Stalin's Genocides

Between the early 1930s and his death in 1953, Joseph Stalin had more than a million of his own citizens executed. Millions more fell victim to forced labor, deportation, famine, bloody massacres, and detention and interrogation by Stalin's henchmen. Stalin's Genocides is the chilling story of these crimes. The book puts forward the important argument that brutal mass killings under Stalin in the 1930s were indeed acts of genocide and that the Soviet dictator himself was behind them.

Norman Naimark, one of our most respected authorities on the Soviet era, challenges the widely held notion that Stalin's crimes do not constitute genocide, which the United Nations defines as the premeditated killing of a group of people because of their race, religion, or inherent national qualities. In this gripping book, Naimark explains how Stalin became a pitiless mass killer. He looks at the most consequential and harrowing episodes of Stalin's systematic destruction of his own populace--the liquidation and repression of the so-called kulaks, the Ukrainian famine, the purge of nationalities, and the Great Terror--and examines them in light of other genocides in history. In addition, Naimark compares Stalin's crimes with those of the most notorious genocidal killer of them all, Adolf Hitler.

Norman M. Naimark is the Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor of East European Studies at Stanford University. His books include Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe and The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945-1949.

More

A Pantomime of Justice

by Francisco Toro

International Herald Tribune
June 15, 2012

The right to be present at your own trial is a core civil right. Certainly, article 125 of Venezuela’s criminal procedure code bans in-absentia trials. Which is why, when faced with an attempt to sentence one of his clients who was not in the courtroom, the Venezuelan defense attorney José Amalio Graterol objected forcefully and refused to participate in an obviously illegal procedure.

For his troubles, Graterol was immediately jailed for obstruction of justice. After eight days in one of Venezuela’s notoriously violent prisons, he was released on bail, but he still faces the possibility of a lengthy prison term on the original charge.

Within hours of his arrest the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists was expressing concern for the abuse, calling it “the most recent of a series of violations to the fundamental principles of the rule of law in Venezuela in recent years,” while the chairman of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, Sternford Moyo, declared that “Graterol’s apprehension is a clear breach of Venezuela’s own criminal laws, a clear violation of the fundamental principle of the independence of the legal profession and also represents as a serious infringement of firmly established international principles.”

More

Leaks and Press Freedoms

by Casey B. Mulligan

New York Times
June 13, 2012

Government leaks and a free press are not always compatible.

Democracy is said to depend on freedom of the press and other news media, especially the freedom to publish information and opinions without approval or censure from government officials. Empirically, there is a strong correlation between press freedoms and the fairness of elections, absence of autocratic leaders and other hallmarks of democracy.

Full and complete freedoms of the press and other news media are not an automatic consequence of economic development, education and other factors thought to foster democracies. For example, a 2001 World Bank study of 97 countries found that governments commonly owned their nation’s television stations.

Even in Western Europe, countries otherwise known for their political freedoms, government television stations made up more than half of the television market.

More

Συνέλαβαν τους ηθοποιούς!

της Βένας Γεωργακοπούλου

Protagon.gr
10 Ιουνίου 2012

Νέο κρούσμα απόπειρας λογοκρισίας έχουμε από χθες να πορευόμαστε. Μόνο αυτό μας έλειπε την ιδανική περίοδο που ζούμε. Να ’ναι καλά η Εκκλησία. Μετά τη Χρυσή Αυγή, ανέβηκε και αυτή στη σκηνή για τη δική της ατραξιόν. Όποιος χάρηκε όταν εκλέχτηκε αρχιεπίσκοπος ο Ιερώνυμος, να σηκώσει το χέρι. Ο Χριστόδουλος μας ενοχλούσε, αλλά και ο καινούργιος δεν πάει πίσω. Να μάθουμε να μην είμαστε αφελείς. Όλες οι εκκλησίες, όχι μόνο η δική μας, τα δόγματά τους έχουν στο μυαλό τους. Τους τά ’θιξες; Είπες, για παράδειγμα, ότι ο Χριστός ήταν γκέι; Φίδι που σ’ έφαγε.

Δυο γυναίκες δικηγόροι, εκπροσωπώντας την Ιερά Σύνοδο, κατέθεσαν χθες μήνυση εναντίον των συντελεστών της παράστασης Corpus Christi, για τα γνωστά. «Προσβολή των θείων» αλλά και των αγνών ελληνικών μας παραδόσεων. Ό,τι πάνω-κάτω έλεγε στην ανακοίνωσή της την Τετάρτη εναντίον του «βλάσφημου» θεατρικού έργου του Τέρενς ΜακΝάλι η Ιερά Σύνοδος. Και η αστυνομία έκανε τη δουλειά της. Πήγε χθες το απόγευμα στο «Χυτήριο» ,όπου παίζεται αυτή η διάσημη γκέι εκδοχή της ζωής του Χριστού (τα γράφαμε χθες στο protagon), συνέλαβε όποιον βρήκε διαθέσιμο, ήτοι τρείς ανύποπτους ηθοποιούς, και τους πήγε στο τμήμα. Αυτή την ετοιμότητά της έτρεμε ο Κασιδιάρης και άνοιξε η γη και τον κατάπιε.

Μετά από πολλά, η δικηγόρος του Σωματείου Ελλήνων Ηθοποιών κατάφερε να πείσει τους ανόρεκτους και ευγενείς, έτσι λένε οι πληροφορίες μας, αστυνομικούς ότι η σύλληψη ήταν παράνομη χωρίς προηγούμενο εξώδικο. Οι ηθοποιοί απελευθερώθηκαν και επέστρεψαν στο θέατρο, όπου δόθηκε κανονικά η παράσταση.

Περισσότερα

Round-Trip Freedom

by Jianli Yang

Project Syndicate
June 6, 2012

Western media describe my friend and colleague Chen Guangcheng as a blind activist who made a flight to freedom when China allowed him to journey from Beijing to the United States. What is essential about Chen is neither his blindness nor his family’s visit to the US, but the fact that he upholds a vision of universal human rights, a vision that can be fully realized only when, and if, China honors its promise to allow him one day to return home.

China has a history of forcing scholars and dissidents like us into exile. When the Chinese student movement broke out in 1989, I was pursuing a Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of California-Berkeley. I traveled to Beijing to participate as an activist in Tiananmen Square, where I narrowly escaped the massacre and was able to make my way back to the US.

Due to my activism, however, China refused to renew my passport. So, when I returned to China in 2002 to help the movement for workers’ rights, I used a friend’s passport. China incarcerated me as a political prisoner for five years, until 2007. For a year and a half of that period, I was held in solitary confinement, without access to visitors, reading materials, or even paper and pen.

Upon my release, China renewed my passport on the condition that I return to the US. I have tried three times to return to my homeland, only to see China block each attempt at the Hong Kong airport.

More

Capitalism

by Richard A. Posner

The Becker-Posner Blog
June 3, 2012

I agree wholeheartedly with Becker that capitalism is a superior economic system to any other that has been tried, the others being mainly socialism and communism. The best evidence for this is that out of the 194 countries in the world, I can think of only two that are not capitalist—Cuba, which however is moving slowly in the capitalist direction, and North Korea, the greatest economic failure on the planet.

But this statistic indicates that capitalism is a necessary condition of economic success rather than a sufficient condition. Many of the world’s countries, though capitalist, are basket cases—not as badly off as North Korea, but plenty badly off. Per capita incomes in rich capitalist countries such as the United States, Canada, Germany, Britain, and Japan greatly exceed per capita incomes in poor capitalist countries, which are the majority of countries.

So the big question is, given capitalism, what else does a country need in order to prosper? We know that it doesn’t need abundant natural resources or a large population. But it needs a legal and political system that protects property rights, allows a large degree of economic freedom, minimizes corruption, controls harmful externalities (like pollution) and subsidizes beneficial ones (like education), distinguishes between equality of opportunity (which it promotes) and equality of incomes (which it promotes only to the extent of combating poverty), welcomes and assimilates skilled and wealthy immigrants, and (related to protecting economic freedom) avoids public ownership or control of economic enterprises. To create and maintain such a legal and political system a country also requires a culture of respect for business success, of competition and risk-taking, and of consumerism—since, as Keynes argued, consumption drives production.

Such a combination is difficult to achieve; no nation has achieved it. The variance across nations in culture and in institutional structure is very great, and determines the relative economic success of the different nations.

Since there is so much variance across capitalist countries—so much that can go wrong with a capitalist system because of the complex institutional structure and social culture that capitalism requires if it is to be maximally successful in contributing to social welfare—we need to avoid complacency. Complacency was a major factor in the surprising economic collapse that began in September 2008, a collapse the consequences of which are still very much with us.

More

Profits, Competition, and Social Welfare

by Gary S. Becker

The Becker-Posner Blog
June 3, 2012

The financial crisis and the resulting recession have led to a strong reaction in many countries against the profit motive and private enterprise. Left of center political parties are gaining office and power in France, Mexico, Greece, and elsewhere with the promise of much greater regulation of banks and other businesses, renationalizing some companies, and constraining profits through higher taxes and other ways.

It is easy to sympathize with the hostility to the many banks that behaved (in retrospect) so foolishly in ways that damaged everyone else as they took on excessive risk in their quests for greater profits. One can understand also the general reaction against capitalism and “market failures” since commercial and investment banks were in the past a leading example of capitalism at work. Yet anyone concerned about the welfare of the poor and middle classes should resist the temptation to attack competitive private enterprise and capitalism- monopoly or crony capitalism should be deplored. This is only partly because “government failure” also contributed in an important way to the financial crisis as regulators did not rein in the asset explosion of banks and households. Indeed, regulators often encouraged lending to lower income families to buy houses with low down payments, large mortgages and ballooning interest payments.

The main reason to be concerned about the attacks on competitive capitalism is that it has delivered during the past 150 years so much to all strata’s of society, including the poor. I will try to demonstrate this not with a general analysis, but with several rather impressive examples.

China in 1980 was among the poorest countries in the world. It had just gone through the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward that contributed to the deaths of tens of millions of rural and other Chinese. In desperation, a few farsighted Chinese leaders decided to allow private enterprise and capitalism to gain a toehold in its agricultural sector. To the great surprise of many Chinese political leaders, the result was an explosion in farm output, even though farmers had only tiny plots of land to work with. Seeing the success of the liberalization of farm output, China extended the incentive system to industry by encouraging the growth of private enterprises in some sectors. Again, the results far exceeded expectations as these private companies, many owned by Taiwanese and Hong Kong residents, were not only far more efficient than state owned enterprises, but they also became the leaders in the rapid expansion of exports from China to the US and other countries.

More

The Harm in Hate-Speech Laws

by David Gordon

Mises Daily
May 30, 2012

In many countries, though not in the United States, laws prohibit "hate speech." Those who, in Jeremy Waldron's opinion, uncritically elevate the benefits of free speech over competing values oppose hate-speech laws; but Waldron thinks that a strong case can be made in their favor. (Waldron thinks that there are "very few First Amendment Absolutists" [p. 144] who oppose all regulation of speech; but he thinks that many other First Amendment scholars are unduly critical of hate speech regulations.) Waldron is a distinguished legal and political philosopher, but the arguments that he advances in defense of hate-speech laws, taken on their own terms, do not seem to me very substantial.

Hate speech, Waldron tells, us, consists of "publications which express profound disrespect, hatred, and vilification for the members of minority groups" (p. 27). "Speech," it should be noted, is used here in an extended sense; and it is the more lasting written material, movies, posters, etc, that principally concern Waldron rather than speeches, verbal threats, or imprecations, though the latter are not excluded. Many countries ban such speech:

The United Kingdom has long outlawed the publication of material calculated to stir up racial hatred. In Germany it is a serious crime to display the swastika or other Nazi symbols. Holocaust denial is punished in many countries. The British author David Irving … was imprisoned until recently in Austria for this offense. (p. 29)

One way to respond to this would be to assess hate-speech laws from the Rothbardian position that I deem to be correct. This would make for a very short review. For Rothbard, free-speech questions reduce to issues of property rights. If, for example, someone writes "Muslims get out!" on a wall, a Rothbardian would ask, "Whose wall is it?" If the author of the message wrote on his own wall, he acted within his rights; if, lacking permission, he wrote on someone else's wall, he violated the owner's property rights. People have no general right of restraint against insult. Furthermore, you do not own your reputation, since this consists of the ideas other people have of you, and you cannot own other people's thoughts. For that reason, laws against libel and slander are for the Rothbardian ruled out. Waldron asks, If laws forbid libel of a person, why not laws against group libel as well? A more un-Rothbardian argument could hardly be imagined.

More

How China Flouts Its Laws

by Chen Guangcheng

New York Times
May 29, 2012

Since I arrived in the United States on May 19, people have asked me, “What do you want to do here?” I have come here to study temporarily, not to seek political asylum. And while I pursue my studies, I hope that the Chinese government and the Communist Party will conduct a thorough investigation of the lawless punishment inflicted on me and my family over the past seven years.

I asked for such an investigation while I was hospitalized in Beijing, after I had left the refuge of the United States Embassy and American officials negotiated my reunification with my family. High officials from the Chinese government assured me that a thorough and public investigation would take place and that they would inform me of the results. I hope that this promise will be honored. But the government has often failed to fulfill similar commitments. I urge the government and people of the United States and other democratic countries to insist that the Chinese government make timely progress in this matter.

The central government and the authorities in Shandong Province, Linyi City and Yinan County have many questions to answer. Why, beginning in 2005, did they illegally confine my family and me to our house in Dongshigu Village, cutting us off from all contact with other villagers and the world? Why, in 2006, did they falsely accuse me of damaging property and gathering a crowd to interfere with traffic and then, after farcical trials that excluded my witnesses and defense counsel, send me to prison for 51 months? On what legal basis, following my release from prison in 2010, did they turn our home into another, equally harsh, prison?

The fundamental question the Chinese government must face is lawlessness. China does not lack laws, but the rule of law. As a result, those who handled my case were able to openly flout the nation’s laws in many ways for many years.

More

The Darling Dictator of the Day

by Marc Sommers

New York Times
May 27, 2012

Rwanda’s Paul Kagame is accustomed to accolades. On May 12, he received yet another honorary degree, this time from William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Celebrating Kagame is in vogue because he is credited with leading a remarkable recovery from war and genocide in the heart of Africa.

There certainly have been achievements in Kagame’s Rwanda. Economic growth has been climbing (G.D.P. growth for 2011 was more than 8 percent) and private investment is a featured component of that growth (Costco and Starbucks now buy about a quarter of Rwanda’s premium coffee crop).

In fact, the World Bank ranks Rwanda as the eighth easiest place to start a new business. The government is renowned for reducing corruption, expanding security, addressing genocidal crimes and increasing women’s rights.

Yet while Kagame is no Idi Amin or Charles G. Taylor, he does not merit his reputation as a visionary modernizer. The reason is simple: his state is all about force.

More

A New Attack on the Constitution

New York Times
Editorial
May 18, 2012

On Wednesday, a federal judge struck down a law allowing the indefinite detention of anyone suspected of terrorism on American soil as a violation of free speech and due process. Two days later, the House made it clear it considered those to be petty concerns, voting to keep the repellent practice of indefinite detention on the books.

On a 238-to-182 vote, it rejected a proposal for something so basic that it is hard to believe there was an argument about it: a formal charge and trial for anyone arrested in the United States. You might have thought that was guaranteed in the Constitution, but that right was stripped away in last year’s military policy bill, signed by President Obama, which made an exception for terror suspects. By giving the military the power to deal with domestic terrorists, the bill essentially allowed presidents to brand anyone a terrorist and lock them up for life without a trial.

“That is an extraordinary amount of power to give the executive branch over individual freedom and liberty,” said Adam Smith, a Democrat of Washington, who proposed amending this year’s defense bill to end the exception. “I don’t think it is necessary to keep us safe.” He was joined by Justin Amash, a Republican of Michigan, and several libertarians who feared government abuse.

More

China’s Misrule of Law

by Michael A. Fitts and Amy Gadsden

Project Syndicate
May 18, 2012

A last-minute deal between the United States and China may afford human-rights lawyer and activist Chen Guangcheng the opportunity to enroll in law school in New York. But, even if a way out of the diplomatic debacle is at hand, much about the case remains troubling. In particular, despite more than three decades of legal reform in China, Chen had precious little recourse to fight harassment and house arrest at the hands of the Chinese authorities.

Indeed, 23 years after dissident Fang Lizhi took refuge in the US embassy following the crackdown in Tiananmen Square, Chen’s only option was to take the same last-gasp leap into the arms of American diplomats. Chen’s case reveals weaknesses in China’s legal system, and it should spark a push to build stronger ties between China’s human-rights activists and the broader legal profession.

Chen rose to prominence as a self-educated legal activist after he challenged harsh enforcement of the government’s family-planning policies. His approach reflected a larger trend of rights-based resistance in China that began in that late 1990’s; Chen was part of a coterie of lawyers and activists, some well-known and many others not, who wanted to see the government behave according to its own rules.

More

Οι «δημοκρατικοί» αντίπαλοι της Δημοκρατίας

του Πάσχου Μανδραβέλη

Καθημερινή
13 Μαΐου 2012

Η Δημοκρατία δεν ευλογεί την παραβίαση των κανόνων συμβίωσης, απλώς επιτρέπει σε όλους να συμμετάσχουν στον ορισμό αυτών των κανόνων.

«Σε μια δημοκρατία», έγραψε ο Αμερικανός δικαστής Φίλιξ Φρανκφούρτερ, «το υψηλότερο αξίωμα είναι αυτό του πολίτη». Αυτό είναι μια άλλη ανάγνωση του πρώτου άρθρου στα συντάγματα όλων των χωρών, που περίπου λένε ό,τι και το ελληνικό: «Θεμέλιο του πολιτεύματος είναι η λαϊκή κυριαρχία. Ολες οι εξουσίες πηγάζουν από τον λαό...». Αυτό δεν σημαίνει ότι κάθε πολίτης από μόνος, κατέχοντας το υψηλότερο αξίωμα, μπορεί να κάνει ό,τι γουστάρει, αλλά οι περισσότεροι πολίτες μαζί ορίζουν την τύχη μιας χώρας· είτε προς το καλύτερο είτε προς το χειρότερο.

Την περασμένη Κυριακή, οι Ελληνες άσκησαν την ύψιστη εξουσία τους και ίσως πρέπει να ξεκαθαρίσουμε μερικά πράγματα. Και αυτό, διότι όπως συμβαίνει και με όλα τα άλλα πράγματα, στην Ελλάδα και η έννοια της δημοκρατίας έχει κακοποιηθεί τόσο πολύ ώστε τα πάντα κατέληξαν πολτός. Τα πολιτικά δικαιώματα συγχέονται με τα ατομικά· ο νόμος της πλειοψηφίας με το «δίκιο» μιας τάξης· η υποχρέωση τήρησης των νόμων με το δικαίωμα (υπό όρους) της πολιτικής ανυπακοής· η δημοκρατία με την οχλοκρατία· η πολιτική με τον χουλιγκανισμό· το δικαίωμα της ελευθερίας του λόγου με τις βιαιότητες· το δικαίωμα της συνάθροισης με τις καταλήψεις· η νόμιμη βία, που οφείλει να ασκεί τηρώντας τους κανόνες το κράτος, με την παράνομη βία εκείνου που θεωρεί ότι αδικείται.

Το αποτέλεσμα αυτής της ιδεολογικής θολούρας αποτυπώνεται στην καθημερινότητά μας και στην κατάσταση που βρίσκεται η χώρα σήμερα. Υμνώντας τη δημοκρατία, φτάσαμε στην τυραννία των μειοψηφιών, που αποτρέπουν βιαίως την εφαρμογή των νόμων, στο όνομα ενός «ανώτερου» και αυτοπροσδιοριζόμενου «δίκιου» το οποίο ορίζεται ανάλογα με τα γούστα ή τις ιδεοληψίες καθενός κι αδιαφορώντας για τις προτεραιότητες των άλλων.

Ομως, η δημοκρατία δεν είναι ένα σύστημα απόλυτης ελευθερίας· είναι το πιο ελεύθερο σύστημα που έχουμε γνωρίσει μέχρι τώρα. Δεν ευλογεί την παραβίαση των κανόνων συμβίωσης, απλώς επιτρέπει σε όλους να συμμετάσχουν στον ορισμό αυτών των κανόνων. Δεν είναι ένα σύστημα που επιτρέπει στις μειοψηφίες να κάνουν ό,τι θέλουν· είναι ένα σύστημα που επιτρέπει στις μειοψηφίες να λένε ό,τι θέλουν, έτσι ώστε να πείσουν και να γίνουν με τη σειρά τους κάποια στιγμή πλειοψηφία για να ορίσουν τους κανόνες. Δεν επιτρέπει καν στην πλειοψηφία να κάνει ό,τι θέλει. Υπάρχουν τα θεμελιώδη δικαιώματα κάθε ατόμου, που δεν μπορεί να καταπατήσει ούτε το 99,9% του υπόλοιπου λαού.

Περισσότερα

Does the Law Matter in China?

by Nicholas Bequelin

New York Times
May 13, 2012

Does the law matter in China? A cursory look at the two crises that have hit the Chinese government in recent weeks — one at the very top, with the purge of Bo Xilai, and one at the grassroots, with the escape from unlawful house arrest of the blind activist Chen Guangcheng — suggests not.

The two cases have in common an overt and blatant disregard for legality, an unwillingness of the central government to correct manifest injustices, and the notion that only U.S. diplomatic compounds are safe-havens in China.

Bo, the maverick princeling, turned a brutal anti-mafia campaign in the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing into an instrument of personal power designed to garner popularity through swift “justice” and to eliminate political rivals. His suspension by the Party’s Central Committee came only after his police chief took refuge in the United States Consulate.

Chen, the dauntless rural activist from Shandong province, had attempted to use the existing legal system to expose wide-ranging abuses of power by local officials, only to be sentenced in 2006 to more than four years in prison on trumped-up charges by a local court. Upon his release in September 2010, local officials and hired thugs unlawfully kept him confined in his home. He too, after dramatically escaping his captors, sought refuge in a U.S. diplomatic enclave.

Both cases are widely seen as emblematic. Bo’s embodies the corruption of an unchecked political elite: Communist Party members are investigated by the party’s own disciplinary committee, and not by the courts. Chen’s case is rife with the predatory behavior of local officials whose conduct is more reminiscent of China’s feudal past than of the “new socialist countryside” Beijing leaders claim to be building.

Yet it would be a mistake to conclude that the law doesn't matter in China.

More

(Δεν) ξέρω ποιοι με χτύπησαν

του Κωνσταντίνου Μπογδάνου

Protagon.gr
13 Μαΐου 2012

Δεν ξέρω ποιοι ήταν, αλλά ξέρω ποιοι είναι. Πρώτος, ο κακός μου εαυτός. Μετά, η κακιά ώρα. Ύστερα, τρεις τύποι μαυροντυμένοι (εγώ όλους ψηλούς τους βλέπω) με άρβυλα. Πιστεύω πως δεν ήθελαν να με σκοτώσουν. Αν ήθελαν, θα το είχαν πετύχει. Είχαν όλο το χρόνο στη διάθεσή τους. Να μου σπάσουν πόδια και χέρια, να με μαχαιρώσουν και να με ξεκάνουν. Από αυτήν την άποψη, ευχαριστώ τους θύτες μου, διότι δεν είναι φονιάδες. Μόνο τραμπούκοι. Που, προφανώς, αποφάσισαν να με στραπατσάρουν για να μου δώσουν ένα μάθημα - και μαζί να στείλουν μήνυμα στον ΣΚΑΪ.

Τρεις μέρες τώρα, ζω τα γενέθλια μιας δεκαετίας, όλα μαζεμένα. Όχι μόνο διότι ένα τέτοιο περιστατικό σχεδόν σε γερνάει απότομα. Κυρίως, γιατί μου έχουν απευθυνθεί με καλοσύνη χιλιάδες άνθρωποι σε τόσο λίγες ώρες. Και διότι νιώθω ότι καλούμαι να κάνω μια καινούρια αρχή. Το πρήξιμο φεύγει. Το φάντασμα;

Το φάντασμα με χτύπησε. Αυτό, που επίσης κατοικεί μέσα σ’εκείνους που σχολίασαν διαδικτυακά ότι χάρηκαν διότι τους είμαι ενοχλητικός. Δίχως εξήγηση, γιατί ακριβώς. Έστω, ας είναι το ύφος. Η διαφορά στοχοποιείται. Ομοίως και στο λόγο. «Βλέπε, άκου, μη μιλάς» - μας λέγαν στο στρατό. Κι όπως και να’χει το πράγμα, δουλεύω στον ΣΚΑΪ. Αν κι εδώ που τα λέμε, στην ιστορία αυτή φοβάμαι πως δεν έχω όνομα. Έπινα το ποτό μου σε ένα μέρος όπου δεν δικαιούται να κυκλοφορεί δημοσιογράφος του καναλιού μου. Ειδικά δε νεαρός, πολύ κοντοκουρεμένος, ενοχλητικά φιλελεύθερος και αηδιαστικά «αστός». Στην ιστορία αυτή είμαι κάποια μεμονωμένα μου χαρακτηριστικά. Δεν έχω όνομα. Ούτε ζωή, ούτε υπόβαθρο. Αν κάτι μένει από το όνομά μου είναι το επίθετο. Έτσι έχει. Τη νύχτα εκείνη στο πεζοδρόμιο κλωτσιές δεν έτρωγε ο Κωνσταντίνος, που γράφει μουσικές, φτιάχνει μακαρονάδες και μεταφράζει Λάρκιν, αλλά ο (Μπογδάνος) του ΣΚΑΪ.

Περισσότερα

Η κουλτούρα της βίας

του Ηλία Κανέλλη

Τα Νέα
11 Μαΐου 2012

Ο ξυλοδαρμός του δημοσιογράφου Κωνσταντίνου Μπογδάνου από αγνώστους, χθες τα ξημερώματα στα Εξάρχεια, είναι ένα ακόμα περιστατικό προπηλακισμού εναντίον δημοσιογράφου. Δεν είναι πρωτοφανές. Εντάσσεται σε μια κουλτούρα της βίας που άρχισε να εκφράζεται με το σύνθημα «αλήτες, ρουφιάνοι, δημοσιογράφοι» και κερδίζει συνεχώς έδαφος τον τελευταίο καιρό.

Η άνοδος της ολοκληρωτικής και βίαιης Χρυσής Αυγής, ο μπρουταλισμός των μελών της και η γελοιότητα των στρατοχωροφυλακίστικων ιαχών τύπου «εγέρθητου», σε συνδυασμό με τον λόγο μίσους της οργάνωσης και τις απειλές εναντίον δημοσιογράφων, έστρεψαν τα βλέμματα εναντίον της καθαρόαιμης φασιστικής βίας κατά εργαζομένων στον Τύπο. Ωστόσο, σημαντικές είναι οι απειλές βίας και τα βίαια επεισόδια που έχουν προέλευση το άλλο άκρο, έναν ασαφή χώρο που κινείται στην περιοχή του ακροαριστερού - αντιεξουσιαστικού χώρου. Δυο φορές το τελευταίο διάστημα κυκλοφόρησαν εκτεταμένα αφίσες στις οποίες επικηρύσσονταν δημοσιογράφοι, με τα ονόματα, τις ιδιότητές τους και τις φωτογραφίες τους! Πριν από λίγες μόλις μέρες εδάρη στα Εξάρχεια ο σκηνοθέτης Στάθης Λιβαθηνός, επειδή αυτοί που του επιτέθηκαν τον πέρασαν για «επικηρυγμένο» δημοσιογράφο, ο οποίος του έμοιαζε φυσιογνωμικά! Και φυσικά, αν μπείτε στο Ιντερνετ, θα δείτε ότι το μίσος και οι απειλές ξεχειλίζουν σε σάιτ με αδιαφιλονίκητα ακροαριστερή - αντιεξουσιαστική ταυτότητα.

Το δυστύχημα είναι ότι τη ρητορική του μίσους υποδαυλίζουν και οι δήθεν προοδευτικές τοποθετήσεις που θεωρούν ότι όσες δημοσιογραφικές φωνές δεν συμφωνούν με τις εκάστοτε θέσεις της «επανάστασης» είναι ενεργούμενα, διαπλεκόμενοι, πουλημένοι ή και «εργοδοτικοί». Για την κουλτούρα του μίσους ο εχθρός είναι η διαφορετική άποψη, που προσεγγίζεται με όρους συνωμοσιολογίας. Όλα αυτά, βεβαίως, δεν μπορεί να είναι αριστερά. Είναι βάρβαρα και φασιστικά. Ό,τι κι αν νομίζουν πως είναι οι κήρυκες του μίσους - και οι βίαιοι μπράβοι τους.

Περισσότερα

Free Market Fairness

Review by Samuel Brittan

Financial Times
May 6, 2012

The word “liberal”, with a small l, has acquired so many different and contradictory meanings that I tend to avoid it. The fact remains that it is very much in currency in some parts of the world. Leave aside the use in French political rhetoric of “neoliberalism” as a term of abuse for Anglo-American capitalism. Liberalism per se is used a great deal in both highbrow and lowbrow US debate. Former president George Bush senior used the “l word” to damn his Democrat opponents. On the other side of the fence, most American academics regard themselves as liberals of one kind or another.

John Tomasi, a US professor of political philosophy, helpfully lists the beliefs that should be common to all liberals: the right to a fair trial, freedom of expression, political participation, personal autonomy and so on. Beyond that liberals divide. So-called libertarians value the economic rights of capitalism: the right to start a business, personally negotiate terms of employment, and make autonomous savings and investment decision, are essential rights. For those Tomasi calls “left liberals”, these are less important if they matter at all. Indeed the late Harvard professor John Rawls, regarded by many as the pope of left liberals, believed that the rights he regarded as essential could as well be achieved in a socialist economy as in a capitalist welfare state. They might well be called social democrats on the eastern side of the Atlantic. Libertarians, on the other hand, value “spontaneous order” on the model of Adam Smith’s invisible hand.

Tomasi much prefers the libertarian interpretation. But he notes that most of his friends and colleagues are left liberals, who are sceptical of the moral significance of private economic liberty and believe that a central function of government is to provide a wide range of social services. You can say that with knobs on for those of us who work in the broadsheet media or state-financed broadcasting. But this is not just a matter of personal frictions. The author is genuinely attracted by some aspects of left liberalism – including its insistence that social institutions should benefit all members of society, above all the poorest – and he tries to give substance to the term “social justice”.

More

Η Βίκυ και οι άλλες

της Γιούλης Φωκά-Καβαλιεράκη

Το Βήμα
3 Μαΐου 2012

Αν υπάρχει μια τουλάχιστον αδιαμφισβήτητη αρχή σε μια φιλελεύθερη δημοκρατία αυτή είναι ότι όλοι είναι ίσοι και ίσες απέναντι στους νόμους. Είτε είσαι σύζυγος υπουργού από το Κολωνάκι, είτε εκδιδόμενη γυναίκα στο εξαθλιωμένο κέντρο της Αθήνας, από τη στιγμή που θα παραβείς το νόμο, η δικαιοσύνη οφείλει να σε αντιμετωπίσει με τους ίδιους κανόνες και τις ίδιες διαδικασίες. Η δικαιοσύνη οφείλει να είναι τυφλή.

Δυστυχώς όμως η δικαιοσύνη δεν είναι αυτή η αγέρωχη φιγούρα με τα δεμένα μάτια που με το ένα χέρι κρατάει τη ζυγαριά για να μετρήσει τα υπέρ και τα κατά της κάθε υπόθεσης και με το άλλο το σπαθί της μάχης που δίνει για την επικράτηση του ορθού λόγου και της ακριβοδικίας. Η δικαιοσύνη είναι οι άνθρωποι που την εφαρμόζουν.

Έτσι, αν σου τύχει να είσαι διάσημος ή πλούσιος - ή και τα δυο - έχεις σίγουρα πολύ περισσότερες πιθανότητες η δικαιοσύνη να σε αντιμετωπίσει με μεγαλύτερη στοργή και επιείκεια από έναν ασήμαντο «πτωχούλη» - κι ας μην αναφερθούμε στην περίπτωση που μπορεί να είσαι επιπλέον γυναίκα και μάλιστα αλλοδαπή, όπου οι πιθανότητες χυδαίας κακομεταχείρισης αυξάνονται ακόμη περισσότερο.

Αυτό συμβαίνει γιατί αν είσαι πλούσιος και διάσημος τα λεφτά και η φήμη σου θα σου αγοράσουν στη χειρότερη περίπτωση καλούς δικηγόρους, στην καλύτερη ολόκληρο το σύστημα.

Τι θα συμβεί λοιπόν στην περίπτωση μιας καλομαθημένης γυναίκας υπουργού που κατηγορείται για τη διαφθορά του αιώνα, διασύρεται και προφυλακίζεται και τι στην περίπτωση των σχεδόν είκοσι παράνομα εκδιδόμενων και οροθετικών γυναικών που επίσης διασύρονται και προφυλακίζονται;

Περισσότερα

The Charles Taylor verdict shows that future despots have nowhere left to hide

by Mark Malloch-Brown

Financial Times
April 26, 2012

As Kofi Annan’s number two at the UN, I recall a long few days painstakingly monitoring with lawyers the procedures for the handover of the exiled Charles Taylor by his Nigerian hosts-turned-captors to the Liberian authorities and thence in mid-air to the UN and so to the Hague and his trial. Everything had to be done by the book to avoid later appeal but we were writing the book as we went along. This had hardly been done before. Until then international justice when it came to leaders who had run amok had been with the exception of Nuremberg more mouse than lion when it came to action. Indeed when Mr Taylor went to Nigeria he thought he had a deal ensuring him lifelong sanctuary.

Now the outcome of this special court, the verdicts of the International Criminal Court and the Balkan trials of Slobodan Milošević and fellow military and political leaders, Cambodia’s internationally supported prosecution of Khmer Rouge leaders and others tell a very different story of gathering international judicial activism. Leaders usually cannot get away with mass crimes against citizens anymore. Even if their own judicial and institutional systems are too weak to hold them to account, there is now a higher international authority that will.

More

Το έλλειμμα στα ανθρώπινα δικαιώματα

του Διονύση Γουσέτη

Athens Voice
25 Απριλίου 2012

Έχει επανειλημμένα ειπωθεί ότι τούτη η κρίση δεν είναι μόνο οικονομική. Σε ψηλότερο επίπεδο είναι πολιτική και σε ακόμη ψηλότερο πολιτιστική. Καίριος δείκτης του πολιτισμού μια κοινωνίας είναι η εφαρμογή της νομοθεσίας και των κανόνων για τα ανθρώπινα δικαιώματα. Θυμίζω τρία περιστατικά παραβίασης ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων που έγιναν μόλις τον περασμένο μήνα.

Το πρώτο μας το προσφέρει ο εκπρόσωπος της Ελλάδας, πρέσβης Γ. Κακλίκης. Στις 2/3/2012 βεβαίωσε την 19η Συνέλευση του Συμβουλίου του ΟΗΕ για τα Ανθρώπινα Δικαιώματα, ότι «η Ελλάδα έχει ισχυρή νομοθεσία κατά των διακρίσεων, η οποία απαγορεύει, μεταξύ άλλων, τις διακρίσεις με βάση τον σεξουαλικό προσανατολισμό και την ταυτότητα φύλου». Ο κ. πρέσβης παραπλανά τον ΟΗΕ. Το «Παρατηρητήριο Ελσίνκι», μαζί με ομοφυλοφιλικές οργανώσεις, μας πληροφόρησε ότι η Ελλάδα όχι μόνο δεν διαθέτει την «ισχυρή νομοθεσία» που ισχυρίστηκε, αλλά δεν έχει καν ενσωματώσει, ως όφειλε από το 2008, τη σχετική δεσμευτική απόφαση - πλαίσιο 2008/913/ΔΕΥ της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης, την οποία έχει υπερψηφίσει. Αντ’ αυτού, υπήρξε ένα νομοσχέδιο που ήλθε στη Βουλή και απήλθε με το φόβο της …καταψήφισης!

Το δεύτερο περιστατικό αφορά τον Άρειο Πάγο. Απέρριψε την εφαρμογή απόφασης του Ευρωπαϊκού Δικαστηρίου Δικαιωμάτων του Ανθρώπου. Συγκεκριμένα, απέρριψε αίτηση της Τουρκικής Ένωσης Ξάνθης για την αναγνώρισή της ως νόμιμου σωματείου παρά την προηγούμενη δικαίωσή της στο Στρασβούργο. Το χειρότερο είναι το σκεπτικό του Αρείου Πάγου, κατά το οποίο οι αποφάσεις του Ευρωπαϊκού Δικαστηρίου Δικαιωμάτων του Ανθρώπου δεν είναι δεσμευτικές! Το ίδιο είχε κάνει ο Άρειος Πάγος και το 2009 με το σωματείο «Στέγη Μακεδονικού Πολιτισμού». Φαίνεται ότι το καθεστώς της ελληνικής ανομίας ο Άρειος Πάγος θέλει να το περάσει και στην Ευρώπη!

Περισσότερα

In Afghanistan, underground girls school defies Taliban edict, threats

Washington Post
April 25, 2012

Every morning in this mountain village in eastern Afghanistan, four dozen girls sneak through a square opening in a mud-baked wall, defying a Taliban edict.

A U.S.-funded girls school about a mile away was shuttered by insurgents in 2007, two years after it opened. They warned residents that despite a new government in Kabul and an international aid effort focused on female education, the daughters of Spina were to stay home. For a while, they all did.

Then two brothers, among the few literate men in the village, began quietly teaching math, reading and writing to their female relatives in a living room on the edge of town. They wanted to keep the classes small, they said, to stay off the Taliban’s radar. That turned out to be impossible.

The United States and its allies have spent millions of dollars on female education in the past decade, and Afghan and Western officials have pointed to the issue as one of the most hopeful changes of the post-Taliban era. Female enrollment in public schools has risen from 5,000 under the Taliban to 2.5 million, according to the Afghan Education Ministry.

But Afghanistan is rife with places like Spina, where formal efforts to educate women and girls have crumbled. About 2 million Afghan girls do not attend school.

Those who do sometimes face threats. Last week, suspected militants poisoned more than 100 schoolgirls in northern Afghanistan, according to Amanullah Iman, a spokesman for the Education Ministry, who said an investigation into the incident was ongoing. The girls are recovering.

More

North Korea’s gulag: Never again?

Economist
April 21, 2012

In labour camps across its remote northern reaches, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea detains an estimated 150,000-200,000 political prisoners. The regime claims to hold precisely none. Or rather, in the formulation of the late Kim Jong Il, punishing the enemies of the state protects the North Korean people’s human rights.

The gulag’s captives are not told of their crimes, though torture usually produces a “confession”—which might admit to defacing an image of the “Great Leader” or listening to a foreign broadcast. There is no defence, trial, judge or sentence, though most inmates remain in the camps for life, unless they escape. They are victims of forced disappearances, in that neighbours, colleagues and distant family members know nothing about the fate of those who vanish. Inmates are held incommunicado, without visits, food parcels, letters or radio. Chronically malnourished, they work in mines, quarries and logging camps, with one rest-day a month. Infractions of camp rules, such as stealing food meant for livestock, damaging equipment or having unauthorised sexual liaisons are punished with beatings and torture. Guards rape women prisoners, leading to forced abortions for the pregnant, or infanticide. Inmates are under pressure to snitch. Executions are routine—and fellow prisoners must often watch (see article).

Consider the case of Shin Dong-hyuk, the subject of a new book (Escape from Camp 14). He was born of “model” prisoner parents in Camp 14, Kaechon in 1982 and spent his first 22 years inside. As punishment for dropping a sewing machine, his finger was cut off. He was also suspended over a fire, and a hook was thrust through his belly, to make him “confess” to joining an escape supposedly being planned by his mother and brother. He was then made to witness their executions.

More

North Korea’s prison camps: The gulag behind the goose-steps

Economist
April 21, 2012

Looking down on members of a 1.1m-strong army that applauded his every remark, Kim Jong Un giggled with delight during the centenary on April 15th of the birth of his late grandfather, Kim Il Sung. The contrast with his unsmiling father, Kim Jong Il, who died in December, could not have been clearer.

Unlike his father, the mop-haired Mr Kim spoke directly to the nation, in a resonant voice that masked the monotony of his message. His regime invited international television crews to film the festivities. Unexpectedly, it admitted that a mission to put a satellite into orbit in honour of his grandfather had failed. It all made for good television, and some commentators claimed to detect signals from the young ruler of a new openness in the regime.

Yet fresh reports in recent weeks about the victims of repression in North Korea are a reminder of how ruthless the dictatorship still is. It insists that “political prisoner” is not in its vocabulary. Yet growing numbers flee persecution. According to David Hawk of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, some 23,000 recently escaped North Koreans now live in South Korea. They include hundreds of former political and other prisoners. They bring with them harrowing tales of the brutality they have suffered.

Their stories have enabled Mr Hawk to update The Hidden Gulag, which first shed light on the slave-labour conditions in North Korea in 2003. The new edition provides testimony starting in 1970 about different types of forced-labour camps: the kwan-li-so for political prisoners, from which there is usually no release; the kyo-hwa-so penitentiaries mostly for those serving out sentences as common criminals; and detention centres for those forcibly repatriated from China. All appear to involve mistreatment that frequently ends in death. In the detention centres near China, North Korean women suspected of being made pregnant by Han Chinese are subject to forced abortions, the report says. (The state preaches an extreme gospel of racial purity.)

More

No real justice in Guantanamo

by Reed Brody

Los Angeles Times
April 19, 2012

Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, wearing white prison clothes, seemed by turns amused and bewildered as he sat in a bright room last week during a pretrial hearing at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Nashiri is charged with being a key organizer of Al Qaeda's attack on the U.S. destroyer Cole on Oct. 12, 2000, off the coast of Yemen, which killed 17 U.S. servicemen, as well as of two other attacks. He faces the death penalty if convicted in a trial before a military commission that is scheduled to begin in November.

The Nashiri case is seen as a dry run for the trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other alleged planners of the Sept. 11 attacks, who will be arraigned in Guantanamo on May 5. But it is also important in its own right. He is accused of dreadful crimes, but even if he is found guilty, his execution would be a deeply disturbing end to a long ordeal of abuse in an archipelago of secret U.S. prisons around the world.

Nashiri was captured in Dubai in October 2002 and secretly transferred to CIA custody. He was reportedly first taken to a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan known as the "Salt Pit," then to another secret jail in Bangkok, Thailand.

A report by the CIA's inspector general details a range of abuses to which Nashiri was subjected, including waterboarding. He was sent on to Poland, where he was, according to the report, threatened with a power drill revved near his head while he was hooded but otherwise naked. His captors also cocked a semiautomatic handgun close to his head as he sat shackled, held him in "standing stress positions" and threatened to sexually abuse his mother in front of him.

More

Guantánamo Trials Should Be Open

by David A. Schulz

New York Times
April 18, 2012

Last week I stood before a military judge at Guantánamo Bay to argue that the press and public had a constitutional right to observe the proceedings of military commissions. It is an argument I’ve made scores of times on behalf of news organizations objecting to closed proceedings in criminal and civil trials, but this was the first time that a military commission — part of a system of tribunals created in 2006 to try terrorism suspects — agreed to hear such arguments from the press.

Whether this marks a new openness, or is another in a long line of false starts, remains to be seen. But the government has a real opportunity to show its commitment to the rule of law by acknowledging that the public’s First Amendment rights apply at Guantánamo. The values served by open criminal proceedings — public acceptance of the verdict, accountability for lawyers and judges, and democratic oversight of our government institutions — apply there with particular urgency.

The controversy over public access to the Guantánamo trials has come to a head in the prosecution of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, accused of masterminding the 2000 attack on the Navy destroyer Cole. Mr. Nashiri’s lawyers want to meet with him unshackled, asserting that shackling brings back memories of torture and interferes with his ability to assist in preparing his defense. They proposed to call both Mr. Nashiri and a psychologist to testify in support of their request.

More

Nostalgia for the land of opportunity

by John Plender

Financial Times
April 15, 2012

Luigi Zingales, a noted economist at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, knows a thing or two about crony capitalism. The reason he emigrated to the US from his native Italy in 1988 was because he had had enough of living in a country where promotion was based on who you knew, not what you knew. Competition there was suppressed, corruption rife and clientelism rampant. Even emergency-room doctors in Italy were promoted on the basis of political affiliation instead of ability, he says, in a new book to be published shortly.

In the US he found a country that had built a system of capitalism that was the pre-eminent exemplar of the free-market ideal of economic liberty and open competition. He thrived on this meritocratic ethos. Yet now he is beginning to have his doubts, detecting hints in America of the kind of crony capitalism that afflicted Italy in the years of economic stagnation and corruption under Silvio Berlusconi.

A clear case in point is the extent to which the legislative process has become hostage to the lobbyists, while politicians increasingly depend for campaign finance on big business. The land of opportunity is thus turning into a land of rent seekers in which business has acquired excessive power and regulators have been captured by those they regulate.

More

Martha Nussbaum, "Teaching Patriotism"

University of Chicago Law School
April 10, 2012

Schools teach patriotism all the time, but many people think that this is a bad idea. Patriotic rituals may convey misplaced and hierarchical values; they may coerce conscience; and they may promote a dangerous type of uncritical homogeneity. On the other hand, it seems difficult to motivate sacrifices of self-interest for the common good without patriotic emotion. Prof. Nussbaum argues that there is a way of negotiating these difficulties and teaching a type of patriotism that is rooted in good values, protective of conscience, and friendly to critical thinking and dissent. Prof. Nussbaum illustrates her argument from the history of the U. S. and India, discussing Lincoln, King, Gandhi, and Nehru. This talk was recorded on April 10, 2012, as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas lecture series and was sponsored by Winston & Strawn LLP.

Martha Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago Law School.



More

Οι δρόμοι της βίας

του Κωστή Παπαϊωάννου

Τα Νέα
22 Μαρτίου 2012

Συγκλονιστικά στοιχεία παρουσιάστηκαν χτες από το νεοσύστατο Δίκτυο Καταγραφής Περιστατικών Ρατσιστικής Βίας. Η πρώτη πιλοτική καταγραφή κάλυψε έναν εξαιρετικά περιορισμένο γεωγραφικό χώρο (στην Αθήνα την περιοχή Ομόνοιας, την Πλατεία Αττικής, τον Αγιο Παντελεήμονα, επίσης ορισμένες περιοχές της Πάτρας). Αρα τα αποτελέσματα δεν αποτελούν ούτε καν την κορυφή του παγόβουνου. Τα θύματα φαίνονται απρόθυμα να καταγγείλουν τις επιθέσεις ακόμα και όταν έχουν νωπά τα σημάδια της βίας πάνω τους, είτε λόγω φόβου σύλληψής τους (εάν δεν έχουν νομιμοποιητικά έγγραφα) είτε επειδή το θεωρούν μάταιο. Και όμως, σε ένα τρίμηνο έχουμε την αναλυτική τεκμηριωμένη καταγραφή 61 βίαιων ρατσιστικών επιθέσεων. Συχνά έχουμε περισσότερους από έναν θύτες, συνήθως οργανωμένες εξτρεμιστικές ομάδες που προκαλούν βαριές ή απλές σωματικές βλάβες αλλά και την καταστροφή περιουσιακών στοιχείων ή καταστημάτων. Σημαντικό εύρημα είναι επίσης η αυξανόμενη ομαδική βία με τη συμμετοχή ανηλίκων. Καταγράφεται οργάνωση στον δημόσιο χώρο (πλατείες κ.λπ.) και χρήση αυτοσχέδιων κυρίως όπλων, ωστόσο δυνάμει φονικών. Επιπλέον, προκύπτει η πρακτική «περιπολίας» από μαυροφορεμένους μοτοσικλετιστές, με κράνη ή καλυμμένο πρόσωπο, οι οποίοι επιτίθενται εν κινήσει, συνήθως σε στάσεις λεωφορείων. Αλλες ομάδες, συχνά με τη συμμετοχή γυναικών, χρησιμοποιούν μεγαλόσωμους σκύλους για εκφοβισμό. Οι επιθέσεις κατά των γυναικών ενέχουν σαφή απειλή της γενετήσιας αξιοπρέπειάς τους. Ειδική κατηγορία, τέλος, αποτελούν τα πολλά περιστατικά όπου συνδέεται η αστυνομική με τη ρατσιστική βία, όταν ένστολοι, κατά την άσκηση των καθηκόντων τους και σε επιχειρήσεις ρουτίνας, καταφεύγουν σε έκνομες ενέργειες και πρακτικές άσκησης βίας.

Είναι γνωστό πως σπανίως τα περιστατικά ρατσιστικής βίας καταγγέλλονται και ακόμα σπανιότερα διερευνώνται. Οι ένοχοι παραμένουν στη συντριπτική πλειονότητα ασύλληπτοι, αν και πολλές από τις εγκληματικές τους πράξεις διώκονται αυτεπάγγελτα, ενώ όταν προσαχθούν αφήνονται σύντομα ελεύθεροι. Η καταδίκη για εγκλήματα με ρατσιστικά κίνητρα είναι έννοια άγνωστη στη χώρα μας. Τα παραπάνω αποκτούν ιδιαίτερη σημασία στη δίνη της μεγάλης οικονομικής και κοινωνικής κρίσης. Η υποβάθμιση και η αυξημένη παραβατικότητα σε περιοχές με μεγάλο αριθμό περιθωριοποιημένων μεταναστών και προσφύγων αποτελούν πρόσφορο έδαφος για εντάσεις, ξενοφοβικές συμπεριφορές και ανοχή απέναντι στη ρατσιστική βία.

Περισσότερα

Mything the point on Sweden

by Casey Lartigue, Jr.

Korea Times
March 13, 2012

The message was clear: "Don’t do what we’re doing" when it comes to welfare and economic policies.

That’s what (former) Senator Franco Debendetti and lawyer Alessandro De Nicola of Italy, and University of Athens professor Aristides Hatzis said in policy forums organized by the Center for Free Enterprise (CFE) in Seoul last August and October. Professor Hatzis took it one step further, in a speech that caught the attention of Korean president Lee Myung-bak: "If you see Greece doing something, then do the opposite thing."

"But what about Sweden" was the response from those pushing for universal welfare policies in Korea. That has become the common refrain from politicians and academics around the world for several decades in the West and recently in Korea. "What about Sweden?"

With that in mind, CFE invited Johnny Munkhammar, a member of the Moderate Party in the Parliament of Sweden, to Seoul from March 5 to 7. Munkhammar surprised the audience and Korean media with his talk, "Sweden's Welfare State: Fact and Fiction."

Munkhammar said the lesson to learn is that free markets created success in Sweden and that the country’s turn to bigger government led to an array of problems that Sweden is trying to recover from now. He cites the 1870s as a turning point in Swedish history, when, rather than hiding behind trade protectionism and the "infant industry" argument favored by popular Korean author Chang Ha-joon, Sweden opened its economy to the world with free trade and economic freedom.

That continued for a century until the 1970s when the welfare state was greatly expanded and increased regulations and taxes were imposed on the economy. Sweden began to reverse that in the 1990s, implementing reforms that would have made Adam Smith proud: state-owned enterprises were sold; public monopolies in health and education were replaced with free competition; product and financial markets were deregulated; and the central bank was made independent.

More

Guantanamo: "Whatever the Government Says..."

by Geoffrey R. Stone

Huffington Post
March 13, 2012

Nations at war have always had the legal authority to detain captured enemy soldiers ("prisoners of war") to prevent them from returning to the battlefield. Similarly, the U.S. has the legal authority to detain captured "enemy combatants" in the War on Terror in order to ensure the safety of the nation.

Central to the legality (and morality) of this authority, though, is the determination that the person detained is, in fact, an enemy soldier or combatant. In conventional warfare, this is usually easy, because soldiers wear uniforms. In the War on Terror, however, enemy combatants do not wear uniforms. This is a problem, because it requires us to determine in some fair and reasonable manner whether particular individuals are in fact affiliated with the enemy. It would be unjust and counter-productive for us to detain people who are not actually a threat to us but were innocently swept up in the inevitable chaos of war.

In part for this reason, the Supreme Court has held that individuals detained at Guantanamo have the right to habeas corpus -- that is, they have the right to ask a federal court to determine whether they are being lawfully held. Put simply, the military cannot legally detain an individual at Guantanamo unless it can show by a "preponderance of the evidence" that he is in fact an enemy combatant.

This is, of course, a much more lenient standard than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" requirement we apply in criminal cases, but it is designed to ensure that there is at least a reasonable factual basis for holding an individual indefinitely in a military prison thousands of miles from his home.

More

What You Lose When You Sign That Donor Card

by Dick Teresi

Wall Street Journal
March 13, 2012

The last time I renewed my driver's license, the clerk at the DMV asked if she should check me off as an organ donor. I said no. She looked at me and asked again. I said, "No. Just check the box that says, 'I am a heartless, selfish bastard.'"

Becoming an organ donor seems like a win-win situation. Some 3.3 people on the transplant waiting list will have their lives extended by your gift (3.3 is the average yield of solid organs per donor). You're a hero, and at no real cost, apparently.

But what are you giving up when you check the donor box on your license? Your organs, of course—but much more. You're also giving up your right to informed consent. Doctors don't have to tell you or your relatives what they will do to your body during an organ harvest operation because you'll be dead, with no legal rights.

The most likely donors are victims of head trauma (from, say, a car or motorcycle accident), spontaneous bleeding in the head, or an aneurysm—patients who can be ruled dead based on brain-death criteria. But brain deaths are estimated to be just around 1% of the total. Everyone else dies from failure of the heart, circulation and breathing, which leads the organs to deteriorate quickly.

The current criteria on brain death were set by a Harvard Medical School committee in 1968, at a time when organ transplantation was making great strides. In 1981, the Uniform Determination of Death Act made brain death a legal form of death in all 50 states.

More

Free speech under fire

by Jonathan Turley

Los Angeles Times
March 9, 2012

The recent exchange between an atheist and a judge in a small courtroom in rural Pennsylvania could have come out of a Dickens novel. Magisterial District Judge Mark Martin was hearing a case in which an irate Muslim stood accused of attacking an atheist, Ernest Perce, because he was wearing a "Zombie Mohammed" costume on Halloween. Although the judge had "no doubt that the incident occurred," he dismissed the charge of criminal harassment against the Muslim and proceeded to browbeat Perce. Martin explained that such a costume would have led to Perce's execution in many countries under sharia, or Islamic law, and added that Perce's conduct fell "way outside your bounds of 1st Amendment rights."

The case has caused a national outcry, with many claiming that Martin was applying sharia law over the Constitution — a baseless and unfair claim. But while the ruling certainly doesn't suggest that an American caliphate has gained a foothold in American courts, it was nevertheless part of a disturbing trend. The conflict in Cumberland County between free speech and religious rights is being played out in courts around the world, and free speech is losing.

Perce was marching in a parade with a fellow atheist dressed as a "Zombie Pope" when he encountered Talaag Elbayomy, who was outraged by the insult to the prophet. The confrontation was captured on Perce's cellphone. Nevertheless, Martin dismissed the charge against Elbayomy. Then he turned to Perce, accusing him of acting like a "doofus." Martin said: "It's unfortunate that some people use the 1st Amendment to deliberately provoke others. I don't think that's what our forefathers intended."

For many, the case confirmed long-standing fears that sharia law is coming to this country. The alarmists note that in January, a federal court struck down an Oklahoma law that would have barred citing sharia law in state courts. But there is no threat of that, and certainly not in Oklahoma, which has fewer than 6,000 Muslims in the entire state. Rather, the campaign against sharia law has distracted the public from the very real threat to free speech growing throughout the West.

To put it simply, Western nations appear to have fallen out of love with free speech and are criminalizing more and more kinds of speech through the passage of laws banning hate speech, blasphemy and discriminatory language. Ironically, these laws are defended as fighting for tolerance and pluralism.

More

I have no ancestors of that gifted people

Letters of Note
March 7, 2012

In 1938, some months after the initial publication of The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien and his British publisher, Stanley Unwin, opened talks with Rütten & Loening, a Berlin-based publishing house who were keen to translate the novel for the German market. All was going well until, in July, they wrote to Tolkien and asked for proof of his Aryan descent. Tolkien was furious, and forwarded their letter to his publisher along with two possible replies — one in which their question was delicately side-stepped, and one, seen below, in which Tolkien made his displeasure known with considerable style.

It is unknown which reply was sent.

(Source: The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien; Image: Tolkien in 1955, via; Thanks to William Vodrey.)

25 July 1938
20 Northmoor Road, Oxford

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your letter. I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. My great-great-grandfather came to England in the eighteenth century from Germany: the main part of my descent is therefore purely English, and I am an English subject — which should be sufficient. I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.

Your enquiry is doubtless made in order to comply with the laws of your own country, but that this should be held to apply to the subjects of another state would be improper, even if it had (as it has not) any bearing whatsoever on the merits of my work or its sustainability for publication, of which you appear to have satisfied yourselves without reference to my Abstammung.

I trust you will find this reply satisfactory, and

remain yours faithfully,

J. R. R. Tolkien

More