Proteus Web Review - Human Rights

   Due to the current spate of attempted attacks on our civil liberties by the ‘loving’ governing institutions of our ‘democratic’ western world, this week’s review is a special focus on human rights websites. There are plenty to choose from, all with differing messages to put out. It seems that all have become highly alert to the current political situation, fearing what the consequences may be as regards our right to civil liberty. The four featured sites here by no means encompass the entire sphere of issues concerned with human rights, but they are four of the most comprehensive.

www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk
    This is the website of LIBERTY, a human rights organisation based in London. Liberty was founded in 1934 and is the largest membership organisation of its kind in Europe. Liberty aims to secure equal rights and freedoms for everyone by:

· Lobbying government
· Using the media to keep human rights issues in the public eye
· Pursuing human rights test cases through the English courts and the European court of Human Rights, to challenge violations and secure changes in the law.

    Liberty also provide legal advice for the public and lawyers, and it runs conferences and training courses, details of which are all on the site. The current issues under debate on the site include all the favourites; Blunkett’s proposed anti-terrorism measures, ID cards (arguments against), secrecy laws and CCTV. You can make donations or become a member online in order to aid Liberty carry out its duties as a human rights watchdog.
liberty-human-rights.org.uk is a compact site that’s easy to navigate with simple links at the top and side of each page. Visit and see for yourself.

www.reclaimthestreets.net
    The official description of this site goes something like this:

“A direct action network for global and local social-ecological revolution(s) to transcend hierarchical and authoritarian society, (capitalism included), and still be home in time for tea…”

The site is a worldwide provider of information, giving the option to view representative RTS sites based in Australia, UK, USA, Spain and Germany.

RTS London
    The UK site currently carries a People’s Global Action call to action concerning the World Trade Organisation meeting – which is conveniently due to take place in Doha, Qatar on 9-13 Nov. The call is aimed at all parties who wish to carry out actions against the WTO during this next summit. The call makes very interesting reading and gives specific detail concerning the WTO’s aim to remove anything that gets in the way of big business, even if that means the sacrifice of basic human rights.
    The site also bears the Declacion de Cochabamba – a call to rally against military action and irrational violence in the world. This is obviously very topical at the moment and carries an important message for all who are opposed to the USA’s current agenda in Afghanistan.
    The ‘Propaganda’ section provides some interesting snippets of data, even if they are a little annoying to traverse. Instructions are given on exactly how to ‘reclaim the streets’ by organising your own street party, and the ‘images’ section provides posters that can be downloaded and used to publicise such events. The ‘ideas’ section clarifies the ‘reclaim the streets’ ideology, providing detailed essays and articles on many subjects RTS associates itself with.
    reclaimthestreets.net is a well produced site that focuses on human rights by attempting to rally people into action wherever violations of rights are deemed to have occurred, all over the world. For your own area of the world just click on the drop-down box at the top of the page.

www.hrw.org
    Human Rights Watch is a very comprehensive site updated daily, dealing with global human rights issues such as Arms, children’s rights, women’s rights, refugees and more. All catagories have easy to spot links down the left hand column of the main page. The main page consists of up to the minute news stories concerning rights issues. Some topical stories at the moment obviously include the plight of the Afghan people, and there are also articles concerning anti-terrorism legislation and the threat posed to civil liberties. You can even sign up for regular email updates concerning these situations. The site also contains information on publications, campaigns from all regions of the globe (links are split into catagories by continent). There are a wealth of regularly updated essays, commentaries, and photos for your perusal, and again, you can contribute or become a member. With a built in search engine to boot and a choice of what language to view the page in, all of this makes hrw.org one of the foremost human rights sites going.

www.amnesty.org
    Amnesty International online works to protect human rights worldwide. You may be aware that the organisation recently celebrated its 40th year in operation. The website offers many services to anyone in any country. Once again you can make donations or even apply to work for the organisation. The site offers information about your own right to a free trial and is updated regularly with news, video and audio releases. You can sign up to the AI monthly magazine – ‘the wire’- or register to receive urgent AI appeals via SMS messaging. The current leading campaign is for ‘justice not revenge’ concerning the Sept 11 crisis. AI expresses concerns that the unconditional flow of weapons and other military equipment and expertise to the warring parties in Afghanistan will lead to further human rights abuses and war crimes. The site invites you to register your own opinion, and offers an online library with a search facility where you can find past and present reports and articles concerning any human rights issue AI has dealt with or is concerned with. There are links to other human rights pages, and the ‘Bazzar’ section offers downloads and advertises books and cds from AI. Amnesty.org is a well designed, easy to navigate site that invites you to ACT in order to preserve civil liberties and raise human rights awareness.

    The overall feeling produced by each of these sites is that you must ACT to protect your own rights and those of others – a message, the importance of which must be stressed again and again, and one that this website is particularly compliant with.
WAKE UP. ACT NOW. REJECT ID CARDS, FACE SCANNING, POLICE STATE LIKE SECURITY RESTRICTIONS. DON’T LET YOU KNOW WHO DESTROY YOUR RIGHTS.

Proteus has nothing more to transmit.