Few governments in the world, for example, praise human rights more ardently than does the government of France, and few have a worse record of supporting tyrants and killers.
quote by Richard Perle

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Against Their Human Rights
How many times have I heard them say
it’s against his human rights
when a killer goes to court?
Hey, but what about the victim
and his or her family.
Don’t they have human rights too?
Is it only the killers who have human rights?
It really makes you wonder.
They commit a crime against
someone innocent in our society.
Then you get some idiot
starts shouting their punishment
is against their human rights.
Now what would happen if that idiot
lost a family member to some killer?
Would they still be shouting
and waving banners about his human rights?
I sincerely doubt it;
they’d probably say like a lot of us
that the killer has no human rights.
They forfeited them the day
they took someone’s life.
We may forgive them
for what they do,
but they must still take the punishment
the Courts of the land hand down.
13 February 2008
poem by David Harris

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Nobody performs her or his duties. Governments do not, because they do not know, they are not able or they do not wish, or because they are not permitted by those who effectively govern the world: The multinational and pluricontinental companies whose power — absolutely non-democratic — reduce to next to nothing what is left of the ideal of democracy. We citizens are not fulfilling our duties either. Let us think that no human rights will exist without symmetry of the duties that correspond to them. It is not to be expected that governments in the next 50 years will do it. Let us common citizens therefore speak up. With the same vehemence as when we demanded our rights, let us demand responsibility over our duties. Perhaps the world could turn a little better.
quote by Jose Saramago

Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Interconnectedness.
The internet can’t be controlled
by any form of government
Because it’s gained too strong a hold.
Which came about by accident.
Nobody can control the flow
Although some governments still try
Of information to and fro
There is one simple reason why.
The common man has access to
What governments try to conceal
A system that’s completely new
Now people can safely reveal
The secrets of the powers that be.
The things we aren’t supposed to know
they can post anonymously
There’s nothing governments can do.
At last the people have a voice
no government can suppress
The powers that be have little choice
and in the future even less.
The internet is here to stay.
It’s up to us we must adjust.
WE can’t go back to yesterday
A world of mutual mistrust.
One thing we must appreciate.
Though information’s flowing free
It isn’t always accurate
We have to choose selectively.
What we accept what we reject
and draw our own conclusion.
I have good reason to suspect
more not less confusion.
The internet may prove to be
Either a blessing or a curse.
Though I believe quite honestly.
The internet won’t make things worse
Than when governments could decide
What people were allowed to know
To preserve the nations pride
They lied alike to friend and foe.
The internet has set us free
to find a different better way.
Though we will have to wait and see
What kind of price we have to pay.
Tuesday,22 February 2011
http: // blog.myspace.com/poeticpiers
poem by Ivor Or Ivor.e Hogg

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Being a humanitarian, supporting animal rights activists, human rights activists, it's all the same.
quote by Daryl Hannah

Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Vice and the wise
Friends turn killers, more than foes.
Accidents are killers, more than diseases
Paramours are killers, more than elopers.
The world has more by vice than the wise.
28.07.2004
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Rise Ye! Rise Ye!
Rise Ye! rise ye! noble toilers! claim your rights with fire and steel!
Rise ye! for the cursed tyrants crush ye with the hiron ’eel!
They would treat ye worse than sl-a-a-ves! they would treat ye worse than brutes!
Rise and crush the selfish tyrants! ku-r-rush them with your hob-nailed boots!
Rise ye rise ye glorious toilers
Rise ye rise ye noble toilers!
Erwake! er-rise!
Rise ye! rise ye! noble toilers! tyrants come across the waves!
Will ye yield the Rights of Labour? will ye? will ye still be sl-a-a-ves?
Rise ye! rise ye! mighty toilers! and revoke the rotten laws!
Lo! your wives go out a-washing while ye battle for the caws!
Rise ye! rise ye glorious toilers!
Rise ye! rise ye noble toilers!
Erwake! er-rise!
Our gerlorious dawn is breaking! Lo! the tyrant trembles now!
He will sta-a-rve us here no longer! toilers will not bend or bow!
Rise ye! rise ye! noble toilers! rise! behold, revenge is near;
See the leaders of the people! come an’ ’ave a pint o’ beer!
Rise ye! rise ye! noble toilers!
Rise ye! rise ye! glorious toilers!
Erwake! er-rise!
Lo! the poor are starved, my brothers! lo! our wives and children weep!
Lo! our women toil to keep us while the toilers are asleep!
Rise ye! rise ye! noble toilers! rise and break the tyrant’s chain!
March ye! march ye! mighty toilers! even to the battle plain!
Rise ye! rise ye! noble toilers!
Rise ye! rise ye! noble toilers!
Erwake! er-r-rise!
poem by Henry Lawson

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All governments should be pressured to correct their abuses of human rights.
quote by Richard Stallman

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Deep Level Concern
deep level concern;
our own national parks
used as collateral
on loans from China!
water rights to the Great Lakes,
and other bodies of water here...
sold to China!
our jobs, Joe blue collar working
families.... sold to China!
our oil profiteer wars,
financed by China!
sleeping with the country
with the worst human rights record,
dancing with the devil!
and now, our own police forces
committing acts of violence
and oppression against Americans!
against American people protesting,
standing up for freedom and equality!
standing against the profiteers!
reacting the same way,
and with the same types of oppression,
as China!
our rights,
...our freedom,
......our dignity.
even our rights to work and survive....
sold to....
.....and even worse,
...........sold by!
poem by Eric Cockrell

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Human rights in Islam are human rights in the light of Islam, Islam as the outward medium through which its believers attain their true value, through which is realized the right to right(s) and the right to truth.
Mohammed Allal Sinaceur in Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights: Islamic Tradition and Human Rights (1986)

Submitted by Simona Enache
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History Will Teach Us Nothing
If we seek solace in the prisons of the distant past
Security in human systems were told will always always last
Emotions are the sail and blind faith is the mast
Without a breath of real freedom were getting nowhere fast
If God is dead and an actor plays his part
His words of fear will find their way to a place in your heart
Without the voice of reason every faith is its own curse
Without freedom from the past things can only get worse
Sooner or later just like the world first day
Sooner or later we learn to throw the past away
Sooner or later just like the world first day
Sooner or later we learn to throw the past away
Sooner or later we learn to throw the past away
History will teach us nothing
History will teach us nothing
Our written history is a catalogue of crime
The sordid and the powerful, the architects of time
The mother of invention, the oppression of the mild
The constant fear of scarcity, aggression as its child
Sooner or later
Sooner or later
Sooner or later
Sooner or later
Convince an enemy, convince him that hes wrong
Is to win a bloodless battle where victory is long
A simple act of faith
In reason over might
To blow up his children will only prove him right
History will teach us nothing
Sooner or later the world first day
Sooner or later we learn to throw the past away
Sooner or later the world first day
Sooner or later we learn to throw the past away
Sooner or later we learn to throw the past away
History will teach us nothing
History will teach us nothing
Know you human rights
Be what you come here for
Know your human rights
Be what you come here for
Know your human rights
Be what you come here for
Know your human rights
Be what you come here for
song performed by by Sting

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Of Your Feelings On Human Rights
Of your feelings on human rights never leave others in doubt
Of wrongs against others one ought to speak out
To those who abuse others rights let your feelings be known
Them for their behaviour you ought to disown
Though with what I say here many may not agree
Those silent at human rights abuse seem in agreement to me
With the offender whoever the offending one may be
Silence in the demonization of others is saying yes to inhumanity
Speak out against racism for racism is wrong
In the Human World it does not belong
There is far too much racism in the big World out there
And a racist person one can meet anywhere,
Against abuse of human rights never fear to speak out
On your feelings on such never leave others in doubt.
poem by Francis Duggan

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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It is often in the name of cultural integrity as well as social stability and national security that democratic reforms based on human rights are resisted by authoritarian governments.
quote by Aung San Suu Kyi

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Those who have been outspoken in advocating human rights during these last forty years, have themselves grabbed the most fundamental of human rights from the people of the Third-World countries.
quote by Ali Hoseini Khamenei

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Whether Canada ends up as o-ne national government or two national governments or several national governments, or some other kind of arrangement is, quite frankly, secondary in my opinion.
quote by Stephen Harper

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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On Torture We Should Not Keep Our Silence
In many so called Democratic Countries Human Rights laws are being transgressed
And people due to their difference from others are imprisoned and oppressed
And suffer the worst forms of torture should we in silence stand idly by
For a wrong against any individual is a wrong against you and I.
A loss of Human rights to any individual is a loss of rights to all
The huge plague of locusts destroyed the grain crops though their numbers once were small
And like the locusts those who go along with torture their numbers multiply
But on such a matter for me to keep my silence would be to live a lie.
On torture we should not keep our silence 'tis time we made a stand
I've got a lethal weapon here the pen is in my hand
I may not command much power but to my own self I must be true
For if you do not speak out against torture you become a torturer too.
In many so called Democratic Countries Governments to torture turn a blind eye
And people due to torture have even been known to die
And those who keep their silence on such a matter are saying
torture is okay
Though a loss of rights to one individual is a loss of rights to all or to me 'twould seem that way.
poem by Francis Duggan

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Jolly Old England
Do as you please we don’t care at all
you are under age
and we have you protected by the law.
You can steal, injure, maim or kill
we’ll let you do it because you are under age
and don’t know any better.
No one can touch you
or we’ll have them in court
as we have you protected
by the law of human rights.
Go do, as you please show no respect
you are under age and do not know any better.
If you kill someone we might have to put you under
Her Majesty’s Pleasure,
but don’t worry,
pass a couple of exams,
we’ll give you a new identity
and then we’ll set you free
as you were under age
and didn’t know what you were doing.
We won’t teach you right from wrong
and if someone tries,
we will have them locked inside.
You are in jolly old England
where the government says anything goes
and they’ll stand by you
as you’re under age
and don’t know what you’re doing.
Now that is a lovely message
to send to any under age thug,
but it is just the message
the British Government wants to get across.
Just remember the James Bulger murders
Jon Venables and Robert Thompson
and the wonderful treatment they received
by the British Government for stoning to death a James Bulger
because they passed a couple of exams.
New identities, moved to a secure location for their safety.
Never a thought was given to James Bulger
and the horrific way he died,
just the safety of two vicious murdering thugs was paramount.
So welcome to jolly old England
where if you’re under age you can do as you please
because you have the British Governments approval,
as you don’t know what you’re doing.
28-29 September 2009
poem by David Harris

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Iran has a dismal record on human rights.
quote by Howard Berman

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Mankind's problems can no longer be solved by national governments. What is needed is world government.
quote by Jan Tinbergen

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Cost of Freedom
Syria...
violence in the streets...
peaceful protesters
marching for human rights,
equality, and change
being slaughtered
by their own government...
now here...
shadows of Kent State...
common people
pushed to the edge
in the battle for
survival, human dignity,
and hope for a future...
already abandoned
by our own government...
will it take being
killed to get their attention?
will it take dying
to give our children
a chance?
you say it cant happen here!
open your eyes, your ears,
your hearts...
it's already begun!
what is the cost of freedom?
poem by Eric Cockrell

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The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to ""create"" rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting.
quote by William J. Brennan, Jr.

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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