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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.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 24 2018, @02:23PM (10 children)
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)
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
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)
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)
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
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)
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)
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)
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
. ...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
the same can be said about USA, they have a whole industry on making profits deporting people btw