Bloggers Unite: Blogging for Hope

Today, the 15th of May, bloggers unite for a common cause which is to spread the word about human rights. (Actually it’s way past the 15th of May here in the Philippines but I guess I still have time since the 15th is not yet over for the rest of the world.) Visit the Bloggers Unite page in case you aren’t aware of this “cause” we bloggers should be blogging about.

It is true that we have made great strides in terms of technology, automating what was once a burden that prevented us from walking even further, but in terms of acting civil and protecting the rights of those who seek civility from civilization, it’s nay. Persecution, discrimination, slavery, and everything evil about man still exists and there’re no signs of stopping at all. Old ones disappear only to take or be replaced by a new form of hatred that converts even the meekest of men into an unsightly beast.

Here in our country, who would expect that the very person we appointed and gave the highest authority in our nation would be the very same person who would violate the trust her country vested on her simply because she is hungry for more power. Corruption to cover up more corruptions, extra-judicial killings by the military and even attempts to curtail the free press, of course it’s a bit less sinister as what China is doing to Tibet or on what’s happening in Burma, but it’s still violations upon violations of human rights anywhere you look at it. And now we are battered by the oil and food crisis looming over the globe, what will happen with these unaddressed problems and issues? Just old news that will be buried by more piles of the same issues, simply because we are all busy trying to survive our asses from a more pandemic problem that must be dealt with first.

I could still remember back in my college days when I was frequenting the libraries of our university trying to pay close attention to many influential and political thinkers since Plato’s Utopia to Foucault’s Post-structuralism. I don’t know what’s with me back then but it felt like the answer to all the ills of the corrupt capitalist world seemed to lie in the mouths of the radical thinkers of the time. And the right thing for me to do is discover them and perhaps enter politics or be a radical political thinker maybe. I’m not sure if I have the capacity to be one but I felt so inspired by their dissection of reality and how it could be made better.

But now I could only look back and see how stupid I was for believing them. It is, after all, these political virtues that create wars and suffering for mankind. Think about Communism for a second. Karl Marx made it as an answer to the problems of workers suffering at the hands of capitalists exploiting them to their very bone. It was made to correct so many wrongs but ended up more monstrous than the Capitalism it was meant to destroy. See how former Soviet did, or perhaps China and North Korea. How about the Islamic Fundamentalists? Why bomb so many innocents just to fight for a cause which was supposed to correct these very victims and make them right for Allah?

I now believe that, for the most part, most human rights violation are caused by these false virtues people adhere to which makes it difficult for them to see things clearly. It might be to rid your people of evil western influences, or to out phase the military might of US and blow them to smithereens to give a big Hoorah to your “anti-capitalistic” interests, or maybe to control more territories and resources to get more powerful and squish the enemies surrounding you like flies. All of these might seem reasonable at first glance but how about the repercussions it will produce, the innocent who will pay the price of the one-sided decisions made?

The best way to stop human rights violation is perhaps to make political leaders learn about human rights. I’m not sure if my observations are completely accurate but I think these leaders see their people as just pieces in a big game of chess, completely expendable to serve their purpose. They don’t care if you felt pain or die as long as they get the glory afterwards. Or maybe, they have this motto; “What’s a small sacrifice for the gain of the many?” where their “small” is their country men’s right to education or sufficient living condition and their “many” is their cronies’ oil companies, its benefits, and their pockets.

If they understood human rights the way most human rights activist understood it, do you think these racial genocides, political killings, corruption, and several other human rights issues would still persist? I don’t think so. But then again, how do we make them understand? I believe we can all as a community pressure them to yield to what we think is right for one time, but they and the people like them will still continue their odd ways no matter what, perhaps behind our backs when nobody’s looking. How about replacing them with someone who’s more observant of human rights? But how are we going to do that if at the slightest sign of opposition, you get a bullet in your head?

These are just my thoughts about human rights which I’m sharing to you as part of my contribution to the whole human rights community in their fight to make the world a safe and cozy place for each and everyone of us human beings. Still, the best thing to combat complete disregard and ignorance of human rights is raising its awareness. The more people know, the more it becomes power to reshape the future with future leaders who are more sensitive to these issues compared to the “crappy” ones we have today. Please support human rights. Let us unite and blog about it to help in the fight. Believe me; you’ll help make a better world for your kids in doing so.



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