraine. No worries.

  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday February 24 2018, @10:18PM

    by Gaaark (41) on Saturday February 24 2018, @10:18PM (#643197) Journal

    But, you're heading down that slippery slope: absolute power ...and all that.

    Just watch: until you kick out of power all the people who have grabbed this power, you will continue to head downhill.

    (Of course the new people will eventually take you there again because absolute power ....etc etc and all that.

    Vive la revolution!

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @12:36AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @12:36AM (#643247)

    the new South African president, who is promising to confiscate white property and redistribute it to blacks

    The phrase you're looking for is "return it".
    The part that you left out is where the antecedents of the Whites there felt they had a right to take that stuff at gunpoint.
    ...because they had a flag. [google.com]

    what's happening in Venezuela

    The roots of that also go back centuries and involves White Europeans oppressing and subjugating the indigenous population.
    ...something which, via inherited wealth, continues to this day.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @01:32AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @01:32AM (#643259)

      The Disagree mod was intended to give you a chance to say WHY|WHERE you disagree.

      When you don't add a reply, you're missing the point of this improvement to the Rehash codebase.

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 2) by ants_in_pants on Sunday February 25 2018, @06:32PM

    by ants_in_pants (6665) on Sunday February 25 2018, @06:32PM (#643507)

    I don't know, you can be executed in the street for essentially no reason and the killer can get away with it, and if the CIA reallly wants to they can disappear you and torture you however much they want. A larger share of the population is in prison(the conditions of which have, in other cases, been considered violations of basic human rights) than was ever in the Gulag system. Having a felony on your record, which in many states you can get just for having lots of pot, makes you a pariah. You have no rights less than 50 miles from a national border. ICE can and does strip away citizenship of naturalized citizens, then deport them. Gang violence is a real threat to far too many people. Economically the country is a lot more like Mexico than Germany. And to top it off bribes are legal and the government is very clearly more interested in receiving lots of bribes than in fixing any of these problems.

    I don't think Cheetoh Benito is directly the cause of any of this, but he is certainly not helping.

    --
    -Love, ants_in_pants