The object of this Essay is to assert one very simple principle, as entitled to govern absolutely the dealings of society with the individual in the way of compulsion and control, whether the means used be physical force in the form of legal penalties, or the moral coercion of public opinion. That principle is, that the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinions of others, to do so would be wise, or even right. These are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him, or visiting him with any evil, in case he do otherwise. To justify that, the conduct from which it is desired to deter him must be calculated to produce evil to someone else. The only part of the conduct of any one, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 is a foundational document for a bourgeois, market-based individualism and as such cannot provide a basis for a thoroughgoing critique of liberal or neoliberal capitalism. Whether it is politically useful to insist that the capitalist political order live up to its own foundational principles is one thing, but to imagine that this politics can lead to a radical displacement of a capitalist mode of production is, in Marx’s view, a serious error. David Harvey, A Companion to Marx’s Capital
The foundation of our Empire was not laid in the gloomy age of Ignorance and Superstition, but at an Epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period. The researches of the human mind after social happiness have been carried to a great extent, the treasures of knowledge acquired by the labors of philosophers, sages, and legislators, through a long succession of years, are laid open to our use, and their collected wisdom may be happily employed in the establishment of our forms of government. George Washington
I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights. Desmond Tutu
In my country of South Africa, we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial classification and then denied many of them fundamental human rights. Desmond Tutu
To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity. Nelson Mandela
If a country doesn’t recognize minority rights and human rights, including women’s rights, you will not have the kind of stability and prosperity that is possible. Hillary Clinton
Fundamental violations of human rights always lead to people feeling less and less human. Aung San Suu Kyi
Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose. To that high concept there can be no end save victory. Franklin D Roosevelt
In our day certain economic fruits have become accepted as self-evident. A second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station or race or creed. Among these are the right to a useful and remunerated job. The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation. F D Roosevelt, televised annex to State of the Union address
We are beckoned to see the world through a one-way mirror, as if we are threatened and innocent and the rest of humanity is threatening, or wretched, or expendable. Our memory is struggling to rescue the truth that human rights were not handed down as privileges from a parliament, or a boardroom, or an institution, but that peace is only possible with justice and with information that gives us the power to act justly. John Pilger
I believe we should try to move away from the vocabulary and attitudes which shape the stereotyping of developed and developing country approaches to human rights issues. We are collective custodians of universal human rights standards, and any sense that we fall into camps of ‘accuser’ and ‘accused’ is absolutely corrosive of our joint purposes. The reality is that no group of countries has any grounds for complacency about its own human rights performance and no group of countries does itself justice by automatically slipping into the ‘victim’ mode. Mary Robinson
You can’t have occupation and human rights. Christopher Hitchens
The fundamental source of all your errors, sophisms, and false reasonings, is a total ignorance of the natural rights of mankind. Were you once to become acquainted with these, you could never entertain a thought, that all men are not, by nature, entitled to a parity of privileges. You would be convinced, that natural liberty is a gift of the beneficent Creator, to the whole human race; and that civil liberty is founded in that; and cannot be wrested from any people, without the most manifest violation of justice. Civil liberty is only natural liberty, modified and secured by the sanctions of civil society. It is not a thing, in its own nature, precarious and dependent on human will and caprice; but it is conformable to the constitution of man, as well as necessary to the well-being of society. Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, 1775
The idea of human rights and freedoms must be an integral part of any meaningful world order. Yet, I think it must be anchored in a different place, and in a different way, than has been the case so far. If it is to be more than just a slogan mocked by half the world, it cannot be expressed in the language of a departing era, and it must not be mere froth floating on the subsiding waters of faith in a purely scientific relationship to the world. Vaclav Havel
I never remember discussions about human rights ... The intelligence information that should have been stopping the arms trade was possibly helping it. Robin Robison, Cabinet Office
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia … The world’s champion of democracy and human rights has sidled up closer to it than any other friends. Abby Martin, The Empire Files: Inside Saudi Arabia: Butchery, Slavery and History of Revolt, Youtube 2015
Cutting lots of people’s heads off with swords right in the middle of the street … executed more than a hundred people in the first six months of 2015. ibid.
Beheading, firing squad or stoned to death. Non-violent drug offences count for a shocking 43% of all executions. ibid.
Accused offenders have their limbs amputated and dissenters are severely lashed. ibid.
‘Saudi Arabia continues its outrageous repression of human rights activists’. ibid. Washington Post article
‘Thousands of people have been arrested and detained in virtual secrecy, while others have been killed in uncertain circumstances. Hundreds more people face summary trials and possible execution’. ibid. Amnesty International report
The king’s personal wealth is $18 billion. ibid.
At least 20% of the population lives in abject poverty. ibid.
The Arabian-American oil company was formed to cash in on the bubbling profits … owned by American companies. ibid.
‘The defence of Saudi Arabia is vital to the defence of the United States.’ ibid. F D Roosevelt
1953: Workers of Aramco went on strike demanding a union. ibid.
How Walmart is Destroying America (and the World). Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price, book Bill Quinn, 2005
I’ve seen a lot of small communities crucified and forced out … It appears that that is their intent. ibid. Don Hunter
Walmart drives down retail wages $3 billion every year. ibid. caption
Walmart public costs: $86 to California taxpayers; $25 million more to County taxpayers: health care, income tax credits, housing subsidies, food stamps. ibid.
Walmart workers on public assistance: Alabama: 3,864 children of Walmart employees are enrolled in Medicare; Arizona: 2,700 workers on Medicaid … Walmart costs taxpayers $1,557,000,000 to support its employees. ibid.
Walmart is very opposed to unions. ibid. Jon Lehman, store manager 19 years
$7,000 anti-union camera package per store; $30,000 undercover spy van per store; $100,000 24-hour anti-union hotline; $7,000,000 rapid response team with corporate jet. ibid. caption
Walmart is fighting legal battles with scores of former employees in 31 states, hourly workers who say the company has cheated them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime pay. ibid. news report
Walmart is paying $11 million to settle federal allegations it used illegal immigrants to clean its stores. ibid. news report
We truly are living the American dream. ibid. television advert
City of Cameron gives Walmart $2.1 million to set up shop. ibid. caption
Currently in the US there are 26,699,678 square feet of empty Walmarts. ibid.
2001: EPA orders Walmart to pay $1 million fine for Clean Walter violations in Texas, Oklahoma and Massachusetts … fined $3.1 million etc. ibid.
The worker is given a fake pay slip … We really work day and night in order to get the wage of less than $3 a day. bid. Chinese Walmart worker
Bangladesh: forced to work from eight in the morning to ten o’clock at night … trapped in utter misery … sucking down standards all around the world. ibid. critic