Human Rights: The Rights to be Human!

universal-declaration-of-human-rights

Look at the wordle above.  Can you make some links between the words that catch your attention?

The word that stands out the most is “RIGHT”.  Think of yourself as a person, as a citizen of your own country.  Are there any rights you think you are not guaranteed?  What about other countries?  Can you think of any right that is not safeguarded?  If you refer to what you read in the papers or what you watch on newscast on TV, that may help you.

Look at this poster created by Simone Verza.  What malaise do you think he denounces?

human-rightsThe title of this poster is: When lying on paper human rights can hurt.  

(source: http://good50x70.org/2010/2007-edition/human-rights-violation/)

So one important article of the Human Rights Declaration is not respected in Simone’s view.  What is it?

Look at the Human Rights Declaration, find out the aricle that is violated and while reading the document jot down on a piece of paper the other possible articles that you think you see violated in your own country.  Obviously be prepared to provide examples.

2013-10-16-humanrightsfinalIf you find it difficult to read the above poster, you can download the following pdf document, which mentions the number of the articles:  eng

Look at the following images, what aspects do they have in common?

human-rights-every-human-has-rights human-rights Human-rights-are-not-optional
Watch this video, it will give you a general idea of what we are going to investigate together!

Now watch another video meant to disclose to people what human rights are. What extra information do we learn from it?

Which video do you like better? Why?

What are human rights then?  How would you define them?  Do you think most people know?  Watch just the first 43 seconds of the video, then stop it.

The very fact that most people do not know how to define human rights implies that we need to “do a little bit of homework” (as one speaker says) to make sure that we know what our rights are and we can do our best to safeguard them, for our sake, but also for the sake of other humans.

humanrights-01Now let’s go on watching the video and let’s take notes on the history of human rights.

I had asked you to go to the photograph exhibition by Pierpaolo Mittica entitled “Ashes” (a very powerful name, imbued with painful meaning!) dedicated to the safeguard of human rights.  Ms. Cimetta dedicated a nice post to the exhibition, look at it!

I asked you to carry out two CREATIVE TASKS:

1. Choose a photo (the one that strikes you the most, the one that speaks to you deeply) and write a monologue through the eyes of something that catches your attention: it could the sky in the chosen photo, or the shoes of a child, etc.

2. While looking at the photos and watching the videos jot down thoughts, feelings in key words.  Use those words to write a poem entitled “Ashes”.

These are the photos I chose along with my “creative pieces”.

header Piccoli-Schiavi-BangladeshmThis is my contribution:

TASK 1

At the beginning we did not like each other.  We were both used to being worn on the left, but the little boy did not let us be ourselves.  He forced one of us to change habits.  The ankle boot was furious.  I was blessed (the sandal!), I was free to follow my own nature.  This is the reason why I (the sandal) and Mr. Fashion (the ankle book) got on each other’s nerves straight away.  I despised him and he loathed me.

Things changed after a short while.  At the beginning we were blind, we did not know what was happening, we did not think of things.  In other words we were superficial.  Then, we both started grasping things and we understood we were lucky and we made a difference once again.  We realized we had been dumped, the owners who had loved us once, had thrown us away heartlessly.  How ungrateful! They could have kept us for longer.  We were not worn out at all, but you know how things work in the “upper spheres”: the more money they have the more they squander.  They think they make the world go round by buying things all the time.  To me, they are just spoilt, their life acquires meaning only in the act of purchasing something.  They exist because they buy.  Poor them.  That’s why our masters were so ungrateful.  When they dumped us, they did not make sure that we were not going to be separated from our twin shoe.  Ruthless bastards.  Where is my twin brother now?  I miss him.

I have another brother now, though.  I jokingly call him Mr. Fashion because he is trendier than me.  He belonged to a higher caste.  You can see that immediately.  He must have cost his master a fortune, but…now he is in the same sinking boat with me.  We used to tread the floors of nice houses, the pavements of safe places in Calcutta.  Now we are smeared in dust and at times in dung too.  You may think that our existence sucks.  Well, it may stink at times, but it does not suck at all.  Know why? We have a mission.  We make a difference in the life of Amal.  His name means “bright, clean, pure, hope” in Hindu.  He is not clean, because he lives in the dumpsite, BUT he is bright, yes so bright.  One day, while sifting through the trash, he prayed and prayed for shoes.  His feet were swollen, sore; there were deep cuts on the soles of his feet.  A broken bottle was to be blamed, he had not seen it, so… Well, to cut a long story short (you’ve understood I love words so I am pretty long-winded!) his mantra went like this:

Om Bhur Bhuva Svah
Tat Savitur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi
Dhiyo Yo Naha Prachodayat
On the absolute reality and its planes,
On that finest spiritual light,
We meditate, as remover of obstacles
That it may inspire and enlighten us.

How couldn’t his prayers be listened to?   He delved his hook deep inside the huge fuming heaps of rubbish and I was the first one to resurrect.  You should have seen Amal’s face.  Beaming with joy.  He hoped he could find my twin brother.  So he continued with his mantra and he plunged the hook repeatedly into the smelly trash.  His eyes were like the eyes of a maniac.  He wanted to find the pairing shoe.  He longed for it.  The hook was drawn out of the mound heavy with discarded things and with them Mr. Fashion popped up.  Amal was incredulous at first.  That was not what he was hoping for.  His disappointment elapsed in a few seconds.  As soon as he put us on he collapsed on the trash and started weeping.  He was so grateful.  He was so joyful.  Mr. Fashion and I were irate at first, but when we heard Amal’s sobs, when we felt his bleeding feet, we were touched.  Never ever had anybody loved us so much, so dearly, so purely.  We have been with him for a while now.  We are seeing things you cannot even imagine.  Dreadful scenes, appalling conditions, yet we are dignified.  Amal’s dignity gives us dignity every single step we take with him.

TASK 2

Ashes

Anguish surrounds the boy’s existence, silently

Ashes

Appalling scenes hurt my eyes and my soul

Ashes

Anger surges inside of me, to the core of my very being, surreptitiously engulfing my hope

Ashes

Thus I ask myself why?why?why? The “why” blasts in my brain

gives me no peace till the day

all humans

will be dignified with humanity

Till that day

We are all

Ashes

 

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED!

152 Replies to “Human Rights: The Rights to be Human!”

  1. It’s hard to understand something when you don’t live it
    You ask yourself how people can live with it
    and sometimes you stop to think how lucky you are
    Not living in that situation.
    But did you ever ask yourself,
    how those people can put up with this?
    Surviving their past? Being scared that what they lived could happen again?
    Maybe we’ll never understand; we can only try to imagine
    what those men… women… children experienced and had to go through.
    We have evrything but they (maybe) lost everything.

    1. Do we really have everything or are we the ones who have lost everything? I wonder, I ask myself if we are not all lost when we are being carried away by our hectic lives that make us have a “funnelled” vision of life.

  2. This is my poem inspired by the exhibition “Ashes” by Pierpaolo Mittica:

    I am standing in my hell
    looking around me
    and breathing slowly.

    Through the fog
    of this dusty day
    everything seems quiet.

    Fall has come
    trees can feel it
    they have changed because of it.

    The bright colors of the leaves
    make my hell a peaceful place
    or at least it seems so.

    Not just the leaves
    not just the trees
    have changed.

    The land and the water
    that soak it
    have received the same color.

    Is it our fall?
    Is it our copper?
    Is it our ash?

  3. On 10 December 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaims the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as a common standard of achievement for all people and all Nation. Human Rights are based on the principle of respect for the individual. They are called Human Rights because they are universal. In my view, today Human Rights are very important not just for me but for everybody to safeguard our life. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights everyone in the world are entitled to all rights, without distinction of any kind, such as race, language, religion, national, or even for the skin color. To be honest i don’t think that Human Rights are really guaranteed all over the world as they should be, because in some country women and children have no rights. The children can’t go to school, they sometimes treated like slaves and they also have to work to maintain the family. Instead, the women in many countries can’t drive or go to school. Practically, in few words they can’t do everything that a typical woman do. Long time ago with prof Ziraldo we saw many video in class about this topic, and in some video i noticed that it always showed this statement ” We are born free and Equal”. I couldn’t agree more because even if we are black or white or from other nationality, we are all human being and we all need the same things; freedom of opinion and freedom to believe in what we want, without anybody imposing us something that we don’t believe. Personally speaking, i think the world would definitely be a better place if Human Rights were guaranteed all over the world.

  4. ASHES

    When shall we open our eyes?
    Realize that
    our world is not
    so great as it may appear?
    When shall we realize that
    our reality is non-existent,
    our human condition is just a farce?
    When shall we realize
    children need to play,
    not work or obey?
    The rest of the world is not well
    though here we may be well.
    When shall we realize that
    while we are waiting for
    the latest piece of tecnology,
    someone is waiting for
    a piece of bread?
    When shall we realize
    we are all brothers and sisters
    we should help and
    love one another,
    not make war.
    When shall we realize
    pollution is a synonym of
    death?
    When we realize all this,
    pheraps our world will already be
    a bunch of ashes.

  5. Helpless is how I feel knowing what is going on around the world,
    sad is how I feel when thinking about how many african children are dying every single day,
    grateful is how I feel having a family and being healthy,
    sorry is how I feel when i say that I can’t change the world because of the untruth of this statement,
    lucky is how I feel looking at photos of people whose lives are so difficult to live whereas mine was spared these sufferings
    sad is how I feel looking at photos of people entrapped in difficulty and I cannot do anything but
    write this poem to denounce their turmoil

  6. ASHES

    Is this our world?
    A sphere full of sadness,
    a sphere full of madness.
    Pollution and poverty,
    is this its majority.
    This hidden transgression,
    It will be our devastation.
    For this war the world fills
    Everybody the photos sees:
    Children, women and men
    Are suffering again.
    And also with images can we prevent
    These disastrous events.

    1. How nice! The images you depict are bleak (how could it be otherwise? The theme of devastation caused by wars is a bleak one), but the words are powerful.

  7. Ashes
    Smoking,wandering why and regressing
    are we sure we’re really progressing?
    Isolation despair and sadness,
    do they exist or is it only a kind of madness?
    Are we sinking into depth,
    or are we going to meet death?
    Everybody wants a change,
    Nobody wants to change.

  8. HAT FROM THE PHOTO

    Hi, I’m Mitch a 17-year-old scarlet cap.
    I was born in China, in a factory near Beijing.
    I’ve lived with Zhang Chao for 4 years, before that I used to live in Ottawa, Canada and I used to be worn by a guy named Rich Martins, we were extremely happy together. We used to reside in the suburbs, where all people are kind, friendly and really nice so I was very well.
    Me and the little Rich went through lots of trouble and adventures together, we used to go to the stadium every Sunday to watch the Senators’ game (that team is actually my sponsor), it was amazing.
    Unfortunately when Rich turned 19 he decided to go to college but he also decided to give me away, I ended up in the junk. I was stunned.
    Some days later a truck took me to the harbor and I was put in a trash-ship.
    Insiders brought me to a garbage dump where I was left.
    One day this guy named Zhang Chao came to search something and he found me.
    I was so happy.
    From that very moment we’ve always been together, I protect his head from the toxic gases in the sulfur mine.
    We became inseparable.

  9. Hi, I’m now a kite.
    I’m the best friend of Juan a little boy. Juan is 9 years old and works in a dumpite near a beach in Rio de Janeiro.
    He is a really smart boy and he is good at makeing toys, toys out of things he finds in. teie,
    I was made one year ago out of some pieces of sacks, twings and rapes that Juan found sifting throught the trash.
    I’m square and green with lot of bows and a long rope.
    I’m not perfect, I have lots of problems, but he loves me anyway.
    He doesn’t have many friends because he is shy and introvert.
    He has just got me to play with around the dumpsite.
    It is a horrible place to live in , no running water, no real houses, just neverending heaps of trash.
    But he doesn’t have choices, so I fly for him for a little piece of freedom.
    Whenever I fly, his face has a beaming smile.
    Yes, I’m just made of plastic I know it. But here everything acquires valve and I’m one of them.

    ASHES:

    Ashes in the world we were born in
    A world everyday burns

    Ashes of souls destroyed by wars.
    Places surrounded by a terrifying curse.

    Ashes of children with no future,
    Victims of blind humanity

    Ashes of people dragging their chains,
    suffering many pains.

    Ashes encased in images
    you rarely imagine.

    This is the other side of the truth?
    Do you mind?
    I do.

  10. These are the thoughts of a typewriter. With me, you can write and make so many stories immortal, now I am going to tell you my story. When I left the shop I used to live in, I was lucky. I was sold to a family in Sarajevo, in Bosnia Herzegovina, that had made a lot of sacrifice to buy me, so when they finally held me in their hands they were extremely happy and they treated me gently. They used me to write stories, or letters to their friends and relatives, or whatever could be written. They took care of me as if I was a treasure, and I’m grateful I had them as a family. But the world is not a wish-granting factory. Then the war came. All the citizens went through a terrible period. Every day I saw armed people and the situation was unbearable. Lots of people died and are dying now for stupid reasons. The family that used to take care of me was torn apart, they probably died. Because of what happened that day, they couldn’t possibly protect me or keep me with them. They tried, but the soldiers snapped me down from their hands and dropped me to the asphalt. And I’m still here now, in the street, alone, hoping someone will take me home. So this is my story, and if you’re listening to me, I hope you’ll want to write my story and make it immortal.

  11. ASHES
    Do you see it?
    Do you feel it?
    Do you smell it?
    It’s ash, boy.
    Right here,
    right now,
    where the two of us are standing.
    You look different from me:
    our countries are enemies,
    they’re fighting each other.
    But look at me,
    notice the place where we both are.
    I can truly understand what you’re feeling,
    I feel what you feel:
    this ash
    these ruins
    the corpses of people we loved
    this melancholic, hopeless place.
    Now look at me again.
    We are the same, can’t you see it?
    If you’re listening to me, believe me:
    this ash can lead to friendship.

  12. MONOLOGUE:
    I’m child nd i’m 8 years old. I work every day on the trash because I need money to support my family. I wake up early in the morning and Igo with my Brother and my sister to the dumpsite. We have a lot of friends there. We pick up trash in the rain, in the sun, in any situation. We walk barefoot and this is Dangerous because ther are lots of broken glass. If you see this place, you want to escape because it is terrible: there is trash everywhere and the main colors are grey, black and White. The sun is grey because there is so many ashes in the air. We work until sunset. When the sunset come we are very tired and I take my Brother and my little sister back home where we go to bed. The day after it is all over again. In the dumpsite we pick up trash and there are a lot of trucks which take it away. I wear a pair of pants and a pair of shoes which I found in the trash. they are not very comfortable but I’m happy because they protect me from the cold. My days are all the same and I hope that things will change in the future and I hope we can be like the children in your country.
    You are lucky and perhaps you do not even know it. Do not ever take any of the things you have for granted. Don’t ever do that!
    ASHES:
    The sun doesn’t shine,
    there are ashes in the air,
    and so much trash
    being picked up by children,
    little children,
    walking on the trash, in the trash, among the trash all day.
    Their life is terrible.
    The water is dirty and polluted.
    Many people are sick.
    Many of them die Young.
    The life is not long,
    the air is polluted
    some children fall ill and die
    their houses are poor,
    sometimes there is no door.
    This place is a terrible world,
    people like us do not look at it, do not know it
    we live in a good place.
    We don’t have to fight
    to stay alive.
    HUMANS RIGHTS IN ITALY:
    Some human rights aren’t respected like the freedom of thought or the freedom of speech because some people aren’t listened to and the government does what they want.
    Some people don’t work and alI Italians should have a job.
    In Italy gay marriages aren’t allowed and I think every person can express their feelings. Another right that’s not respected is the right to belong to a religion. People sometimes discriminate the other person who doesn’t belong to their religion.
    The right of privacy sometimes isn’t respected.
    Often the right of freedom is violated: there are so many people who are put in prison because they can’t afford the lawyers.
    There are so many human rights which are not respected and we have to try to be more respectful to others. The government first, but this seems quite impossiblein our country.

  13. Human rights: which of them are not safeguarded in Italy?

    We know that there are still human rights that are not safeguarded in Italy. But first of all, I want to explain to you what they are and how they were born. Human rights are the rights that you have simply because you are human. They were born after the Second World War, on 10th December 1948, when the UNGA, the United Nations General Assembly, decided that what had happened during the war was enough and so they wrote the Declaration of Human Rights consisting of 30 articles. All human beings are entitled to these rights, but unfortunately this is not so. Everybody is free, equal; everybody can speak their mind; everybody has the right to an education and so on: these are some of them. Now we know what human rights are so we can talk about those that in Italy are not safeguarded. Saying which are safeguarded and which are not is subjective in my opinion. First of all, I want to say that I will write about some articles, because if we think of it, few of them are completely respected. The first that in my opinion is not respected is the one that says: -“We are all equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection of the law”- For example: there is a legal case between two men: one of them is rich and the other is poor. The rich man might bribe the judge and the lawyers to win the case. It usually happens in this country and this is the reason why rich men rarely end up in prison. The second article that I want to question is: -” Freedom of expression: you have the right to free thought and to voice your opinions to others”. Truly we have this right: everyone can speak their mind, but just to a certain extent. You can do that, but you must be ready to take on the responsibility of what you say, because you do not know if what you say may offend someone. The third article is: -” You have the right to social security and are entitled to economic, social and cultural help from the government”-. In my opinion, the Italian government does the opposite, because, first of all, if you need help, they do not care about you and they do not help you solve your problems. Then, most of the time, the government is the cause of your problems, above all economic problems when they impose you to lay high taxes. Finally, I want to say that, even if many articles are respected, there is a lot of work to do to enforce the ones that have not been respected so far.

    Write a poem intitled “Ashes”

    I am a boy
    I am a dumpsite boy
    I work all day
    Everyday
    Every month and every year
    I have no fear
    Of finding something bad
    Rubbish, food, metal, plastic, paper and muck
    This is what I pick up
    Everyday I wake up
    I work and never stop
    I hope one day
    I will find something valuable
    I hope one day
    I will not be
    Among the ashes working

    Choose a photograph and write a monologue

    So you are watching me. That is me: a doll, lying down on a bed in a kindergarten, and so many empty beds around me. A damaged, ruined, broken doll lying down on a bed. But above all, an abandoned doll on a bed. You can think: whose is this doll? Why is this doll alone in this room? Did this doll belong to anyone in the past? Why is it broken, dirty, ruined and forsaken? I will answer your questions even if maybe it will make you feel sorry, grieved for me. And if you feel sorry, I think that you have all the reasons to. I belonged to a child, a little girl who has been living in Pripyat near Chernobyl. And then, if I pronounce Chernobyl, you will remember where Chernobyl is and what happened there. After the disaster, all people near Chernobyl went away. I say all people: men, women, children. Obviously even the children who were attending this kindergarten, included my girl. So everyone left Chernobyl, Pripyat and her house, her life, her memories and that way many of her objects, like me. I was abandoned, yes, abandoned and I think that my child was very sad to leave me behind: I was all her life and it means that this child’s life was upset. When I say that a child’s life is upset, I mean that all dreams are shattered. This is so sad because they are the most precious thing that children have. This photograph of me does not mean only this, that only people had to change their life, but even that Chernobyl and Pripyat died along with their, because we can say that an abandoned place without people is “dead”. I say this even to make you understand how an object like me (a doll) can transmit emotions and thoughts , pain, sadness. I want to make you understand how cruel life can be, especially to children, the dawn of life.

    Matteo Chiviló

  14. A good book is a balanced mixture of a worthy plot and a refined writing style. A work with an intriguing and original story, but written badly, can’t be considered a book, as well a polish narrative with a poor plot. In order to honor and respect the reader, the author must absolutely narrate the story in a decent and appropriate style. Moreover, the reader must definitely complain about the compromise between style and plot: good plot with mediocre style or good style with scarce plot must be refused: the reader must demand both. We must stop accepting mediocre compositions, unworthy of literature. No longer excuses such as “my writing is easy in order to be understood by every people”: we do not live in the Middle Ages anymore, and we cannot allow modern literature to downgrade to banality. This is it: most of the books recently printed are mediocre ones, poor, just surrogates appealing to the ignorant people, written by ignorant authors, that probably do not even deserve to be named so. And that, just because of the democracy of writing, accessible to everybody, who pretend theirs to be books.
    Well, in my opinion “A long way gone” is not a really great book, in the sense that does not provide a pleasant style. I do not judge the plot: it cannot possibly be judged, instead the way it has been written: the author showed an unbearable lexical poverty, which impoverished the tale. Moreover, the author has expressed the plot in such a way that I did not appreciate: he did not confer temporal profundity, and made the story even annoying, ruining it definitely. What seemed to me as the lack of writing skills, made me look forward the end of the book: having already heard the story, it has been a torture, really. I think that a better book could have been assigned to us, being its first aim, the one of learning English from worth examples, not from mediocre ones. That, just according to the style, which I did not appreciate at all.
    Relating to the plot, I have to admit: I had alredy read somehow Ishmael’s enterprize, and that’s why sometimes I found the book frustraiting to be read. However, although child soldiers plague is a known world issue, there are a lot of people that nowadays do not know anything about it, and probably a more serious information could made mankind aware, although it would not basically change anything: the same book tells us that international organisation do not work afficiently, unless formally: they instead foster the spread of the issue. Few children were saved, formally, in change of money, which was later usued by the fronts in order to boost the military stregth, with a consequent enlistment of new children. That shows us that human rights, international organisations and justice will be far subdued to economic and political interests, which will be stronger and therefore decisive. Steps can be taken just by governments and institutions, of course not by mediocre and ignorant civilians we are.

    1. I appreciate your comment, well-balanced and profound. You support your view and you succeed in it. The book was not suggested to you as a piece of literature, but as a memoir, as a first-hand account of the plague of child soldiers. You point out that you knew already about Ishamel’s experience, however you are one among the few. Welcome to the world where you know and most people do not know. I know the feeling. It is frustrating. I agree with you the prose is not exceptional, because Ishmael’s mother tongue is not English. I agree with you that there are lots of books that are not worthwhile, but you can discover this just after having read them. However, there are books that raise some kind of awareness, books that work as eyeopeners for those who do not know, unlike you. I will be very happy if you suggested other readings, books that won’t make you waste your time. So in class, put forward some suggestions. If you can find other books that deal with human rights and deserve our better attention, please suggest them. You certainly know so much and it is just nice to share.

  15. FREEDOM,EVERYONE, RIGHT AND DESCRIMINATION. These are the words that caught my attention and If I were asked to think about human rights I would think about these words. I choose this words because everyone has the right to be respected, to be free, to make their own choises,to live without suffering ill-treatment or without being descrimated. “Everyone has the right to have rights”.
    I think that everyone should have these rights because indifferently by the culture,the traditions,by the character, the skin color, the religion, we are all human beings who deserve to live.
    I think that a lot of people of my age, underestimate many rights that we have here in Italy, for example, the right to go to school! But doing this type of activity in class, gives us the opportunity to really understand, to open our eyes and give due importance to what we have(what many guys, in some countries even treated as slaves or tortured, unfortunately can only dream).
    Others among the most important rights that we underestimate are the rights to speak, to think, to security, to have a family,to marry with who we want, to religion, to vote but especially the right to life, to a dignified existence and the right to be ourselves.
    I think Italians, that are part of a democratic country, take too lightly these fortunes that in other countries people do not have. We can believe in what we want; we can think and express our ideas without being killed or mistreated;we can be part of the religion we want; we can go to school;we can live well;we can be protected, while in other countries, some people are killed just because they are part of a different religion.
    But discrimination is everywhere, even if in my opinion the most important thing is to be ourselves; to fight for what we want without giving too much significance to what others say, because a skin color , a passion or whatever does not make us different, but special and unique.

    1. Thanks for reminding your peers not to take the freedoms they have for granted. You are right, sometimes there are young people who do not think of what they may not have if it were not for their families or the country they live in. Yet, you are adolescents and I think that if you are not “invited” to think of certain issues you do not tackle them by yourselves.

  16. Who are you, living without any moral conscience?
    Who are you, exploiting this world that gives you everything, that harbors you every single day?
    Who are you, deciding for the life of someone?
    Who are you, having no respect for anything or anybody? You destroy things that other people had made with hard-work and sacrifice!
    Who are you? You think you have the total power!
    I think you do not have the least idea of what you are doing.
    You are destroying yourself, your are destroying the ONE who has given you life.

  17. In the wordle above the words that catch more my attention are: everyone, rights, freedom,equal,human, law, fondamental and protection because they describe human rights perfectly:
    Human rights are made for the people only because they were born (HUMAN) and are something that we all need in our lives to live better, expecially for some people (RIGHTS). These were made for every single person without diferences (EVERYONE) and are equal for everyone (EQUAL). We are in the 21st century and there are still people who can’t marry the person that they love or are slaves!! We don’t have the possibility to share our thoughts and if we do it, we are not listened or even tortured in some places. So, we don’t have the freedom of speech as, in my opinion, the poster of Simone Verza denounce. Freedom is something that belongs to us and that we all want to have without compromises (FREEDOM). Human rights have not the power of law, in fact they are optional. We, as people, can decide if we want to respect them or not (LAW). These are the basis for a better life (FUNDAMENTAL) and are made to protect us (PROTECTION)!
    The universal declaration of human rights was written in 1948 at the end of the second world war after the death of million of people, the atom bomb and all the omosexual and gypsy discriminations. To save the future generations all the 48 countries of the United Nations decided to write a document in which the respect of human rights and the survival of the human nature were connected together.
    We think that all the discriminations, the differences and the no respect for the other poeple represent a world far from us but this isn’t true because these things happens also where we live but we don’t notice it or we choose not to be aware of them.
    Personally I don’t accept the differences that people make toward others because of the color of the skin, the sexual orientation and the phisical aspect because we are all born free and equal.
    I remember when a friend told me that when he went to a bank and in front of him there was a black person that was wearing a suit and the financial consultant spoke to this man with a tone of superiority. I was shocked because I don’t understand why people act like this: I’m not more intelligent only because i’m white and their are not inferior to others because they are black.
    Another thing that i don’t understand and that is very close to us is why people need to judge other for their phisical aspect. We get used to see very skinny models as the perfection, but they aren’t. Girls that are beautiful how they are become bulimic or anorexics because they are teased and then, in some cases, they commit suicide. There are many videos on youtube, of girls that “talk” through a note of their problems and when the family and the friends see it, is too late. I think that everyone has their own opinion and own ideas of what beauty is, but they don’t have to impose them to others. The same thing happens also for sexual orientation and makes evident the power of the words and how they can hurt.
    In the articles the discrimination take the 2nd place but i would put it at the top because i think that is the base. We have to give our respect and don’t judge people for something that is personal expecially when we don’t even know who they are and treat them as a person and not as a thing. I think that this is the more evident article of human rights that are not respected, but it’s not the only one.
    Another that is very important is included in the 3th, 4th and 5th article: I’m talking about the abuse of people. This is a delicate issue but at the same time something horrible to do. This is something that has been always exist and are many the men that do it. The problem is that they don’t have the feeling of what is “abuse”. For me it would be like if someone take away my privacy and the worst thing is that we can’t say that the law help to have the justice that we need (there are cases also in the city where i live).
    The 30 articles of human rights rapresent the way that we all want to live in fact they are in what we do every day, but how I said before not everybody respect them. I’m sure that there are people who try to follow some of them, but we can see the difference only if we all choose to apply them and this isn’t possible because we don’t have the same ideas. We were grown up differently, but if we start to think different, in the respect of the others, it will become possible. I asked to myself :” Why haven’t we respect them until now?” Unfortunately not everybody knows them. Maybe for someone is simply something taken for granted whereas others don’t even know their existence. This is completely wrong, because if we don’t have the knowledges, how can we make the differerce? Well, we can’t. There are too many things that are missing in our society! These originate in ourselves such a feeling of bother and not-belonging that make us want to go far. So, for the love of our country and for having something very importat to be proud, we should begin to raise our voices, share our thoughts and fight for our future. Little by little we will create a world where we all want to live even if it will take time because of the diferences of culture, religions and sex. IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE, WE SHOULD ONLY WANT IT.

    I had also linked two videos if you are interested: the first one shows an example of every human rights that is not respected and the second one was made by YHRI (Youth for Human Rights International) to trasmit the power of human rights awareness.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm35UuRW4Oo
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNKF8Vmnwg0

    1. As you point out quite clearly, our world is plagued with sufferings, ills, lack of justice and freedom, just to mention a few problems. Yet, we should neer abandon ourselves to lack of hope and become cynics. How does a cynic contribute to oru existence? Some may say that s/he wants to eschew hypocrisy, does not want to pretend there is a way out when history has taught us that some horrible things are still with us to stay. The was the Holocaust, yet in 21st century there are still people who are burnt or murdered or tortured for their beliefs, their ethnicity, etc. Said all this, I can claim that like you, I do not have blinkers, yet I do not want to surredner to a bleak hopeless view of life and our existence. I knew the websites you posted. The second one, we watched it in class (perhaps you were absent on that day). Thanks for posting them anyway, they will be useful for other students. Definitely.

  18. We fall, slowly, but we fall

    We are black and white but some of us are grey

    Basically we are all the same

    At first we were something bigger and more important

    We were born from his fire

    We are ashes

    Or maybe just people

  19. I think that everybody should have his personals rights to be human. All over the world but especially in poor countries, countries where the civilization, if we want to call it like this, it’s not at the level where it should be, a lot of people, in particular kids but also adults, do not have their rights, countries where people don’t respect one another and they communicate just with violence and very often with guns and weapons, where the powerful abuse their power to do whatever they want to not respecting other individuals just because they know that nobody can stop them, either because the government doesn’t do anything or because sometimes is the government itslef that overdo their power and they use it in a bad way. Everybody is born equal and I think that is not correct that people who are born in some countries are more “lucky” than the ones born in these unjust ones; what I want to say is that we must do something concrete to help and support other human beings that just because they live in another place and they seem very far to us, instead, they are really close to use, they must have the same opportunities as ours. Injustices like slavery or sent kids in war to fight should not even be considered to being done, nowadays.

    1. You are mentioning blatant forms of injustice, that, should obviously be stopped by the United Nations or by governments that transact business with the countries where basic human rights are not safeguarded. What about the “concealed” infringement of human rights? By this I mean the democratic countries that not necessarily guarantee all the rights they themselves signed and supported.

  20. MONOLOGUE
    Nearly 30 years ago something happened that changed some lives forever. It was a day like many others,people everywhere smiling,chatting and playing with no problems in their minds,the worst they could think at was what to cook for dinner the next day or what to wear to go to the theatre,but nothing could be compared with what happened. An explosion. An explosion that ruined everything. The town was evacuated and I was left there in the street because they were in a hurry. I thought they were coming back for me,but I was wrong,it never happened. They ran away abandoning me to my fate. The city has remained like that,locked in that moment,as if a photo had been taken and it is still waiting for people to return,but now we know that it won’t happen. Nature will take back what belongs to it. It is only a ghost town where tourists come to visit the aftermath of the disaster of Chernobyl,trying to understand what it would be like if it had happened in their city,but let me tell you something,you can’t understand what it means to lose everything in one day. I’ll stay here by myself probably till I become only dust and I’ll be a witness to show everyone what horrors men are capable of doing,all this should not happen again.

    ASHES
    Destruction and then silence
    Yeah silence
    The world has come to an end
    and now
    I can only see ashes
    Everything’s gone wrong,
    everything’s gone
    Only ashes,
    ashes all over my eyes
    The sun burns
    and we burn with it
    I’m left alone
    I become ashes
    and like ashes
    I get lost in the wind

  21. HUMAN RIGHTS
    10 December 1948,a date to remember,but why? Well it is the day when The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nation General Assembly. It consists in 30 articles which every human being should be entitled to. Unfortunately some of these articles aren’t respected. A big problem is that we can’t speak our minds,because there is censorship,for example our government doesn’t let journalists say everything,we receive information about what our politicians want us to ear and in some cases it isn’t the truth. Women are not respected and even if we are in the twenty-first century we are still considered inferior in many fields such as work and job opportunities,so we aren’t completely equal at all. All around the world many countries don’t respect them but there is something worse,in fact many citizens don’t even know that these rights exist. This isn’t acceptable and I think we all should promote some activities to make them be respected everywhere and by everyone because these rights have to be guaranteed.

  22. ASHES
    Ashes, all that remains, what little remains,
    after the storm, war, discrimination and denial of rights.
    Ashes everywhere, a thin and imperceptible layer.
    Though is thin and “insignificant”, it covers every inch of crust
    It infiltrates between trees canopy and
    It mixes between the sand and the water streams.
    Streams that now are sad and colorless,
    Their waters are bitter and undrinkable.
    Everything is gray, covered by a soft blanket,
    It’s light and subtle,
    it find its way into the heart of all,
    bringing pain and suffering.
    An unforgettable mark
    Of what was once, which is and will be.
    So much bitterness in the face of those
    Who have already resigned to injustice
    And don’t fight for their rights
    His face is marked by time and ashes
    He looks older and his soul graying.
    Yet he doesn’t scratch the armor of those
    Who look at the world with joy and hope
    They are the key of success
    They do not give up

  23. My name is Bajrans, I’m nine and i come from India. Everyday I come here to the dump to find food for me ansìd my free younger brothers, we are always hungry! My family is very poor, mom and dad don’t have a job and therefore we don’t have a house. We live in a small shack on the outskirts of Mumbai, an indian metropolis, in a huge shanty town called Dharavi. Many poor people live here with us, and like my family they fight every day to eat, to survive. There are also lots of kids to play, so we have much fun even if we have nothing. But today it’s a different day, it is very special and I’m so happy, because in the garbage I found a toy, a beautiful toy. Now i will run home and I will take it to my brothers, they will be so happy; it’s our first toy! It is an astronaut made of plastic, with a beautiful white spacesuit. Oh in the future I want to be an atronaut. I want to travel in the space, see the stars and the planets that surround me.

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