18 December 2010

"Western" Values? ~ Yes, Absolute Human Rights

Excellent to read Renée Loth's OpEd piece Human Rights are Absolute in the Globe. Despite Mao's minions dictating otherwise, Nobelist Lui Xiaobo is indeed an authentic Chinese hero genuinely interested the progress of his people. But, stupidly enough...
"In its fury, China challenged the very notion of universal human rights, saying they are merely “Western values" imposed in a kind of moral imperialism on the rest of the world. China even launched a rival Confucius Peace Prize to highlight Asian ideals and ethics. No knock on Confucius -- whom the Communist regime did not always revere -- and the more recognition for world peace, the better. But the assertion that fundamental human rights are somehow just a matter of Western cultural whimsy, like wearing shoes indoors or using the Roman alphabet, can be used to rationalize all kinds heinous practices under the banner of “tradition." The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written at the United Nations in 1948, drew upon all the great religious texts and founding documents of the world, not just enlightenment Europe. China was a signatory. When Eleanor Roosevelt set up the commission to draft the resolution, one of her vice-chairs was the Chinese diplomat P.C. Chang, who quoted Chinese sources repeatedly to show compatibility with innate human rights. More recently, China has taken to issuing its own annual report highlighting violations by the United States of the UN Declaration. [Notes a key observer] “China can’t have it both ways"
Right. There are only one kind of human rights: Universal ones.

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