Human Rights and Religion

Fabiano Schoenberg

Reading Questions for September 24

 

1-      In "Origins: the Rise and Fall of Natural Rights" according to Freeman, was the concept of natural rights a) rare; b) common; or c) pervasive in 18th century America?  Pick one.

 

The concept of natural rights was pervasive in 18^th century America. Prior to the revolutionary war, Americans were fighting for both religious freedom and government representation. The British government had become viewed as tyrannical. Thomas Paine was an Englishman who migrated to the American colonies and greatly influenced the American Revolution. His pamphlet called “Common Sense” was a strong proponent of natural rights and widely read and supported by the revolutionaries. The Virginia declaration of rights offered natural rights, which originate from the laws of God. Unfortunately at that time these natural rights were not afforded to women and slaves.

 

2-      In the "First Two Hundred Years of an Idea" what does Henkin identify as the "antecedents", the "18th Century thesis", the 19th Century "anti-thesis" and the 20th Century "synthesis" of the idea of "rights"?

 

The antecedents of human rights can be traced back to the Bible. Biblical laws required individuals to obey God’s laws. Indirectly, God’s law differentiated between good and evil behavior as well as justice, judgment and punishment. The individual had some free will, freedom of choice and protection under this system. There are examples in the Bible of governments asking individuals to go against God’s laws and they refused. The 18^th century was a time of great change and a new thesis. The creator gave natural rights to all men, which was not given by the bible but was inherent in the person. The individual was born with these rights. Men were free, allowed to pursue employment, and happiness. The government was there to protect the people but not take away these rights. Some powers were given to the government to protect people from harm from each other and from outside societies. Unfortunately the natural rights in the United States revolution did not include women or slaves. Worse the French revolution was excessively violent resulting in the slaughter of many people. The rights were tilted to the middle class. This led to a counter-revolution against natural rights in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Natural rights were associated with capitalism and the oppression of poor people. The masses revolted in Russia and china and communism was developed. Large populations of people traded food and protection for individual rights and freedom. Government dictatorships returned and many people were killed. After the horrors of World War II, a fusion or a convergence of these movements occurred. Regardless of a democratic or communist/socialist government, the return of human rights is here. Religion has been entirely removed. The individual has universal human rights that he/she is born with as described in the United Nations “Universal declaration of human rights”, which is accepted whatever, the individuals’ race or sex or country of origin. This time everyone is included and the governments are using positive international and country laws to reinforce the individual’s human rights or using the court system to overturn oppressive laws.

 

3-      What does Morsink mean when he says that human rights are "inherent"?  And according to Morsink, what two avenues enable us to know that human rights are universal and inherent?

 

Human rights are inherent, meaning we have them at the moment of birth. They are not created by governments or bestowed by other men. We all have them everywhere and all the time and never lose them.

We know human rights are inherent because we have the natural ability to see the truth and judge for ourselves. We don’t need an expert to judge for us. The other route notes that if human rights are destroyed, we are able to feel the outrage of evil actions that are performed on our fellow humans.

Religion and Human Rights

Fabiano Schoenberg

Reading for October 15

 

1.      What "social transformation" and "paradox" are noted by John Langan in his brief article on Christianity and Human Rights?

 

The "social transformation" was the gradual exchange of the multiple God Roman religion for monotheistic Christianity.  After the Caesar Constantine converted to Christianity, it rapidly became the official religion during the reign of Theodosius (379-395). The "paradox" refers to the humble, revolutionary, free-thinking origin of Christianity vs. dominant, oppressive and dictatorial religions it became. Especially in the west, Christianity would preach love, tolerance and piety but practice hate, persecution and abuse of power.

 

2. According to Brian Tierney, what contribution was made by the Anabaptists and Baptists to religious rights and freedoms?

 

Beginning in the 16^th century, both Anabaptists and Baptists were against intimidating and forcing individuals in the name of religion. Following the British civil war they requested tolerance between the different protestant groups as well as for “Jews and Turks.” Roger Williams, a famous 17^th century Baptist and founder of the Providence colony in the new world went further. He asked for tolerance and respect for Roman Catholics. Roger Williams went further to request a “wall of separation” between religion and the state. This eventually became part of the first amendment of the United States Constitution.

Articles written by Mark Cohen and Norman Stillman

Hebrew 215 (sec 001) Fall 2014

Hebraic and Judaic Culture and Thought in the Medieval Islamic World 
Fabiano Schoenberg

 

 

The articles written by Mark Cohen and Norman Stillman quote from many writers that have used various methods to support their articles, chapters and books regarding the Lachrymose (inter-faith utopia) and neo-lachrymose (persecution) views of Jewish history in the Arab lands. Some write essays and use anecdotal evidence that supports their view but is too small a sample for statistics. Others are historians who use actual documented historical events that may or may not be complete or accurate. Many just render their own opinion. Most borrow from each other to support their side of the argument, which can be extremely inaccurate.
Mark Cohen identifies the historian Heinrich Graetz as the”father” of modern Jewish history. His study of Jewish history led him to conclude that Jews were persecuted under Christian rule from pre-Christian Roman times to the enlightenment in the 1800’s in Europe. He wrote the opposite was true regarding Jews in Islamic lands during middle Ages to the 1800s. He suggested the Jews had a “golden age” during Islamic rule in Spain. He continued with the idea of an interfaith utopia within the Arab-Muslim lands and the Ottoman Empire. However review of the fourth volume of the “History of the Jews” performed by Rabbi S R Hirsch found that Graetz often left out the second halves of quotations that would have contradicted his theses. He was biased and sloppy.
Yossi Yonah is a modern writer. He uses mass media in his article “How the Right-Wing are the Sephardim” discussing the argument regarding anti-Semitism in the Arab lands. He uses a recent television documentary discussing the recent immigration of Jews to Israel from Arab lands in 1951-1952. His view is that the documentary is misinterpreted as proof of historical persecution of Jews in Arab lands throughout history. More interestingly he notes that the purpose of the view of Jewish persecution in the Arab lands is to increase the share of the economic value of the state of Israel towards the Sephardim. This discussion by Yonah is very interesting but has no historical findings to support either side.
The book by Christian Arab writer George Antonius called “the Arab Awakening” (1939) supports the interfaith utopia view of Arab history and notes the democratic (American style) treatment of Jews in Arab countries. However we know from Yonah that more recently (1951-1952) the Iraqi Jews were persecuted and had to leave Iraq by an Israeli airlift completely destroying his argument of tolerance.
Edward William Lane lived in Cairo, Egypt during the 1820’s and 30s. He wrote that the Jews were “held in the utmost contempt and abhorrence by Muslims in general.” Samuel Romanelli, who was both Jewish and Italian wrote in the late 18^th century the following about Jews in Morocco, “oppressed, miserable creatures, having neither the mouth to answer an Arab, nor the cheek to raise their head.”  Both of these quotes are anecdotal evidence, if true, for a point in time in history. However it would inaccurate to assume the neo-lachrymose point of you from just these two quotes.
At the time of his critique entitled “Myth, Countermyth and Distortion”, Norman Stillman was Professor of History and Arabic at State University of New York at Binghamton. He had published two books on “Jews in Arab Lands.” He has the credentials and the expertise to discuss this topic. His argument is also very persuasive. You cannot squeeze fourteen centuries of Jewish-Arab history into two simple movements either lachrymose or neo-lachrymose. Beginning in the seventh century the rise of Islam in the Arab states was a time of huge prosperity. This included Islamic Spain. Although second-class citizens, the Jews prospered as well. Even in the Ottoman Empire this was true. But as the rise of poverty overtook most Arab countries towards the 17^th century and beyond, the Jews suffered poverty as well. Along with poverty came greater adherence to Islamic rules against Jews and persecution. Cooperation with European imperialism was a temporary fortunate circumstance for Jews. They were allowed to trade with Europeans and assisted themselves out of poverty and out of some of the persecution in the Arab lands. The rise of Arab nationalism and the rise of anti-Zionism have also contributed to more recent persecution of Jews within Arab countries in the 20^th century as well as the present.

Spanish Expulsion - #38

Karaism - LookLex Encyclopaedia

Karaism - LookLex Encyclopaedia

Mysticism and Kabbalah - #35

Aula de Teologia 39 - Cronologia do Reino Dividido

Aula de Teologia 37 - O Mapa da Divisão do Reino

The Development of Ashkenazic Jewry - #32

El Teatro Hispanoamericano en Los Estados Unidos
 

            Fabiano Schoenberg.

               Para hablar sobre la identidad, tanto individual como cultural, escojo la obra ¨Zoot Suit¨ y discuto la transculturación, que es una parte esencial de la obra  escrita y dirigida por Luis Valdez. Fuertes disturbios se produjeron en Los Ángeles entre la policía, la marina y los jóvenes Chicanos que se vistieron con el traje típico ¨zoot suit¨, y organizaban eventos de diversa índole, tales como conciertos y música de baile organizados.  

La identidad de Henry Reyna, en numerosas ocasiones, se expresa a un personaje que representa a la conciencia del pueblo chicano, El Pachuco, quien le explica los problemas políticos, sociales y raciales que permean el proceso. Su país está en guerra y él se ha inscrito en la marina mercante. Esto es una fuente de orgullo y ansiedad para su familia. Hube una gran cantidad de tensiones entre los marineros que estaban estacionados en la base y en las inmediaciones del barrio adyacente mexicana. Pero el principio de la obra es optimista de que Henry será una buena marina mercante y va representar los mexicano-americanos y en el ejército. La obra pone cuestiones más pertinentes a sociedad chicana y otras minorías de los años setenta, como una reflexión de los políticos y la policía sobre la transculturación latina americana. El tema principal es la transculturación Pachuco. El Pachuco es un mafioso mexicano que ha prestado algunas de las ideas culturales de gánsteres americanas. Desafortunadamente, para Henry y las gangs  Zoot Suit, la violencia que han causado fue enorme. Sin embargo, la notoriedad de la violencia llegó a la atención del públicos y comenzó a efectuar los marineros que van a la guerra.

El juzgamiento  se ha caracterizado por una visión sesgada y racista. No había ninguna prueba concreta de que los jóvenes presos habían asesinado a William José. El juez concedió la petición de la fiscalía de que los acusados ​​permitían usar ternos solamente, causando  una impresión preconcebida de marginalidad de la población no chicana de Los Ángeles. Con la detención de jóvenes chicanos, hubo conflictos entre la policía y la comunidad chicana, desencadenando una ola de violentos disturbios en los barrios chicanos. Como resultado,  la identidad de los chicanos fue fuertemente atacada pela policía de Los Angeles.

Muchas vidas de los adolescentes estadounidenses se vieron afectados negativamente por la injusticia. Podría ser que el tiempo de la prisión y los disturbios que siguieron contra Zoot Suit causaron este fenómeno transcultural a desaparecer. Eso pude ser visto cuando la policía y al gobierno declara que el traje de  Zoot Suits  es como una amenaza de fuerte poder simbólico a los intereses de la sociedad americana blanca. Pachuco se defiende, “The press distorted the very meaning of the word zoot suit…But the ideal of the original chuco was to look like a diamond to look sharp hip bonaroo  finfing a style of urban survival in the rural skirts of the brown metropolis of Los, cabron.”  (Zoot Suit, 58)

La transculturación Pachuco y la identidad Mexicana fueron fuertemente golpeadas pela violencia por jóvenes mexicanos en las calles.   El caso de Sleepy Lagoon es un ejemplo de cómo una  cultura entera  puede verse afectada por la violencia. El caso Zoot Suit sigue sin resolverse.

 

Religion and Human Rights. Profesor David Hawk.

 

1-     What regional intergovernmental organizations are mentioned by Gunn?

The Council of Europe which has 45 member states in Europe (not Belarus) as well as Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan

-The Organization of American states which has created the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (1948) and the American Convention on Human Rights (1969)

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe made up of NATO members former Warsaw pact members former members of the Soviet Union and neutral countries like Switzerland and Monaco

The Organization of African Unity created in 1963 includes more than 50 countries

The Arab League consisting of more the 20 countries with populations of greater than 50% Arab and

The Organization of the Islamic Conference which has more than 50 countries with a population of more than 55% Muslim majority

 

2-      According to the UN Human Rights System Handbook, what are "treaty bodies"?

 

Human rights treaty bodies are committees that monitor UN member states for human rights violations and discrimination

Each committee contains 10-23 individuals who are established experts in the field of human rights

The committees express concerns of violations and recommendations for improvement

 

3. According to Beitz in "The Practice", why did governments at the UN accept or recognize "rights" that were being violated or not respected in their home countries?

 

  -there is a built in conflict between the promotion of human rights and freedom by the UN charter and another provision protecting the “domestic jurisdiction” of a member state of the UN

The declaration of human rights is a nonbinding concept rather than a legal treaty which is at odds with recognized sovereign rights of UN member states

The Jews Come to Spain - #26

The Jews and Islam - #25

Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7) - with subtitles

Baptist and Anabaptists

Los pronombres relativos en español: usos y ejemplos | Suite101

Los pronombres relativos en español: usos y ejemplos | Suite101

Juan Ramón Jiménez: vida, obra y muerte de un Nobel de Literatura

Beginning of the Roman Conquest - #21

In the year 63 B.C.E. the Roman Emperor General Pompei captures Jerusalem, bringing all of Judea under Roman rule.

The Hasmonean King present then is just a puppet of the Roman government. An Idumian by the name of Antipather becomes the governor-general on behalf of the Romans. He has a son called Herod (who called himself "the Great").

In the year 30 B.C.E., Herod is appointed the Roman governor of Judea. He is a psychopath who is both a great builder and a great murderer. He marries the daughter of the Hasmonean King, yet drives her to suicide by murdering their children. This is the end of the Hasmonean line.

In the same year 30 B.C.E., the great Rabbi Hillel becomes the head of the Sanhedrin. He is opposite of Herod in every way.

Hillel was kind, patient, scholarly. Together with Shammai they build the spiritual/educational state of Israel.

From 30 B.C.E. till 70 C.E. was the last time period of Jewish independance, and the beginning of the large Jewish exile.


***Note: And during the Herod empire, the prophecy that all people of Israel was waiting for finally happened, the Messiah the King of Israel and of the humanity was born: Yeshuah, (Jesus for Christians). But Herod was not happy with this event, and order a mass murder of all children in the region in order to kill the Messiah Yeshua at year 0 CE.  (this is a exclusive . It does not belong to the video).

The Last Hasmonean Kings - #20

Hernán Cortés

visto por

Carlos Fuentes

Los mexicanos no hemos escatimado homenajes a nuestra cultura colonial. Los misioneros Gantes, Motolinia y Bartolomé de las Casas, los escritores Bernardo de Balbuena y Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, incluso los virreyes de la Nueva España, que cuentan con barrio propio y toda la cosa en las Lomas de Chapultepec, certifican que México es consciente del proceso histórico y cultural que, entre 1519 y 1810, forjó eso que podemos Ilamar «la nacionalidad» mexicana.

El gran ausente de estas nomenclaturas es el conquistador Hernán Cortés. Un palacio en Cuernavaca, un busto y una calle secretos, marcan un paso que se diría invisible si no estuviese estigmatizado por las huellas de la sangre, el crimen y la destrucción. Hernán Cortés, en México, ha sido tradicionalmente olvidado o execrado, aunque a veces, también, elogiado. La tradición liberal abjura de él, la conservadora lo exalta, pero el justo medio historiográfico es obra de un eminente escritor contemporáneo, José Luis Martínez, quien en 1990 publicó la más equilibrada biografía del conquistador.

A pesar de todo ello, Hernán Cortés sigue siendo un personaje vivo; la censura no logra matarlo y, acaso, el odio lo vivifica. Cortés es parte de nuestro trauma nacional. Lo execramos porque venció a los indios, destruyó una cultura y demostró, sobradamente, la violenta crueldad de su carácter. Pero, en el fondo, nos identificamos – criollos y mestizos – con la sociedad indohispana fundada por el extremeño. Voy más allá; los mexicanos modernos veneramos a los indios en los museos, donde no nos pueden hacer daño. Pero al indio de carne y hueso lo despreciamos con crueldad más severa, por engañosa, que la batalla abierta librada por Cortés contra el imperio de Moctezuma Xocoyotzin.

Sin embargo, nos cuesta mucho, así sea a regañadientes, no admirar la épica encarnada por un hombre que, al frente de once navíos, quinientos soldados, dieciséis caballos y varias piezas de artillería, logró someter un imperio indígena que se extendía del centro de México a la América Central. La quema de las naves, la decisión de marchar hasta Tenochtitlan, la inteligencia política para advertir las fisuras del imperio azteca y sumar descontentos en contra del autócrata Moctezuma, todo ello identifica a Hernán Cortés con su tiempo, el renacimiento europeo, y su psicología, la del Príncipe maquiavélico. Realmente, la gesta mexicana de Cortés puede leerse como si el extremeño hubiese leído al florentino. Claro que El Principe no es publicado hasta 1531, después de consumada la conquista de México. Pero que la figura del político maquiavélico ya estaba presente en el aire del tiempo, lo prueba, como nadie, Hernán Cortés.

Virtud, Fortuna y Necesidad; los tres téminos capitales de la política maquiavélica encarnan soberanamente en Cortés. La fortuna de Cortés es que su desembarco en Veracruz coincide con la profecía del regreso del dios blanco, barbado y bienhechor, Quetzalcóatl. El asombro y el temor paralizan, por principio de cuentas, al adversario indígena. La necesidad, dice Maquiavelo, puede limitar la capacidad política, pero también acicatearla. En el caso de Cortés, la necesidad de vencer a Moctezuma lo estimula como a un jugador de ajedrez. El extremeño supera constantemente los azares de la fortuna haciendo ‑literalmente‑ de tripas corazón. Si no persuade, traiciona. Si no traiciona, combate. Si no combate, asesina. Las matanzas de Cholula son la más negra página de la biografía de Cortés. La virtud, en fin, lo mueve a asumir la paradoja de amar lo que ha combatido, de destruir una civilización pero de fundar una nueva. La necesaria alianza con la traductora indígena, doña Marina, la Malinche, se traduce, a su vez, en el símbolo del mestizaje, base de la comunidad mexicana y augurio, hoy mismo, de lo que será el siglo XXI.

La conquista de México fue una catástrofe. Pero una catástrofe sólo es catastrófica, advierte María Zambrano, si de ella no nace nada que la redima. De la conquista de México nacimos todos nosotros, ya no aztecas, ya no españoles, sino indo‑hispano‑americanos, mestizos. Hablamos castellano. Adaptamos, sincréticamente, la religión católica a nuestro universo sagrado. Nos apropiamos, a través de España, de las culturas helénicas, latinas, musulmanas y hebreas de la cuenca del Mediterráneo. Somos los que somos porque Hernán Cortés, para bien y para mal, hizo lo que hizo.

Hay un tema final que quisiera tocar. Hernán Cortés era un «hombre nuevo», un producto de la naciente civilización urbana post‑feudal de España. Ignoro si era portador de ese impulso democratizador que fue brutalmente arrestado en Villalar en 1521. No deja de ser llamativo que ese mismo año 1521, Cortés conquista la capital del imperio azteca y Carlos V derrota a las comunidades de Castilla. ¿Perdieron las burguesías postmedievales españolas en Villalar y ganaron en México? Si así fue, si el hijo del molinero de Medellín y pasajero alumno de Salamanca venció con su genio político y militar al imperio del Gran Tlatoani Moctezuma, no cabe duda de que, también, Cortés fue derrotado por la corona española. Cualquier veleidad democrática o independentista en estos hombres de Andalucía y Extremadura que le dieron al Habsburgo el dominio del mundo sin necesidad de que se de plazara de Flandes y de Castilla fue rápidamente aplastada por el poder real. Cortés mismo no puede consolidar poder alguno en México. Los emisarios del rey lo acusan, lo humillan, lo desplazan y lo condenan a un melancólico ocaso.

Pero los dos hijos de Cortés, los dos Martines, el Martín criollo hijo de Juan de Zúñiga y el Martín mestizo hijo de la Malinche, serán los protagonistas, en 1566, de la primera intentona independentista de México. Es como si los hijos hubiesen querido cumplir el imposible destino del padre, Hernán Cortés, el Principe que no fue, el buen burgués condenado a esperar su hora histórica. Pero si ésta tardó en llegarle a Hernán Cortés y los «hombres nuevos» de España, momento épico sí les perteneció; la virtud, la necesidad y la fortuna sí les sonrieron y si al cabo las tres les dieron la espalda, ¿quién, como escribió Bernal Díaz del Castillo, podría quitarles la memoria de aquellas jornadas de gloria?

[Fuentes, Carlos: “Hernán Cortés”. En: Letra Internacional, 67, verano 2000, pp. 9-10]

 

From <http://hispanoteca.eu/Landeskunde-LA/Hern%C3%A1n%20Cort%C3%A9s-Carlos%20Fuentes.htm>