The World is Just

• Common Good: A concept of policy and/or practice that subordinates individual benefit to the perceived benefit and thus well-being of the large group or society

Definitions

• Crimes Against Humanity – Atrocious acts outside the laws and customs of war (conflict) which in nature and/or scale violate all standards of reason, dignity, and human nature

Definitions

• Human Rights – Rights that belong to all persons irrespective of race, beliefs, gender, nationality, physical and mental ability, etc.

• e.g.; freedom of speech, religion, assembly, etc.

• e.g.; freedom from fear, hunger, discrimination; the right to a fair trial, to earn a living, etc.

Definitions

• Justice – Variously, the concepts of fairness and equity, the use of authority to promote and maintain rights, the sense that a proper reward has been earned/granted for doing good or for doing evil

Definitions

• Rule of Law – A condition that ensures all actions are in a state (corporate and individual, public and private) are subject to the letter and process of laws of the state.

Definitions

• Self-Determination – The freedom of individuals, groups, and nations to establish and pursue political, economic, and social goals without interference.

Definitions

• Search for justice is as old as humanity• All societies have had codes of behaviour

to establish public order, to denote rights and privileges, and to establish crimes and punishments.

• For most of human history these codes were based on religion

• For pre-literate societies codes were enshrined in religious ritual and art and emphasized harmony with nature and saw justice in the natural order.

Pursuit of Justice

First Written Laws• First literate societies ruled

by autocrats who were seen as lawgivers.

• Often leaders became deified and law was seen as divine.

• The ideas of common law, and secular law developed over a long time.

• Common Law: treats everyone equally

• Secular Law: law separate from religion

Age of Revolution and Enlightenment• In the 18th century, the

European Enlightenment, and American and French revolutions caused justice to be administered by the state

• Once Napoleon took control of France after the Revolution his Law Code would become a model across Europe

• This secular form of justice for everyone is the ancestor of today’s concern for “human rights”

The Spirit of Human Rights Today• As in antiquity,

definitions and perceptions of justice vary from place to place

• Even when common ground has been established, words do not equate reality. i.e. Rwanda, Darfur

• Although there are no universally accepted definitions of race and most scientists believe that racial categories have no basis in science, racism remains widespread

• Racism: the belief that members of certain identifiable groups are inferior to others

• Racism is a characteristic shared by most human societies but racism in western culture is White racism and is based on the idea of European superiority

• European colonization plus the transatlantic slave trade allowed racism to spread as an ideology

• Racism was developed to excuse the exploitation of non-European people throughout the world

Justice and Racism

History of the Modern Age• The history of the modern age can

be seen as one of scientific progress, industrial expansion, and increased material well-being

• Or• It can be seen as a persistent and

growing series of revolts against European domination

• Slave revolts, strikes, anti-imperialist uprisings, terrorist activities, and independence movements were used as those who were colonized or enslaved fought for justice

Struggle for Racial Equality• In 1905 in the U.S., W.E.B. Du Bois started

the Niagara Movement which led to the formation of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) on Feb 12, 1909

• In South Africa, Mohandas Gandhi, the Indian born, British educated lawyer, blended elements of the Hindu faith with European humanism with the founding of the South African Indian Congress.

• This organization began to use non-violent resistance to protest discrimination against Indians in South Africa

Struggle for Racial Equality• Gandhi’s tactics of passive

resistance proved so effective that they were later used by Martin Luther King Jr. in the American Civil Rights Movement

• Jamaican born Marcus Garvey went a step further. He argued that Blacks would never fully be accepted in American society and called for separate Black businesses and institutions

Struggle for Self Determination• Garvey also began a “Back to Africa”

movement and called on Africans to fight against colonialism

• Although he was criticized as a dangerous radical (by those in power), his stirring speeches and his magazine, Negro World, inspired a generation of anti-colonial African leaders

• During the 1919 Paris Peace Conference the American President Woodrow Wilson called for world peace based on “Self determination of peoples” and the establishment of a League of Nations

Racism in America• While Wilson was pushing for world based on

equality one of the most popular movies in the U.S. was “Birth of a Nation”

• Released in 1915, the film depicts the Reconstruction-era following the American Civil War in the 1860’s and 1870’s

• Portraying African-Americans as unintelligent and sexually aggressive towards white men and the formation of the Ku Klux Klan as a great heroic feat, the film was highly controversial

• The NAACP protested and tried to get it banned but to no avail

• The film is seen as some as the spark that gave rise to the second incantation of the KKK

Struggle for Self Determination• At the time DU Bois brought together 57

delegates for a Pan-African Congress• Intended to address the issues facing

Africa as a result of European colonization – the congress failed as no international protection of human rights or reference to racism was included in the the charter of the League of Nations

• Nevertheless, Pan-African congresses continued to be held, Gandhi led non-violent resistance to British rule in India, and the League Against Imperialism and the League of Colored Peoples was formed.

The Holocaust• Only after the horrors of the

concentration camps were revealed after World War II was anything done about racism

• 22 Nazi leaders were charged with Crimes Against Humanity at Nuremburg

• In 1948 the United Nations ratified a Universal Declaration of Human Rights calling for protection of human rights regardless of race, sex, language, or religion

Struggle Against Racism• The post 1945 world experienced

the demise of most European empires

• At the Asian-African Conference in Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955, delegates from 29 former and current colonies gathered. Eventually the Bandung Spirit came to represent a high point in the fight against racism

• Nonetheless racism continued throughout the world particularly in the United States and South Africa

Aboriginal Struggles• As colonized people around the world

began to regain their independence, Aboriginal nations were also demanding recognition

• In 1977 the UN held a conference on discrimination against Aboriginals and produced a Declaration of Principles for the Defence of Indigenous Nations and Peoples of the Western Hemisphere

• In 1982 the Economic and Social Council began to develop standards concerning the rights of Aboriginal People

Aboriginal Struggles• In Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Canada,

and the U.S., Aboriginal peoples drew attention to their concerns

• This began in Canada when the Federal government began providing funding to the National Indian Council in 1946

• In 1973 Aboriginal Rights were recognized by the Supreme Court

• In 1978 Aboriginal Rights were described as one reason for the renewal of the constitution

• In 1990 the Meech Lake Accord was rejected partly because of its failure to guarantee Aboriginal Rights

• After the Oka crisis of 1990 Aboriginal Rights became part of constitutional talks

Aboriginal Struggles• Despite these steps forward,

socio-economic conditions for many Aboriginal peoples in Canada did not improve

• In fact the reserve systems of Canada and the U.S. are still a source of embarrassment for our governments

• Some Aboriginal nations in South and Central America still face extinction, while their problems in the former U.S.S.R. are largely ignored