The political economy of transnational "human rights" NGOs, even better ones like Amnesty International, is essentially a racket that commodifies morality and privatizes politics. They are even less accountable to "[p]eoples, including future generations, whose rights we seek to protect and advance" (in the extraordinarily arrogant words of the International Non-Governmental Organization Accountability Charter <http://www.ingoaccountabilitycharter.org/our-stakeholders.html> to which AI is a signatory) than governments. Unlike governments, they can't be voted out in elections or overthrown through revolution.
They say, "Our right to act is based on universally-recognised freedoms of speech, assembly and association, on our contribution to democratic processes, and on the values we seek to promote." But democracy is undermined, not promoted, when transnational moral corporations headquartered in the global North, accountable to no people (much like the World Bank and the IMF), promote their "values" in the global South. Even though a few of them have come to occasionally criticize problems (such as violations of prisoners' rights) of some governments of the North, a majority of their targets are still in the South. The ideology that it cannot do without is one that would have us believe that people of the South need help of people of the North _but not vice versa_ -- a fundamentally racist, imperialist ideology.
On 10/19/07, ravi <ravi at platosbeard.org> wrote:
>
> On 19 Oct, 2007, at 21:20 PM, joanna wrote:
>
> > "The exception is Kerala, where Dr. Rajagopal practices and about 80
> > percent of India's palliative care is delivered. A small slice of the
> > southwest coast, it is sort of India's Massachusetts: it has a mere 3
> > percent of the population, but high literacy rates, responsive local
> > leadership and a bent for bucking central government."
> >
> > Why is it an exception? Because the socialists are running it.
> >
> > Thus, it is not at all like Massachussetts, which requires
> > compulsory health insurance, but like Cuba or many Western nations,
> > which provide health care.
>
> Joanna, you forgot to leave a blank space for the obligatory: Oh
> yeah, well they run the whole state on migrant worker deposits from
> Dubai. If not, it would all fail!
>
> Carl, while reading about India's experiment, keep in mind that the
> 1980s (and then the 90s) were a break from the past for India,
> bringing everything from [the triumph og] neo-liberalism to Hindu
> fundamentalism. Therefore, the history is not 1947 to now, as one
> continuous development.
Indeed, it's not the whole history of post-colonial India but India today, a liberal "counter-terrorist" democracy that has abandoned any vestige of commitment to "non-capitalist path of development" and sides with the USA against the NAM nations in the US-led multinational empire's crosshairs, that is championed by Washington as a model for the South.
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060303-5.html> Office of the Press Secretary March 3, 2006
President Discusses Strong U.S.-India Partnership in New Delhi, India Purana Qila New Delhi, India
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The world has benefitted from the example of India's democracy, and now the world needs India's leadership in freedom's cause. As a global power, India has an historic duty to support democracy around the world. In Afghanistan, which I just visited on Wednesday, the world is beginning to see what India's leadership can accomplish. Since the Taliban was removed from power, India has pledged $565 million to help the Afghan people to get back on their feet. Your country has trained National Assembly staff, and developing a similar program for the Assembly's elected leaders. You recently announced that you'll provide an additional $50 million to help the Afghans complete their National Assembly building. After so many years of suffering, the Afghan people are reclaiming a future of hope and freedom, and they will always remember that in their hour of need, India stood with them. (Applause.)
India is also showing its leadership in the cause of democracy by co-founding the Global Democracy Initiative. Prime Minister Singh and I were proud to be the first two contributors to this initiative to promote democracy and development across the world. Now India can build on this commitment by working directly with nations where democracy is just beginning to emerge. As the world's young democracies take shape, India offers a compelling example of how to preserve a country's unique culture and history while guaranteeing the universal freedoms that are the foundation of genuine democracies.
India's leadership is needed in a world that is hungry for freedom. Men and women from North Korea to Burma to Syria to Zimbabwe to Cuba yearn for their liberty. In Iran, a proud people is held hostage by a small clerical elite that denies basic liberties, sponsors terrorism, and pursues nuclear weapons. Our nations must not pretend that the people of these countries prefer their own enslavement. We must stand with reformers and dissidents and civil society organizations, and hasten the day when the people of these nations can determine their own future and choose their own leaders. These people may not gain their liberty overnight, but history is on their side. (Applause.) -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/>