Human Rights Day

Today is Human Rights Day. 

There are human rights abuses all around the world, and the United States is one of many countries who violate human rights.  I am busy this week with writing letters for Amnesty International.  They pick 12 causes or individuals whose rights are being violated, and then hundreds of people write letters about this individuals or causes.

Here is a link to Amnesty International’s Global Write-a-thon 2010.

Another abuser of human rights is the country of Israel.  I generally work on abuses by the US government, but in this case it is the US government who is enabling the abuses by the country of Israel.

One group working on this issue is “End the Occupation”.  Today, they sent this information:

Last month, I testified in London before the Russell Tribunal on Palestine about U.S. government complicity in providing the Israeli military with Caterpillar bulldozers, which it misuses to commit human rights abuses against Palestinians--demolishing homes, uprooting olive trees, and injuring and killing civilians.  At the tribunal, I had the honor of meeting Stéphane Hessel--French resistance hero, Nazi concentration camp survivor, and drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights--who served as a distinguished juror.  

Mr. Stéphane Hessel wrote this after the Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and killed nine activists on the Mavi Marmara ship:

The absence of meaningful action from governments to hold Israel accountable to international law leaves open one path for citizens of conscience: to take this responsibility upon themselves, as done against apartheid South Africa. Non-violent citizen-led initiatives, exemplified by the Flotilla and the various boycott and divestment campaigns around the world, present the most promising way to overcome the failure of world governments to stand up to Israel's intransigence and lawless behavior. By flagrantly attacking the aid ship, Israel has inadvertently brought unprecedented awareness and condemnation not only of its fatal siege of Gaza but also of the wider context of Israel's occupation practices in the Palestinian Territories, its denial of Palestinian refugee rights, and its apartheid policies against the indigenous, "non-Jewish" citizens of Israel.

Every year, I make a small contribution to Amnesty International (who work on human rights issues) and the ACLU (who work on civil rights and human rights issues).  I also join in on actions whenever I can.  Now – I have to get back to finishing up the letters for Amnesty International.  Five are done, seven to go.

Here is a link if you want to write some letters.