English Language VI
Debate 2: Protection of Human Rights
Members:
C:
ST-LVIC-G2-1
ST-LVIC-G2-2
ST-LVIC-G2-3
A:
ST-LVIA-G2-4
ST-LVIA-G2-5
ST-LVIA-G2-6
ST-LVIA-G2-7
ST-LVIA-G2-8
Discussion Leader:
DL-LVI-G2-1
· ST-LVIC-G2-3
Hello everyone, my name is ST-LVIC-G2-3 and I’m a third year student of Translation and Interlingüistic Mediation. Protection of Human Rights is an incredible interesting and important topic, so I’m glad we can talk about it. Since I’m the first one to post here, I would like to start with the following questions so we can start the discussion:
1. In which ways do you think human rights help to improve our society?
2. Do you think if human rights were always respected, we would live in a kind of utopic society?
3. Recently, Spain was found guilty of violating Article 10 (Freedom of expression) of the European Convention of Human Rights. In wich ways do you think censorship affects our society?
4. «Women’s rights are human rights» is a phrase that has been used in the feminist movement since the 80s. To what extent do you think attaining gender equality and eliminating all forms of discrimination against women are fundamental human rights?
I look forward to read all your responses!
· ST-LVIA-G2-7
Hello ST-LVIC-G2-3, I am ST-LVIA-G2-7 and I am a third year student of English Philology. I am so glad you have proposed all these questions to start with.
First of all I would say that, taking as a starting point the question about Spain’s violation of the article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights. I am really astonished because of the last case of censorship, the rapper Valtonic. Spain’s Supreme Court ratified the sentence against Valtonic, who will serve three years and six months in prison for crimes of glorifying terrorism (two years), serious slander to the Crown (one year) and threats (six months).
Instead of making progress and grow in a society where people can say its own opinion about things that are happening at the moment either about the Crown, the Prime Minister or whoever, Spain is once again going back off to the Franco era. I make this comparison because of the repression that there is nowadays and that there was in that period of time.
The way I think this is going to affect Spanish society is by frightening its locals and by keeping them shut up and not showing their opinions in public. So politics will achieve whatever they want, because they know they won’t have anyone criticizing what they’ve done wrong and we will nod our heads to whatever they say, even if it doesn’t seem right to us.
· ST-LVIC-G2-1
Hello! My name is ST-LVIC-G2-1, and I am a third year student of Translation and Interlinguistic Mediation.
As far as your first question is concerned, ST-LVIC-G2-3, I think human rights improve our society by making people feel more accepted and validated, what may well result in a high decrease of suicide rate, above all among young people. Moreover, achieving full respect for human rights would involve complete equality in work or academic fields as well as no risk of being harmed while walking through the streets.
To answer your second question, I believe we would. It is certain that there will still be dangers and violence, but in no way will it be as much as it is right now, since oppressions like LGBTphobia or racism would be vanished.
This issue, however, has left me some questions: do you think we will achieve complete equality in human rights some day? If so, when? And how do you think we can help as individuals in this «fight» for equality in terms of human rights?
· ST-LVIC-G2-3
Hello, ST-LVIA-G2-7, I think you made very interesting points concerning the censorship issue and I absolutely agree with you when you say Spain is, sadly, going backwards.
Hello, ST-LVIC-G2-1, thank you for your answers, this is my opinion on what you asked:
Firsly, I wouldn’t dare to say whether or not the world will achieve complete equality in human rights some day, but I know for sure I won’t live long enough to see it.
Secondly, as individuals, the best way to fight for Human Rights is educanting ourselves everyday and trying to educate others on what we know about. Intersectional feminist movements and demonstrations are currently the ones changing the world. For example, following the school shooting at a high school in Parkland, today, 24th March, a demonstration (mostly) in the United States named «March For Our Lives» is taking place. I strongly believe not having gun control is a violation of Article 2 of the Human Rights Act, «right to life», and I honestly hope this will help America’s goverment to understand the necessity for a gun control legislation.
These are some new questions I would like to discuss about: Do you think there should be a subject in high school about solely Human Rights or it is something we should get educated by ourselves? I remember having «Ethics» for two years, but we barely tackled what were exactly Human Rights, is it that enough in your opinion? Do you remember studying about Human Rights back in high school?
· ST-LVIC-G2-1
Hi, ST-LVIC-G2-3. I totally agree with you when you say we won’t live enough to see equality achieved. I also agree with your second answer: the best way to fight for Human Rights is educating ourselves and our relatives. We should also listen to people from oppressed groups and give them safe spaces so they can talk about what they experience; otherwise, it will be impossible to solve any problem.
To answer your questions, I think there is a subject which deal or better said should deal with human rights currently: Ethics, as you said. However, I don’t think it is well-oriented or that it really educates on the importance of protecting human rights. At the end, student aren’t completely aware and thus, they support LGBTphobic/sexist/racist attitudes and comments. Moreover, to answer your last question, I remember absolutely NOTHING about this issue, and I have no doubt it hasn’t changed even a bit.
In my opinion, schools and high schools should deal more with Human Rights topics. Some people argue they are «too young» to learn about this issues; however, when are they «old enough»? I would say that’s when it is too late and oppressive attitudes have already been interiorised. Because of this, it is utterly necessary to teach equality and respect for everyone since school. The younger they are, they fastest they will learn how to spread equality. I wouldn’t say we need other subject than Ethics to teach this; nevertheless, I strongly believe students can be educated on the topic on different subjects through other methods. I. e., in English subject, they can learn about human rights through vocabulary, texts, debates (they can be considered as oral practice), etc. In Science, teachers may talk about several woman important in the field as well as some scientists of color, since they both are usually hidden.
Some questions to discuss about: Some news about LGBTphobic attacks have run into me and I have realised the punished for them are always less than a year. This has made me question whether the current punishments for this kind of offences (LGBTphobia, racism, etc) are enough or not. What do you think? Should we make them harder? Would it help? If not, what do you think it should be made so people think twice before comitting this acts?
· ST-LVIC-G2-2
Hello, my name is ST-LVIC-G2-2. I’m also studying my third year of translation. I’ve been reading all your interventions and I found them really interesting. As you already answered a few questions I’ll follow the ones in ST-LVIC-G2-1’s last intervention.
I also hear constantly the news about LGTBphobic, racist, sexist… attacks taking place and make me feel really sad and dissapointed with our society. I believe that if we educated people in basic human rights these things would not happen as often.
But, going back to the questions, as far as I’m concernedI do think some punishments aren’t enough. Most of them are really poor and it doesn’t prevent them from commiting this kind of acts again. Maybe more severe punishments would make people think twice but I believe the basis stands on educating society because right now most people are ignorant in a few topics. I don’t know, what do you think?
Also, to continue the discussion, I also saw recently a lot of people defending racist, sexist, LGTBphobes… attacks as freedom of speech but I don’t think that’s the point. At what point can we consider this freedom of speech if it attacks another person’s human rights?
· ST-LVIC-G2-3
Regarding your questions, ST-LVIC-G2-1, just like ST-LVIC-G2-2, the whole issue about LGBTphobia has been brought to my attention too. For instance, during the past years, Russia has been recieving worldwide attention and outrage for their legal treatment of their LGBT citizens, which has been referred to as one of the worst human rights violations in the post-Soviet era. This is one of the worst cases I’ve read, but there are tons of them over the world people barely know about. Do you think the media gives enough coverage to these kind of situations?
It sometimes depends on the case and what kind of aggression has been commited but, in general, yes I strongly agree with ST-LVIC-G2-2, the punishment should be higher for these people because if not, they are making it seem like whatever they’ve done is less bad than it actually is. It is not certain, but yes, this might help at least a bit.
I think the answer to your question is very simple, ST-LVIC-G2-2: never, opression and hate are not freedom of speech.
· ST-LVIA-G2-4
Hello, I am ST-LVIA-G2-4 and I am a third year student of English Philology. You have exposed many interesting questions and answers.
First of all as ST-LVIC-G2-3 has said oppression is not freedom of speech. When some people assault someone just because he or she is gay, that person is just being a complete moron. This situation is unacceptable; we cannot criticize a person just for born in that way. This people must be punished, because they are going against the human rights. However, we live in a homophobic world and also our government is homophobic too. It is in our hands to change this situation and show to the new generations that what is not normal is to attack someone to be the way he or she is. Furthermore (I do not remember who has said it) media do not show all the aggressions that happens. For example Madrid is popular to be “liberal”, but in this place is where most reports of homosexual harassment are reported and we do not have any news in the media. Why do you think that they are not showing what is actually happening in our streets? Why do you think the media call the assailants and those fascist as “a group of people” or “some radicals”?
Another question which I would like to answer is: “do you think we will achieve complete equality in human rights some day? If so, when?“ To be honest, I do not think that humanity could achieve this goal. Rich people need poor people. Countries which do not have industry or that have oil are going to be exploded by the strongest countries. Africa and Asia are the best examples. They could be very rich, but they are not strong enough to face big powers such as America or Russia. Our clothes are made by women or kids who earn less than 1$ per day… we will never achieve equality in this aspect; as I have mentioned before, if there are rich people is because there are poor people.
To conclude I would like to ask you a question: Who do you think is more interesting or important when we are talking about human rights? (Madela, Rosa Parks, Malcom X…) And do you think it is justified violence to achieve equality? For example if we saw a group of people kicking someone to be black, woman, or whatever is it justified to fight them back? What do you think is most useful a peaceful revolution or a violent one? There have been a lot of these situations all along history to achieve some rights like education or the right to vote.
· ST-LVIA-G2-6
Hi everyone! My name is ST-LVIA-G2-6 and I am a third year student of English Filology. I have been reading you all and I have found really interesting and useful your ideas and some of them have lead me to make some reflections.
I have found quite interesting the definition of human rights and the purpose of them by ST-LVIC-G2-1: “human rights improve our society by making people feel more accepted and validated”. First of all, I see some nuances in it, as I would say that human rights are a kind of attempt to improve humans’ lives. My question is: do they really improve our lives? I think the answer to this question is the second part of ST-LVIC-G2-1’s definition “by making people feel more accepted and validated”. The topic I would like to introduce now is one about social classes.
It is widely known that world is “economically” divided into first, second and third world and the differences of wealthy, health and prestige and giant between each other. This is something that makes me feel lucky but angry as well, as the Human Rights are supposed to be global and applicable to all human being, but it is not this way. Human rights are not respected in third world countries and the clearest example is the idea we have about it: a child walking long distances in order to get some water to drink. Furthermore, the people who inhabit third world countries do not have the tools as to as fight for their rights. Nevertheless, in Spain, which is supposed to be a first world country we find people in hard conditions, for instance without a home.
So, are human rights the effective they should be? Or is it a pretext as to as making us feel protected?
· ST-LVIA-G2-6
Hi! Me again!
It is undeniable the kind of discrimination that minor collectives are suffering because of not following old fashioned traditions, and that makes evident that Human Rights do not really protect citizens. Regarding ST-LVIC-G2-3’s question about the importance of media in this topic, I think It would help a lot that people saw how Human Rights are not being respected and at the same moment they are not achieving their goal which is to protect. I believe It is the only way to open citizen’s eyes and encourage people to fight for their principal common rights.
Apart from media, I would like to remark the importance of education. I do not mean education as a scholarship, whose access is one of the rights that many people lacks of. I mean education as principles and values of respect and justicy. This implies to spread the necessity of empathize with those who are not as lucky as us and try to achieve the equality (it would be such a long process).
However, although I think that education is the key, other important facts play a huge role in this process as politics and economic interests which rule the world nowadays.
· ST-LVIA-G2-8
Hello, my name is ST-LVIA-G2-8 and I am a third year student of English Studies. I find the topics that you are exposing very interesting and necessary. Human rights are fundamental to living in a peaceful society. It would be a good idea that from our first years of life our parents and our teachers would give us awareness of that. Fundamental rights should be taught with the same importance as languages and sciences.
I think it is a shame that we are in 2018 and you can go to prison for making a song against the monarchy or the corrupt government in Spain, and nothing happens if you praise Franco’s dictatorship.
It is also terrible that many ethnic groups, homosexuals or transsexuals are afraid to go out on the streets just because of the number of attacks against them.
Another important issue is gender violence. Our society is very sexist, and feminism is the perfect way of live to end this. We have to be aware of our sexist mini-attitudes and correct them.
· ST-LVIA-G2-8
It is me, once again. Answering some of your questions, I believe that jail sentences should be much more severe because nowadays there are people who spend more time in prison for minor crimes. In prisons, some courses in favor of the human rights should be taught to change the mentality of those who attempt against them. These courses could prevent the repetition of these violent actions once prisoners release this place.
Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X are important figures in the world of human rights and the fight against racism. All of them should have the same importance in schools because each of them has collaborated to make the world of tomorrow better.
I have an important issue that I would like to discuss with you guys. For many years, countries like Syria are suffering wars and the majority of their population are running away in order to find better lives. These people are no immigrants, they are refugees. The Spanish government has only welcomed 10% of the refugees they had promised. How do you think we, as young Spaniards, can make more people aware of this important issue?
· ST-LVIA-G2-7
+ ST-LVIA-G2-8 I completely agree with what you wrote concerning those courses to prevent the repetition of violent actions, etc. But I would like to add that those who have committed serious crimes, or who are just psychopathic, there is no way to make them «become a good person». I think there is a point of no return. Even if that person has had the help of a professional, he or she will never be completely cured. Maybe he or she won’t repeat the crime again, but his or her mental health will never be sane.
Regarding the question you have proposed, I think this issue is something that nowadays is really controversial and debated. There are several opinions about if we should welcome more, less or none other. If I were the Prime Minister or something like that, I would welcome far more refugees. It is just a matter of humanity and generosity. A matter of take care of someone who is running away from wars, repression and violence. For making people be more conscious, I would do more media campaigns to reach more people. in which I would show the fear reflected on their faces, how they have suffer…
· ST-LVIA-G2-8
You are absolutely right, there are people who will never change their perverse mentality even if they do many courses and work with many professionals. And that means that those kinds of people can be dangerous once they get out of prison. All this approach leads to two issues that nowadays are very present in Spanish society:
– Should we apply life imprisonment to our legislation?
– Do you agree with the death penalty?
These are two issues that generate very controversial opinions. I am totally against life imprisonment and the death penalty. If someone kills someone, we, as an advanced and progressive society can not kill someone as punishment. I do not believe in any kind of violent act and I see it as unethical and immoral. Regarding the life imprisonment, I do not find it ethical either. Although it is true that each situation and case are different and there are many factors to see and to think. What do you think?
Regarding the issue of refugees, I personally believe that more empathy is lacking in our society. If all the people were empathic with all those who are different from us (skin color, gender, sexuality or nationality) there would be no conflicts and we would all be respectful among ourselves. But it is a very difficult action to achieve and every day it seems that there are more closed-minded people whose solutions are always violent and who attempt against other people.
· ST-LVIA-G2-6
Hi you all! I absolutely agree with your ideas. I have been Reading some of your responses related with the refugees issue and that is what I meant with the wealthy division of the world and politics.
What is more than evident is that Human Rights of these people are not being respected, concretely, the third one, which in my opinion is one of the most important, defends that everyone has the right to life, freedom and safety. Of course, we, as citizens of a first world country, miss some rights as well, but they are not as basic as the right to life. As a result, we find that the protection of all human rights is a difficult goal to achieve, but we should be conscious that there are people that are suffering more than us. The social class distinction has always existed, but I think It is important to fight for our rights as citizens of the world from an equal position. At this point I would like to come up with a kind of solution which is that we should achieve basic rights first for all people in the world in order to make them safer and stronger (politically) than they are now. This way we can advance from an equal social and political position as to as make a real and strong society fighting for the same purpose.
Please feel free to discuss my proposal and add some new!
· ST-LVIA-G2-8
What my colleague ST-LVIA-G2-6 has said seems to me a utopia that would be wonderful because we would be able to live in a world with the same rights and freedoms and without social classes. The normal thing would be to live in a world where we are all equal. Unfortunately, I see it as too unreal and impossible to achieve nowadays.
Spain is a fairly modern and advanced country, but still there are social classes and not everybody has the same rights and is treated in the same way. A clear example is the salary difference between men and women who exercise exactly the same job. It’s not fair that women gain less money. It is also horrifying to see so many people wasting their money while there are people looking for furniture in rubbish bins or eating in soup kitchens. Even worse, there are people who are left homeless.
So think about the situation of countries of the third world, where the great leaders are moving for economic interests and they don’t care about the welfare of the less fortunate. They are selling guns and weapons and conquering other territories from their large mansions while there are people who can barely eat or sleep in a stable place.
These third-world leaders have many factories and oil wells that pollute our planet. Pollution and climate change also affect us as human beings because many people have health problems. The future seems very dark for humans because the greenhouse effect is very advanced.
What do you think? Do you think that climate change also affects the fundamental rights of human beings?
· ST-LVIA-G2-7
Hi guys! Regarding your two lasts questions ST-LVIA-G2-8, I would say that it is obious that all these climate changes that we all are living are produced by humans. But humans from the first world, humans who are only looking for their own wealth and money. I am absolutely sure that climate change is linked with capitalism and the fight for power.
All these oil companies and factories which are settled in areas of the called third-world, led to the raise of slavery and adverse working conditions. This means an effect on the fundamental rights of human beings.
This is not something fictional that we see on films, this is really happening nowadays in Africa, China, etc. Do you think the model of slavery that it is developing nowadays will be abolished at some point?
· ST-LVIA-G2-8
Obviously we are being realistic about the situation of the world, and although we live on a planet where injustices and negative things happen every day, in this post I would like to be quite more positive, in relation to what ST-LVIA-G2-7 has commented.
Who would tell women that one day they could exercise their right to vote or divorce two hundred years ago? Who would tell African-Americans that one day they would have a black president fifty years ago? Fortunately, many things are changing positively, some quickly and others more slowly. The same happens in slavery. One hundred years ago there was a lot more slavery in a large number of countries. Today there is still a lot, that’s obvious. But we all have to make an effort to stop its existence, whether in fifty years or a hundred.
There are things that seem to be endless, but the future is uncertain, and fortunately, our world is full of people who wake up every morning to make the world a better place, whether alone or joining NGOs.
Do you think I’m being too positive and that this will never change?
· ST-LVIA-G2-4
Hi! I am ST-LVIA-G2-4 again, the guy who is in the third year of the estudis anglesos’ degree.
I would like to continue with the topic which ST-LVIA-G2-8 has explained in his last post, and also ST-LVIA-G2-7. It is true that if we look at the past, many things have changed since then. Black people, for example, could not sit in the same part where white people sat on the bus or women, as you have explained before, could not vote or could not apply for certain works. Furthermore, when we are talking about human rights, people usually only talks about what happened in America, but they do not realize that in Spain the situation was alike. Our grandmothers could not travel if their husbands or fathers or brothers did not let them; even some of our grandmothers do not know how to write… well at least my grandmother and some of her friends. This situation changed by the time, but it changed because people fought for those rights. Then I think if we, does not matter our gender, fight for equality between women and men, we will achieve it. However, as you have mentioned, it will be a long process.
· ST-LVIA-G2-4
Hi! I am ST-LVIA-G2-4 again.
I would like to continue with the topic which ST-LVIA-G2-7 has explained in his last post. I think that you would think that I am too pessimism or something like that, but I truly believe that the model of slavery which it exists nowadays is not going to disappear. I think that I talked about this issue in one of my post, but never mind; I will repeat it. We live in the first world and then we are privilege people who can study, have internet and travel; but people from the third world (places where there are many companies) cannot. Many of them (I mean young people) cannot study or if they do it, they drop it when they are around 10-12 years old. As then they are qualified to work in these industries, because the big bosses can do whatever they want with them. They will work 15 hours per day for less than 1$ per day because they need it, after all they are humans being too and they need to feed up and those things which are necessaries to keep living. To sum up, if there is a first world is because there is a third world. If there are poor people is because there rich people.
· ST-LVIA-G2-6
“All these oil companies and factories which are settled in areas of the called third-world, led to the raise of slavery and adverse working conditions. This means an effect on the fundamental rights of human beings.” That is what I wanted to say, ST-LVIA-G2-7! Thanks! The world revolves around economic interests and politics, self-interest of people who rule the world and establish these policies.
Regarding to your question “Do you think the model of slavery that it is developing nowadays will be abolished at some point?” I would ask you: I hope It will. I do believe good intentions and good people whose aim is to help. Although it is quite difficult to achieve this goal because of the corruption of people. Although there are lots of organisations that try to improve human rights, it could be corrupted by some time. One example is the NGO Oxfam Intermon, whose main aim is to abolish poverty and injustice. This organisation was splashed by a case of corruption two month ago. The volunteers, who went to help to helpless people after a natural disaster, abused of their power in order to benefit themselves sexually.
At this point, I came up to the conclusion that power supremacy and self-interests is what disturb the fight to the improvement of human rights.
Don’t you believe that it would be better if we organise ourselves from an equal position in order to improve human rights? Would you prefer to have any leader?
· ST-LVIA-G2-6
Regarding, to ST-LVIA-G2-4’s approach to working conditions and low salaries it is important to remark that in some countries the legislation allows people and children working in factories exposed to multiple working risks. They are not slaves in front of the law, but they are slaves if we judge from a moral point of view. In Spain we have a proverbs that says “hecha la ley, hecha la trampa”, which justifies the peoples’ suffering by the law, because it is actually legal. While it is legally accepted, it will never change. And it is quite difficult to change the law when economic interests are bigger than moral ones.
A clear example of this is the entrepreneur Amancio Ortega, who set factories in third world countries in the Asian continent. This way he produces the cheapest but sells so expensive. He does not really mind the thousands of people who works for him in hard conditions, the only thing he desires is to earn more and more money and he does not care the lives it can cost. However, he tries to give the impression that he is such a caring and altruist man, and decides to donate 320.000.000 € to public health service in order to buy new equipment to fight against cancer.
Is it necessary? Absolutely yes and lots of people are going to admire him. Is he an hypocrite person? Without a doubt.
· ST-LVIC-G2-2
I’ve been reading your intervertiona and I find quite interesting the points you’ve been discussing. Power, in many cases, brings the worst in people and this is why so many cases of corruption and sexual harassment have been brought up recently. As you said, some people seem to be working for human rights on the surface but then only work for their own interest. I believe people are like this because once they gain power they are afraid they may lose it. That’s why a lot of men are reluctant to the feminist movement, they don’t want to lose their power. What do you think?
I don’t know if I’m answering the questions you proposed but I wanted to contribute.
· ST-LVIA-G2-4
Hi! I am ST-LVIA-G2-4 again.
I would like to say that Amancio Ortega tried to give the impression that he is such a caring and altruist man by donating 320.000.000 € to public health service in order to buy new equipment to fight against cancer, because he is a thief. If you did not know, he evaded more than 600.000.000 € between 2010 and 2015 (I am not sure about the exact years). Later on when this was discovered he decided to donate 320.000.000 € just to give a fake look that he was such a kind person. However, what he did not expect was that our public health did not accepted this donation, and they reproached him that he was a thief. Regarding to your question ST-LVIA-G2-6, of course it is necessary donations and people’s help in order to improve our society, but we cannot allow and we must not accept this dirty money. That is to say, if he would not evade 600.000.000€, I think that we could accept that donation. But I have a question for you: Do you think he would donate that money if he would not evade more than 600.000.000€? Do you think that in the future there would be more rich people like Bill Gates who despite of being which he is an altruist person?
· ST-LVIC-G2-1
Hi again! I’ve read your posts and you have made really interesting points.
I have been thinking and I agree with ST-LVIA-G2-4, netheir do I think the model of slavery which existis nowadays is not going to disappear, at least not soon. I have to say that I tend to be quite optimistic on this topics, I like to believe that oppressions won’t last forever and that a day will come in which they are a thing from the past. However, as I think somebody has mentioned before, people want power, and the more they have, the better, so when they see they begin to have even just a little of power, they act as if they were in control of other people and they treat others as simple objects. Furthermore, so rich people can exist, other people must be poor. The existance of third world and poor classes is essential for rich people. Otherwise, if there were no impoverished population, there would’nt be wealthy classes. And do you think they, the high classes, would allow that this order changed? I don’t think so.
To answer your questions, ST-LVIA-G2-4, I don’t think Amancio Ortega would have donated that amount of money if he would not evade his debt. Since he is the richest man in Spain (I think I heard this long time ago, so if he isn’t, I apologise) and he has many workers in poor conditions (lately many workers of an Inditex’ brand went in strike due to low salaries in Galicia), I can’t imagine him donating money without getting anything in reward for it. Regarding Bill Gates, I don’t it there will be rich people who will donate money if it is not in exchange of something which benefits them. Just like people who begin to have power, when people begin to become aware they have lot of money, I think they usually become more selfish and greedy. Furthermore, as far as I have heard, Bill Gates did some «tricks» to make sure Windows had the supremacy in computer market (apart from Apple), so sadly he is not free from corruption either…
Some questions have springed up in my mind while reading your posts: oppressed groups don’t usually get many help from governments or other institutions. Do you think they should take more action helping them? Do you think they don’t do that much currently due to lack of resources or it is for other reason?
· ST-LVIC-G2-3
Hi, everyone, I’ve been reading your posts and you all exposed great ideas about the topic. I’m glad ST-LVIA-G2-4 and ST-LVIA-G2-8 brought up Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X as examples that should be tought while studying human rights in school because, as a black woman, I sadly grew up barely knowing them and I had to educate myself about them outside school. At school, teachers talk you about Columbus as some hero when he committed the biggest atrocity and violation of human rights known to history, while giving little to cero time to teach about women and black, asian, native american people.
Now, to answer your questions, ST-LVIC-G2-1: firstly, yes, governments should do everything they can to help minorities and oppressed groups. Secondly, I don’t think the lack of resources is the reason they aren’t helping. For example, the idea that the planet is overpopulated and causing hunger has been going around for some years now, but it is actually a lie. We produce enough food for more than 10 billion people, but millions starve to death annually. Overpopulation isn’t causing hunger, capitalism is. The criminal waste and inability to properly allocate resources of greedy goverments is the real problem.
Do you think there’s a way pop culture (tv shows, musicians, movies) can help educating people about human rights? For example, tv shows like One Day At a Time (if any of you have watched it) have talked about some topics like gun control, LGBT rights, mental health, immigration, etc., is this helpful in your opinion?
· ST-LVIC-G2-1
Hi, ST-LVIC-G2-3. I think you have made good points in your post, above all in the part of studying History at school. Until some years ago, I also considered Columbus as some kind of hero, a man who made an important achievement in history. After all, Spain’s Day celebrates Columbus’ «discovery» of America. However, as I grew up and began to listen to black people, I realised it wasn’t a «discovery» but an atrocity, as you said. Furthermore, I also regret that we are not taught about more women and black people at school, and I say «more» although I’m not sure we’re even taught about anyone. I’m sure there have been some important women and black people who have made something important in history; however, I can’t say almost anyone when it comes to knowledge that I learnt at school. Horrifyingly sad.
To answer your question: I totally do. Represention in media (TV shows, films, books, etc.) is really important when it comes to educate people. On the one hand, a person who is struggling with acceptance may well feel better and hopeful seeing them represented. On the other hand, having this issues represented in media will surely affect someone who is uneducated in one topic. For instance, a girl in Twitter made a thread about how her mother didn’t accept her after she came out as bisexual and then, after watching «Love, Simon» in the cinema, her mother cried during the film and then, after they were out, her mother apologised for not having accepted her before. So yes, I do think so. And what’s more: I think it’s utterly necessary if we want to get rid of any oppression.
Following your question, ST-LVIC-G2-3, I would like to ask you all something: do you think issues like this are usually well-represented or well-protrayed in media? Do you think there’s «enough» representation or we need more?
· ST-LVIC-G2-3
To answer your first question, I honestly don’t want to make a generalisation because it’s a kind of 50/50 for me. Some of the movies and tv shows (that dealt with topics related to human rights) I’ve watched made a good impact on me and have carried these issues really well. Others… not so well.
Secondly, no, there’s not enough representation, nor for these issues, nor for minorities / opressed groups. As long as governments and ignorant people keep violating human rights, there will never be «enough» representation, because these kind of problems still need visibilization and the media is key for this.
In my first post I made a question that (I think) no one has answered yet, so I would like to repeat it in case someone has something to say about it, since we have been discussing the topic for a while now. «Women’s rights are human rights» is a phrase that has been used in the feminist movement since the 80s. To what extent do you think attaining gender equality and eliminating all forms of discrimination against women are fundamental human rights?
· ST-LVIC-G2-1
Hi, ST-LVIC-G2-3. As far as the portrayal of this kind of issues is concern, I agree with you to some extent. However, I don’t think it is 50/50, but most of them don’t portray them farily. In my opinion, it’s because show writers (or whoever is in charge of that) don’t get inform very well. However, I totally agree with your view on the need of more representation.
To answer your question, I strongly believe achieving gender equality is a fundamental human right. Since what we want to get is all people to be equal, that includes women undoubtfully. Moreover, here we need to talk about sexist violence. As far as I am concerned, all women have suffered some kind of this violence, from catcalling to worst things. This is certainly a threat to them; thus, it is utterly fundamental that women’s rights are protected if we want to achieve real equality on human rights. What is more: I truly believe that eliminating women from this ecuation of human rights equality is a complete non-sense, because then we’re not talking about humans in general and thus, it won’t be equal human rights (but simple equal rights applied to just a part of the population… just like it is nowadays).
Following with protrayal of minorities, how do you think we can do a good portrayal of these groups? In which ways can we get informed?
· ST-LVIC-G2-2
Hi, so I’ve been reading and you’ve discussed some very interesting points. Specially about media representation. I myself tend to watch TV shows, movies, books… that include good representation of opressed groups (although I’ve also encountered bad representation) so I think we’re progressing, slowly , but progressing. Also and following ST-LVIC-G2-1’s last question I think it is really important these stories are told by what is called «own voices» this is, for example a story about a black woman told by a black woman. This way if we don’t belong to a opressed group we can understand the struggles these people face and be a bit more informed.
Regarding ST-LVIC-G2-3’s question, women’s rights are human rights, because we, as women, are human being and discrimination against us are a form of opression. The moment we achieve this equality we won’t need feminist movement but nowadays it is important we fight for our rights.