Considering the effects of globalization on human rights.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Week one topic of discussion.
Do you think that neoliberal economic globalization (as envisioned by Thomas Friedman's idea of "flattening") will advance or hamper the cause of human rights around the globe?
I think that the possibility to advance human rights is there. The question is whether or not humanity will take advantage of globalization and use it for good or ill. For instance, there is enough food in the world to feed everyone - why do we still have people who are starving? I think that globalization can provide the mechanism for good - I hope that it will.
I think that global communications technology and social networking advances have brought human rights issues and violations to the attention of more individuals worldwide. Rather than having to learn of human rights violations (or not learning of them) as filtered through government or traditional media outlets we now have access to, via the internet and other technologies, first-hand accounts of human rights violations via blogs, non-commercial online journals and magazines and other sources previously unavailable to the average person. The real question however is how to do something about human rights. I believe that awareness is the first step, but personal action must be taken. And individuals,governments and businesses must be held accountable for violations.
3 comments:
I think that the possibility to advance human rights is there. The question is whether or not humanity will take advantage of globalization and use it for good or ill. For instance, there is enough food in the world to feed everyone - why do we still have people who are starving? I think that globalization can provide the mechanism for good - I hope that it will.
I think that global communications technology and social networking advances have brought human rights issues and violations to the attention of more individuals worldwide. Rather than having to learn of human rights violations (or not learning of them) as filtered through government or traditional media outlets we now have access to, via the internet and other technologies, first-hand accounts of human rights violations via blogs, non-commercial online journals and magazines and other sources previously unavailable to the average person. The real question however is how to do something about human rights. I believe that awareness is the first step, but personal action must be taken. And individuals,governments and businesses must be held accountable for violations.
Do you think that the Gates plan to give computers to people in developing countries will help this?
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