An International Student-Teacher Collaboratory
Themes covered in the Summer Intensive in Human Rights include Conflict Resolution, Environment, and Ethics.
Over the course of this seminar we will discuss human rights issues in Africa, Asia, Israel-Palestine, and North America.
Participants blog about human rights issues here.
We're also building a wiki about the human rights issues we're covering.
Resources for human-rights research can be found here.
"Gazans flee floods caused by Israel's dams opening"It seems that Israel has comitted yet another human rights violation in Gaza. As usual there has been no coverage of this incident by mainstream media outlets. 'Brigadier Gerneral Said Al-Saudi, chief of the civil defence agency in Gaza, told Al Jazeera: "Israel opened water dams, without warning, last night, causing serious damage to Gazan villages near the border. |
Malcom X's Daughter on Activism TodayMalcom X's daughter, ILYASAH SHABAZZ, writes about her father's legacy of activism and action, and postulates what he would think of activism and activists today, particularly the #BlackLivesMatter movement and Ferguson actions taken recently. She criticizes "hashtag activism" and writes that her father would encourage more direct action, as well as taking positions of power "inside the system and out." Comment below with whether you agree or disagree with Shabazz's assessment of today's activism. |
This past week, a speech by David Talbot has been circulated by many of my Stanford friends on Facebook. The gist: gentrification in SF is caused by "Stanford assholes," the engineers and entrepreneurs who have moved in with their Teslas and Ubers and caused lower-income families to be evicted.
The range of captions that accompany the speech on Facebook spans from "Amen." to "Hmmm I have mixed feelings but this Talbot has some good points" to "Hater."
The criminal justice system is the set of agencies and processes established by governments to control crime and impose penalties on those who violate laws. For me, justice means that people who commit crimes should pay for it. Of course it's not that black and white; crimes should be considered on a case-by-case basis but I don't think race should ever be a factor in determining sentencing.
During our discussion of La Haine, someone mentioned that the concept of a "race issue" doesn't really exist in France, and this reminded me of a discussion I participated in this fall while I was abroad in Barcelona. About 10 people in our program got together after the Ferguson decision to have a round table, and we ended up talking about experiences with race, racism, and xenophobia in Barcelona and elsewhere in Europe.
An argument for freedom of the press.
Lamenting the killings at the offices of "Charlie Hebdo," the author voices his concern about the way range of meanings, some good, some bad, about forming lines of identification around a single slogan.
