Rights? Whose Rights?!
Human Rights and the Bourgeoise Dictatorship
Morning Comrades.
At the time of writing, France, by the hands of Macron, is experiencing what can only be described as a Coup d’Etat and it remains to be seen what it will bring, the US is undergoing its usual electoral psychosis whenever it is time to elect a new president, save democracy and save your human rights and as to the rest of this glorious “west”, well, Germany from where I am writing is doing what Germany does best ( Nazism with an extra amount of unwarranted arrogance ) - and the rest, well, goose-stepping to the beats of what Europe does best, racism with the veneer of respectable democracy.
All this had me thinking about “saving democracy” and specifically “our rights” - slogans and ad campaigns we have heard since time immemorial - hallow as any political act to ease life, which, if we remember, is their actual job.
We live in strange, almost unbelievable, and certainly scary time. Germany, France, and much of Europe are giving ground to right-wing / fascist parties. One Republican US presidential aspirant urges the use of torture and advocates the killing of families of known terrorists. Another claims the only way to control terror is to increase police presence and vigorously patrol Muslim communities in the US. France has considered revoking the citizenship of terrorists, broadly defined, while US politicians ponder the degree to which we might deport people and block all immigration from Muslim nations.
Add to that, and much to the horror of most compassionate observers, hundreds of thousands of people are being murdered on live TV in a modern day genocide, funded and ideologically supported by the free West and carried out by their fanatical fascist puppet state Israel. The United States, a country founded on the genocide of native peoples and African slaves is increasingly sounding like a country trying to protect some sort of national identity through restrictions on immigration. Citizens of a country, where most don’t have to go back more than two or three generations in their own family histories to find immigrant tales of struggle and success, now pretend that they must protect the US from … what? In short, people in this country are defending rights and privileges they never had in the first place.
The world is facing a crisis over human rights, whether it is about the treatment of minorities and women everywhere, about the plight of child labourers and the growing business of human (and mainly female) trafficking, about the access to clean and safe drinking water, or about problems facing people dispossessed of their homes. Human rights include the right to work, to be free to express cultural differences, equality before the law, the right to self-determination, access to education, access to safe food and water, expectations of social security and many more rights, as outlined or implied in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yet these seemingly basic standards are not being met, and so people suffer. Or rather, they do not exist, materially, but have always been held in front of our faces for something to aim for by the ruling classes.
Human Rights, as established collectively after WW2 to ensure that the basis for these horrors could be buried under a mountain of socialist ideology, whilst technically and legally created, never materialised and yet we are being conned into legitimising those in power that could ensure these.
As a reminder, The Human Rights Act was drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations.
These include:
Civil and Political Rights
Right to Life: Every individual has the right to life and security.
Right to Freedom from Torture and Inhumane Treatment: No one should be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
Right to Freedom from Slavery: No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited.
Right to Liberty and Security of Person: Everyone has the right to personal freedom and security and to not be arbitrarily arrested or detained.
Right to a Fair Trial: Everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal in the determination of any criminal charges or civil rights.
Right to Privacy: Everyone has the right to privacy, including freedom from arbitrary interference with their privacy, family, home, or correspondence.
Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, including the freedom to change their religion or belief.
Right to Freedom of Expression: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas.
Right to Freedom of Assembly and Association: Everyone has the right to peaceful assembly and to freely associate with others, including the right to form and join trade unions.
Right to Participate in Government: Everyone has the right to take part in the government of their country, directly or through freely chosen representatives, and to equal access to public service.
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
Right to Work: Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work, and to protection against unemployment.
Right to Education: Everyone has the right to education, which should be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Right to an Adequate Standard of Living: Everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their family, including adequate food, clothing, housing, and healthcare.
Right to Social Security: Everyone has the right to social security, including social insurance, to protect against economic and social risks like unemployment, illness, disability, old age, and other lack of livelihood.
Right to Health: Everyone has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
Right to Rest and Leisure: Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Right to Participate in Cultural Life: Everyone has the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts, and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
Right to Housing: Everyone has the right to access adequate and safe housing that ensures privacy, safety, and well-being.
Right to Food: Everyone has the right to adequate food and the fundamental right to be free from hunger.
Right to Water: Everyone has the right to safe, sufficient, and accessible water for personal and domestic use.
And yet - who can in all honesty say these exist, let alone are part of any of our governments policies? Again, all reality, especially material reality is nothing but a man-made construct and there exist only two reasons why these aren’t the basis from which we have arranged our society is arranged by those we give power: They either cannot or do not want to.
So, with that, a little Tête-à-Tête about the above from a Marxist perspective.
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