One of ten volumes in Thomson Gale's Social Issues Primary Sources Collection, this massive tome presents a wide range of documents relating to the development and current state of human and civil rights. In classic textbook style, the book includes extensive introductory sections; all unremarkable, save for the incorrect definition of "bias" offered on page XXXV. The remainder of the book (500 pages) is divided into eight thematic sections.

----------

Section 1, Development of Human Rights, contains twenty-two documents ranging from 1789 to 2004, and chronicles the development of the idea of "natural rights," and their gradual transformation into "human rights," as understood in the post World War II world. Highlights include:

--The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the foundational document of the French Republic, issued in 1789. I was interested to note that the French, who modeled this upon a draft of a "Bill of Rights" then in the possession of the US ambassador, Thomas Jefferson; included mention of economic equality, as it pertains to both responsibilities (taxes) and benefits (public posts). I was delighted, moreover, to see mention made in the commentary of Olympe de Gouges's 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, although I would have been better pleased to have been provided with the document itself (I have searched in vain for a translation of her work, but I digress...).

--An excerpt from the 1857 book On the Legal Rights and Responsibilities of the Deaf & Dumb by Harvey P. Peet, which focuses on a French legal case from 1838, in which the will of a deaf woman was annulled. I had not read anything, previous to this, on the history of the disabled, and was shocked to discover that until the 16th century, the deaf were assumed to be mentally impaired; and that the legal assumption was that even when able to write, the deaf were thought to be illiterate! I see another topic of research opening up before me...

--The People's Right to Freedom, an article written by an anonymous Chinese thinker living in Japan in 1903, and which outlines eight categories of rights, placing the blame for the absence of those rights in China on the apathy of the people. I was quite interested in the commentary here, which makes the point that "rights" in Chinese thought are seen as means to an end, usually the fulfillment of "legitimate goals" (ie: safety, well-being, etc.); as opposed to the Western conception of innate rights...

--The Four Freedoms, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 'State of the Union' address of 1941, in which the speaker looks ahead to a 'new world" built upon four freedoms: freedom of speech/expression; religious freedom; economic security; peace (freedom from fear). I was particularly struck by Roosevelt's call for great self-sacrifice on the part of citizens, and the ways in which he defined paying greater taxes as a patriotic duty. Imagine a politician today trying something similar!

--Punishment and Prevention of War Crimes, an agreement the League of Nations entered into in 1943, which attempts to proscribe some of the worst atrocities of war, and prevent it from descending into "terrorism." The irony of this definition, in light of the current administration's refusal to abide by later agreements regarding the conduct of war, was not lost on me...

--The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, which highlights the centrality of human rights to the very existence of the UN. A beautiful document, with which I am in total agreement, and whose every article is regularly ignored...

----------

Section 2, Slavery and Genocide, which contains twenty-one documents relating to the topics of slavery and genocide, both of which, as the introduction notes, require the massive dehumanization of whole groups of people. I was somewhat disappointed that the documents concerning slavery focus almost exclusively on slavery in the American south, as I would have been interested to read something about Caribbean or Brazilian slavery. Highlights include:

--Proceedings of the Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, a pamphlet from 1838 that presents notes from a meeting of the group, organized by figures such as Lucretia Mott when women were denied membership in the American Anti-slavery Society. The centrality of Christian values to the Abolitionist Movement is quite clear, as is the role that Abolitionism would play in launching the struggle for women's rights.

--Colombia: Displaced & Discarded, a Human Rights Watch report from 2005 discussing the issues confronting internally displaced persons in that country. Here I was struck by the oversimplification of the editors' introduction, which maintained that the troubles in Colombia are a "direct result of cocaine trafficking." While by no means an expert, I do recall that Colombia was one of the case studies we used in one of my college classes (Democracy and Latin America), and that the country has a long history of violence and civil war, which long predates the issue of cocaine. I am forced to conclude that the editors are either misinformed, or have used their position to occlude the truth. I was likewise disturbed by the fact that while the editors chose to mention drug cartel and FARC ties to death squads (well documented), they neglected to point out the similar involvement of government and military institutions in such activities. An accident?

----------

Section 3, Imprisonment, produces eighteen documents relating to the imprisonment of individuals and groups, the various reasons for these captivities, and the treatment meted out to prisoners. Highlights include:

--Executive Order 9066, issued by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1942, in which the internment of Japanese-Americans in "relocation" camps was ordered. Once again, I was struck by the editors' introductory comments, which failed to mention the economic motives for internment, and the ways in which agribusiness profited from the sudden "liberation" of so much productive farmland in California...

--Human Rights Abuses in Shahist Iran, an Amnesty International report from 1976 which highlights the hideous cruelty of the Shah's secret police force (SAVAK). I was STRONGLY reminded of Chalmers Johnson's thesis in his book, "Blowback," where he contends that many short-term "security" policies have led to long-term international insecurity. The US-backed Shah regime is a perfect example...

----------

Section 4, Health and Housing, which presents thirteen documents related to human rights issues involving medical and personal welfare issues. These include abortion rights, forced sterilization campaigns, famine-related disease and starvation, and acute water-shortage issues. Many of the documents in this section were photographs, all of them quite striking.

----------

Section 5, Labor and Working Conditions, includes fifteen documents related to economic and workplace rights, from the struggle to create unions to the current hardships facing migrant workers. I was fascinated by the inclusion of "soldiering" as a form of labor here - something that makes perfect sense to me, but which I had never considered in that light before. I was particularly interested to note:

--In the commentary on the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, mention is made of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 (that amended the earlier NLRA), which has been invoked more than thirty times by the federal government to end strikes.

--How Ireland Hid Its Own Dirty Laundry, a review of the film, The Magdalene Sisters, which explores the century-long practice of enslaving women of "questionable" moral stature in Catholic-run laundries. The author's analysis that a "culture of shame" must be a central pre-condition for such a practice, seems most logical to me. I found myself wishing for a more thorough exploration of how Catholic notions of sexuality and gender impacted the situation (more reading, more reading...)

----------

Section 6, Civil and Political Rights, contains twenty-four documents, and focuses on four main issues: the struggle for African-American equality, for Woman Suffrage, the anti-Apartheid movement, and the Chinese pro-democracy movement. Included are some very famous legal cases (Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson), some key pieces of legislation (Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965), and some historic speeches (King's I Have a Dream, as well as Oliver Tambo's speech to the UN in 1963). I was pleased, moreover, to see a piece by one of my personal heroes, Ida B. Wells-Barnett.

----------

Section 7, Borders, Sovereignty and Culture, includes nineteen documents related to questions of persecuted ethnic and national minorities (Native Americans, Australian Aborigines, Indian Dalits), conflicts between traditional cultural practices and individual human rights (honor killings, the wearing of headscarves), and the role of technology in the human rights arena (particulary the internet in China). I was particularly disgusted to note the shameful complicity of Yahoo, in turning over information to the Chinese government that led to the arrest and imprisonment of a number of dissidents. I'm not sure if such companies can be boycotted, but I'll be looking into it. I was amused, moreover, by France's claim (in response to the Council of Europe's Framework for the Protection of National Minorities) that it has no national minorities within its borders - the Basque and Breton would no doubt be surprised to hear this...

----------

Section 8, Education and Childhood, which contains eleven documents pertaining to the human rights of children, addresses issues such as child labor, educational opportunities, and juvenile justice systems.… (meer)