Subject: M-G: Fw: Fwd: Forum
From: "Thomas P.Murray" <tmurpat-AT-sprynet.com> (Redirected by Thomas P.Murray <tmurpat-AT-sprynet.com>)
Date: 15 Nov 1997 17:15:52 -0800




Forwarded by Liam R.Flynn <trinity-AT-hot-shot.com>
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 From: "Thomas P.Murray" <tmurpat-AT-sprynet.com> (Redirected by Thomas P.Murray <tmurpat-AT-sprynet.com>)
 To: liam-AT-stones.com
 Date: 15 Nov 1997 17:15:52 -0800
 Subject: Fwd: Forum
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On 11/15/97, at 03:38 PM, papadop-AT-peak.org wrote: 

>You won't find this in the national media: it comes from
>http://www.transnational.org/forum/power. The author is Jonathan Power
>here associated with the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future
>Research.
>
>=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d
=3d
>                                 F O R U M
>                                      
>                                      
>                                      
>         A strange attempt to turn back the clock on human rights. 
>                                      
>                                      
>                                      
>                             By JONATHAN POWER
>                                      
>                           August 6, 1997, LONDON
>                                      
>     -Do we so quickly have to repeat history, the first time as a near
>   tragedy, the second as what would be farce, if it didn't emanate from
>      such a serious source? Last week, the Malaysian prime minister,
>    Mahathir Mohamad, speaking at the annual forum of the Association of
>   South-East Asian Nations, called for a review and possible re-write of
>    the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights. The Declaration, he
>   declared, "was formulated by superpowers which did not understand the
>                         needs of poor countries."
>                                      
>      But he's had his attempt at a re-write. It was a tragedy in the
>     making, only averted by the relentless efforts of the human rights
>          lobby, not least from the Asian non-governmental groups.
>                                      
>   It's only a mere four years since the World Conference on Human Rights
>    held in Vienna fought off an attempt by Malaysia, Singapore, China,
>        Syria, Iran and Iraq to drastically water down the Universal
>               Declaration of Human Rights, approved in 1948.
>                                      
>     The spectacular thing about the Vienna conference was that at one
>     time, early on, they seemed to have as many as 50 nations on their
>   side. But, one by one, they all had second thoughts and by the end of
>    the conference there was an unanimous vote in favor of the new text
>   that was in many ways stronger than the original 1948 version. In 1948
>    the vote in favor was 57. This time it was 171, almost every country
>                               in the world.
>                                      
>      If the final tally itself was remarkable so too were some of the
>    explanations given by countries for their vote. The Russian foreign
>      minister observed that "when violations of individual rights and
>   freedom are involved Russia no longer accepts that the world community
>         does not have the right to interfere in another country's
>                               sovereignty."
>                                      
>   As for the so-called "Asian values" lobby whose protagonists, such as
>     Dr. Mahathir, contend are very different from western values, the
>   South Korean foreign minister sounded a trumpet that put many doubters
>   to flight. "Lack of economic development," he said, "can never be used
>   as an excuse for any abuse of human rights. History shows that special
>    circumstances don't justify rights' abuses." Here was the spokesman
>     for a country Confucian to its fingertips where family values and
>   respect for authority still run deep. Nevertheless, it is the country
>    which besides from going from rags to riches in a single generation
>      has made faster progress than any other country in the world in
>      achieving the full panoply of human rights, as elaborated in the
>                           Universal Declaration.
>                                      
>    There was one other good thing about the Vienna conference. The mood
>     of recalcitrance and rebellion that the Asian opposition initially
>    generated help persuade the U.S. to finally change its long-standing
>     opposition to including as human rights key economic rights. Until
>      Vienna Washington had labelled them as "socialist" and somehow,
>   therefore, anathema to it. So into the final text, alongside the right
>     to free expression, democracy and habeas corpus, went the right to
>                    employment, nutrition and education.
>                                      
>   Thus, the final document became not just more widely accepted but also
>    even more far-reaching and demanding than the original one of 1948.
>                                      
>     Neither Dr. Mahathir nor any of the other Asian backwoodsmen, not
>      least China, can, if they are honest, any longer argue in their
>       barefaced way that the precepts of human rights are a western
>      invention imposed upon them. They are now accepted as universal
>     values--as, by the way, most people in Japan, South Korea, India,
>   Taiwan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, the Philippines and Sri Lanka
>        (all fully-fledged, open democracies) could easily tell him.
>                                      
>      The "Asian way" is not as uniquely Asian or culturally driven as
>    Mahathir contends. As Chris Patten, the ex-governor of Hong Kong has
>    put it, "Why is anyone surprised as incomes grow, as the quality of
>   life improves, as levels of skill and education rise, people start to
>   expect to have more of a say in running their community's affairs? To
>      make this simple point does not amount to cultural imperialism."
>                                      
>    Unfortunately, the mind-set of authoritarian leaders is probably not
>    shifted by any of the above arguments. For them the vulnerabilities
>      and uncertainties of office make them cling to as many tools of
>   government they can lay their hands on. The autocrats of South Korea,
>    the Philippines or Thailand were not shifted except after an immense
>      popular struggle. Neither were those in Argentina and Mexico or
>    Rhodesia and South Africa. But the reason that autocrats do bite the
>    dust in the end is because a powerful segment of the educated middle
>   class and many leaders of the working class and peasant movements have
>       realized one simple but telling point: all the world's richest
>         countries are free, and nearly all the poorest are not. If
>    dictatorship made countries rich, then Africa and Latin America, by
>    now, would be economic heavyweights. Economic freedom and political
>   freedom reinforce each other. This is why over the next 20 years India
>     is probably bound to overtake China and why, as countries such as
>     South Korea and Taiwan have prospered, they have become ever more
>           democratic and self-critical. If there was a time when
>   authoritarianism gave economic progress a fillip it has long past. Now
>     openness and accountability, besides being a basic human instinct,
>   have been shown to be an absolute prerequisite to permanent progress.
>     This is not the time, Dr. Mahathir, to wind back the clock, as you
>    yourself, in your own country, I suspect, will before too very long
>                                 find out.
>                                      
>                                     Copyright (c) 1997 By JONATHAN POWER
>                                                                         
>           Note: I can be reached by fax/phone on +44 1865 735645
>     _________________________________________________________________
>	                                      
>                                   [LINK]
>                                      
>                                 Home Forum
>                                      
>                                                                   [LINK]
>                                                                         
>              Transnationella stiftelsen f=f6r freds- och
framtidsforskning
>                   Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research
>        Vegagatan 25, S - 224 57 Lund, Sverige. Telefon/Phone + 46 - 46 -
>                                                        145909 Fax 144512
>                                                                         
>                                                                 TFF 1997

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