From Thomas Paine’s “The Rights of Man”

Paine explored the temporal aspect of rights and laws and described them as being generational, where laws are created by one generation to govern them during that era, but becoming less applicable, even obsolete, as that generation fades and a new one is ushered in. In the present era of increasing public apathy and widening social stratification how can legislative bodies operate in the detached and objective manner that is required in order to create new laws in an appropriate and equitable manner? If politicians have come to predominantly represent an elite class that’s constantly retreating from a lower class majority, how can the process of public representation be inherently for the greater good of all? Apathy through distraction and ignorance through fear will be greatest challenges to the new generation, who must revise the laws in this time of struggle. I’m not sure if the entity that is global politics is reaching maturity, but the grievances and abuses between nation-states certainly demands that individuals, countries and people, reconsider their place in the system of national and global rights.

Regarding Paine’s distinction between the two modes of government, election/representation and hereditary succession, I would simply like to point out an anecdote that I came across in other readings. According to Burke’s Peerage, the bible for royal and aristocratic genealogy, 34 of the 43 American presidents in history can be genetically traced to Charlemagne, a monarch of France. Is there a pseudo-monarchy operating behind the scene in US politics? Since talent and ability are not hereditary, and there are over 300 million people from all cultures in the United States today you would think a little more genetic diversity would be displayed in the genealogy of American presidents. Add to that the immeasurable degree of corruption within any electoral process and you can see the peculiarity of the observation. In addition, throughout this week’s readings we see the connections between divinity and the equality of man, the rights to rule and even the legislative process. Since the beginning of social organization, rulers have often claimed divine appointment and early European monarchs were no exception. Are Bush’s continual reminders of his ‘God-given duty’ any different?

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An End to the Embargo?

Under the provisions of the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, normal trade relations cannot resume with Cuba until its government recognizes US claims to property that was confiscated in the wake of the Revolution and pays compensation for those assets. The total value of these assets has been estimated to be between 6 and 20 billion dollars. There is endless information characterizing the intentions that the US government and its corporate army wish to bring to fruition should Cuba open its borders under a new regime – you can just see them salivating from the Florida coast, waiting to bridge the gap between them and 11 million potential consumers. There is so much wrong with this situation that I hardly know where to begin. In the 1970s and beyond the US supported murders, “disappearances”, torture and abuse to see the implementation of IMF-led neo-liberal economic policies throughout Latin America. Most of those countries are still drowning in debt from an era of failed economic reform, not to mention the smothering of indigenous and marginalized groups that continue to face the pressures of this system. All the empty commitment within the UN to address poverty, failing economies and other global symptoms of colonialism and globalization is getting tiring. An immediate priority of the UN should be to abolish third-world debt, as an apology at least and an act of human decency and compassion especially.

Ending this nonsense between the US and Cuba falls under the same category. A direct comparison between Cuba and Haiti, the Dominican Republic and all the Central American countries in regards to the mental and physical health of the population, standards of living, the divide between the rich and the poor, the level of education and the incidence of disease will show that Cuba has certainly made some amazing achievements during its 45 year experiment with Socialism. The normal backlash to these statistics is the incidence of human rights abuses with the Cuba. Indeed many freedoms are repressed and many murders have been committed, but name a Latin American country whose record is any better over this same period. Is Castro’s logic that the ends justify the means that different from what’s happening in the Middle East? At least Castro’s mission is built more on altruism than economic and political manipulation and exploitation.

The embargo is the primary culprit of Cuba’s lack of infrastructure and economic immaturity, not the failings of Socialism. Will the US realize that the rhetoric of democratization and their duty to bestow it upon failing regimes throughout the world will not satisfy the international community when it comes to Cuba? Saddam was, and radical Islam is a viable threat to global security, but Cuba is clearly the opposite. This island nation is an amazing anomaly of achievement, especially in terms of their agricultural achievements and they do have a lot to teach the world once we’re reading to learn. To conclude, who will benefit from an expansion of trade between the US and Cuba and should benefit? What will happen to all the campesino families who have worked their fields for generations, valuing their dignity and the tens of thousands of people who work on collective farms and reside in nearby communities built on the land taken back from rich Cuban and American capitalists? As for the expatriates, I believe they revoked their duty and claim to the island when they left and traded Cuban culture for American culture – it’s time to drop this deep seeded psychosis and drop the grudge.
Further trade between Cuba and any other nation should be uninterrupted by US aggression and occur under the terms laid out by the Cuban government.

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While reading through this week’s seemingly reiterative rights declarations I was constantly bringing forth all the exceptions and violations that I’ve encountered or heard about across the globe. In the same way that ‘democracy’ is just an idea for a social reality these texts are representative of our ideas for attainable utopias. I’m not ignoring their worth or necessity, but the actualization of their content depends entirely on those holding power within a society and as always a lot of it can be open to contention and will change with interpretation.

Although the UN’s Declaration has made the world a better place for many, it remains largely unenforceable and given the number of blatant violations within North America and across the globe it seems completely quixotic.

Fragmented Bureaucracy and the Prison Dilemma in Panama

I’ve long known about the abysmal conditions behind prison walls throughout Latin America and a recent article in Latin American Press shone some more light on the complications of the situation. click here for article Overcrowding, poor access to medical care, a lack of potable water and edible food, and rampant inmate violence are some of the symptoms of this problem. The causes are under-funding, corruption within the legal system and blatant ignorance towards Constitutional Law.

The prisons in Panama are over capacity by more than four thousand inmates and the government wishes to pass a bill to reform its Criminal Code, which would strengthen penalties and no doubt lead to a growing wave of new arrests. Beyond the deplorable living conditions, the prison system is accused of other human rights abuses, such as a lack of rehabilitation programs (a violation of the American Convention on Human Rights) and violating the pretrial detention limitations (a whopping 63% of inmates have yet to be convicted).

The Panamanian government is clearly off the mark with their remedy for the prison crisis, but how do you begin to rectify such a dynamic and historically entrenched problem? Holding steadfast to the Constitutional Laws already in place would seem like a logical beginning. Detainees should legally come before a judge within 24 hours and preliminary investigations cannot exceed 4 months. These terms can be legally extended and the judiciary is accused of frequently abusing this ‘law of exceptional circumstances’. According to a report by the US Department of State, “the average period of pretrial custody was 12 months, and pretrial detention in excess of the maximum sentence for the alleged crime was common.” click here for report The optimist in me would hope that a politically committed leader alone could make great strides towards curbing corruption among his governing authorities, but in a culture of nepotism and bribery, corruption sometimes seems woven into the system itself.

Test Posting. Dave, here is the billboard I was referring to in my comment on Posada & Bush Co.