And then, we will forgive you this late second thoughts…

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

60 years after its first read, it’s still too young.

60 years were not enough to change people minds.

Human Rights are still denied in many country, and a lot of work has to be done.

But we are human, and we believe in Hope.

Happy Birthday, dear UDHR!

© la Repubblica.it

Many words were spent to celebrate such an event. The amazing scenes of the opening ceremony, the perfect organization, the power of China shown to the world.
During these days thousand of athletes (someone says they were 11,000!) tried to win a gold medal, and 302 of them can now back to home and be really happy.

The shine of Bird’s Nest is somehow shadowed by many things that prove the World that it was wrong to assign to China these Olympic Games.
Human rights, freedom of speech, better working conditions, and the hope to open the cage where millions of people are living, all of this was just omitted.
The Western Governments closed their eyes. Better, they hypocritically said to their athletes to boycott the Olympiad, to show that somethings is wrong.
Good. Very good.
Why a person should had thrown away four years of hard work just because the politicians cannot solve the problem? Why they asked others to carry on the burden of changing things?
Why did not try it by yourself?
The way of boycotting was wrong. Once that the games started, let compete until the end. Then show a sign of your protest (even if the IOC forbidden that).

© la Repubblica.it

Despite the censorship there were some episodes of protests. Eight people were arrested because of their no-politically-(for-the-Chinese-government)-correct behavior.

© la Repubblica.it
Many athletes tried to support the Tibetan people, downloading the “Songs for Tibet” or donating their competition clothes to the Dalai Lama. Well done guys.

But what the “Big” of the world will really do to compel the China change about human rights? Sincerely something is wrong here, if little folks try to do what big cannot.

I’m very disappointed. These Olympic games could have been the occasion to change really, not only by the word. It seems that China won the race for the Gold Medal, against the USA.
But for sure they lost the Gold Medal for the Human Rights.
Someone says that now the world know more about China and China know about the world, and starting from today it will recognize that something has to change. I’m not so confident that the Chinese will understand that. For me they will not change their mind. They did not do during the games, why they should now?

Apart of that something good happen. I appreciated the hug between Natalia Paderina of Russia and Nino Salukvadze of the former Soviet republic of Georgia; the shake of hands between Jin Jong Oh of South Korea and North Korean Kim Jong Su; the dance of Lightning Man, Usain Bolt; the tears of happiness of Valentina Vezzali.
And now I will “sit on the bank of a river and wait: my enemy’s corpse will soon float by”.

With an unexpected decision, UN start to say “No!” to death penalty.

The vote took place at the United Nations building, New York City © AP GraphicsBank

6 days to Xmas, thanks for this gift!

The forfeiture of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict it on another, even when backed by legal process.
Let the states that still use the death penalty stay their hand lest in time to come they look back with remorse knowing it is too late to redeem their grievous mistake.

Melbourne activists campaign to abolish the death penalty. ©AI

These words were pronounced by Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of United Nations the December 18th, 2000. 3,213,974 people signed the petition for a moratorium on the penalty death.
This year, on November, the General Assembly voted to back a resolution calling for a global moratorium on executions.

The effort of Amnesty International against the death penalty is great. But people seem to be reluctant up change their mind.

“What would you do if somebody kill your son? Or your sister? Your mom? Would you like to kill him? Forgive him?”

These are my favorite questions. People reply with anger to violent crimes, when some of their relatives are involved in crimes.
But anger is not an answer. Human beings are different from animals. We have a brain able to think over simple natural instincts. Criminal should be judged correctly, with cold blood, they should be rehabilitate, not just punished.
Death penalty is the most cruel, inhuman and demeaning punishment. It never proved to be an effective deterrent. It is used as gender discrimination, against poor, as political repression tool.
It is irreversible and can be inflicted to innocent.

These days a plot from the movie “Twelve Angry Men” is played in some Italian theater. Directed by Alessandro Gassman, son of well-known Vittorio, this plot tells about twelve men, members of a popular jury, called to judge about murderer. The suspect is the son of the victim.
Thorough the analysis of witnesses and evidence, they discuss the fate of the boy. All of them are for a guilty verdict. Just one has a “doubt”. The discussion develops through many different opinion, prejudices, repressed angers, will to revenge against a unlucky past. They discovered their souls and doubts, they find that is not possible to judge the boy guilty, “beyond any reasonable doubt”.

I was very impressed by the power of descriptions, the characterization of member, by their weakness and resentment, they want to go out the room, as soon as possible, without care much the destiny of the suspect. The only man against all these does not try to change their mind. He lets they think deeply on the consequence of their decisions, reflecting upon incongruence of evidences and witnesses, remembering that the life of an human being is on their hands.

It is not so simple to change common opinion and the work of volunteers like me or others, engaged in social activities, seems useless, like a single drop.
That’s true. But the sea is made by drops, isn’t it?

Things are not better, monks are killed, army represses any attempt to manifest. We can do something, we can support civilian people that are trying to build a better place to live.

Please sign the petition you find here. It will take just few minutes, but can help to help them. Thanks.

[link]

Freedom, peace, human rights. These words are obscured, censored while hundred of monks are prisoned by military power and thousand of people are demonstrating for their thoughts.

In support of our incredibly brave friends in Burma: may all people around the world wear a red shirt on Friday, September 28. Please forward!

[find it: here]

Many people are fighting against injustice, silently, without guns, just their silence. Let them talk through our actions.

Wear a red shirt tomorrow…

I will.