Books and opinions, no matter from whom they came, if they are in opposition to human rights, are nothing but dead letters.
quote by Ernestine L. Rose
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Everyone Have Their Opinions
Everyone have their opinions that's how it ought to be
And respect their opinions though with them you may not agree
As long as they respect human rights and a fair go for all
The difference between you and them to say the least is small.
Everyone have their opinions and no two quite the same
Even between those who are known to think alike some difference one can name
That's what makes us most interesting we all think differently
And you are very different so different to me.
Everyone have their own opinions a fact that is well known
And like 'tis said of him or her the words to each their own
To others opinions you should not react in a violent sort of a way
We must allow for difference and let them have their say.
Everyone have their opinions that fact with us remain
And as long with your opinions power over others you don't seek to gain
Though your opinions may be very different to mine
I respect your way of thinking and our difference suits me fine.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Books Are Burning
Books are burning
In the main square, and I saw there
The first eating the text
Books are burning
In the still air
And you know where they burn books
People are next
I believe the printed word should be forgiven
Doesnt matter what it said
Wisdom hotline from the dead back to the living
Key to the larder for your heart and head
Books are burning
In our own town, watch us turn round
And cast our glances elsewhere
Books are burning
In the playground
Smell of burnt book is not unlike human hair
I believe the printed word is more than sacred
Beyond the gauge of good or bad
The human right to let your soul fly free and naked
Above the violence of the fearful and sad
The church of matches
Anoints in ignorance with gasoline
The church of matches
Grows fat by breathing in the smoke of dreams
Its quite obscene
Books are burning
More each day now, and I pray now
You boys will tire of these games
Books are burning
I hope somehow, this will allow
A phoenix up from the flames
song performed by by Xtc
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Opposition aren't really the Opposition. They're just called the Opposition. But in fact they are the Opposition in exile. The Civil Service are the Opposition in residence.
quote by Antony Jay
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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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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At the same time, I think books create a sort of network in the reader's mind, with one book reinforcing another. Some books form relationships. Other books stand in opposition. No two writers or readers have the same pattern of interaction.
quote by Margaret Mahy
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The opposition is indispensable. A good statesman, like any other sensible human being, always learns more from his opposition than from his fervent supporters.
quote by Walter Lippmann
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Story of the Ashes and the Flame
No matter why, nor whence, nor when she came,
There was her place. No matter what men said,
No matter what she was; living or dead,
Faithful or not, he loved her all the same.
The story was as old as human shame,
But ever since that lonely night she fled,
With books to blind him, he had only read
The story of the ashes and the flame.
There she was always coming pretty soon
To fool him back, with penitent scared eyes
That had in them the laughter of the moon
For baffled lovers, and to make him think --
Before she gave him time enough to wink --
Sin's kisses were the keys to Paradise.
poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson
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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
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Relativism should be confronted where it damages fundamental human rights, because we're not relativists if we believe that the human being should be at the centre of society and the rights of every human being should be respected.
quote by Rocco Buttiglione
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Dont You Think It's Time?
children have rights,
women have rights.
lovers have rights.
people of all religions,
and even atheists have rights.
people of all colors,
speaking every language have rights.
trees and rivers have rights.
cats and dogs have rights.
cattle have rights,
homeless people have rights.
prisoners have rights.
democrats and republicans have rights,
even socialists have rights.
the jobless have rights,
old people have rights...
and the hungry have
the right to be fed!
damnit! dont you think it's time?
poem by Eric Cockrell
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At some point we must realize that actively defending against radical Islamic teachings is not a matter of cultural relativity. It is a matter of universally recognized human rights.
quote by Armstrong Williams
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Life is not a matter of place, things or comfort; rather, it concerns the basic human rights of family, country, justice and human dignity.
quote by Imelda Marcos
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Human rights are not a privilege granted by the few, they are a liberty entitled to all, and human rights, by definition, include the rights of all humans, those in the dawn of life, the dusk of life, or the shadows of life.
quote by Kay Granger
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Note the difference between a right and a privilege. A right, in the abstract, is a fact; it is not a thing to be given, established, or conferred; it is. Of the exercise of a right power may deprive me; of the right itself, never. Privilege, in the abstract, does not exist; there is no such thing. Rights recognized, privilege is destroyed. But, in the practical, the moment you admit a supreme authority, you have denied rights. Practically the supremacy has all the rights, and no matter what the human race possesses, it does so merely at the caprice of that authority.
quote by Voltairine de Cleyre
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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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
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Human Rights’
In a civilised land
That accepts duty to all
Citizens have rights
Some great, some small
This is how things should be
To those who value
Truth and fairness
And justice and decency
But those who treasure money
And the power of wealth
Seek to remove such rights
Through deceit and stealth
They claim that duty
Comes before such rights
But they accept no obligation
For causing another’s plight
Obligation before rights
Is their loud refrain
But fulfilling their own duties
Is something they distain
For rights are for the powerful
Whilst duty is for the poor
And decency and justice
The Country provides no more
Human Rights matter
To ensure justice for all
For saints and for sinners
For all people great and small
The alternative is ugly
With justice a forgotten myth
With power replacing fairness
And a society that is truly sick
poem by David Chalk
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Dedicated Being...
we are no more than the experience
of our giving written in each other...
not in books or letters,
not even in spoken prayers...
for our most true prayer is indeed
the interaction between us and other human beings,
with the sole purpose of dedicated being!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Racism Poem - Where Racism matters
i live in a country
multi racial in nature
where certain communities
enjoy special rights
the politicians keep asking
why there is racial polarisation
well, if i have special rights
i will make sure i really
get the best deal of it all
i will not be a stupid fool
or even modest
no two way about it
that includes telling others
to be aware that they do
not have special rights
drawing the line doubly clear
just in case they
infringe on these rights
rights to everything special
housing, education,
medication, career advances
etc, etc, etc
and of course
i would make
every citizen aware
they are living in a society
where racism matters
because it is a matter
of life and death
for those with special rights
and of course for those
without the rights to
keep decently quiet about it
or else these special rights
could mean the rights
to take away things
dearest to them
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
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I don't have any doubts either about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Perhaps some more should be added to the list, but I don't have the slightest doubt about human rights.
quote by Antonio Tabucchi
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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