Tag: United Nations

Globalization for good (Globalization, Part 2)

Posted on by kathiemm
Arab Spring collage
Arab Spring collage, from Wikimedia Commons. Used under CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Liberal economists—the ones ballyhooing about the benefits of unfettered capitalism–have gleefully co-opted the term “globalization.” [See Forbes article]. It is this form of globalization–the one of which the multinational corporations and financial institutions are so proud–that has kept multitudes of people in near or literal slavery.

Globalization, however, involves much more than economic profits and losses, ruthless greed and numbing poverty.

Consider, for example, the United Nations. Lots of folks argue that it is an unwieldy bureaucracy failing to fulfill its mission, yet it has globalized the idea of human rights. This  achievement—anathema to the international corporate power structure–helped to change the face of the globe, and helped to free the colonies that survived not just the First but also the Second World War.

Moreover, that process has continued. Global transmission of values such as human rights, democracy, and self-determination has been fostered by globalization of systems of communication, including the social media.

The globalization of forms of quick communication is a double-edged sword, however. It can be used to promote violence as in the Rwandan genocide. It can be used by governments to spy on everyone, as in the case of the National Security Agency (NSA).  But it can also be used to promote nonviolent resistance to vicious dictators, as in much of the Arab Spring movement, and to alert people around the world to horrors being perpetrated far from their homes.

Globalization is like knowledge—it can be used for good or ill. Our goal should be globalization for good.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Do we have a right to rights?

Posted on by kathiemm

Do women have human rights? Do children? The United Nations has declared that women and children do have human rights, yet women are disproportionately denied them in the world today: they are beaten to death, burned to death, raped, and tortured at alarming rates. Children also suffer terribly in many parts of the world, as do various minority groups in many areas.

The U.N. recognizes November 25 as International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It is the beginning of 16 days of activism culminating on December 10, International Human Rights Day.

You know that the United Nations was established in the wake of World War II to help prevent further world wars? Why, then, are they concerned about violence against women? About racial discrimination?  About elder abuse?

Wise global leaders have recognized that violence and its close friend denial of human rights are diseases that can spread interminably and infect viciously. One of the most basic steps toward peace and social justice on a global scale is peace and justice (reparative justice, not punitive justice) in the home and the local community. How do we achieve them?

I recently asked students in my family violence seminar what specific, concrete steps THEY could take to reduce family violence. They struggled with the question for several minutes, then provided great answers; for example,

  • Form a group of people willing to go to the local superintendent of schools and press for anti-violence programs, including anti-family violence programs, in the schools
  • Talk to our state’s new governor about making anti-violence fliers available at polling places
  • Donate money to anti-violence causes

How about you?  How can you aid in the quest against violence?

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

The power of one

Posted on by kathiemm

This year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is a well-deserving intergovernmental organization—the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The OPCW works in collaboration with the United Nations to administer the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWP).

As of January 2013, the OPCW had overseen the destruction of nearly 80% of the world’s acknowledged stockpile of chemical weapons. As I write, it has a team in Syria, working to dismantle that country’s chemical weapons in the middle of a bloody civil war.

As I read the history of their work, I am fascinated. When I think of the bravery of their workers in Syria, and contemplate the potential of their efforts for peace in the Middle East and survival of humanity, I am awed and grateful.

Yet, when I view the video showing their fine exhibits to the public, my thoughts turn immediately to Malala Yousafzai—the Pakistani teenaged girl who was shot twice in the head to punish her for promoting education for girls in a district where they wanted no girls in school.

People around the world were aghast at the effort to assassinate her, prayed for her recovery, and were thrilled to see her nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize—the youngest nominee in the history of the prize.

Malala did not win it this year, though she continues to be recognized for her courage, integrity, activism—and readiness to speak truth to power. When President Obama invited her to the White House “”to thank her for her inspiring and passionate work on behalf of girls education in Pakistan,” she told him she was concerned that “drone attacks are fueling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people.”

President Obama would do well to heed the words of this young woman.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

California’s unprecedented prisoner hunger strike

Posted on by kathiemm

By guest author Dr. Nancy Arvold

Thirty thousand prisoners across California began a hunger strike on July 8, 2013. This desperate, life-threatening measure was led by a multiracial coalition of prisoners in solitary confinement who have been fighting for prison reform for decades. (Organizations such as Amnesty International, the United Nations, and Center for Constitutional Rights have declared that solitary confinement is torture.)

The California Department of Corrections (CDC) had failed to respond in good faith after two hunger strikes in 2011. In fact, the “pilot program” they proposed would have resulted in more men receiving indefinite sentences in SHU (Secure Housing Units).

The prisoners called on lawyers and activists to support their demands. The Prisoner Hunger Strike Support Coalition was formed and currently focuses on media support and coverage, regular protests and rallies, pressuring the CDC and Governor Jerry Brown, and providing public education.

The unquestionably reasonable demands are paraphrased below:

  • End group punishment and administrative abuse (used as an alternative to punishing individuals for violence and other crimes).
  • Provide adequate and nutritious food (reports of meals are disgusting).
  • Expand and provide constructive programming and privileges for indefinite SHU-status inmates (Currently prisoners are not allowed, e.g., to take college courses, get phone calls or have face-to-face visits).
  • Abolish/modify the criteria for gang membership for indefinite sentences to the SHU (decades in many cases). “Gang membership” is often determined by unverified reports from confidential “informants” and ethnic art seen as “gang insignia.”
  • Have CA prisons comply with 2006 recommendations by the U.S. Commission on Safety and Abuse to end long-term solitary confinement (beyond 15 days).

The strike has stopped and the prisoners’ grievances are being considered, as shown in the video at the beginning of this post. Read more about the strike and California prison reform, and consider what you can do to help this country move away from its violation of international antitorture laws and the use of our prisons as torture chambers.

Nancy Arvold, Ph.D., MFT, is a marriage and family counselor who is concerned with issues of social justice, including prison justice, the “occupy” movement, immigration, and detainees.